FC Seoul Coach Senol Gunes ready for Beckham clash

FC Seoul's boss Senol Gunes is looking forward to finalizing pre-season preparations with a friendly against LA Galaxy and David Beckham this weekend.

The K-League team provide the first opposition for the MLS club on their East Asian tour.

"This is our last game before the season starts," Gunes told reporters. "We will do our very best."

Seoul kick-off their season on March 9 with a tough game at home to Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i.

"We have held pre-season training camps in Japan and Turkey," the former Turkish national team coach added.

"The 2008 season starts now. The players got a chance in 2007 to get some playing time under their belts."

Gunes took charge of the capital outfit in January 2007 and enjoyed a mixed season, taking Seoul into seventh.

He expects a higher placing this season.

"Our target is to win the league. The club has high expectations and it wont be easy but we are ready."

FORTIS CUP TIME...WILL IT BE GALATASARAY OR FENERBAHCE?.....

Galatasaray will host the game against Fenerbahçe which is the second game of quarter finals in Turkish Cup at Ali Sami Yen stadium.The game will start at 20.00. local time(1:00 ET ).The winner of the game between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce will be defined tonight.The previous game between the two teams had ended with a score of 0-0.
The revenge game will be at Ali Sami Yen stadium. The game will be broadcast live on Lig TV.The winner team will qualify for the semi-finals as the first game ended with a tie.
Also, Besiktas hosts Caykur Rizespor, Kayserispor will be home against Genclerbirligi OFTAS Spor .
On Tuesday, Genlerbirligi was the first team to qualified to play in Semi-Finals.
Genclerbirligi 2-2 AdanaDemirspor.

ESPN:Fenerbahce plan glorious decade

Dominic Raynor,ESPN

'We will be like Chelsea, AC Milan or Real Madrid within 10 years. This is inevitable.'


Those are the words of Fenerbahçe's ambitious president Aziz Yilidrim, who got slightly over excited after presiding over the Turkish champions' first foray into the knockout stages of the Champions League after five attempts.

Possibly delirious after breaking the Turkish record for points accrued in the group phase of Europe's premier competition, beating arch-rivals Galatasaray's total of ten points by a single digit, Yilidrim was happy to tell anybody who would listen that Fenerbahçe Spor Kulübü have arrived.

'The next 10 years will be for Fenerbahçe, everyone should accept that,' he said. 'We have not yet reached our full potential, but Fenerbahçe has taken the first step on the way to further growth.'

Yilidrim's bullish statement preceded the Yellow Canaries' 3-2 home win against FC Sevilla in the first leg of their last 16 clash and we can only imagine how he will ratchet up the rhetoric if they manage to maintain their advantage and squeeze into the quarter-finals.

And while Yilidrim's claims that the club can be elevated to the level of the former G14 cartel within a decade might be a bit fanciful there is no doubt that dramatic change has taken place at Fenerbahçe since he succeeded ex-chairman Ali Sen in 1998.

The former construction tycoon has increased the capacity of the Sükrü Saracoglu Stadium to 52,500, sold 16% of the club's shares and trademarked Fenerbahçe. But despite increasing his organisation's revenue he is a long way off matching his idolised trio in the top five of football's rich list.

Fenerbahçe are also a long way from being a credible alternative to Europe's established clubs for the world's best players but the Turkish club have certainly attracted some top talent to boost their profile around the globe; including Chelsea's newest recruit, £15million striker Nicolas Anelka.

The French international, who has cost more in cumulative transfer fees than any player in history at £84.8 million, joined the club for £7million in 2005 as part of Fenerbahçe's budget version of the galatico era that also saw Argentina international Ariel Ortega, Ukrainian striker Serhiy Rebrov and Dutch striker Pierre van Hooijdonk pass through the club.

In Zico the club now has a coach with enough gravitas to attract further household names and in the summer the former Brazil international was instrumental in attracting compatriot and World Cup winner Roberto Carlos to the club.

The former Real Madrid left-back joined Alex de Souza, another Brazilian, who has won 48 caps for his country, Dutch Eredivisie golden boot winner Mateja Kezman and highly-rated Ghana midfielder Stephen Appiah in the clubs increasing pool of recognizable talent.

If Fenerbahçe can squeeze past Sevilla into the quarter-finals of the Champions League the club may well embark on a glorious decade as Yilidrim predicts but the Yellow Canaries will never fly as high as Europe's established clubs because history is against them.

It is the same reason that Chelsea, despite their riches and success, will never be in the same bracket as Juventus, Liverpool, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and their peers; clubs simply can't buy a glorious European past, even in these days of billionaire oligarchs.

History puts two of Yildirim's triple targets in AC Milan and Real Madrid out of reach but if he can mastermind Fenerbahçe's continued rise for the next ten years the Turkish club can aspire to become one of Europe's new powers - not unlike his third target Chelsea.

If you have any thoughts you can email Dominic Raynor.
dom.raynor@soccernet.com

TURKCELL SUPER LEAGUE SUNDAY WRAP

AFTER FENERBAHCE, GALATASARAY GOES DOWN IN THEIR HOME TURF!


I know one thing ,there is no consistency with our Turkish top teams!..

They cant just handle two matches in one week!...

Just because, you are playing in European competation ,that does not mean, that you have to lose your league matches.

First, Fenerbahce,after a big win against Sevilla in the mid-week , on Saturday, loss at home against Bursaspor, the team that is really struggling in the league!..

Bursaspor was the last team beat Fenerbahce at their home turf, 37 match before. and they beat them again on Saturday ,with the score 2-0 and both goals scored by Sinan.


On Sunday, the other team(Galatasaray), that played UEFA Cup match in Germany on Thursday and demolish by Lavernkusen, was on their home turf against the last team in the league Kasimpasaspor

They look like ,they were the one last place team!...

Galatasaray, just when they could open the gap between Fenerbahce ,they kept the the top spot with only one point difference (51).

Besiktas, the team who played on Friday and won, seem like, was the lucky one at the end of week 23Th.

After, Galatasaray and Fenerbahce not winning their match, and last week's third place team Sivaspor, drawing at home, made Besiktas, again top contender for the top spot.

Next weekend, will be another derby match between Galatasaray and Besiktas...the winner will gain a big advantage an route to the top spot.......

In the middle week, Galatasaray will face Fenerbahce in the Fortis Turkish Cup...

Here are the other scores from Sunday.....

Ankaraspor 0- 3 Kayserispor
Sivasspor 0-0 Caykur Rizespor
İstanbul Büyüksehir Belediyespor 1- 2 Ankaragücü
Trabzonspor 2- 2 Vestel Manisaspor

TURKCELL SUPER LEAGUE SATURDAY WRAP:

BURSASPOR UPSET FENERBAHACE AT HOME!...

Fenerbahce have failed to take their UEFA Champions League form into the domestic league as they fell 2-0 at home to mid-table Bursaspor.

The champions made several changes from the side which beat Sevilla in mid-week, and fell behind to a Sinan Kaloglu penalty after 28 minutes.

The first-half substitute grabbed his second with five minutes remaining, ending Fenerbahce's run of four wins and leaving them a point behind league leaders Galatasaray, who face Kasimpasa later this weekend.

Genclerbirligi continued their revival by trashing Konyaspor 6-1 in Ankara.

Mehmet Nas opened the scoring after only three minutes, before Okan Ozturk's brace after 19 and 39 minutes.

Yusuf Kurtulus pulled one back on the stroke of half-time, but further goals from Engin Baytar, Isaac Promise and Burhan Eser completed the rout.

In the day's other game, Genclerbirligi OFTAS recovered from two straight defeats to claim a draw at Gaziantepspor.

The visitors took the lead with a Ergun Penbe own goal after eight minutes, but da Silva Beto equalised from the penalty spot five minutes later.

Nikola Petkovic was sent off for Genclerbirligi OFTAS with 17 minutes remaining, but they held on for a 1-1 draw.

ON FRIDAY
Besiktas maintained their pressure on the top two after a comfortable win at Denizlispor on Saturday (AEDT).

Two goals in two first-half minutes from Filip Holosko (31) and Mert Nobre (33) ensured the points for the Istanbul side, who are now two points behind leaders Galatasaray and one behind second-placed Fenerbahce.

Serhat Gulpinar's 81st-minute reply was a mere consolation for the hosts, who remain seventh in the standings.

Besiktas midfielder Ali Tandogan was sent-off in the 62nd minute but Denizlispor could not capitalise on the numerical advantage.

WORST DEFEAT FOR GALATASARAY IN UEFA CUP

Galatasaray's Hakan Sukur reacts during the UEFA Cup third round soccer match against Bayer Leverkusen in Leverkusen February 21, 2008.
Photo:REUTERS

The team we all came to love as a Turkish citizen in the mid 90's,who was know as lyons of Turkey, Galatasaray,was handed the worst defeat in the UEFA cup, by German team ,Bayer 04 Leverkusen. 5-1.

Bayer 04 Leverkusen defeated Galatasaray 5-1 on third round second leg match in Germany on Thursday. Galatasaray was disqualified from the cup.


Stadium: Bay Arena

Referees: Damir Skomina, Primoz Arhar, Marko Stancin (Slovakia)

Bayer 04 Leverkusen: Fernandez, Haggui, Friedrich, Cartro, Rolfes, Kiesling (mink. 73 Gekas), Vidal, Schneider (min. 76 Dum), Barbarez (min. 64 Schwegler), Barnetta, Sarpei.

Galatasaray: Orkun, Emre, Servet, Baris, Mehmet Topal (min. 46 Sabri), Ayhan (min. 68 Barusso), Serkan (min. 46 Lincoln), Arda, Volkan, Hakan Sukur, Umit.

Scorers: Barbarez (min. 11, 22), Kiesling (min. 13), Haggui (min. 55), Schneider (min. 60 penalty) (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Barusso (min. 87 penalty) (Galatasaray)

WATCH FENERBAHCE V SEVILLA MATCH GOALS...

You will here great Turkish Football(soccer) play by play announcer, Halit Kivanc, as a Commentator along with another great of his time, Ilker Yasin, in this video.