Turkey

Turkey are at their first World Cup since 2002, when they famously finished third. That's a 24-year absence finally ended, with a squad that has genuine quality even if it doesn't quite match the 2002 golden generation.

Hakan Çalhanoğlu of Inter Milan is their best player — one of the best defensive midfielders in Europe, calm, technical and excellent from set pieces. He's the kind of player who controls the tempo of games without anyone necessarily noticing. Mentioning him specifically sounds very informed.

Turkey are in Group D with USA, Paraguay and Australia. No result is certain in this group, and Turkey getting out of it would put them in the knockouts for the first time in over 20 years.

Turkish football has a complicated relationship with success — the league is strong, the fan culture is intense, and the national team has occasional brilliant moments that never quite string together into consistent tournament performances. This tournament could be different. Or it could be exactly the same.

The manager, Vincenzo Montella, is Italian — an unusual appointment that initially seemed strange but has produced better results than most of his Turkish predecessors. Sometimes hiring outside the obvious pool works.