Mehmet Ekici will face off against his home country Germany for the first time with the Turkish national team on Friday 7 October 2011 in the Euro2012 qualification campaign. WERDER.DE talked to the 21-year-old before the game...
Mehmet Ekici will face off against his home country Germany for the first time with the Turkish national team on Friday 7 October 2011 in the Euro2012 qualification campaign. WERDER.DE talked to the 21-year-old before the game...
Mehmet Ekici will face off against his home country Germany for the first time with the Turkish national team on Friday 7 October 2011 in the Euro2012 qualification campaign. WERDER.DE talked to the 21-year-old before the game.
Hello Mehmet, this game certainly is of major importance in Turkey, no?
Mehmet Ekici: That's right. There are lots of friends and family members here. It is a special match for everyone. I am playing against Germany for the first time. Outside of the game I don't have any time to meet people, but they will support me and the team on Friday - I made sure and organized 15 tickets.
Knowing the atmosphere of Turkish stadiums, those 15 tickets won't really make that much of a difference, no?
Mehmet Ekici: The atmosphere in Turkey is certainly something special. I can confirm that from my own experiences. When I played for the first time for the national team in Turkey I was overwhelmed and didn't know where I had landed.
Is that an advantage which the team would like to use?
Mehmet Ekici: That could be a plus point. But we have to believe in our abilities, then we have a chance.
You also have good chances for the Euro qualification as Turkey are currently second behind Germany.
Mehmet Ekici: We are second but we only have a two-point advantage on Belgium. It is really tight in the group. To defend our spot in the end we would like at least a point against Germany and then finish things off with a victory in Azerbaijan.
How do you think the game on Friday will finish? Or maybe who else will qualify for the Euro from your group besides Germany?
Mehmet Ekici: It is always difficult in football to say ahead of time how the match will end. But we don't want to leave it to chance and take care of things as soon as possible on Friday. That's how we want to play.
