Turkish skipper before opener against Australia
3 min readJun 13, 2026 09:15 PM IST Australia and Turkey start their FIFA World Cup campaign in Vancouver on Sunday morning (India time), but the battle of words began a long time before that. Turkish captain Hakan Calhanoglu didn’t mince words when he predicted that his team would dominate the Socceroos because they have “more qualities and a more talented team.” If it was a ploy to rile up the opposition before a big game, it certainly got the Aussies’ attention. However, they didn’t respond to the jibe in kind, with coach Tony Popovic only saying that his team was ready to “spoil the party.” Not just the skipper, defender Ozan Kabak also said “I think that we can beat them.” Calhanoglu was pretty forthcoming in his assessment. “Our coach analysed them with us together. So, we know that they’re a physical team, that they’re good on the corner kicks and the free kicks because they are tall and strong,” the Inter Milan midfielder said. “I think that we dominate tomorrow the game because …








