This evening the Turkish national team hosts Bosnia-Herzegovina in a match at İstanbul's İnönü Stadium the Turks must win to keep their qualifying hopes alive. Turkey will then travel to Tallinn next Wednesday for its fourth group match against Estonia.

The Turks beat Armenia 2-0 in Yerevan in their opening group match but required a 74th-minute penalty from captain Emre Belözoğlu to hold Belgium in İstanbul last month. So with four points from two games, Turkey is in dire need for maximum points today.

But Emre, who snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat for Turkey against the Belgians, as host of the other first choice will be missing today due to injury. In all, eight of the players that helped his side reach the semifinals of Euro 2008 will be absent.

Injuries have restricted his attacking options, with Nihat Kahveci, Tuncay Şanlı, Semih Şentürk and Hamit Altıntop all unavailable for selection. Other Euro 2008 squad members Gökhan Zan, Mehmet Topal, Gökdeniz Karadeniz and Belözoğlu were excused from the squad, along with Gökhan Gönül and Gökhan Ünal. That has forced coach Fatih Terim to look elsewhere, with Turgay Bahadır and Yusuf Şimşek earning call-ups.

But Terim, the former AC Milan and Galatasaray coach, was undaunted as he talked to uefa.com this week. "I've always said that as long as we have 11 players on the pitch like our opponents, then there's no excuse," he said, adding: "But as well as winning, I want my team to play good football in the process. This is important because when you play nice football you may lose a game once in a while but you win the majority. I think that good football, nice football, attacking football is always paramount."

Looking at this week's FIFA rankings, Turkey has dropped from 10th to 13th while Bosnia is not even in the first 50, meaning the two countries are miles apart in the universe of soccer. But FIFA rankings do not usually determine the outcome of international matches and so Turkey should guard against complacency this evening. The game will be refereed by Hungarian Viktor Kassai.

Elsewhere in Group 5 today, Spain will be attempting to make it 26 successive matches without defeat when it plays in Tallinn against pointless Estonia, which lies at the bottom of Group 5 after losing its first two qualifiers, while Belgium will be welcoming Armenia to Brussels.

Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque had some injury scares although the European champion should be confident of winning at Estonia. Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez says the Euro 2008 triumph, 44 years after Spain's only other championship triumph, has given the players enormous confidence.

"Without a doubt, we all feel more appreciated, more important across the world. We just needed to win something," Xavi said. "Myself, personally, I feel better prepared, stronger.

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21:00 Turkey vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina

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