Turkey lost the second of three warm-up games before they depart for UEFA EURO 2008™ despite twice taking the lead against Uruguay in Bochum.
First starts
Strikes in each half from Arda Turan and Nihat Kahveci were not enough to prevent defeat although there was good news for coach Fatih Terim who gave FC Bayern München midfielder Hamit Altıntop his first start for the national side since breaking the second metatarsal in his right foot against Belarus in March. Yıldıray Baştürk was also in the first XI after an extended absence and it was he who set up Turkey's opener which was headed in by Arda in the 13th minute.
Half-time changes
However, the South Americans hit back after half an hour when Luis Suárez converted a penalty he had won himself after being fouled by Turkey goalkeeper Volkan Demirel. And it was Uruguay who ended the half on the attack prompting Terim to make changes at the break with Sabrı Sarıoğlu coming on for Hamit and Ayhan Akman replacing Fenerbahçe SK’s Kazım Kazım.
Late goals
The substitutions brought a near-immediate result as Nihat scored from a free-kick five minutes after the restart and it looked like Turkey would claim the victory when Sebastián Fernández missed a clear chance to score in the 63rd minute. However, 12 minutes from time, Suárez capitalised on a mistake by Gökhan Zan to score his second and in the 85th minute won another penalty with Emre Belözoğlu the guilty party on this occasion. SL Benfica's Cristian Rodríguez converted the spot-kick to complete his side's fightback. Turkey will face Finland on Thursday in their final friendly match of their pre-tournament camp in Germany.
Turkey: Volkan, Hakan Balta, Gökhan (Mevlüt 87), Emre Belözoğlu (Halil 65), Mehmet Topal, Nihat, Yıldıray (Tuncay 65), Arda (Tümer 60), Emre Aşık, Hamit (Sabri 46), Kazım (Ayhan 46).
Uruguay: Carini, Alcoba, Godín, Gargano, Caceres, Eguren, Suárez, Cavani, (Fernández 46), Pereira (Silva 68), Giménez (Rodríguez 56), González (Flores 75).
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