Ersan chose Turkey over the Socceroos. This is how he sees the World Cup opener playing out
Ersan Gulum watched the Socceroos play Curacao on Tuesday night, then, a few hours later, huddled around a television with about 100 other Turks to watch what was, for them, the main event of the week.
The name might ring a few bells. Born and raised in Melbourne, Gulum was eligible to represent either Turkey, the land of his heritage, or Australia. His first international call-up came from Guus Hiddink – but in 2010, when the Australian football favourite was in charge of Turkey.
Gulum did not play in that window, and then, despite interest from the Socceroos, missed Holger Osieck’s squad for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. The following year, Turkey called him up again – at the time, he was playing for Besiktas, one of the country’s biggest clubs, which made it difficult for him to say no.
Seven caps later, Gulum is best remembered alongside Christian Vieri, Josip Simunic and – maybe one day – Cristian Volpato and Adrian Segecic as the ones who got away from Australia.
So when the Socceroos face Turkey in their World Cup opener on June 13, Gulum’s allegiance is clear.
“I’ll be going for Turkey,” he said. “But in all other games, I’ll be supporting Australia.”
Gulum, now 38 and retired, these days is president of NPL Victoria’s Hume City FC, the biggest Turkish club in Australia. It was at their clubhouse where he joined other members of the diaspora, chowing down breakfast toasties as they watched Turkey defeat Kosovo 1-0 and confirm their place in Group D at the World Cup with the United States, Paraguay and the Socceroos.
By rankings, Turkey (No.22 in the world) was the least desirable of the four possible qualifiers from an Australian perspective.
But those who fear them might have it backwards, because Gulum reckons Turkey won’t be looking forward to playing the Socceroos.
“It’s going to be interesting,” he said. “Australia is going to be a well-drilled, organised team. That’s credit to Tony Popovic. There’s something about them, definitely.
“I enjoyed watching Australia play … I couldn’t say that before that, I think. Popa’s done an amazing job. He’s got them playing disciplined football. It’s not going to be easy to break them down – every team that plays Australia is going to [find it] tough.
“There’s a bit of self-belief there as well, and there’s a few key players … a squad that can turn the game when it’s required.”
Turkey have plenty of those, too – more in their current squad than Gulum can ever recall. The standout is Arda Guler, the 21-year-old Real Madrid star, whose assist for Turkey’s goal in their preliminary qualifier against Romania showcased his ability to pull rabbits out of hats.
But the Socceroos can’t put too much focus on shutting him down when there are other threats, such as Inter Milan’s Hakan Çalhanoğlu, their captain, plus Juventus forward Kenan Yildiz, one of the world’s best young players, and Barış Yilmaz of Galatasaray.
Australia’s best chance, Gulum believes, is working as a unit to spoil their opponents, limit their chances, grind them down and then strike at the right moment.
The 5-1 win over Curacao, an admittedly lower-calibre side, was almost that exact scenario: while the Socceroos struggled for fluency in the first hour, the decision to send on Nestory Irankunda, Jordan Bos and Riley McGree all at once changed the game.
While some Socceroos fans would prefer to see more enterprise from Popovic’s team, Gulum can see what he’s trying to do with his back five formation.
“When Australia plays defensive, they tire them down mentally, physically, they get the opposition frustrated,” Gulum said.
“Then they look to leave more holes in their backline because they’re trying to score, right? And then you put on these key players that are fresh, young and explosive. I’m not a coach, but just viewing, you could get that idea of what he’s trying to enforce. He’s embedding that into the team, and it’s working.”
Turkey’s win over Kosovo was not exactly champagne football; Gulum could see players struggling under the weight of playing for a nation of 86 million obsessives, as he once experienced. This World Cup will be their first since 2002.
“There’s a lot of stress,” he said. “The expectations are high.
“They’re all exceptional players and Turkey is very fortunate to have them. They deserve to qualify for the World Cup. It wasn’t pretty football, but that’s World Cup qualifying – you’re not meant to play pretty football, you’re meant to get the result.
“The nation needs it. Obviously, Turkey lives and breathes football. It brings the nation together. Now, qualifying for the World Cup will help them as well to brand the name of Turkish football for better things.”