It is Turkey vs Croatia again!

Photo By : Ahmet B Turgut


It is revenge time for Croatia and for Turkey wants live the same feelings back in Euro 2008!

Croatia back in Euro 2008, quarter- finals, lost to Turkey on penalties...

They will meet again once more in the play-offs for the Euro 2012 tournament.

The two-game playoffs will start on Nov.11 and 12, with the return matches Nov. 15.

Turkey will host the first game.....

This will be fifth playoff for Turkey, while Croatia lost its only other playoff, for a place at the 1998 World Cup.

The Euro 2012 draw will take place Dec. 2 in Kiev, and tournament will be on from June 8 to July 1. 2012.

After the draw Turkish National team assistant coach Oguz Cetin and Croatia coach Salaven Blic talked about the match up....

Oguz Cetin :We have been drawn against strong opponents. We know Croatia from EURO 2008.

Slaven Blic :We have been waiting and dreaming about getting our revenge for three years.



We all remember how we lost that EURO 2008 quarter-final. Yes, Turkey is are strong opponents, but we are stronger

Euro 2012 playoff seeds announced

Turkey is not top seeded team in the playoffs !

Turkish Football Federation web site(www.tff.org) made a huge error yesterday, announcing Turkey as a top seeded team in the play-offs!

Well that was not truth and it was bogus news from TFF!

UEFA have announced the seeds for the Euro 2012 playoffs, after the final round of qualifying matches were completed on Tuesday.

The four teams seeded for the draw are 2004 hosts and beaten finalists Portugal, Giovanni Trapattoni's Republic of Ireland, Euro 1996 runners-up Czech Republic and Slaven Bilic's Croatia.


The four other nations in the draw are 2008 semifinalists Turkey and three countries bidding to reach their first major soccer tournament -- Montenegro, Estonia and Bosnia Herzegovina.

The playoff draw will be made in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev on Thursday, with the two-legged ties set to be played on November 11/12 and 15.

Next year's tournament will be the 14th European championship and will be co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine

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