TUNCAY SANLI'S GOAL SEND DERBY TO ROCK-BOTTOM!

Tuncay Sanli's great run of form continued as he fired Middlesbrough to a 1-0 win at Derby - in Paul Jewell's first match in charge at Pride Park.

Tuncay Sanli grabbed the only goal of the game shortly before half-time to seal a second successive victory for Boro.

The goal came against the run of the play at the time and it was totally out of keeping with what had gone before, as the Rams and Boro had previously appeared Premier League teams in name only.

Yet Tuncay's 38th-minute strike oozed quality as he stroked a sidefoot volley beyond Stephen Bywater from 15 yards in meeting a first-time cross from left winger Stewart Downing.

The goal stood out like a beacon, and after a run of 11 successive matches without a win for the visitors, it is now two on the trot for boss Gareth Southgate's side to lift them clear of the relegation zone.

Yet considering Southgate's side had primarily outplayed Arsenal in a shock 2-1 home win last weekend, this was a performance in stark contrast, in particular until they opened the scoring.

It could be that Boro were dragged down to Derby's level because the east midlands club surely cannot sink too much lower in this disastrous campaign.

Jewell commented in his pre-match press conference on Thursday on the basic need of eliminating the simple errors the team continue to make.

Yet despite captain Matt Oakley insisting Jewell had instilled an air of positivity since his arrival, his words are falling on deaf ears.

Tuncay's goal was a case in point as a ball was aimlessly hoofed clear out of defence, only for it to be pumped straight back into the path of Downing.

To be fair to Jewell and Derby, despite their inability to often play a ball in a straight line to a team-mate, they did create a number of chances, even if many were long range.

Teenage star Giles Barnes, Oakley and substitute Jay McEveley - who had replaced the injured Andy Griffin in the 29th minute - all tried their luck from distance.

Mark Schwarzer, returning in goal after missing the last two games with a broken thumb, was smartly down on each occasion to smother the respective shots on his goal-line.

Derby's best effort in the opening 45 minutes came within a minute of Tuncay's sweet strike, with Kenny Miller clipping the outside of the right-hand post with a shot on the turn from the edge of the area.

The only other moment of quality had earlier arrived in the fourth minute, courtesy of the fact Griffin was nowhere to be seen.

Taking advantage of the open space at left-back, Tuncay played an inch-perfect ball into the feet of Gary O'Neil, resulting in a searing angled drive that was superbly saved by Bywater.

The Rams goalkeeper then kept his side in the game eight minutes into the second half as Boro should have killed the game off.

But Bywater produced a stunning fingertip stop to turn a first-time drive from Downing inches past the left-hand post following an electrifying break to Tuncay to tee up the England winger.

Moments later, and with Derby's defence rocking, Boro captain George Boateng then planted a header against the left-hand post after diving onto a cross inside the area from Fabio Rochemback.

It prompted Jewell into a positive change as he brought on last week's goalscorer in the 4-1 defeat at Manchester United in striker Steve Howard for Gary Teale in the 56th minute.

With the Rams playing 4-4-2, and with Barnes switched to his more natural right-wing position, it offered Derby greater stability.

It was Barnes who had Derby's best two chances in a closing 30 minutes they primarily dominated as Boro were forced to defend in numbers.

But one 20-yard effort was dragged wide, while another from just inside the area was coolly plucked out of the air by Schwarzer.

In the end, with relegation rivals Wigan, Sunderland and Birmingham all picking up points, this was a bad day for Jewell and Derby.

Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate hailed the performance of in-form Tuncay that piled the agony on rock-bottom Derby.

Source:Wires

Groundbreaking for new Galatasaray Stadium!.

Galatasaray soccer team of Turkey laid the foundation of a new sports complex in Istanbul's Seyrantepe neighborhood on Thursday.

The stadium itself will have a retractable roof, with the complex having parking for 4,500 vehicles.

The stadium, being built by the Prime Minister Housing Development Administration of Turkey (TOKI) and the construction firm Erentalu-Alke, is expected to be completed in two years.

Ali Sami Yen was the scene of many great victories, but, is aged and crumbling.

ESPN: Fenerbahce 3-1 CSKA Moscow: Turkish delight!

Fenerbahce earned a place in the last 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday with a 3-1 win over already eliminated CSKA Moscow.

They join Group G winners Inter Milan in the draw for the first knockout round next week.

The Turkish were dominant from the outset but went behind to an own-goal by Edu after a mix-up with goalkeeper Volkan Demirel.

Alex took only two minutes to equalise, however, with a fine left-foot shot from 25 metres. Ugur Boral then scored in the 45th and 90th minutes.

The win demoted PSV Eindhoven, who lost 1-0 to Inter, to UEFA cup football.

WATCH FENERBAHCE V CSKA MOSKOW 3-1 HIGHLIGHTS

Fenerbahce storm into Champions League last 16

Fenerbahce 3- 1 CSKA Moscow


Fenerbahce advanced to the last 16 for the first time with a 3-1 defeat of CSKA Moscow on Wednesday.

Fenerbahce downed CSKA Moscow 3-1 with a double from Ugur Boral to go through from Group G. Group leaders Inter Milan were 1-0 winners at PSV Eindhoven, who had needed a win plus a Fenerbahce defeat to qualify.

Fenerbahce found themselves behind against CSKA Moscow after Edu Dracenu put the ball into his own net on the half hour.

Just two minutes later, Brazilian Alex levelled for the Turkish side with a 25-metre drop-shot, Ugur Boral hit a second in first-half injury time and notched his second and his side's third with a header in the last minute.

Eindhoven's hopes were meanwhile dashed when Edison Mendez was sent off for a professional foul in the first half against Inter Milan. The Dutch, playing for an hour with 10 men, could do nothing to stop David Suazo setting up Julio Cruz to net from close range in the 64th.

The results leave Inter Milan top of Group G on 15 points, with Fenerbahce on 11, PSV on seven and CSKA on one. The draw for the Round of 16 will be made in Nyon, Switzerland on Friday December 21.
Here are the top sixteen teams in the Tournament: Liverpool, Real Madrid, Porto, Schalke 04 and Olympiakos,AC Milan, Celtic, Barcelona, Manchester United, AS Roma, Inter Milan, Sevilla and Arsenal and Fenerbahce .

BESIKTAS AND ERTUGRUL SAGLAM WERE NOT FOCUSED!..

Before the do or die match against FC Porto , the Rookie Coach Ertugrul Saglam said to us that his boys and him self were focused for winning the match in Porto?.

Here is what he said before the match:``Our total focus is now on the Porto game, which is important both for us and Turkish football(soccer). Our aim is to write a new page in the club's history.''

Well, he did not write a new page in the club's history...He became the worst Turkish coach to take Besiktas to that 8-0 disaster against Liverpool!.

Coming back to the match against Fc Porto, Why would you have Baki Mercimek on your line-up , it is mine boggling to me!...

First goal was a huge mistake by Rustu Recber than second goal was a huge mistake by Baki Mercimek!... What really made me mad is the man who said he was focused to win this match did not do anything from the side line after the second goal. He just stood there...I made up my mine, Saglam is not ready to coach in big leagues!.
You had almost 30 minutes to get back in to match but, there were no actions from sideline and the players on the filed had no soul to fight....
They look like a bunch of losers in the second half....
They could not run and they could not pass...
You use 7 corner kicks against FC Porto and can't score?... come on give me brake!
It was a disaster second half for Besiktas last night...After the match Saglam said :"Porto Deserved To Beat Us" ..are you out of your mine... You were the week side..you did not do your job along with your players...and you have a guts to say" We have taken a lot of important lessons for the future. We're sad, but we've played some good football and haven't disappointed in Europe."
Are you out of your mine?...You were bad last night , Mr.Saglam!...get that through your young head!...and like you said, learn from your mistakes!...
AHMET TURGUT
WWWW.TURKISHSOCCER.COM, Editor

Here is the recap of the match:
Lucho Gonzalez and Ricardo Quaresma got on the scoresheet as Porto booked their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League with a convincing win over Besiktas on Tuesday.

Gonzalez got the ball rolling with a simple finish after some poor decision-making by goalkeeper Rustu Recber left the Besiktas goal wide open, and Quaresma made the points safe in the 62nd minute.

In between, Besiktas created some promising attacks, but ultimately they never looked like clawing themselves off the bottom of Group A.

Porto, meanwhile, go into the next round as group winners having collected three wins from their six games.

Despite the significance of the tie, the opening was tame.

Quaresma delivered the first of several unthreatening shots in the second minute when he chipped into Recber's arms, before using a 25-yard freekick to force a punched save a minute later.

Tarik Sektioui then drilled straight at the keeper with an ambitious drive from 30 yards, but the effort, like those from Besiktas duo Matias Delgado and Ibrahim Toraman in the next five minutes, barely warranted attention.

Irrespective of their profligacy, it was clear Porto, and in particular their midfield, were dominating the clash.

Their main problem, however, came from Recber.

The keeper looked to be in formidable form when he got down low to his left to tip Jose Bosingwa's near post drive around the post, and he was equally impressive in putting Lucho Gonzalez's effort wide for a corner.

Thereafter, the away side self-destructed.

From the resulting 44th minute set-piece, the ball bounced loosely to the edge of the area where Jose Raul Meireles mishit a shot tamely into the air.

It should have been an easy and uncontested catch for Recber, but instead the keeper stood motionless protesting - incorrectly - for an offside decision that did not come.

The ball was allowed to drop to Tarik Sektioui, who teed up Gonzalez to volley into the open net.

It was a gift of an opener, but prompted a spirited Besiktas response after the break.

First, Serdar Ozcan forced Helton to tip his low 46th minute effort around the post from close range and then Edouard Cisse volleyed Rodrigo Tello's inswinging corner wide a minute later.

Porto's Silva Paulo Assuncao and Besiktas' Burak Yilmaz then took turns to mishit shots as the second period wore on, but at no point did the Portuguese side look like conceding.

In fact, before they finally did make it 2-0, they forced another superb save from Recber.

Sektioui created the opening with a skilful run, and Quaresma came agonisingly close with a header which Recber more than matched with a fantastic reflex save.

It was a moment of retribution for the keeper, but he could so nothing to stop his side conceding in the 62nd minute.

Lisandro Lopez was the architect, bursting through the middle before passing to Quaresma, who held off a challenge and rolled a low shot into Recber's bottom left corner from the edge of the area.

Half-chances came and went as the game neared its conclusion, but the efforts, like most in this game, were weak.


Teams:


FC Porto Helton, Bosingwa, Pedro Emanuel, Bruno Alves, Fucile (Cech 75), Lucho Gonzalez (Bolatti 80), Paulo Assuncao, Raul Meireles, Sektioui (Postiga 73), Lopez, Quaresma.


Subs Not Used: Nuno, Joao Paulo, Mariano Gonzalez, Adriano.


Booked: Quaresma.


Goals: Lucho Gonzalez 44, Quaresma 62.


Besiktas Rustu, Tandogan, Toraman, Mercimek, Uzulmez, Ozcan, Yilmaz (Akin 46), Cisse, Delgado, Tello (Higuain 83), Bobo.


Subs Not Used: Arikan, Kas, Kurtulus, Sedef, Avci.


Booked: Rustu, Akin.


Att: 40,000


Ref: Peter Frojdfeldt (Sweden).

Turkey ( Turkiye) Under-17 Men's National Team '92s beat US Team

Photos courtesy of ussoccer.com

It has been more than twenty four hours that US 17'92s National team played against young Turks(92s) , and still there isn't one line a news on www.ttf.org(Turkish Football Federation site).....How do you like that....
After they lost their two matches , they figured they gave up on these youngsters playing in Florida.. Let's face it in their first match they lost to Brazil 7-2 and than lost to Russia 4-3 ....in their last game on Sunday,Young Turks beat US reserved team 2-0...a win is a win.....and this match was broadcast in North America by Fox soccer channel on tape , in prime time at 8:00 pm,ET.

American newspaper even talked and wrote about our young Turks but, not our own Federation and our own soccer media..Shame on you guys!....
Here are the articles that publish in US......




YOUNG TURKS RULE
U.S. U-17 team falls to Turkey, 2-0
http://www.bigapplesoccer.com/article.php?article_id=12494

Bradenton, Fla. -- Nothing lasts forever and that includes winning streaks.

After his team recorded a pair of 2-0 wins in his first two games as U.S. Under-17 national coach, Wilmer Cabrera watched his side go down to Turkey by the same exact score at IMG Academy Sunday.

Cabrera, who coached at B.W. Gottschee (Cosmopolitan Junior Soccer League) and was a staff coach with Eastern New York Youth Soccer Association ODP, has a 2-1 record after three games. The Americans defeated Russia Thursday and Brazil Saturday.

Two first-half goals from Ali Cukadar was the difference for the young Turks.



Turkey put the U.S. under pressure right from the start. Cukadar eluded his defender and got on the end of an Omer Karanci cross, snapping his header to the far post and beating goalkeeper Samir Badr in the 11th minute.

Two minutes before halftime, Kamil Tevfik played a long ball upfield for Berkin Aslan, who took a perfect first touch with the outside of his foot toward goal. Aslan saw Cukadar alongside him in the box and played a square ball into his path, and Cukadar put it in the net from two yards out.

“I think we had trouble finding a rhythm today,” second-half substitute Carlos Martinez said. “They took advantage of the scoring opportunities they created, and we didn’t put ours away. That’s how soccer goes sometimes, but we’ll be able to learn from this game and take the lessons back to practice.”

************************************************************



U-17 soccer team falls in finale
http://www.bradenton.com/sports/story/262059.html
U-17 soccer team falls in finale

BRIAN BLANCO
U.S. Under 17's #8 Edson Lemus tangles with Turkey's #6 Baris Yardimci during Sunday's game at IMG Academies in Bradenton. BRIAN BLANCO/bblanco@bradenton.com
By RYAN T. BOYD
rboyd@bradenton.com


BRADENTON --The bench was an unfamiliar place for Carlos Martinez. He never occupies it with his club team in Las Vegas, and in the past month as a member of the U.S. Under-17 national soccer team, Martinez never rode the pine.

He played prominent roles in the Americans' wins over Russia and Brazil in the 2007 Developmental Academy Nike Friendlies this weekend on the campus of IMG Academies.

But for Martinez, Sunday was different in more than one way.

When the U.S. faced Turkey in the final game of the four-day tournament, Martinez, a forward, was on the bench, along with eight other first-teamers.

From there they saw the Americans give up a goal for the first time in international play, losing 2-0 to Turkey in front of an overflow crowd in the third international match of the youngsters' careers.

"They punished us, because they finished their chances, and we didn't," said Martinez, 15. "I didn't come in until the second half. It's kind of hard to pick up the tempo of the game and finish our chances. It was pretty hard."

Coming off consecutive 2-0 victories over Russia and Brazil, arguably the world's top soccer power, the U-17s found themselves in a hole early.

In the 11th minute, a shot by Turkey's Ali Cukadar floated past U.S. reserve goalie Samir Badr, giving the Middle Eastern country a one-goal lead. The Americans had trouble pushing the ball and registered five shots on goal to Turkey's nine.

In the 43rd minute, Cukadar scored again, and Turkey coasted the rest of the way.

U-17 coach Wilmer Cabrera refuted thoughts of a team letdown or fatigue. The Americans played three tough matches in four days and captured two huge wins over stiff competition.

Cabrera said he wanted to test his reserve players.

"We want to play tough in a game against family," Cabrera said. "We need to know everybody on the field. We've been practicing with them, but the first two games, we've played with stronger players, but you don't know how good the other ones are if you don't play them.

"We needed to know that, and we need to correct some things."

Martinez scored a goal in both of the Americans' wins, but for a large portion of Sunday's match, all he could do was watch.

Watch the U.S. get pushed around by Turkey. Watch the American reserves struggle in a starting role, and watch their opponents snap celebratory pictures after the match.

Martinez's view from the bench was disappointing. He prefers not to leave the field.

"This was a learning experience," Martinez said. "We beat Brazil, and we were like, 'we are the best now, lets relax a little bit,' and we can't do that. No matter who the opponent is, we can't let down. Concentration-wise, we weren't there