Euro 2016: Arda Turan ousted by Turkish supporters

Arda Turan was hit with massively negative reviews from his Turkish supporters, but it’s hard to blame them. The supporters have figured out their captain.

For such a big competition, there haven’t been that many massively disappointing matches or nations. When you put on your country’s shirt, you just play at a higher level. The pride is overwhelming and it can drive even the lowest ranked sides like Albania to playing with such an added degree of pride.

That being said, there is one massive disappointing side – Turkey. The not-so-European side came into the Euros with fresh hopes. For awhile now, they have been falling rapidly in the world rankings and they’ve been raking in disappointment after disappointment.

Not the best situation to be in when your fans are renowned world wide for their ‘nastiness’.

In club football, teams do not like to travel to Turkey, where fans hiss and whistle with such intensity that even as a supporter, you feel uncomfortable for the players (depending on who you support).

Getting behind the national team unites an entire nation of booers, whistlers and hissers and the results are rather poignant. But they can also be rather disheartening and as we have seen from the Turkish team, no one has felt the brunt of the fans more than Arda Turan.

The Barcelona man was very aware of the disappointing result he put forth against Croatia. To a certain extent, it’s easy to see Arda Turan’s point in his comments.

“I have nothing to prove [against Spain]. I will do my best. If I haven’t already proven myself it is hard for me to do so now. I have worn the shirt over 90 times. I have played badly a few times but you can count them on the fingers of one hand,” he said, via the Guardian.

But does Arda Turan actually have a leg to stand on? I don’t think so. Despite his experience, the fact that he believes he has ‘nothing to prove’ is all that needs to be said. He doesn’t feel the need to prove anything when the national team is collapsing around him? How does that work?

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If anything, Turkish fans have uncovered the true colors of Arda Turan. I’m not saying he doesn’t love the country and the team, but he doesn’t have a captain’s mentality. He made those statements, among a handful of others, and came out and engaged in zombie-status for the match against Spain. As soon as the Spanish scored that first goal, Arda Turan and his comrades put their heads down and let the red army trample over them.

That is not what a captain should be. A captain should be rallying the team, doing all he can to make a difference. We know Arda Turan has the ability, but he looked unwilling to use it. I did have moments of pity for the captain, but at some point, you have to pick yourself up by the bootstraps and make a difference.

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Arda Turan could not do that. And now the Turkish team is making vacation plans for the knockout stages, because they are going home.

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