‘We didn’t dominate?’: Turkey captain doubles down on Socceroos slander

Turkey lost to the Socceroos but that didn’t stop their captain from making a bizarre claim, doubling down on his controversial comment.

The Socceroos claimed an impressive 2-0 win in their World Cup opener on Sunday, with goals to Nestory Irankunda and Connor Metcalfe proving the difference, as goalkeeper Patrick Beach helped keep a clean sheet.

Speaking post-game, Hakan Calhanoglu was adamant Turkey was the better team, saying Australia’s two goals were scored against the run of play and his side was let down by their own errors.

In the lead-up to the game, Calhanoglu said Turkey would “dominate” the match and said his team was “more talented” than the World No. 27 Socceroos.

“I think we will dominate (Saturday), the game, because we have more qualities and a more talented team,” Calhanoglu said of Australia. “So we will see what happens.”

Asked about his comments after the game, Calhanoglu bizarrely doubled down and said the Turkey did in fact dominate the match.

“We didn’t dominate?” Calhanoglu said to an Australian reporter in a terse exchange.

Turkey’s captain claimed his team dominated the Socceroos. Photo: X.

The journalist replied: “No, I don’t think you did. Possession, sure.”

But the Turkish captain disagreed, saying: “I don’t think they did the same like you. We dominated today, Australia was just behind, defending good.

“Two long goals, they scored. It was our mistakes.

“If you go through the whole 90 minutes and you don’t score, it means you have to always be focused.

“Never give up because I think we did a good game, just we didn’t score.”

Irankunda confessed the pre-game comments were used as motivation by the Australian players.

“Obviously that gave us fire in our belly,” Irankunda said.

“It obviously did piss off a few boys, but at the end of the day, these guys can talk all their s***, so we don’t really care.”

The Socceroos pulled off a huge upset over the more fancied Turkey. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Turkey’s coach Vincenzo Montella gave far more credit to the Australians than his captain.

“We are extremely saddened, (but) we know there is still time to recover in this group stage,” the coach said.

“Somehow we could not score a goal. They (Australia) have been very good in their game.

“We had 78 per cent of the time where we had the ball but we had not been precise and we think it is also important to score a goal.

“We have been very close to scoring a goal but it was very difficult, we know the defence was very good, they are very tall, so it is very difficult sometimes to have a competition with other players who are much taller than us.

“I would like to congratulate them, they have been playing very well.

Turkey’s young Real Madrid star Arda Guler was visibly frustrated at full-time after battling Australia’s Jordan Bos and Aziz Behich.

Turkey’s Arda Guler battles Australia’s Aziz Behich. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press via AP)

Turkey, playing in the World Cup for the first time since finishing third at the 2002 tournament, arrived in North America dreaming of making a serious run in the knockout rounds.

But their talented team made up largely of players who regularly compete in the European Champions League were unable to get to grips with a well-organised Socceroos line-up.

One of Turkey’s best chances came in the 27th minute when Real Madrid’s Arda Guler forced a smart save from Beach with a rasping shot.

Beach made save after save to repel Turkey’s shots and ensure the Socceroos did not concede a goal en route to the 2-0 win.

The win leaves the Socceroos level on three points with Group D leaders the United States, with the two teams due to meet in Seattle on Friday. The host nation impressed in their 4-1 win over Paraguay in their opening match.

Source: https://www.news.com.au/sport/football/world-cup/we-didnt-dominate-turkey-captain-doubles-down-on-socceroos-slander/news-story/de92d82abd35269deb390b490d283741