Turkey Finishes Second and Qualify for the Play-Offs

Turkey's Burak Yilmaz challenges Azerbaijan's Rashad Sadigov and Vladimir Levin during their Euro 2012 qualifying Group A. soccer match at Turk Telekom Arena - Photo by Reuters

It did not come easy but they did it hard and stresfull way with boring football!

Turkish National team was having tough time playing against Azebejian in the first half...

At the first half brake they went in to the loccker rooms and re group and found out a good news that Germany was beating Belgium 2-o at the half!

That gave the Turkish players a little releif and they came out and played little better football in the second half...

After, Selcuk Inan came in to the match, Turkey loked in attacking mode!


And Burak Yilmaz struck a goal after 59 minutes,firing from Selcuk Inan's pass.

With Belgium losing 3-1 to Germany, Turkey did enough - just enough !

Turkey snatched second place and a place in the Euro 2012 qualifying play-offs.

Watch the highlights of the Turkey vs Azerbaijan match from NTV here..

http://www.ntvspor.net/video-galeri/turkiyeazerbaycan-macinin-genis-ozeti

Last chance for Turkey!

After losing to Germany on Friday in Istanbul, Turkey's fate is first in their hands and will be looking help from Germany to beat Belgium.

Last Friday's lost to Germany was probably the worst match I ever seen in long time!

You could lose a match with playing and fighting...that is no problem!

But, I did not see any player on the pitch except Hamit Altintop giving their hundred percent!

The remarks of Hamit Altintop after the match, tells everything about Turkish National team players...

He was so fed up, after the match He was not happy with his team mates!

He said, he just came out of the injury and gave all he got during the match,but he did not see the same thing from most of the players on the team!


I give a lot of kudos to Hamit Altintop for speaking out for this....

However, His remark after the match was not picked by Turkish media....

Turkish media was busy about getting Guus Hiddink out of his job!

Guus Hiddink realistically told Turkish media , Germany was better than Turkey!

For that, people are still talking about Guuus Hiddink and criticized him for that..

He was telling people the truth but, he was getting criticized by major media and Turkish people before the Germany match,,,,,,

After watching Turkey vs Germany match I hope people understood what he was talking about!

Everything he warned us about Turkish national team weakness, did happen against Germany...

On first Germany goal.."He talked about Turkish national was weak on not coming back fast enough after attacking!" that is what exactly happened in the first goal...Turkey attacked, Hamit took the shot and German keeper Manuel Neuer released the ball to midfield and two touch later Germany scored the goal by Gomez after trashing Servet Cetin!

That German keeper Manuel Neuer, actually put his signature on two goals that Germany scored!

I have never seen a Turkish keeper that would contribute to the goal and attacks like this...

NOW LAST CHANCE ,,,,,

Turkish National Team will play against Azerbaijan in their Euro 2012 Group A qualifying finale at Turk Telecom Arena on Tuesday.


IN Group A, Germany already in. Belgium is on second place with 15 points and Turkey with 14 points on third place...

Even if Turkey beats Azerbaijan on Tuesday ,Turkey needs Germany's little help to beat Belgium or at least get a draw. A win for Belgium against Germany will eliminate Turkey hope to go to playoffs in the Euro 2012.

Volkan Demirel has been removed from the national squad due to injury ,another Fenerbahce keeper Mert Gunok was called up his place...

Uncertainty in the goal for Turkey could be problem for Hiddink....


Turkey vs Azebejian match will start at 20.00 local Turkey time and NTV will broadcast the match live ...
http://cm.ntvmsnbc.com/ServerSite/wui/NTVCanliYayin/default.aspx

Lastly, sacking Hiddink and bringing new face to coaching position is not going to help Turkish football and national team!

When did you see a coached worked 5 or more years with Turkish National team?

None.......

To order to have successful national team and successful farm team (pool of National team players) you need to have consistency!

Firing Hiddink and bringing Turkish coach is not going to change anything....

Aren't we the one ( Turkish media and Turkish soccer fans )called Joachim Low, all kinds of names and said He was not coach?.....

See you soon,

Turkey 1- Germany 3... Match Highlights

Turkey vs Germany match highlights by NTV...click the below link to watch the match highlights...

http://www.ntvspor.net/video-galeri/turkiyealmanya-macinin-genis-ozeti

Turkey vs Germany , Euro 2012 Qualifying

This has to be the one of the top matches on Friday, in the Euro2012 Qualifications!

Turkey vs Germany match in Istanbul at Turk Telekom "Aslantepe" Arena.....

Germany already quantified and they are on top of the group A, with perfect record...

Germany will be looking to maintain its perfect record in the last two matches.

On the other hand Turkey, who is on second place in the group and has to get at least a draw against Germany and win against Azerbaijan on Tuesday in the last match...

Germany will play their last match in the group against Belgium the team who is breading on Turkey's neck!

.
Turkish National team is with 14 points and Belgium with 12 points..

Both team plays against Germany!

While Turkey playing Germany on Friday ,Belgium will be home against Kazakhstan on Friday...

A win against Germany will keep Turkey's hopes alive to their last group game with Azerbaijan next Tuesday.


Turkey's goal is to finish the group stage at the second place and make a headway to the play-offs.


I believe they could do it if they play as a team ninety minutes....

On the other hand, Germany most likely will use their young players on Friday....

What is so interesting , both teams will have German born player playing for their National team..

Mesut Ozil who is born in Germany, who chose German national team will be with Germany National team while German born players like Mehmet Ekici, Hakan Balta, Hamit Altintop,Nuri Sahin , Gokhan Tore,Tunay Torun and Omer Toprak.


For Turkey, Emre Belozoglu, Servet Cetin ,and Selcuk Sahin wont play on Friday...

For Germany, Mario Gomez and Miroslav Klose is big question mark until match hour...

Turkish National team coach Guus Hiddink looking for his third consecutive home win over Germany in Friday's Euro 2012 qualifier.

Could they do it, it will be difficult but not impossible!

Turkey vs Germany match will start at 2;30,PM,ET on Friday

and will be only on Foxsoccer.tv in the United States and in Turkey match will be broadcast by NTV.




Turkey Squad

Goalkeepers: Volkan Demirel (Fenerbahçe A.Ş.), Sinan Bolat (Standard Liege), Hakan Arıkan (Mersin İdman Yurdu).
Defenders: Gökhan Gönül (Fenerbahçe A.Ş.), Sabri Sarıoğlu, Gökhan Zan, Servet Çetin, Hakan Kadir Balta (Galatasaray A.Ş.), Serkan Balcı, Remzi Giray Kaçar (Trabzonspor A.Ş.), Egemen Korkmaz, İsmail Köybaşı (Beşiktaş A.Ş.), Ömer Toprak (Bayer 04 Leverkusen)
Midfielders: Hamit Altıntop (Real Madrid), Mehmet Ekici (Werder Bremen), Tunay Torun (Hertha BSC Berlin), Selçuk İnan, Yekta Kurtuluş (Galatasaray A.Ş.), Emre Belözoğlu (Fenerbahçe A.Ş.), Mehmet Topal (Valencia C.F.), Mehmet Aurelio (Beşiktaş A.Ş.), Arda Turan (Club Atletico de Madrid).
Forwards: Gökhan Töre (Hamburger SV), Burak Yılmaz (Trabzonspor A.Ş.), Mevlüt Erdinç (Paris Saint-Germain), Kazım Kazım (Galatasaray A.Ş.), Umut Bulut (Toulouse FC).

Germany Squad....

Goalkeepers: Manuel Neuer (FC Bayern München), Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen), Ron-Robert Zieler (Hannover 96).
Defenders: Dennis Aogo (Hamburger SV), Jerome Boateng, Holger Badstuber, Philipp Lahm (FC Bayern München), Benedikt Höwedes (FC Schalke 04), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Per Mertesacker (FC Arsenal), Christian Träsch (VfL Wolfsburg).
Midfielders: Mario Götze (Borussia Dortmund), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Toni Kroos, Thomas Müller, Bastian Schweinsteiger (FC Bayern München), Lukas Podolski (1. FC Köln), Mesut Özil (Real Madrid), Marco Reus (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Simon Rolfes, André Schürrle (Bayer 04 Leverkusen).
Forwards: Mario Gomez (FC Bayern München), Miroslav Klose (Lazio), Cacau (VfB Stuttgart).


EURO 2012 Qualifying Group A Standings:

Teams Pld W D L F A Pts
1.GERMANY 8 8 0 0 28 5 24
2.TURKEY 8 4 2 2 11 8 14
3.BELGIUM 8 3 3 2 16 11 12
4.AUSTRIA 8 2 2 4 12 16 8
5.AZERBAIJAN 8 2 1 5 9 21 7
6.KAZAKHSTAN 8 1 0 7 5 20 3

Turkish Super League Review ....

When was the last time we saw Istanbul big guns on top of the Turkish Super League together?

It has been long time!

At the end of week 5, before the National team break , Fenerbahce is in first place and Galatasaray on second and Besiktas on Fourth. In between them there is another Istanbul minow Buyuksehirspor who is on third place.

Looking back to week 5 matches, Fenerbahce still in good form and is the only team who did not lost a match in five weeks...

Galatasaray under Fatih Terim, after starting shaky to league has won their third match in Ankara and captured the second place on Sunday.

Besiktas had a chance to capture the second place from Galatasaray on Monday night but they could not do it and only settle for a draw after being down two players against Gaziantep...


Turkey's only team in the Champions League Trabzonspor won their second back to back match and their striker Burak Yilmaz scored again...

Burak Yilmaz has 7 goals in 5 matches actually he played in four matches and he is the leading scorer in Turkish Super League..

Webo from Istanbul Buyuksehir and Nobre from Mersin , follows him with five goals...

Mersin , new comers, are the most surprised team in the league so far....

They have three wins one draw and one lost and they are with 10 points on fifth place..

Another newcomer team Orduspor won their away match in the week 5!

Orduspor , beat Karabukspor at their home and showed that they are not joke too..

Another interesting thing in week 5 was, Gaziantep earned their first points with their new young coach Abdullah Ercan...

So, Gaziantep earned their first point after five rounds in Turkey...

Along Gaziantep, Karabuk and Kayserispor has been disappointment teams so far!

After National team break, in the week 6, Galatasaray will have a real test against Bursaspor and Mersin vs Fenerbahce matches will be really interesting too..

Week 5 results....

30 Sep 2011
FT Bursaspor 4 : 0 Genclerbirligi
01 Oct 2011
FT Antalyaspor 2 : 2 Sivasspor
FT Fenerbahce 4 : 2 Buyuksehir
FT Karabukspor 1 : 2 Orduspor
02 Oct 2011
FT Ankaragucu 0 : 3 Galatasaray
FT Eskisehirspor 0 : 2 Trabzonspor
FT Kayserispor 2 : 2 Mersin
FT Samsunspor 1 : 2 Manisaspor
03 Oct 2011
FT Gaziantepspor 0 : 0 Besiktas

Standings...

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

Turkish Super League Preview

Turkish Super League started twenty days ago and they already played four rounds in this short period due to what happened in Turkish football scandal and TFF's uncertainty on some things!

With the new play- off system this season, teams really focussed on to be in top four at the end of 34 matches...

During the past four weeks, we see only two teams who has not lost a match....

Istanbul Buyuksehir and Fenerbahce....

They both have ten points after week 4, in the Turkish Super League,,,,


So far , Gaziantep is the most disapoinment team in the league while most surprised team is newcomer Mersin, who has won three matches in foru weeks!

Gaziantep who does not have a single point in the league just hired a new young coach Abdullah Ercan after Tolunay Kafkas resigned...



After,four weeks, Buyuksehir is on top with Fenerbahce an they both have 10 points,.,,,,

Besiktas and Mersin follows them with nine points.....

LOOKING AHEAD,,,,,,,,,,,,


The week 5, will take a start on Friday with only one match and will end on Monday with very important match in Gaziantep....

The match of the week, will take place on Saturday when Fenerbahce will host Buyuksehir in Sukru Saracoglu stadium in front of full house,,,,

Fenerbahce looks better side in this match....

But, Buyuksehir under Abdullah Avci, has been showing constancy in Turkish football with his sixth year as a coach at the helm of Istabul Buyuksehir...

This will be huge match for Fenerbahce fans ......


Turkey's only team team in the Champions League Trabzonspor after getting a draw against Lille on Tuesday still sits on top of the group E but, really struggling in the Turkish Super League. They have won only one match so far!

On Sunday, they will travel to Eskisehir to play Eskisehirspor...

Eskisehir sits on top of Trabzonspor in the standings......

Another really tough match for Trabzonspor....

The week 5 will come to end on Monday night in Gaziantep when Besiktas will face Gaziantepspor .

A win against Gaziantep could move Besiktas to first place if Fenerbahce- Buyuksehir end in a draw.

FRIDAY...
19:00 CET Bursaspor 4- 0 Genclerbirligi

SATURDAY
14:00 CET Karabukspor 1- 2 Orduspor
18:00 CET Fenerbahce 4- 2 Buyuksehir
19:00 CET Antalyaspor 2-2 Sivasspor

SUNDAY
14:00 CET Samsunspor 1-2 Manisaspor
18:00 CET Ankaragucu 0-3 Galatasaray
18:00 CET Kayserispor 2-2 Mersin
18:00 CET Eskisehirspor 0-2 Trabzonspor

MONDAY
19:00 CET Gaziantepspor 0-0 Besiktas

Besiktas wend down with a late penalty kick to Stoke City

Stoke City came from behind to defeat Besiktas 2-1 thanks to Jon Walters' penalty in Thursday's Europa League clash at the Britannia Stadium.


Besiktas scored first but two minutes later Stoke tied the match...
Besiktas went ahead in the 14th minute when Roberto Hilbert scored on to Ricardo Quaresma's pass, but their lead lasted only a couple minutes, goalkeeper Rustu Recber unable to claim Dean Whitehead's corner and Peter Crouch scored the goal for Stoke City.

In the 78th minute, Walters hammered his penalty kick past Rustu after Crouch had been brought down by Tomas Sivok.

Stoke (4-4-2): Sorensen 6; Shotton 7, Huth 6, Shawcross 7, Upson 6; Delap 7, Palacios 5 (Whelan 61 6), Whitehead 7, Etherington 6 (Pennant 52 6); Crouch 6, Jerome 5 (Walters 59 8).
Subs not used: Nash, Wilson, Wilkinson, Arismendi.

Besiktas (4-1-4-1): Recber 4; Hilbert 7, Sivok 6, Korkmaz 5, Koybasi 6; Aurelio 6 (Holosko 82); Quaresma 8, Uysal 6 (Ernst 75), Fernandes 6, Sabrosa 6; De Oliveira 6.
Subs not used: Gonen, Kavlak, Dag, Sidnei