Turkey names Yanal as national soccer coach

Yanal replaces Senol Gunes, who was fired last month following intense criticism of Turkey’s failure to qualify for this year’s European Championship in Portugal. Turkey, a 2002 World Cup semifinalist, was knocked out by Latvia in a playoff.

National federation chief Haluk Ulusoy said Yanal had been appointed coach for four years, but some details still need to be worked out. Yanal was expected to continue coaching Genclerbirligi until the end of the season.

Yanal’s main task will be to qualify for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany.

"We are focusing on the 2006 World Cup qualifiers," Yanal said. "We want to bring the national team to the spot it deserves to be."

Under Yanal, Genclerbirligi made it to the fourth round of the UEFA Cup – a rare accomplishment for a Turkish club not based in Istanbul. Genclerbirligi was eliminated from the competition by Valencia on a 2-1 aggregate score.

Yanal coached Denizlispor and Ankara’s other team, Ankaragucu, before transferring to Genclerbirligi, which is eighth in the Turkish league, 27 points behind leader Fenerbahce.