Turkish coach Fatih Terim said that his side
had displayed "something extra special" that allowed them to come
back from a goal behind to snatch a dramatic penalty shoot-out victory against
Turkey in a Euro 2008 quarter-final on Friday.
It was the third match in a row at this tournament that Turkey managed to turn a deficit at the death around into a victory.
"This is football, you should never give up until the end, until the
referee blows the final whistle. That is why it is such an interesting
game."
He said that he always told his players not to give up. "I try and get
them to follow my philosophy. I tell them never to give up. I set very
important goals. I say they should not be afraid to lose, to concede or to give
up until the final whistle."
Terim, who is in his second stint as Turkey coach and was in charge of the side
at the 1996 Euro in England, said that he could see that his players were
despondent after conceding a goal so late.
"I saw some of the players lying on the pitch. I told Arda (Turan) to pick
the ball out of the goal and Tuncay (Sanli) to get ready to go forward.
"If you look at our adventures here in this competition, we always come
back. That's not easy. Lets hope we go ahead against Germany and then enjoy
it."
The former AC Milan coach praised his opponents. "Both sides could have
won this game. We deserve to be in the semi-finals, but the Croatians would
have deserved it too."
He said that when the penalty shoot-out started he thought that they stood a
good chance after Croatian heads dropped following Semih's last-gasp strike.
"To lose an opportunity to win in such a short time is a serious mental
blow," he said. "I thought we would have a chance.", according to dpa.