Turkish Trio Forced To Withdraw

Turkey has been dealt a blow in the lead up to Friday’s first match against the Socceroos, with the withdrawal of three players from the squad that was announced last week.

Turkey has been dealt a blow in the lead up to Friday-s first match against the Socceroos, with the withdrawal of three players from the squad that was announced last week.   German-based players Yildiray Basturk (pictured right) and Umit Davala, both regular starters for Turkey, have been forced to withdraw, while Trabzonspor striker Fatih Tekke is also a late withdrawal.   New coach Turkish coach Ersun Yanal, has only added one new player to the squad, he being Socceroo Josip Skoko-s Genclerbirligi teammate Ali Tamdogan.   Basturk-s absence is due to his club Bayer Leverkusen still playing for a place in Europe in the last round of the German Bundesliga. Davala and Tekke are both injured.   Basturk (Bayer Leverkusen) and Davala (Werder Bremen) featured heavily in Turkey-s successful run at the 2002 World Cup finals in Korea/Japan, so the pair-s absence is a considerable loss for Yanal.   Meanwhile, the last of Australia-s 20-man squad arrived today, with Frank Farina getting his first look at the players in training this afternoon.