the Turkish national team on 19 June 2003, having been promoted the day before when he scored twice in a match for the Under-21 side. His debut came against the United States. Just three minutes after the opponents had taken the lead, he won a penalty after being fouled by Danny Califf and Frankie Hejduk, and Okan Yılmaz converted it to equalise. Tuncay then went on to score the winner in the second half, after picking up Volkan Arslan's cross to slot the ball past the American goalkeeper Tim Howard. He went on to score three goals and get an assist which won him the Silver Shoe Award and the Silver Ball Award, for the second best player, at the competition. Turkey finished in third place. He won many plaudits during the competition, with The Daily Telegraph claiming that Turkey "have unearthed a gem". Tuncay, along with Argentina's Gabriel Batistuta, currently holds the record for scoring the quickest goal in the history of the Confederations Cup for scoring within 120 seconds. Euro 2008 During the qualifying rounds of the tournament, Tuncay played eleven games, scoring three goals. He won his 50th international cap on 21 November 2007 in the final qualification game against Bosnia-Herzegovina. Turkey won 1–0 which secured a place in the finals of Euro 2008 the following summer. Tuncay played a major part in Turkey's progression to the semi-finals in Austria and Switzerland, as Turkey came from behind to win three games and earn the title "Comeback Kings". In the final group-stage game of Euro 2008, against the Czech Republic, Tuncay went in goal to play as a goalkeeper for the final few minutes, after starting goalkeeper Volkan Demirel was sent off for a push on Jan Koller, and Turkey having made all their substitutions. He picked up a second yellow card in the quarter-finals against Croatia which meant that he was suspended for the semi-finals against Germany. Drawing 2–2 until the 90th minute, having just scored minutes earlier to bring the score level, Turkey were undone by a German team who themselves had to come from behind to win the game. Tuncay registered two assists, in his four games during the 2008 European Championships finals. 2010 World Cup Qualifying After a World Cup qualifier on 6 September 2008 between Armenia and Turkey, two sides which have historical political problems, both teams received a FIFA Fair Play Award