Türkiye’s loses again ahead of tough France test

ISTANBUL  

Türkiye will carry a five-match losing streak into its UEFA Nations League clash against France on Nov. 15, following a 2-1 defeat to Belgium that marked head coach Sergen Yalçın’s debut.

The home side opened the scoring in İzmir on Nov. 12 night with a 20th-minute goal from Arda Güler, but the lead was short-lived.

Kevin De Bruyne equalized for Belgium in the 27th minute, and Charles De Ketelaere netted the decisive goal just three minutes later to hand Türkiye its fifth consecutive loss in Group A play.

Despite remaining winless, Yalçın said he was pleased with his players’ fight in his first game in charge and emphasized that the team consists of high-quality players.

“We didn’t want to lose,” Yalçın said following the Belgium match. “We were well concentrated. The boys fought well throughout the match. You play against very tough teams in this group.”

Addressing a trend of conceding easy goals, highlighted by Belgium’s quick two-goal turnaround, the experienced coach stressed that fixing the back line will require a collective effort against the French.

“Defense is not only done by defenders,” Yalçın said. “You need to do team defense very well at these levels. We had difficulty defending in some parts. We will work together with the players. We want to look at this match from a positive perspective. This match can bring us a lot in the future.”

Yalçın noted that his debut was hampered by injuries and a lack of preparation time, but he remains optimistic about the squad’s chemistry and potential.

“We have missing players. We have players who just returned from injury and are not fully ready. We experienced the difficulties of this,” he said. “If we had spread the period we played well more throughout the match, the result could have been different.”

He added: “There is a very beautiful friendship environment inside. They are all like diamonds. There is a college team atmosphere. There are minor problems, but we can solve them over time. We went into the match with only two days of training. It is not easy to play such a high-paced game at this level.”

France is also looking to bounce back after suffering a 3-1 defeat to Italy in Milan on Nov. 12.

Les Bleus took an early lead at San Siro through Michael Olise to put one foot in the Nations League quarterfinals, but were pegged back by a Francesco Pio Esposito double and Davide Frattesi strike.

Coach Zinedine Zidane was unimpressed with his side’s defensive display, but described the setback as “part of the process.”

“We started well, and we were good in possession, but in the second half we ran into difficulties, especially defensively,” Zidane told a press conference.

Asked if the team lacked courage, he replied: “No, quite the opposite. We stayed in the game, we did well in possession, especially in the first half, but in the second half we caved in a bit, especially after 2-1. It’s part of the process.”