With Güler, Yildiz the future is bright for Euro 2032 hosts Turkey - ESPN

BERLIN, Germany — There were tears from Turkey captain Hakan Çalhanoglu at the end of Saturday's Euro 2024 quarterfinal defeat to the Netherlands.

At 30-years-old, the Internazionale midfielder may not get another chance of reaching the final of a major tournament, and so you can understand his disappointment.

The thousands of Turkey fans who crammed into Berlin's Olympiastadion will be frustrated too, after watching their team let slip a 1-0 lead to lose 2-1 to a Dutch team who were out-played and out-fought for nearly an hour.

But when the dust settles and the emotion subsides, there will be cause for optimism for those who have followed Turkey's campaign in Germany so ferociously. Ay-Yıldızlılar have been here before, reaching the semifinals of the World Cup in 2002 and the last four of Euro 2008. But on each occasion, they couldn't build on it and those highlights are anomalies on their tournament record.

The challenge for this group — whether it's led by head coach Vincenzo Montella or not — is to take what they've done with a young, exciting squad and use it as a platform to achieve bigger and better things. The goal should be to make these games the norm, particularly with a home Euros to come in 2032.

«We should have no regrets,» said Montella. «We are a very young team and we must be proud, proud of the players, because they played with a Turkish spirit. The Turkish people love us and they deserve it. After these Euros, Turkey will be seen with different eyes, probably with more respect.»

Since finishing third at the World Cup in Japan and South Korea more than 20 years ago, Turkey haven't qualified for another. It's been a similar story at the Euros, finishing third 16 years ago and then either failing to