Turkey, Ireland meet in football friendly today
Cengiz u00dcnder, who is in top form with Roma, was called up for the national team.


The Turkish national football team will be playing its 556th international tie, and seventh under coach Mircea Lucescu when it faces Ireland in a friendly in Antalya today. The Crescent-Stars have so far won just a single match under the Romanian coach since he replaced Fatih Terim at the helm on Aug. 2. They have lost three and drawn the other.

Lucescu's reign was off to a shaky start as Turkey lost the first match 2-0 against Ukraine in 2018 World Cup qualifications.

Following the defeat, Turkey managed to win against Croatia 1-0 but lost 3-0 against Iceland in Eskişehir, bidding farewell to the 2018 World Cup. In the last qualification match, Turkey drew 1-1 with Finland.

The first friendly under Lucescu also ended in disappointment when Turkey lost 2-0 to Romania. The poor results have stirred up discomfort among Turkish football fans while some commentators and sports writers have questioned Lucescu's methods. Of the 556 international ties in 94 years, Turkey played 293 official and 262 friendly matches.

The Crescent-Stars won 209 matches, drew in 128 matches and lost 218. They scored 729 goals and conceded 806 goals in total against 87 different national teams.

Turkey played its last friendly match against Albania which it lost 2-3 in Antalya on Nov. 13, 2017. After the Republic of Ireland, Turkey will face Montenegro in another friendly on March 27 in Podgorica, Montenegro.