Besiktas ready for Europa League and CSKA Sofia

The only Turkish team who qualified to play in the Europa League group stages, Besiktas is ready to take the first step in the group , against CSK Sofia on Thursday in Istanbul.

Besiktas with a good start to the season with five wins and a draw in six games during the preliminary round of the Europa League, and three victories in four games in the Spor Toto Super League.


Besiktas's main injury concern is winger Ricardo Quaresma, who scored three goals in qualifying, with Schuster to decide whether to rest the tricky Portuguese ahead of the derby match against Fenerbahce.



Besiktas is the favorite to open their campaign with victory against the Bulgarians, who have struggled so far this season in their domestic league.


Besiktas midfielder Rodrigo Tabata is sure his side will be focused on their Europa League opener against CSKA Sofia, despite their weekend derby against Fenerbahce looming large.


"The derby has arrived in a difficult time and our rivals will know that," the Brazilian said.

"The derby will be a great weekend, there is no doubt, and we want to win that game.

"We have important matches in the league and in Europe and we know what we must do.

"First we have CSKA Sofia and we want to make a good start.

"It is one of our objectives to do well in Europe and if we want to fulfil that we need to finish this game with a victory."

Kick off time for Besiktas v CSK Sofia match is at 10:05 local time (5 PM,ET)

WATCH BURSASPOR V VALENCIA HIGHLIGHTS

HISTORY WILL TAKE PLACE IN BURSA,TURKEY

Bursaspor vs Valencia preview.....

First ever UEFA's Champions League match for city of Bursa ,Turkey and Bursaspor and their fans....

The city of Bursa will welcome Valencia team in their first match....

Bursaspor have played only eight European matches, have won just two, have lost all their last four without scoring and have failed to score in six of their eight games.


They last played in the 1986-87 Cup Winners Cup when they lost home and away to Ajax Amsterdam in the first round.



Valencia lost on their last visit to Turkey, going down 1-0 to Genclerbirligi in the 2003-04 Uefa Cup .

Bursaspor may not have the European history of the other teams in their group, but Valencia coach Unai Emery insists his side will not be treating them lightly.

"They were a little-known team, but the champions of the Turkish league are no longer that. We have the utmost respect for them. With all that we've seen we feel they are a great team," said Emery.

Valencia have Turkish midfielder Mehmet Topal, who should know plenty about Bursaspor having spent the last four seasons at Turkish giants Galatasaray before switching to Spain this summer.

The Turkey international said: "The Bursaspor fans will be their 12th player, they keep going throughout the match, but there's no need to take this as a disadvantage, only that Valencia will have to go out and do their jobs to win.

"Bursaspor have good players but the squad is very good, we need to take care with the whole team, not any specific individual."

Topal added: "All the teams in the Champions League are very strong, but Valencia would like to get through the group and we will do everything we can to win."

Bursaspor coach ERtugrul Saglam's remarks.....

"Valencia have been strong at European level for many years and they won't be easy opponents. They lost some important players from last season but replaced them with new ones and as far as we can see from the analysis, they are a 'system team' who can play good team football. It'll be an extremely competitive game and Valencia can be seen as favourites but we want to make a bright start. The favourites do not win all the time and we'll try to show this. We'll face Valencia without changing the system which took us to success last season.

You need to have physical abilities in order to win games like this and we have this quality. We'll use this as an advantage tomorrow. When you look at Valencia, there are talented players like Joaquín Sánchez, Vicente Rodríguez, Juan Mata and Aritz Aduriz. When you look at us, you see Ozan İpek, Pablo Batalla, Sercan Yıldırım, Federico Insúa and Ivan Ergić. In my eyes, they have the same quality. "

He went on to say, “We want to make a good start to the Champions League. We want to represent our country well in that tournament, since we are the only Turkish outfit in the competition. And we want to get our first points in that match.”

Can they do it?

They have a great chance to start this historical day in front of their own fans..

I believe they could do it , if they believed in it...

TURKISH SUPER LEAGUE REVIEW , WEEK 4

Bursaspor won four in a row....

On Friday, Turkey's only team who will play in the Champions League compitition Bursaspor won at home against Eskisehirspor...

Bursaspor maintained their early lead with a 2-1 victory against Eskisehirspor.

However, the defending champions had to come from behind to achieve the win.

Sezer Ozturk (19) had put Eskisehir in front early on and the response was slow in coming. However, substitute Leonal Nunez tied the match in the 71st-minute and than Sercan Yildirim struck a winner five minutes later.

Bursaspor will play their first ever CL match in front of their fans on Tuesday night against Valencia of Spain.

On Saturday,Kayserispor won, with a 2-0 home victory over Fenerbahce....

Jonathan Santana and Furkan Ozcal scored in the 67 and 68 minutes and Kayserispor remained unbeaten with 10 points from four games.


Besiktas are just a point further back in third after they trashed Ankaragucu 4-0.

Bobo scored either side of half-time with Ibrahim Toraman and Mert Nobre also

weighing in with second-half strikes.

Antalyaspor won their first match this season after a Necati Ates brace helped them to a comeback 2-1 win at pointless Manisaspor.

Eren Aydin opened the scoring after 26 minutes but the hosts were left still searching for their first point as Ates struck after 67 and 71 minutes.

Manisaspor just hired Hikmet Karaman to coach the team after they sacked their current coach.


Substitute Hakan Aslantas' 67th-minute equaliser helped Konyaspor to a 1-1 home draw with Bucaspor. Orhan Ak scored Bucasspor goal after nine minutes.


TRABZONSPOR RECAPTURES THE SECOND PLACE WITH A BIG WIN.....

Trabzonspor took the second place from Kayserispo after a huge win against Sivasspor and thrashing them with 6-1 score....

Ibrahima Yattara scored twice in four minutes just after the half-hour mark, and Selcuk Inan added a third before half-time.

Cihan Yilmaz got one back for Sivasspor two minutes after the re-start, but a quick brace from Teofilo Gutierrez ended any thoughts of a fightback.

Sivasspor then had Sedat Bayrak dismissed for a second yellow card before Burak Yilmaz completed the scoring late on.


GALATASARAY WINS BACK TO BACK.....

Galatasaray earned their second win, as Harry Kewell's penalty earned then a 1-0 win over Gaziantepspor.


Orhan Sam struck seven minutes from time to give Genclerbirligi a 2-1 win over Istanbul Buyuksehir.

After fourth week Bursaspor still on top with perfect record and they have 12 points.

Trabzonspor on second with 10 and Kayserispor on third with same points...

Besiktas on fourth with 9 points...

There are four teams with 6 points in the standings....

Fenerbahce(5), Buyuksehir(6), Galatasaray(7) and Karabukspor(8).....

Next weekends most important match will be between Fenerbahce and Besiktas on Sunday night in the Sukru Saracoglu stadium in Kadikoy,Istanbul.

If Fener wins this match they will even the points with Besiktas....

But, a loss or a draw could spell danger for Fenerbahce coach Aykut Kocaman....


Under fire coach might not see the sixth week if Fenerbahace lose this match...

Here is the week 5 match schedule....

17 Sep 2010
19:00 CET Trabzonspor ? : ? Manisaspor

18 Sep 2010
17:00 CET Ankaragucu ? : ? Kasimpasa
17:00 CET Sivasspor ? : ? Eskisehirspor
19:30 CET Antalyaspor ? : ? Kayserispor
19:30 CET Bucaspor ? : ? Galatasaray

19 Sep 2010
17:00 CET Karabukspor ? : ? Genclerbirligi
19:00 CET Fenerbahce ? : ? Besiktas
19:30 CET Buyuksehir ? : ? Konyaspor

20 Sep 2010
19:00 CET Gaziantepspor ? : ? Bursaspor



Standings....

1 Bursaspor 4 4 0 0 7-1 12
2 Trabzonspor 4 3 1 0 11-3 10
3 Kayserispor 4 3 1 0 6-1 10
4 Besiktas 4 3 0 1 9-3 9
5 Fenerbahce 4 2 0 2 10-7 6
6 Buyuksehir 4 2 0 2 6-5 6
7 Galatasaray 4 2 0 2 5-5 6
8 Karabukspor 4 2 0 2 5-7 6
9 Bucaspor 4 1 2 1 4-3 5
10 Konyaspor 4 1 2 1 5-5 5
11 Genclerbirligi 4 1 2 1 3-4 5
12 Antalyaspor 4 1 2 1 3-6 5
13 Ankaragucu 4 1 1 2 4-7 4
14 Sivasspor 4 1 1 2 4-10 4
15 Gaziantepspor 4 0 3 1 2-3 3
16 Kasimpasa 4 0 2 2 2-5 2
17 Eskisehirspor 4 0 1 3 3-7 1
18 Manisaspor 4 0 0 4 4-11 0

COME BACK WIN FOR TURKEY

"MY PLAYER OF THE MATCH" HAMIT ALTINTOP...ONE GOAL AND ONE ASSIST......



Belgium started and Turkey put the finisihing touches in EURO 2012 qualifying match on Tuesday night In Istanbul Turkey.



A late goal from Arda Turan helped Turkey 3-2 win over Belgium ....



Turkey' first attack on Belgium came on the 16th minute but, Tuncay Sanli missed a header!



Belgium scored the first goal of the match in the 28th minute by Daniel Van Buyten Thanks to big mistake by Turkish young keeper Onur KIvrak.



The first half of the match ended with Turkey being down one goal against Belgium.



But, things did change for Hiddink's Turkey in the second half....



After pep talk by Hiddink at the half and bring in super sub Semih Senturk in to the match made a huge difference....





In the very early minutes of the second half in the 48th minute Hamit Altintop even the scored ...



Than super sub Semih Senturk , scored the second goal in the 66th minute on a Hamit Altintop's cross



But, Belgium came right back to tie the match in the 69th minute again huge mistake by Turkish keeper Onur Kivrak.



Daniel Van Buyten scored his and his teams second goal of the match...



But. like I said. in the beginning my article , in the 78th minute of the match, Arda Turan's goal gave Turks the lead 3-2..



Belgium was man down after the 66th minute of match when Vincent Kompany received his second yellow card of the match...





HIddink's new journey with Turkey started back to back two wins in the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign .



After Germany, Turkey is the second place with same points in the Group A



Belgium after suffering another loss , they are pointless in the group!



This is good thing for Turkey....



Next up for Turkey is Germany...



This will be huge match for both teams....

As we all know Germany has two German born Turkish players ....Mesut Ozil and Serdar Tasci.



Lastly, Hiddink is trying to change some things in Turkey...





First mentally of players and getting them ready to the next big level.



The question is will they keep listening the world famous coach Guus Hidink?



The reason why I say that, there are still huge problems on the defense and in the goal....



The crosses are huge thread for Turkish National team...

If we remember the two goals that were scored by Belgium were on crosses!



Lastly, If you want to win the matches you have to have experience goalkeepers...

Turkey might not be lucky as they were against Belgium in every match!



It was good win but , like Hiddink said , it was not that pleasant!

Turkey Vs Belgium 3-2 ..... Highlights......

Goals:

28' - Daniel Van Buyten 1

48' - Hamit Altintop 2

66' - Semih Senturk 1

69' - Daniel Van Buyten 2

78' - Ada Turan 2

Turkey vs Belgium Preview

After a good start with a good score against

Kazakhstan in away match in their first match Guus Hiddink's Turkey is looking to

make it two in a row against Belgium on Tuesday at Fenerbahce's Sukru Saracoglu stadium.

Turkey has never beat Belgium in Turkey, so far...

They met nine times and Turkey lost three times and and draw four....

This will be the first time in a European Championship qualifier!

At the press conference on Monday Hiddink said they are going to change this...

He said, he does not believe in so much about the past stats and he said he does not care about the past stats!

He said ,what it is, is this time!

I have trust in my players and he said the players are ready to take on Belgium and win and keep Belgium pointless in the group...


He also said, all of his players are healthy and ready to take on Belgium.

But, He said he will use the starting line up that he used against Kazakhstan on Friday. He went on to say he could make changes in the match if he needs too...

Turkey will try to pack in in the midfield with experience players like Emre Belezoglu, Tuncay Sanli, Hamit Altintop and Mehmet Aurelio.

The defense will be all Galatasaray four and new addition from Turkish Champs Bursaspor Omer Erdogan.

In goal, young energetic keeper Onur Kivrak from Trabzonspor will take the mountain.

Up front, we will see Nihat Kahveci and Semih Senturk....

On the other hand , There is a coach who knows Turkish football and Turkish football player well... his name is Georges Leekens...

He coached many year Trabzonspor in Turkey!

Belgium lost to Germany 1-0 at home on Friday.

They would not want to lose this match and be pointless after two matches..

That is why Young and talented Belgium team, will put up a big fight against Turkey, in my opinion...


George Leekens said he is Hopeful they will win this match with 2-1 score against Turkey!


Belgium team has a rock solid defense and midfield and they run like a horse,,,

It will be good match who ever manages the ninety minutes well and stays with the game plan will win the match in my opinion!

The only thing will make a difference is the home crowed...

It will be pack full Sukru Saracoglu stadium on Tuesday night...

The match will be broadcast by NTV in Turkey,

Turkey vs Belgium is scheduled to kick off at 2:00pm EST on Tuesday.

Watch Turkey Vs Belgium Live Here