Veteran Turkey footballer and captain Burak Yilmaz has officially announced his retirement from international games following a 3-1 defeat against Portugal, where the star missed a vital penalty. The defeat permanently closed all doors for Turkey to be a part of Qatar’s football world cup later this year.
Burak Yilmaz Retires from International Football
Fans are in shock after the sudden retirement announcement came from Burak Yilmaz. He had been phenomenal initially in the playoffs, pulling his side back into contention after goals from Otavio and Diogo Jota helped their team Portugal to be ahead by 2-0.
The Lillie forward smashed a goal for Turkey to bring them within one goal of Portugal and had the opportunity to equal the game with a penalty six minutes from time. However, the pressure was for Yilmaz and he hit the ball over the bar in the air.
The opposition then made the battle safe through Matheus and will be facing North Macedonia in the play-off final.
After the Match
After the match, a very emotional Burak Yilmaz told reporters,
I don’t know how I didn’t score, I’m still in shock. We upset our country. I’m sorry, I’m very sorry. This was my last World Cup chance. As of today, this is over.
He further added that he said to himself it was a sure goal after they got the penalty. He was disappointed because he couldn’t imagine the penalty would be missed. An emotional Yilmaz further added that every night he’ll be scoring the goal without sleep in his dreams.
Talking about his decision to quit the game he said it wasn’t emotional.
I wouldn’t want to quit after a game like this, but I don’t think it’s right to continue. Thank you to my coaches. My decision to quit is not emotional. I make this decision logically.
Yilmaz also assured if there’s an extreme situation he’ll be there to help. He believes it’s time to lend responsibility to the younger generation who will be doing it beautifully, he believes.
After his debut in 2006, Yilmaz had an incredible 16 years in football with 77 caps in total with 31 goals, which is the second-highest of any Turkey player behind the great Hakan Sukur.
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