Write off Turkey at your peril became a mantra at UEFA EURO 2008. Time and again Fatih Terim’s team were left for dead, only to emerge alive and kicking. They came from behind to beat Switzerland in the last minute, then recovered from 2-0 down in the last quarter of an hour to stun the Czech Republic in their third match (anything less and they were out).
Incredibly, their quarter-final against Croatia eclipsed all that had come before. With one minute of extra time left Ivan Klasnić finally broke the deadlock and that looked to be it. Not at all. Semih Şentürk drove in a 122nd-minute equaliser and in the shoot-out 35-year-old goalkeeper Rüştü Reçber clinched it. Turkey had …