Everything you need to know about rising stars Kenan Yildiz and Arda Güler ahead of the opening match
Vancouver: All it took was one touch.
In the opening match of the just-ended Serie A season, Alessandro Circati and Parma had bravely absorbed everything Juventus had thrown at them for almost 60 minutes.
Then, 21-year-old Turkish star Kenan Yıldız received the ball from the left wing. Up to that point, he had been trying to find an opening, but he was failing – until he created an opening out of the blue, out of the blue, as magicians do.
With a perfect bounce of his right foot, the star found space outside his own line and sent the ball into the six-yard box. Circati was there but was left completely helpless when the player he was defending, Jonathan David, side-footed him; There’s actually not much you can do when your opponent’s goal is handed to you on a silver platter.
Twenty minutes later, with Parma chasing an equalizing goal, Juve broke back on the counter-attack. The star took the reins once again, measuring up the ideal final pass for Dusan Vlahovic to slot past Circati to complete the 2-0 win.
The star was named man of the match and later Serie A player of the month for August, embarking on a dominant season in which he scored 11 goals, scored nine directly and created more chances (76) than any other player in the league.
“He is an alien. He is not a normal football player,” Juventus boss Luciano Spalletti said earlier this season.
The fact that he wears the iconic number 10 jersey at Juventus, historically reserved for the club’s most talismanic players such as Alessandro Del Piero and Roberto Baggio, says everything about the exalted status he enjoys at Italy’s biggest club.
“He’s a great player. That’s how I have to put it,” Circati said.
“One on one, his ability to receive the ball and dribble… I mean, there are a lot of great players and he’s one of them. I’ve spoken to him a few times and I honestly think he’s the best player at Juventus.”
Circati is one of the few Socceroos who have experienced first-hand how dangerous the Star can be and how they cannot let him breathe even for a moment.
He also knows he is only half the problem for Australia in their World Cup opener on Sunday (2pm AEST).
Türkiye has had many top players over the years, but very few true global stars. Suddenly, two of them appeared, and neither of them had been born the last time they appeared at the 2002 World Cup.
The other one is Arda Güler, he is also 21 years old and currently in Real Madrid.
If the star is the rock star of Turkish football, he became the first man and the first player to grace the cover of the magazine this month. VogueTurkish edition of – Guler was the golden child then. He is the country’s most well-known athlete, with nearly 18 million followers on Instagram.
The total value of Güler and Yıldız is $300 million and this figure is a conservative estimate; According to Transfermarkt.com, these are the two most expensive Turkish players of all time. These are a big part of why Turkish fans are so optimistic about their chances and why their players see themselves as the “dark horses” of the tournament.
Like Yıldız, Güler plays with a self-confidence usually reserved for players ten years older than him. However, while Yıldız defeats his opponents with his power, speed and directiveness, Güler is an old-school playmaker whose game is based on imagination. He sees passes that others do not or cannot make.
Circati hasn’t tested his wits against him yet, but he’s less than impressed with the prospect.
“We see this in every competition, in every league… players with big names do not always have the upper hand against better teams,” Circati said.
“Great players don’t make better teams.”
Güler is considered a definite starter, but there are question marks over his fitness as Yıldız injured his calf in training with Juventus and could not take part in the last match of the season.
Darren Burgess, the Socceroos’ former fitness boss and now Juventus’ performance director, was present when it happened and worked personally with Turkish national team staff to treat the injury in the expectation he could feature in his first World Cup match.
After days of individual training, Yildiz continued to train with the rest of the group and was reported to have performed the sprint in Vancouver on Saturday (AEST).
In his pre-match press conference, Turkey coach Vincenzo Montella, in response to a question about whether Yıldız was ready to play, claimed that he had “doubts” about some of his players and that the Juventus star could be used on the bench.
Even in this situation, Burgess thinks they need to be careful.
Burgess has seen a lot; He also worked for Liverpool and Arsenal in the Premier League, but said he had never seen a player close to Yıldız’s level of ball control and dribbling ability.
“He’s our superstar,” Burgess said.
“He’s the guy fans and players turn to to get something going in tough games.
“He’s an impressive person, completely dedicated to being a great player. Whether he’s there yet is for others to decide.”
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