It has happened more than once that Stefan Kuntz made the events on a soccer field sentimental, but the scenes from Monday evening in the small stadium in Riga, after Turkey beat Latvia 2-1, were different. Kuntz, the Turkish national coach, hid his face with his hand, seemed to want to disappear into his jacket, propped himself up on his knees. He was pressed and patted, he took a deep breath – and still had to cry. “I’m proud of my team,” he said later when the tears had dried. “You never gave up.” He felt that something was “growing together”.
The former national player, which is part of the history, was moved to tears as a coach for the first time on the big stage in 2017, at his first European championship as a German U21 coach. “You can only convey emotions if you are emotional yourself,” he said at the time after winning a penalty shootout against England in the semi-finals.
Kuntz is an emotional guy who goes down well
The tournament victory followed. He also fought back tears after reaching the finals at his second European Championship in 2019, just as he did in 2021 after winning his second title. “There was really a risk of tears. It got under my skin,” he said after receiving the meeting at the DFB headquarters.
The moment that gave way to tears: Burak Yilmaz, right, converted a penalty in the 99th minute of the World Cup qualifier against Latvia to give Turkey a 2-1 win.
(Photo: Roman Koksarov / AP)
Kuntz, 58, is an exceptionally emotional coach, his empathetic manner with which he can inspire players is one of his great strengths, with which he finally qualified for the job as coach of the Turkish national team this summer. And when working with his new team, it only took two games for Kuntz to cry. In Latvia, the team under him achieved the first victory that keeps faint hopes of qualifying for the World Cup in Qatar alive.
But of course it wasn’t just any victory. It was a 2: 1 after 0: 1 deficit, which only decided a penalty, after a foul in the fifth minute of stoppage time, although only four were displayed. Referee Andreas Ekberg did not whistle at first, then looked at the scene again after consulting the German video referee Daniel Siebert in the seventh minute of stoppage time and decided in the eighth that the Turkish striker Burak Yilmaz had been fouled in the penalty area. A reasonable decision. In the ninth minute of stoppage time, Yilmaz, 36, competed himself – and scored.
Kuntz has been a coach in Turkey for three and a half weeks now, it should be a long-term collaboration, his contract runs until EM 2024. But even if the situation of the team in the World Cup qualification was unfortunate before he started work and the team was under his predecessor Senol Günes lost 6-1 to the Netherlands and is expected to be successful in the short term. The sports newspaper Fanatics headlined after the 1-1 draw against Norway last week at Kuntz’s debut: “The German vaccine didn’t work.”
Since the draw against the runner-up in the table, qualification for the Turks is no longer possible on their own. In addition to their own victories, they need a defeat for the Norwegians, who at least face the league leaders Netherlands on the last day of the game. With a draw in Latvia, this hope would also have been in vain. Now third Turkey is still two points behind in second place. “We still have hope,” wrote Hürriyet. And in the sports newspaper Fotomac it said: “Kuntz needs time and patience.” But there was also some criticism to read again: “In just two games he could have changed the line-up, the player selection, the moves and showed his difference.”
After the game, Kuntz didn’t just talk about positive things. “It wasn’t all good, there is a lot that can be improved,” he said. But something else should predominate: the emotions. “It wasn’t just three points, it was also important for the mentality,” he said. The native of Neunkirchen said that he had “heard from his hometown that there was a parade of cars on the streets from Turkish fans.” Kuntz believes: “The relationship between the team and the fans is slowly healing.”