Turkey to take on England in UEFA European Under-17 Championship semi-final

Turkey will take on England in the UEFA European Under-17 Championship semi-final at Zapresic on Tuesday.

The Crescent Stars booked a place in the last-four after beating Hungary in the last round, England meanwhile knocked out Ireland.

Both England and Ireland have already secured a spot at the Under-17 World Cup in India in September.

Turkey manager Mehmet Hacioğlu was quoted on the official UEFA website as saying: “I had four favourites before the tournament and one of them was England. They’re very good physically and make sound tactical decisions. We won’t devise a special plan for them, but we will play differently in that game.”

The last time Turkey reached this stage at the U17 European Championship was back in 2005.

The squad included the likes of Nuri Sahin, Caner Erkin and current Turkey national team goalkeeper Volkan Babacan.

The Crescent-Stars went onto win the trophy and reached the semi-finals in 2008 and 2010.

England manager Steven Cooper meanwhile revealed that he is planning on extending his sides winning streak to 10 games.

“We know bits about Turkey, but the focus will be very much on ourselves. We’re fully aware of anyone we play – we have been all year – and so the approach will be exactly the same. We’ll be ready. To win ten straight games [in this season’s competition] in the way we have, the players deserve real recognition,” Cooper said.