Euro 2020: Turkey heading towards early exit after another disappointing defeat to Wales

“All that glitters is not gold.” This aphorism completely typifies Turkey and their performance so far at Euro 2020.

The Crescent Stars were to arrive at the tournament as one of the dark horses. But their form during the qualifiers for the European Championships suggested they were fully up for the challenge and might cause the big guns some serious problems.

However, Turkey have shown no sign of the spunkiness we witnessed in the qualifiers. They’ve played very poorly at the tournament so far, disastrous in defense and totally blunt upfront.

They have not looked anywhere close to the side that pummeled their opponents and rarely conceded goals during the qualifying series.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Superb Wales make it 4 points from 2 games by beating Turkey in Baku! 👏👏👏#EURO2020 | #WAL

— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 16, 2021

Turkey suffer second defeat

On Wednesday, Turkey suffered their second successive defeat at Euro 2020 when they were flatly beaten 2-0 by Wales.

This comes after Senol Gunes’ side also capitulated in a 3-0 defeat to Italy in their opening group game.

A team that boasts special talents like Caglar Soyuncu, Hakan Calhanoglu, Cengiz Under and Burak Yilmaz shouldn’t be playing this poorly.

While Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey rose to the occasion for Wales, with the former setting up both goals, Turkey had no one to turn to.

#TogetherStronger 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿#EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/tcYZmI3KoT

— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 16, 2021

Early exit stares Turkey in the face

With two defeats from two games, Turkey are now staring at the possibility of becoming the first team to be eliminated from the tournament.

Italy’s six points and Wales’ four points mean that Gunes’ side can now only finish third, which would require them to beat Switzerland in their final group game.

Understandably disappointed after a dismal outing against Wales, Gunes admitted his side never fully recovered from the defeat against Italy.

“I don't think we ever got over the shock of the first game (against Italy)," Gunes fumed after the game, as quoted by Reuters.

"Especially for the first half an hour, I think we were stuck in the previous game. Despite that, we made a good start to the second half and dominated for a while, until we started making individual mistakes again.

"I don't remember us making so many errors in passing, ever. When you lose the ball so easily, and have such a difficulty in getting it back, no wonder you'll struggle.”

It’s surprising how a team that was so good during the Euro qualifiers suddenly looks fragile and inconsistent. Turkey have been a real letdown at Euro 2020 and now an early exit might be on the cards for them.