Turkiye’s captain, Hakan Calhanoglu, stood firm on his belief that his team had control over the game, echoing his assertive pre-match remarks.
When questioned about the team’s display, the Inter Milan star responded, “Are you saying we didn’t have control?”
The journalist countered, “No, I wouldn’t agree. You certainly had possession, but…”
Calhanoglu elaborated, “I don’t think their view aligns with yours. Today, we were the dominant side. Australia was mostly on the back foot, defending well.”
He added, “Their two goals came from distance, a result of our own errors.”
‘If you go through the whole 90 minutes, and you don’t score… it means you have to always be focused.
‘Somehow we could not score a goal – they have been very good in their game.
‘We had 78% 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, we will continue with our balance and judgement, we are still in the round.’
