The Turkish Football Federation has handed out a glossy brochure to reporters entitled “Letters to Euro 2008″.

The book, available in Turkish and English, is a collection of letters written by players and coaching staff in their own handwriting and detailing their thoughts about the tournament and the national team.

The letters throw light on why some of the players, including German-born Hamit Altintop, French-born Mevlut Erdinc and Kazim Kazim, born Colin Kazim-Richards in London, England, opted to play for Turkey instead of the country of their birth.

“I totally feel like a Turkish player,” writes Mehmet Aurelio, who was born Marco Aurelio Brito dos Prazeres in Rio de Janeiro but took Turkish citizenship in 2006 and changed his name.

“When the national anthem is played, I can feel my heart trembling,” he adds.

Kazim, who plays for Fenerbahce and scored a fabulous goal against Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-finals in April, says he chose Turkey “because success is more appreciated there”.

Kazim’s father is of Caribbean descent and his mother is Turkish Cypriot.

“When you look at me I might not seem like a typical Turk but actually I am,” he writes. “When I walk in the streets of London, nobody could know that I’m Turkish. In that case, to be called up to the national team is like a dream come true for me.”

Gelsenkirchen-born Bayern Munich midfielder Hamit, whose brother Halil plays for Schalke 04 but failed to make the final Euro 2008 squad, says that as “hot prospects” a few years ago he and Halil received an offer to play for Germany.

“But without even hesitating I have told them I would like to play for Turkey instead,” he writes.

PHOTO: A Turkey fan gestures before the Group A Euro 2008 soccer match against Portugal at the Stade de Geneve in Geneva REUTERS/Fatih Saribas

Chatting to some Turkish soccer journalists on Wednesday before the news conference with Nihat Kahveci and Hakan Balta, I got the sense they felt Turkey had some fine young attacking players and a lot of potential but could be fatally weakened at Euro 2008 by a dodgy back line.

“I’m a realist,” said Mutluhan Suner from the Kanalturk private television broadcaster.

“It’s not a bad team but their biggest problem is defence. The backs are not very good and they’ll have to take the game to the opponents to have any chance at all.

“I think Turkey will only take one or two points from the group stage and that won’t be enough.”

Altan Tanrikulu from Hurriyet newspaper said Turkey were worryingly erratic and predicted they would be able to make the semi-finals at best.

Coach Fatih Terim’s surprise decision to leave out VfB Stuttgart midfielder Yildiray Basturk was down to a personality clash that had been simmering for several years, he said. “It was a big mistake not to pick him.”

Milliyet newspaper correspondent Mehmet Demirkol disagreed, saying it was part of Terim’s bid to stamp his authority on the squad.

“He wanted to make the team his own, that’s the way he works,” he said, picking out young forward Mevlut Erdinc as a potential standout player of the tournament.

“He’s a striker but Terim uses him like a right winger and he’s strong on the ball and very fast,” he said.

What are your thoughts? Will Turkey be able to reproduce the form that won them third place at the 2002 World Cup or will they fall at the group stage?

Schalke’s stadium was awash with black, red and gold on Saturday evening as thousands of Germany fans turned out in rainy Gelsenkirchen to give the national team a rousing send-off to Euro 2008.

Chancellor Angela Merkel was there but chose a lime green jacket and white trousers instead of a Germany shirt, tricolor wig and scarf. She also wisely avoided the face paints.

Before the kick off against Serbia, Germany’s last friendly before their first match against Poland in Klagenfurt on June 8, I mingled with fans next to the sausage stand by the press area to gauge the mood.

Flag-draped student Maximilian Kahre from near Bielefeld said the fact Germany were one of the favourites might be a disadvantage as the pressure for success would be greater.

“It’s not good for us but I think we will do it anyway,” he said, clutching a black, red and gold garland around his neck. “There’s not much difference between the teams though,” he added. “Anyone could win it.”

“Sieg! (Victory!),” beamed Dorthe Brugger, a 30-year-old pharmaceuticals analyst from Munich, when asked what she expected from the national team. Schalke 04 striker Kevin Kuranyi was the standout player right now, she added.

Karsten Krull, a 40-year-old Schalke-supporting accountant from Detmold, said he expected Germany to reach at least the semi-finals but that he feared France or Italy would prove too good. Holland also had a decent chance, he added.

“The strongest German players at the moment are (Michael) Ballack and (Torsten) Frings, they are the strategists,” he said, turning to his seven-year-old son Vincent to ask whether he thought Germany had a chance of winning.

“No,” Vincent said, clutching a German flag. “Italy are the best.”

PHOTO: German Chancellor Angela Merkel waves to supporters during a friendly match between Germany and Serbia in Gelsenkirchen, May 31. REUTERS/Ina Fassbender

While Franck Ribery has already shown he can be Bayern Munich’s on-field inspiration, it looks like Luca Toni may turn out to have a even bigger effect on the club’s media profile.

Toni, the tall 30-year-old striker who is reportedly earning a Bundesliga record 10 million euros a year, has gone down a storm at Bayern since his 11-million euro move from Fiorentina.

The Italian scored a few in pre-season friendlies before picking up a knee injury that could see him miss the start of the Bundesliga. But so far he has been making more of an impact off the pitch than on at a club starved of real stars in recent years.

“Teenagers rave over him, mothers want him as their son-in-law, female supporters are at his mercy,” the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper said earlier this month.

Toni was “a heartbreaker, with a three-day beard, a charming smile and a weakness for Dolce & Gabbana,” it added.

“A natural ray of sunshine with his come-to-bed eyes and his pitch-black locks,” was how the Die Welt daily described him. The club had stopped counting the number of requests for interviews with the player, many from fashion and women’s magazines, the paper added.

Bayern officials are expecting the Toni effect to significantly boost merchandising revenue, perhaps lifting shirt sales to the million mark reached during 1995-96 when Juergen Klinsmann was a player there.

But it will be for his performance on the pitch that he will ultimately be judged. Has he got what it takes to meet the already sky-high expectations?

Iain Rogers, Berlin

Bayern Munich couldn’t stop AC Milan reaching the Champions League semi-finals but Lucio comfortably won his personal battle with fellow Brazilian Kaka in Wednesday night’s quarter-final, second leg.

There may be a lesson there for the watching Sir Alex Ferguson, and ultimately Rafael Benitez or Jose Mourinho, in how to neutralise the Champions League’s top scorer this season.

Perhaps still smarting from the penalty harshly awarded to Kaka in the first leg after his perfectly measured tackle, Lucio was all over Kaka from the kickoff and limited him to two shots all night.

From my vantage point high up in the top tier of the space-age Allianz Arena, the lanky defender seemed to be everywhere at once, making last-ditch challenges, surging out of defence to distribute the ball upfield and thwarting attack after Milan attack.

While waiting for kickoff, I chatted to a few Milan fans inside the stadium and Manchester Uniteds thumping 7-1 victory over AS Roma the previous night had certainly given them something to ponder for the semi-finals.

Adriano Soncini, a 42-year-old from Milan, said he had been surprised by Uniteds performance as he was used to English teams playing the long-ball game with passes pumped forward high into the box.

We will be much more careful than Roma when we play United, he said. Roma were presumptuous after winning the first leg and thought they were already in the semis but we wont make that mistake.

Iain Rogers is a Reuters correspondent based in Berlin