Fenerbahce's Alex wants to be Turkish citizen...

FENERBAHCE PRESIDENT AZIZ YILDIRIM, TURKISH PRIME MINISTER RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN AND FENERBAHCE CAPTAIN ALEX DE SOUZA...(PHOTO BY ANATOLIAN NEWS AGENCY)


According to recent news by Anatolian News agency, Alex DE Souza was visiting Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan with Fenerbahce Team President Aziz Yildirim in Ankara.

During the visit, Alex expressed his wish to be a Turkish citizen to Prime Minister of Turkey.

Prime Minister , Recep Tayyip Erdagan , responded with a smile and asked him "Did you pick a Turkish name"

Although, ALex playing football in Turkey for the last seven years, since he applied for Turkish Citizenship recently, he has to wait five years to claim his Turkish Citizen by than he will be 39 years old!

TURKISH SUPER LEAGUE WRAP..."TRABZONSPOR IN THE DRIVER'S SEAT IN TURKEY"

GALATASARAY'S CETIN FIGHTS FOR THE BALL WITH TRABZONSPOR'S BULUT DURING THEIR TURKEY SUPER LEAGUE SOCCER MATCH IN ISTANBUL ..PHOTO BY REUTERS....


Six weeks to go in the Turkish Super League, Trabzonspor still in the driver's seat In the Turkish Spor Toto Super League, after a win against Galatasaray in Istanbul.

The late goal by Burak Yilmaz,gave the win also the lead in the Turkish Super League....

Galatasaray losing at home to Trabzonspor is having the worst season ever in the league...

At the end of the 28th weekend ,they are in 14th place with only 34 points!

They are definitely at the brink of relegation zone...

If they don't win their last six matches in the league, they could be in trouble!

Galatasaray has changed three coaches so for this season....

They are in turmoil, as the club get ready to elect their new president in May...

It is very sad to see Turkish Giants Galatasaray in this position...


As I said before, Trabzopnspor still on top of the Turkish Super League,ahead of Fenerbahce who won in the, away match on Saturday in Eskisehir...1-3.


Next three weekend will be very though for Trabzonspor in the league.....

If they beat Bursa,Eskisehir and Gaziantep back to back they will most likely will claim the rope at the end but, it will be very hard to do that in the next three weekends!

If they don't the gap will close between Fenerbahce....

Looking ahead, there is a lot of football to be played in the next six weekends....

The two horse race in the TUrkish Super league will go down to wire ,in my opinion...

Although, Trabzonspor is in the driver's seat now, I think, that will change in the coming weeks.


Looking at the remaining fixture ,Fenerbahce have easy matches compare to Trabzonspor!

As we get close to the end, pressure and anxiety is on for the teams on top and the bottom even for Galatasaray....

Next weekend, Jozy Altidore's team Bursaspor who is in third plcae in the Turkish Super League will travel to Trabzon to face the league leaders on Sunday.



Jozy Altidore scored his first goal in Turkish Super League last Friday against Anatalyaspor but, his team Bursaspor lost at home at the end of the match to Antalyaspor, 1-3.

Look for Altidore to start against Trabzonspor on Sunday....

Fenerbahce will play on Saturday and they will face Gaziantepspor at Kadikoy , Istanbul...

They must win this match to put pressure on Trabzonspor on Sunday...

Could Bursaspor pull a surprise and stop Trabzon on Sunday?

Why not, Altidore might even score again.....

Lastly, the 29th weekend will open with Besiktas vs Gencler ,match on Friday and wil close on Monday with Manisa vs Galatasaray. If Galatasaray lose on monday and Sivaspor wins on Sunday at home they will be at even points!

That will be nightmare for Galatasaray.....

See you next time.........



28th weekend results......

08 Apr 2011
FT Bursaspor 2 : 3 Antalyaspor
09 Apr 2011
FT Bucaspor 2 : 1 Karabukspor
FT Eskisehirspor 1 : 3 Fenerbahce
FT Konyaspor 0 : 0 Manisaspor
10 Apr 2011
FT Buyuksehir 1 : 2 Sivasspor
FT Galatasaray 0 : 1 Trabzonspor
FT Gaziantepspor 3 : 2 Ankaragucu
FT Genclerbirligi 4 : 1 Kayserispo

STANDINGS.....

1 Trabzonspor 28 20 6 2 56-21 66
2 Fenerbahce 28 20 4 4 65-28 64
3 Bursaspor 28 14 10 4 44-23 52
4 Gaziantepspor 28 14 7 7 39-27 49
5 Kayserispor 28 12 7 9 36-34 43
6 Besiktas 28 12 6 10 42-32 42
7 Eskisehirspor 28 11 9 8 32-30 42
8 Buyuksehir 28 11 4 13 35-35 37
9 Karabukspor 28 10 7 11 42-44 37
10 Manisaspor 28 11 3 14 39-42 36
11 Antalyaspor 28 9 9 10 30-36 36
12 Genclerbirligi 28 9 7 12 35-42 34
13 Ankaragucu 28 8 9 11 40-48 33
14 Galatasaray 28 10 3 15 29-38 33
15 Sivasspor 28 8 7 13 35-47 31
16 Bucaspor 28 6 6 16 22-43 24
17 Kasimpasa 28 5 5 18 26-57 20
18 Konyaspor 28 3 9 16 20-40 18




29th weekend matches.......

15 Apr 2011
19:00 CET Besiktas ? : ? Genclerbirligi
16 Apr 2011
13:00 CET Ankaragucu ? : ? Bucaspor
15:00 CET Karabukspor ? : ? Buyuksehir
18:00 CET Fenerbahce ? : ? Gaziantepspor
17 Apr 2011
13:00 CET Sivasspor ? : ? Kasimpasa
15:00 CET Kayserispor ? : ? Konyaspor
16:00 CET Antalyaspor ? : ? Eskisehirspor
18:00 CET Trabzonspor ? : ? Bursaspor
18 Apr 2011
19:00 CET Manisaspor ? : ? Galatasaray

TURKISH CUP "SEMIFINAL" TIME.....

Ziraat Turkish Cup Semifinal matches first leg matches will be play on Wendsday and Thursady.

On Wendsday Besiktas will host Gaziantep and on Thursday Istanbul Buyuksehir will go against Ankara's Genclerbirligi team...


Besiktas, the team who is seventh in the league is hopping to to claim the Turkish Cup,,,

On the other hand, Gaziantep is in better possition in The Turkish Super League, want to capture the cup also.


The first leg of the two match , will take place in Istanbul with no spectators..

Because of the punishment by TFF, disipline commitee, Besiktas is serving one match "closed door" punishment!

I think this is stupid rule...

It hurts, Turkish football , big time......


what is funny, in the first legs of the Turkish Cup semifinal matches, there wont be any spectators on the field!

We know, on Thursday, Istanbul Buyuksehir will not have any fans there,.....

Because, they don't have any big fan base...maybe 100!

That is also despicable, if you ask me...

So, Ziraat Turkish Cup Semifinal , first leg matches will be boring to watch...

If you want to watch the matches they are being broadcast by TRT TV....

Who ever gets a good score in the first matches ,will gain a huge advantage for the second leg matches.


Turkish Cup Final match will be played on May 11th,2011 in Kayseri, Turkey...

TURKISH SUPER LEAGUE WEEK 27, RECAP..."TRABZONSPOR BACK ON TOP"

As I said before, the going will get tougher, when we get close to the end.....

That is exactly what happed to Fenerbahce in the 27th week, when they gave up two points at home to solid team Bursaspor...


On Saturday, Trabzonspor beat Konyaspor with only one goal and captured the Turkish Super League's first place.

Skipper Umut Bulut scored his 100th goal while he scored the only goal in the match...


While two horse race between Trabzonspor and Fenerbahce will go on, in the last seven weeks in the league, the fight on the bottom is taken different toll, now...


Kasimpasa shocked every one this weekend with a win against strong team Kayserispor in Kayseri!

Although they are heavy contender to go down, they are putting a good fight in the league..

In the closing match of the weekend , Turkey's one time the most known team in the world ,Galatasaray lost another match!

On Monday, Antalyaspor beat Galatasaray with three goals and send Galatasaray to 13th place in the Turkish Super League...

Seven weeks to go , if Galatasaray does not win games they will be on the brink of relegation!

If Genclerbirligi wins their math on Sunday at home and Galatasaray lose to Trabzonspor at home on Saturday this coming weekend we could see Galatasaray in the danger zone of Turkish Super League...

That would be disaster for Galatasaray and Galatasaray fans!

It would be very interesting Sunday ....

Genclerbirligi will play before Galatasaray vs Trabzonspor match on Sunday....


If we summed the 27th weekend , Trabzonspor made a strong come back to capture the first place in the league while Fenerbahce lost two golden and important points at home..

The advantage is on Trabzonspor side now...

Could they keep that advantage , until the end, it is still unknown!

Both team have four away matches in the last seven weeks...

lastly, Galatasaray's disappointment status is the "talk of the town"in Turkey.....

It is very shame to see Galatasaray in this place ..it is bad for Turkish Super League and Turkish football in general!

Here are the total score from 27th weekend........

02 Apr 2011
FT Ankaragucu 2 : 2 Eskisehirspor
FT Karabukspor 3 : 2 Gaziantepspor
FT Sivasspor 1 : 0 Besiktas
FT Trabzonspor 1 : 0 Konyaspor

03 Apr 2011
FT Buyuksehir 2 : 1 Bucaspor
FT Fenerbahce 0 : 0 Bursaspor
FT Kayserispor 1 : 3 Kasimpasa
FT Manisaspor 0 : 3 Genclerbirligi

04 Apr 2011
FT Antalyaspor 3 : 0 Galatasaray


Standings.....

1 Trabzonspor 27 19 6 2 55-21 63
2 Fenerbahce 27 19 4 4 62-27 61
3 Bursaspor 27 14 10 3 42-20 52
4 Gaziantepspor 27 13 7 7 36-25 46
5 Kayserispor 27 12 7 8 35-30 43
6 Eskisehirspor 27 11 9 7 31-27 42
7 Besiktas 27 11 6 10 41-32 39
8 Buyuksehir 27 11 4 12 34-33 37
9 Karabukspor 27 10 7 10 41-42 37
10 Manisaspor 27 11 2 14 39-42 35
11 Ankaragucu 27 8 9 10 38-45 33
12 Antalyaspor 27 8 9 10 27-34 33
13 Galatasaray 27 10 3 14 29-37 33
14 Genclerbirligi 27 8 7 12 31-41 31
15 Sivasspor 27 7 7 13 33-46 28
16 Bucaspor 27 5 6 16 20-42 21
17 Kasimpasa 27 5 5 17 26-56 20
18 Konyaspor 27 3 8 16 20-40 17




NEXT WEEKEND MATCHES......

28TH WEEK...

08 Apr 2011
19:00 CET Bursaspor ? : ? Antalyaspor

09 Apr 2011
13:00 CET Bucaspor ? : ? Karabukspor
15:00 CET Konyaspor ? : ? Manisaspor
18:00 CET Eskisehirspor ? : ? Fenerbahce

10 Apr 2011
13:00 CET Buyuksehir ? : ? Sivasspor
13:00 CET Gaziantepspor ? : ? Ankaragucu
16:00 CET Genclerbirligi ? : ? Kayserispor
18:00 CET Galatasaray ? : ? Trabzonspor

11 Apr 2011
19:00 CET Kasimpasa ? : ? Besiktas

TURKISH SUPER LEAGUE WEEK 27: LOOK AHEAD...

Perheps. the most important match in the week 27, in the Turkish Super League, will take place on Sunday in Kadikoy,Istanbul.

Turkish Super League leaders Fenerbahce will take on, last year champions Bursaspor...

Although the race on top is two horse race between Fenerbahce and Trabzonspor,the outcome of this weekend,could bring a lot of surprise scores in the Turkish Super League!

There will be four matches on Saturday and four matches on Sunday and one match on Monday night.


While Trabzonspor plays at home on Saturday, Fenerbahce will sit and wait for outcome of this match!

Trabzonspor, the team closed the first half of the season with 9 points difrence on top, lost all of their marbles!

In the second half of the season, they won only one match, at home,out of four games, that they played!

They lost two of them and draw one.....

On Saturday, they will be facing the team who is desprate for points in the league,Konyaspor.

Konyaspor is second from bottom of the barrel....

Trabzonspor must win this match to put pressure on Fenerbahce on Sunday....

If they don't, they could well hurt, their run for the Championship!

There are other important matches on Saturday in the league.

Gaziantepspor who is putting pressure on Bursaspor for third place will travel to Karabuk.

Karabuk will have their scoring power Emenike....

A win for Gaziantepspor will be medicine.....

If Bursaspor go down to Fenerbahce on Sunday, Gazinatep will be on Bursaspor neck for the third place chase ...


That is why this away match is very important one for Gaziantepspor!

Also on Saturday, Sivasspor the team who wants to get out of the danger zone, will host Besiktas.

Besiktas will be without Hernandez and Guti for this match...

Besiktas, the team who lost all their hopes in the league,is big question mark, in this match!

Will they give a good fight or bow down to Sivasspor, that is unknown!

I know, one thing, Sivaspor will put up a good fight in this match.....

The other match on Saturday, Ankaragucu will face Eskisehirspor In Ankara...

Eskisehirspor is better in the standings, but Ankaragucu is red hot in the last three matches!


The results from Saturday matches, will bring different look for the teams will play on Sunday ,in the league..

It will effect, the top and bottom too......

On Sunday, like I said before the most important match of the week will take place in Istanbul Kadikoy stadium.

Bursaspor, after signing new contracts with coach Ertugrul Saglam and players, Volkan Sen and Sercan Yildirim, boost their morale , before the clash against Fenerbahce!

Ertugrul Saglam said, they will beat Fenerbahce on Sunday...

But, they will face the best team in the second half of the season, who has not lost in the last ten matches!

Fenerbahce without a doubt is the most form team in the Turkish Super League....

If Bursaspor pulls a upset in Kadikoy ,it will be huge....

Jozy Altidore and Kenny Miller, have to have great match to do that!

So,the going in The Turkish Super League, will get tougher, as we get close to the finish line..

The winners will go on, and the losers will cry....



WEEK 27, MATCHES......

02 Apr 2011
13:00 CET Karabukspor ? : ? Gaziantepspor
15:00 CET Sivasspor ? : ? Besiktas
16:00 CET Ankaragucu ? : ? Eskisehirspor
18:00 CET Trabzonspor ? : ? Konyaspor

03 Apr 2011
13:00 CET Manisaspor ? : ? Genclerbirligi
15:00 CET Kayserispor ? : ? Kasimpasa
16:00 CET Buyuksehir ? : ? Bucaspor
18:00 CET Fenerbahce ? : ? Bursaspor

04 Apr 2011
19:00 CET Antalyaspor ? : ? Galatasaray



STANDINGS.....

1 Fenerbahce 26 19 3 4 62-27 60
2 Trabzonspor 26 18 6 2 54-21 60
3 Bursaspor 26 14 9 3 42-20 51
4 Gaziantepspor 26 13 7 6 34-22 46
5 Kayserispor 26 12 7 7 34-27 43
6 Eskisehirspor 26 11 8 7 29-25 41
7 Besiktas 26 11 6 9 41-31 39
8 Manisaspor 26 11 2 13 39-39 35
9 Buyuksehir 26 10 4 12 32-32 34
10 Karabukspor 26 9 7 10 38-40 34
11 Galatasaray 26 10 3 13 29-34 33
12 Ankaragucu 26 8 8 10 36-43 32
13 Antalyaspor 26 7 9 10 24-34 30
14 Genclerbirligi 26 7 7 12 28-41 28
15 Sivasspor 26 6 7 13 32-46 25
16 Bucaspor 26 5 6 15 19-40 21
17 Konyaspor 26 3 8 15 20-39 17
18 Kasimpasa 26 4 5 17 23-55 17

TURKEY HAD TO BEAT AUSTRIA AND THEY DID.. 2-0!

PHOTO BY AFP


This was the match Turkish National Team and Hiddink wanted most, after shockingly losing their match against Azerbaijan!

But, this win did not bring the "driving seat" to Guus HIddink and Turkish National Team!

They only moved a notch, to third place ....

To be in the "driving seat" you have to have the controls in the group!


Hiddink, said "We want to be in the "driving seat" and with this win, we are in the driving seat" after the match!

Being in the "driving seat" means being the top team in the group, in my book..

Turkey could not even capture the second place yet!

How could you be in the driving seat?

This win was good in away to be alive....

But, Turkey did not play good in the match. First twenty five minutes of the match Turkey pressured but after they scored the goal by Arda Turan some how the team pulled back!

Arda, after scoring a goal, send a massage to The Turkish press box.....

Gesturing with his hands ..."WRITE THIS TOO....."

That was despicable and ugly in my opinion!

He had no business doing that when he should celebrated the goal with his team mates...

He ran towards to the press box and did what he did!..

First half of the match ended with 1-0 score....

In the second half, Hiddink made few changes and brought Semih Senturk in for Burak Yilmaz.

Soon as he came in to the match he assisted on second goal....

In the 84th minute he gave a beautiful pass to Gokhan Gonul and Gonul scored the Turkey's second goal.

In the 84th minute , the goalkeeper Volkan Demirel also saved a penalty......

That was huge....

"HERO OF THE MATCH".... TURKISH KEEPER...VOLKAN DEMIREL......

I think, Volkan was the player of this match ,in my opinion....

Next up is Belgium in Belgium!

The second place team, Belgium, also won yesterday against Azebeijan and they still retain the second place with ten points...


Turkey will face Belgium on June 3rd,2011....

This will be do or die match for Turkey!

I know this will hurt but, with this team, it will be very difficult, in my opion!

So, Hiddink and his boy's, has to work hard, until this match and overcome Belgium, if they want be in the second place in the group A....

Stadium: Istanbul Sukru Saracoglu

Referee: Pavel Kralovec (Czech Republic)

Turkey: Volkan, Gokhan, Servet, Serdar, Hakan, Hamit, Selcuk, Nuri, Arda (Mehmet Topal), Mehmet Ekici (Mehmet Topuz), Burak (Semih)

Austria: Macho, Ekrem Dag, Dragovic, Pogatetz, Fuchs, Alaba, Baumgartlinger (Hoffer), Scharner, Yasin Pehlivan (Umit Korkmaz), Harnik (Arnautovic), Maierhofer

Scorers: Arda 28', Gokhan 77'

Yellow cards: Pogatetz, Scharner, Fuchs (Austria), Mehmet Topuz (Turkey)
Missed penalty: Stefan Maierhofer (Austria) 85'

Att: 47,000

WATCH THE HIGHLIGHTS OF TURKEY VS AUSTRIA 2-0 MATCH....

Standings.......

Teams P W D L F A +/- Pts
Germany 5 5 0 0 17 1 16 15
Belgium 6 3 1 2 14 9 5 10
Turkey 5 3 0 2 8 6 2 9
Austria 5 2 1 2 9 8 1 7
Azerbaijan 4 1 0 3 3 13 -10 3
Kazakhstan 5 0 0 5 0 14 -14 0

Turkey's remaining games in Group A:

3 June 2011
Belgium v Turkey

2 September 2011
Turkey v Kazakhstan

6 September 2011
Austria v Turkey

7 October 2011
Turkey v Germany

11 October 2011
Turkey v Azerbaijan

VERY IMPORTANT MATCH FOR TURKEY AND HIDDINK ...TURKEY VS AUSTRIA

We know in this group Germany will will the top team...
But, we have three teams, Turkey, Belgium and Austria competing for the second place!

That is why this match on Tuesday is very important to Turkish National team and coach Guus Hiddink.


German National team is with perfect record after five matches with 15 points...

On Friday, Belgium beat Austria 2-o and shook up the stanting in the group A.

While Austria captures the second place with seven points in five matches, Belgium drop to third with same points and Turkey is on fourth with six points.

It is not known If Hiddink will use his experience players on Tuesady or use young guy like Cenk Tosun on top?

This will be Cenk Tosun's first International debut, if he plays on Tuesday.