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Soccer-Turkey struggle to beat lowly Kazakhstan in Euro qualifier

- Turkey kept their Euro 2016 qualifying hopes alive with a hard-fought 1-0 win away to bottom side Kazakhstan thanks to a late Arda Turan's strike in their Group A game on Friday.

The visitors, who handed Kazakhstan their heaviest ever home defeat when they beat them 6-0 last time the teams met in Almaty in 2006, dominated the game but missed several chances.

Turkey's top scorer in qualifying, Burak Ylmaz, missed the target in the 53rd minute and hit the woodwork 20 minutes later.

But it was Yilmaz who set up Arda Turan to score what proved to be the winner in the 83rd minute in a tough match.

Third-placed Turkey are on eight points after six games ahead of the Netherlands, who have seven from five and were visiting Latvia later on Friday when group leaders Czech Republic, on 13, were away to second-placed Iceland who have 12.

Kazakhstan, who have one point, opened their account with a 0-0 draw at home to Latvia but have lost all five of their subsequent fixtures.

The top two qualify for the finals with the best third-placed finisher in the nine groups. The eight remaining third-placed teams play off to determine the last four qualifiers. 

Source: Reuters 

New coaches for Besiktas and Fenerbahce !

 Besiktas's new coach Senol Gunes ...

Besiktas has signed Turkish manager Senol Gunes for two seasons with an option to extend his deal for a further year.

The Istanbul side said that Gunes will receive 1.5 million euros ($1.69 million) for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 football seasons.

According to the agreement, Besiktas will pay Senol Gunes 500,000 euros as compensation his contract is terminated prematurely after the first season.

Sixty-three-year-old Gunes managed Bursaspor last season.

Fenerbahce appoint Vitor Pereira 

 Fenerbahce has appointed Portuguese manager Vitor Pereira for two years.

Releasing a statement on Thursday, Fenerbahce said: "Portuguese Vitor Pereira, who worked for Greece's Olympiacos last year, has been appointed as new coach of Fenerbahce football team with a two-year deal."

Pereira started his coaching career at the age of 34 with Portuguese clubs Padroense and Porto's youth team. The manager, who retired from playing professional football at the age of 28, enjoyed his premier first-team spell with San Joanense in the 2004-2005 season.

The Espinho native was Andre Villas-Boas' assistant manager at Porto in the 2010-2011 season; he managed the team to the Portuguese Super Cup Final against Vitoria Guimares in 2011.

The Portuguese manager was able to bring success to Porto in the 2011-2012 season, finishing as champions in 30 matches with 75 points. He continued his success with the team, becoming champions the next season with Porto as well.

After staying with Saudi Arabian team al-Ahli in the 2013-2014 season, the 47-year-old moved on to Olympiacos in January 2015.

With Pereira, Olympiacos won the Greek domestic cup and championship this year.

Galatasaray Winners of Turkish Cup

Galatasaray beats Bursaspor to win Ziraat cup

In addition to the Turkish Spor Toto Super League title, Galatasaray has been crowned Ziraat Turkish Cup winners this season

LTurkish Spor Toto Super League champions Galatasaray beat

 Bursaspor, 3-2, to win the 2014-15 Ziraat Turkish Cup at the Bursa Ataturk Stadium in Bursa on Wednesday.

In the 25th minute, home team Bursaspor were awarded a penalty on account of Galatasaray’s left-back Alex Telles. This allowed Bursaspor’s Fernandao to score, 1-0.

In the 40th minute, Galatasaray equalized when their Turkish striker Burak Yilmaz finished in the far post, 1-1.

In the 48th minute of the second half, Galatasaray came back when Yilmaz again finished in the one-on-one position. Selcuk Inan made a deadly through ball to his teammate, 2-1.

Bursaspor scored the equalizer in the 58th minute, Volkan Sen then put the ball into the net, 2-2. Fernando Belluschi made a classy heel pass.

Galatasaray striker Yilmaz hit the target just a minute later to allow Galatasaray take the lead once again, 3-2. Yilmaz scored a hat-trick for his team.

Galatasaray captain Selcuk Inan lifted the trophy at the ceremony.

Apart from the Spor Toto Super League title, Galatasaray has been crowned Ziraat Turkish Cup winners this season, allowing the Istanbul giants to do a “double”.

Galatasaray lastly did a “double” in the 1999-2000 season.

Lions are the most time winners of the Turkish Cup with 16 titles. Moreover, reigning Ziraat Turkish Cup championsGalatasaray also retained the title in the domestic tournament.

Source : AA NEWS AGENCY 

My take : Clutch Team Galatasaray Won the #STSL Tittle !

It was up and down for three Turkish giants all season long !

Galatasaray ,Besiktas and Fenerbahce occupied the top spot most of the time...

Akhisar hold the top spot earlier in the season in the third and fourth weeks.

Because of the teams could never open the point gap between them ,the gap was only one or two points most of the season !

For the first time , Galatasaray opened the gap three points in the 22th week....

I knew this chase would go down to the wire !

Fenerbahce and Besiktas could not perform like Galatasaray in the last five weeks ...

When I was in Turkey, Besiktas loss 10 points !

Besiktas problems started in the 30th week after a draw against Gaziantep in Ankara !

Following week, Besiktas had a another draw match this time against Akhisar....

In the 32. Week, losing against Konya was  disaster for Besiktas !

Fenerbahce was the only team to give challenge to Galatasaray ....

That hope was demolished for Fenerbahce in the 33th week when Fenerbahce draw against BasakSehir !

At the end Clutch team with clutch players won the Turkish Super League Tittle !

Galatasaray had clutch players like Sneijder ,Muslera, Selcuk Inan .....

Besiktas was young  team,they could not handle the pressure!

As far as Fenerbahce, their coach Ismail Kartal  made some crutual mistakes at the end of the tunnel!

His coaching from sideline was not that great......

On the other hand , Besiktas coach Bilic made some crutual mistakes in the crutual weeks .

That was costly for Besiktas too !

The team who started the league with coaching caos Galatasaray, started this race with bad start but finished on top at the end of the season .

In the 3rd week, Galatasaray was in 9th place in the league with 4 points!

When their Italian coach Prandelli left in the 10th week, Galatasaray was only one point behind
 Besiktas .

Prandelli won 6 ,draw 1 and loss 3 in 10 ,Turkish Super League matches!

But he was sacked.......

Because of poor Euroapian performance.

The new coach Hamza Hamzaoglu came in and picked up from there !

He landed on this dream job with the help from Fatih Terim's recommandation


Knowing Turkish players and changing couple things with teams lineup ,Hamzaoglu put Galatasaray on right track !

Players like ,Muslera and Sneijder was plus for his accomplishment .....

At the end .....

Galatasaray won their 20th Championship title in Turkey and earned their four star.

They were the clutch team.

Tight Tittle Race in the Turkish Super League

Will it be .....

Besiktas ?

Galatasaray?

Or Fenerbahce ?


Last five weeks will decide the winner......

There are many tough matches  in the nex five weeks.

Besiktas and Galatasaray with 64 points and Fenerbahce 63...

Later on  in May,  Galatasaray vs Besiktas match will decide this race,in my opinion !


This weekend.....

 Second place Galatasaray will host Torku Konyaspor in Istanbul on Friday.

 Alex Telles, is suspended from the match at Turk Telekom Arena while Galatasaray midfielder Hamit Altintop will miss the game due to calf injury.


Other title contenders Fenerbahce will be playing away to Medicana Sivasspor on Saturday.

Fenerbahce may lack their Portuguese regular Bruno Alves playing as a centre-back, while Alves is suspended.

Fenerbahce come in third with 63 points.


Leaders Besiktas will meet Gaziantepspor at Osmanli Stadium, in Ankara on Sunday.

Besiktas regulars, Czech centre-back Tomas Sivok, Austrian midfielder Veli Kavlak and goalkeeper Tolga Zengin are probably sidelined because of their injuries.


Besiktas are leading the league with 64 points by goal average.



Friday:
20.00 Galatasaray vs Torku Konyaspor (1700 GMT)
20.00 Eskisehirspor vs Kasimpasa (1700 GMT)
20.00 SAI Kayseri Erciyesspor vs Mersin Idmanyurdu (1700 GMT)

Saturday:
13.30 Genclerbirligi vs Akhisar Belediyespor (1030 GMT)
16.00 Bursaspor vs Kardemir Karabukspor (1300 GMT)
19.00 Medicana Sivasspor vs Fenerbahce (1600 GMT)
19.00 Balikesirspor vs Istanbul Basaksehir (1600 GMT)


Sunday:
16.00 Caykur Rizespor vs Trabzonspor (1300 GMT)
19.00 Besiktas vs Gaziantepspor (1600 GMT)



– Standings:

Rank	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	+/-	Pts
1	Besiktas	29	20	4	5	51	26	25	64
2	Galatasaray	29	20	4	5	54	34	20	64
3	Fenerbahce	29	19	6	4	51	24	27	63
4	Istanbul Basaksehir	29	12	12	5	40	24	16	48
5	Bursaspor	29	13	8	8	59	42	17	47
6	Trabzonspor	29	12	11	6	51	43	8	47
7	Mersin Idmanyurdu	29	12	6	11	48	41	7	42
8	Genclerbirligi	29	10	9	10	44	38	6	39
9	Torku Konyaspor	29	10	8	11	27	37	-10	38
10	Kasimpasa	29	9	8	12	49	60	-11	35
11	Gaziantepspor	29	10	5	14	25	40	-15	35
12	Medicana Sivasspor	29	9	7	13	37	41	-4	34
13	Akhisar Belediyespor	29	8	9	12	36	45	-9	33
14	Eskisehirspor	29	7	11	11	34	43	-9	32
15	Caykur Rizespor	29	7	7	15	34	49	-15	28
16	Kardemir Karabukspor	29	6	6	17	34	46	-12	24
17	SAI Kayseri Erciyesspor	29	4	9	16	33	52	-19	21
18	Balikesirspor	29	4	8	17	37	59	-22	20

Fenerbahce back on top !

Fenerbahce took the lead in the Turkish super league after defeating Bursaspor 1-0 at Fenerbahce Sukru Saracoglu Stadium, in Istanbul, on Monday night.

Fenerbahce striker from Cameroon, Pierre Webo, broke the deadlock by scoring in the 84th minute. They now lead the Spor Toto Super League with 59 points in week 27.

Trabzonspor stunned Galatasaray 2-1 in Trabzon on Sunday. Trabzonspor snatched the win thanks to goals by Ozer Hurmaci and Carl Medjani. Galatasaray's goal was scored by Emre Colak. Galatasaray now find themselves in third place with 58 points.

On Saturday, Besiktas eased past Kasimpasa 5-1 in an away match. Mustafa Pektemek, Demba Ba, Ramon Motta, Olcay Sahan and Jose Sosa all scored for Besiktas. With 58 points, Besiktas are in second place thanks to a favorable goal average.

Bursaspor striker Fernandao lead the league in goals with 17. Besikta's Demba Ba is second with 16 goals and Trabzonspor's Oscar Cardozo is third with 15.

 Results:

Gaziantepspor 1 Torku Konyaspor 1

Kardemir Karabukspor 2 Genclerbirligi 1

Kasimpasa 1 Besiktas 5

SAI Kayseri Erciyesspor 0 Eskisehirspor 1

Medicana Sivasspor 1 Balikesirspor 1

Istanbul Basaksehir 3 Caykur Rizespor 1

Trabzonspor 2 Galatasaray 1

Fenerbahce 1 Bursaspor 0

Mersin Idmanyurdu 1 Akhisar Belediyespor 1

 Fixtures of matchday 28:

Friday

Medicana Sivasspor vs Mersin Idmanyurdu

Saturday

Bursaspor vs Istanbul Basaksehir

Caykur Rizespor vs Kasimpasa 

Eskisehirspor vs Fenerbahce

Sunday

Balikesirspor vs SAI Kayseri Erciyesspor 

Torku Konyaspor vs Akhisar Belediyespor 

Genclerbirligi vs Trabzonspor 

Galatasaray vs Gaziantepspor

Monday

Besiktas vs Kardemir Karabukspor

 Standings:

Rank	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	+/-	Pts
1	Fenerbahce	27	18	5	4	46	20	26	59
2	Besiktas	27	18	4	5	47	25	22	58
3	Galatasaray	27	18	4	5	51	34	17	58
4	Istanbul Basaksehir	27	12	11	4	38	19	19	47
5	Trabzonspor	27	12	10	5	50	40	10	46
6	Bursaspor	27	12	8	7	52	36	16	44
7	Mersin Idmanyurdu	27	10	6	11	43	39	4	36
8	Genclerbirligi	27	9	8	10	40	37	3	35
9	Torku Konyaspor	27	9	8	10	24	33	-9	35
10	Gaziantepspor	27	10	5	12	25	36	-11	35
11	Akhisar Belediyespor	27	8	9	10	35	41	-6	33
12	Medicana Sivasspor	27	8	7	12	33	37	-4	31
13	Eskisehirspor	27	7	9	11	32	41	-9	30
14	Kasimpasa	27	7	8	12	41	56	-15	29
15	Caykur Rizespor	27	7	7	13	33	44	-11	28
16	Kardemir Karabukspor	27	5	6	16	31	44	-13	21
17	SAI Kayseri Erciyesspor	27	4	8	15	30	48	-18	20
18	Balikesirspor	27	4	7	16	33	54	-21	19

Source :AA