COULD TRABZONSPOR DO IT AGAIN?

Three teams from Turkey, Galatasaray,Fenerbahce and Trabzonspor are going to play their first leg match in the UEFA Europa League play-off round , on Thursday.

Out of three Trabzonspor team will have the world's attention because they will face the world class team, Liverpool.


Liverpool, just like Fenerbahce , missed the chance to play in the Champions League..

The last time two team met it was 34 years ago...

In the first match, than, Trabzonspor the Cinderella team pulled the upset and beat Liverpool Anfield Road stadium!

In that match , now the coach of the Trabzonspor and Former Turkish National team coach Senol Gunes was in goal for Trabzonspor.

That time, coach of the Trabzonspor was Ahmet Suat Ozyazici now Senol Gunes's Technical Advisor....




(Trabzonspor Team Chairman Sadri Sener ,Technical Advisor Ahmet Suat Ozyazici(coach of 1976 Trabzonspor Team) and coach Senol Gunes in the Anfiled Road Stadium)


It is so coincidence that Senol Gunes's career turn around with Trabzonspor, again!


Actually forgotten Senol Gunes was remembered by Trabzonspor and pulled away from his coaching job in the South Korea to coach to Trabzonspor in the late part of the last season!


He finally got the attention from his home town team ..........

His coming back to Trabzon was little late but well deserved!

That Senol Gunes, after winning the Turkish Cup, earned to play in the UEFA Europa League play-off round.

Who would thought, Senol Gunes will be the coach of Trabzonspor and they will face World class Liverpool again, after 34 years?


That is why this is got to be so special for Senol Gunes...


This does not happened all the time!

But, Trabzonspor lost to second leg match to Liverpool at home with 0-3 score...

34 years ago Things were much different in Trabzon and Turkey!

Then, Trabzonspor played most of their matches on the dirt fields....

They did not have grass fields!

A lot of things has changed since than......

Trabzonspor knows that the task is a difficult this time,,,,

Liverpool may be arguably the most difficult opponent in the Europa League playoff but Trabzonspor has established a good team under Senol Gunes.

They have a lot of good talents on the team......

My only worry with Trabzonspor is their young keeper Onur Kivrak!

This is going to be his biggest match in his career ....

He is good keeper but, can he handle the pressure of Anfield Road stadium?

That is the biggest question mark.....

If Trabzonspor wants to win or draw this match Onur Kivrak should play flawlessly.

"BESIKTAS HAS ONE FOOT IN"

Turkey's star studded team Besiktas beat HJK Helsinki with 2-0 score in the first leg of their Europa League ties.

Besiktas had started 8 foreign players in this match!

There were only Turkish players on the first eleven.....



Goals from Roberto Hilbert and Ricardo Quaresma(q7) gave Besiktas an advantage heading into next week's second leg of their Europa League play-off against HJK Helsinki.


German Hilbert opened the scoring in the 35th minute and Portuguese international Quaresma followed up with a crucial second midway through the second half to wrap up a 2-0 win.


After the match , Besiktas coach Schuster said , "we could say we have the one foot in the Euro League"



Statidum: BJK Inonu

Referees: Ovidiu Alin Hategan, Octavian Sovre, Miklos Istvan Nagy (Romania)

Besiktas: Cenk, Ekrem, Zapotocny, Ferrari, Ismail, Hilbert, Tabata (min. 70 Necip), Ernst, Guti, Quaresma (min. 88 Nihat), Bobo (min. 82 Holosko)

HJK Helsinki: Wallen, Scapini, Magnusson, Ojala, Kansikas, Sorsa, Mattia (min. 75 Karkkaihen), Fowler, Bah, Westo (min. 69 Parikka), Pelvas (min. 46 Makela)
Scorers: Min. 35 Hilbert, min. 66 Quaresma (Besiktas)

Monday Recap....Defending Champs Bursaspor win!

Turkey's only team who will play in the UEFA's Champions League ,Bursaspor won their first match in the Turkish Super league .

The tittle defenders of Turkey won the match but could not hold on the lead...

Because they did not score many goals(4 Goal) like Fenerbahce...

The win was only with one goal against Newly promoted Konyaspor....

Sercan Yıldırım scored the only goal for Bursaspor!


A little note on Konyaspor...

Earlier in the week, before Bursaspor match, Konyaspor ripped, Goal keeper,DANNY Vukovic's contract and this news was big item in the foreign news agencies...

"Vukovic, 25, left the Mariners in June to take up a contract with Turkish Super League club Konyaspor. But Vukovic was informed last week his contract with the Turkish club had been terminated before it began"

DANNY Vukovic and his agent said , they will go to FIFA....

Also on Monday night,Kayserispor started their Turkish SPOR TOTO Super League season with a 2-0 away win over Istanbul BB at the Ataturk Stadium.

Second-half goals from Franco Cangele and Jonathan Santana were crucial for Kayserispor for the win.

At the end of the first week, Fenerbahce is on top with same three points but with more goal average!

Besiktas to host HJK Helsinki

Besiktas will host Finland's HJK Helsinki in the first leg of the playoff round of the UEFA Europa League in Istanbul on Tuesday.


The match will kick-off at 7:00 p.m. at Inonu Stadium in Istanbul. Romania's Odiviu Alin Hategan will referee the match.


HJK lost at home in the league to title rivals Honka on Saturday,

On the other hand Besiktas won their first league match in away......


Besiktas will be without Czech defender Tomas Sivok, who is out for two months after having knee surgery on Friday.

Sunday Recap....Fenerbahce win big,Trabzonspor also win

On Sunday, in the three matches that played, there were 9 goals scored ...

4 of them came by Fenerbhace......


Two of the Turkish Spor Toto Super League teams that will play in the Europian compition this coming week, Fenerbahce and Trabzonspor won their match, in the first weekend.


Fenerbahce after losing to Young Boy's at home, was under a lot of pressure before the PAOK match, this coming Thursday.

They faced Antalyaspor at home with no spectators, in the stands.........

And they beat Antalyaspor with 4 goals...

Defender Lugano and Semih Senturk started the match all though they were not in good term with the team!

Fenerbahce coach Aykut Kocaman, knew, he was under the microscope, for this match ...

Semih Senturk(2) , Gokhan Gonul and Alex de Souza, scored for Fenerbahce team.


After the match, Fenerbhace coach said, they are focused to PAOK match..

He said, they are ready to take on PAOK of Greece, this Thursday in Greece..

Fenerbahce keeper Volkan Demirel, might not play against PAOK of Greece, due to injuries, he received in this match!


The team who will face Liverpool in the European competition , Trabzonspor, won their away match, in Ankara...

Trabzonspor beat Ankaragucu with two goals...

Colombian Teofilo Gutierrez and Umut Bulut scored for Trabzonspor in Ankara...

Also on Sunday, Leagues new team Karabukspor beat Manisaspor at home with the score of 2-1

Emmanuel Emenike and Anthony Seric scored for Karabuk while Manisaspor goal came by Kahe, in the last minutes of the match.

The Turkish SPOR TOTO Super League will resume on Monday with two mathes...

The defending Champs Bursaspor will be at home against Konyaspor and BuyukSehir will host Kayserispor in Istanbul at 20:00 CET time...

For now, Fenerbahce stands on top of the Turkish SPOR TOTO Super League with better goal average....

Mamadou Niang Joins Fenerbahce...

Finally, Fenerbhace's wishes came to end and they got Mamadou Niang from Olympique de Marseille .

The real question is, is Turkish Striker Semih Senturk, will leave the team, now?

Earlier in the week , Semih Senturk said, He will leave the team if Fenerbahce transfers Niang!

Marseille team announced, on their official website, the departure of Senegalese striker Mamadou Niang to Fenerbahce.


The 30-year-old Niang has committed his future to Fenerbahce after an estimated transfer fee of €8m was agreed by both clubs.

Niang scored 100 goals in five season with Marseille team in the Franch League...

According to reports ,Niang agreed on a 4-year deal, earning €480,000 per month and is said to have been awarded a €1m signing on fee.

Saturday recap.....Besiktas win,Galatasaray lose!

Turkey's top league, Spor Toto Super league, started with four matches on Saturday and in those four matches there were only four goals scored.

In the early match Galatasaray started the match against Sivasspor good but finished bad!

On the other hand Besiktas the star studded black and white eagles, won in the away match with only one goal.


Besiktas's goal came in the beginning of the second half of the match by Bobo..
Former Real Madrid player Guti gave a beautiful pass to Bobo, as he got his first assist in the Turkish League.

He also received his first yellow card, in the match too........

Bucaspor were a man down for the last 14 minutes following a second yellow card for Ediz Bahtiyaroglu.

As I said , Galatasaray had a good start against Sivasspor in Sivas as Mustafa Sarp put Galatasaray ahead in the seventh minute, but Bruno Mbanangoye tied the match shortly before the break and Cihan Yilmaz scored the second and winning goal for Sivasspor.

Alos on Saturday, Eskisehirspor and Genclerbirligi played for nil nil draw and Gaziantepspor and Kasimpasa were also scorels in Gaziantep...

On Sunday there are three matches.... Fenerbahve will face Antalyaspor at home...

A little transfer note..... Fenerbahce signed Niang ...

Also on Sunday, Ankaragucu will face Trabzonspor and Karabukspor will be home against Manisaspor.

There will be two matches on Monday night too...

Defending Champions Bursaspor will be at home against Konyaspor and Buyuksehir will face Kayserispor in Istanbul.