Turkey coach Montella says he won't resign after winless World Cup start, admonishes heckling fans
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Turkey coach Vincenzo Montella says he does not plan to resign with his team already eliminated from championship contention at the World Cup after two scoreless defeats.
Montella also fought back against what he considers to be excessive criticism of his team, received both online and in person, during a passionate news conference on Wednesday. Turkey finishes its World Cup against the unbeaten co-host U.S. on Thursday night at SoFi Stadium.
“Will I resign? The answer is no,” Montella said through an interpreter. “Because I still have energy. I still have enthusiasm. I also feel stronger after this experience. Maybe if there is somebody who wants me to resign, well, maybe they will have to accept I will not.”
The Italian coach, who led Turkey back to the World Cup after a 24-year absence as the peak of his largely successful tenure, pleaded with his team’s fans and media to be civil and even supportive after their World Cup was scuttled by a 2-0 loss to Australia and a 1-0 loss to Paraguay. Turkey dominated both games by many statistical measures, but couldn’t find the opposing net.
Montella is aware of the massive disappointment in a Turkish team that was a popular pick to have significant success at this World Cup, and he doesn’t want this setback to affect his young players’ attitudes or their confidence in the future of Turkish soccer.
“These are the same boys, the same players who are here today and who maybe will be here in the future, so I really ask you to respect them,” Montella said. “Because they are our boys, they are our players, and I have seen personal attacks that I cannot accept, because this is something you are doing against your own son, and this I cannot accept.”
The Turkish team was subjected to profane heckling from a handful of angry fans when it arrived by bus at the team hotel in Los Angeles on Tuesday. A fan yelled in English: “Montella go home!” at the coach, who is not fluent in Turkish, and called out football federation president Ibrahim Hacisomanoglu before attempting to personally provoke captain Hakan Calhanoglu.
“I was not expecting congratulations all the time, but I was not expecting this kind of communication,” Montella said. “We have people that have been (supportively) following us by car from the stadium to the airport to hotels. We had a (heckling) group of three, four people probably, and now thinking that this is how the whole country feels, well, this is negative. This is not positive for the system, because we had 50 more (fans) who were supportive.”
Montella repeatedly cited the long list of statistical positives from the Turks’ two games while acknowledging they didn’t translate into wins. Kenan Yildiz, Turkey’s 21-year-old winger, said his teammates are particularly frustrated to get no results from what they felt were two solid performances.
“The expectations were really high for us,” Yildiz said. “We went out early, but I think it was not in a bad way, to be honest. Two games where we were the better team. I think in the statistics, we were (better) in a lot of places. We had the most shots. We won a lot of duels. Both games, we did good, we did our best. That shows in the statistics. But how it is in football, statistics don’t win the games.”
Montella is a former manager of AC Milan, Sevilla and Fiorentina. He took over Turkey’s team in September 2023 and guided it to the quarterfinals of the 2024 European Championship. Turkey excelled in the World Cup qualifying playoffs last March, securing its first berth since 2002.
Turkey can still leave North America with success, and Montella believes his players will embrace the chance to put a positive finish on this World Cup against the group-winning Americans, who are likely to rest several key players in a meaningless match.
“I am very motivated,” Montella said. “I have the support of the president (Hacisomanoglu), and this is enough for me. I have the support of the players, and this is even more important. I am a professional, and during this time I have put my heart and my passion into this team.”
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