Turkish President Opens Besiktas New Stadium Vodafone Arena !

Black Eagles returning home ......

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday inaugurated the brand new Istanbul waterfront stadium of the Besiktas football club, whose hardcore fans have been virulently hostile to his rule.

The formal opening did not take place inside the stadium -- which was almost entirely empty -- but beneath one of the stands in front of selected VIPs with some complaining normal supporters had been robbed of the chance to participate in the long-awaited event.

 

Besiktas in 2013 played for the last time at their old stadium in the same historic location on the shores of the Bosphorus just above the Ottoman-era Dolmabahce Palace.

 

That stadium -- which was named after the second president of modern Turkey Ismet Inonu -- was knocked down and the over 40,000 capacity Vodafone Arena built in its place.

 

Besiktas, currently locked in a thrilling fight for the league title with arch Istanbul rivals Fenerbahce, have been homeless since then and the opening of the new stadium has been greeted with relief by fans.

 

"#EveDonuyoruz," tweeted fans. "We are going home."

 

 

"I wish our eagles all the best for their new home," said Erdogan, wearing a scarf in the black-and-white colours of Besiktas, known by fans as the "Black Eagles".

 

"I believe that this stadium we are opening will be embraced by all the fans... Besiktas, Turkey's oldest, most established sports club has long deserved such a stadium," he said before cutting the ribbon.

 

Erdogan, in his youth a serious amateur player, then engaged in a light-hearted kickabout on the pitch with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his predecessor Abdullah Gul with whom he reportedly has poisoned relations.

Besiktas CEO Fikret Orman  was also on the pitch with Erdogan, Gul and Davutoglu ..

Erdogan gave the first pass to Fikret Orman.

This is huge accomplishment by Fikret Orman and Besiktas board of directors ...

Vodafone had a huge impact in this project ...

I would like to congrat all the parties and Besiktas doing thsi stadium in three years...

 

 BESIKTAS TAKES ON THE PITCH AT VODAFONE  FOR THE FIRST TIME...
 

For the first time , Besiktas will take on the pitch for the first time  against Bursaspor today..

It's huge match for Besiktas team....
After losing against Kasimpasa last weekend , Fenerbahce and Konya gave Besiktas another huge chance to open the gap with a win !

Konya beating Fenerbahce in Konya yesterday, served another golden plate to Besiktas ..

It's up to Besiktas team players and Senol Gunes to turn it to cash now ...

This is clutch game and Senol Gunes and platers has to show thier fans they are clutch team..

Another six point match !

It's a must win match ....

Besiktas is on tp of the #STSL Turkish Super Lig with 63 points and Fenerbahce on second place with 60 points !

Fenerbahce will face Galatasaray in the postponed match  this coming Wednesday ...

Galatasaray vs  Fenerbahce match should be decider if Besiktas win today !

 

 

 

Another win for Turkey ! Austria 1- Turkey 2

Turkish National team beat Austria 1-2   in Vienna , Tuesday night .

This was 13th straight win for Fatih Terim and his boys...

Austrian midfielder Zlatko Junuzovic scored the first goal of the match in the 22nd minute when Turks made a huge mistake on defense covering the attack ! 

Turkish National team 's equalizer came in the 43rd minute with a superb free kick by Hakan Calhanoglu ....

I think , he was the player of the match ,in this match ! 

Watch Hakan Calhanoglu's amazing free kick goal ....http://youtu.be/-xCMgpOihGM

The third  was a lucky for Turkey and unlucky for Austria's keeper Ramazan Ozcan ..

In the  56th minute,  Ramazan Ozcan made a huge mistake while he was trying to pass the ball to his teammate his pass went to Arda Turan who was just outside of the box ....

Arda Turan flopped the ball into the net !

Watch the huge mistake and Arda Turan's goal ...https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5-vWbO10jmw

First time Turkey beat Austria it was in 1983 and that time current coach Fatih Terim was the captain of that team ....


These two back to back wins in one week has been moral boosting for Terim and his boys !

Austria vs Turkey match on ESPN 3 Live ...

Austria host Turkey 

The Turkish national football team will be hosted by Austria in a friendly match in Vienna on Tuesday . 

The match starts at 2.30, ET and will be broadcast live on ESPN3.com . 

Turkey and Austria, are both in the Euro 2016.

Turkey are 20th in the FIFA rankings while Austria are 10th.

Turkey recently beat Sweden 2-1 in a friendly match on March 24.

Galatasaray defender Hakan Balta has been taking out from the Turkish squad as he was injured in the friendly.

Austria has three Turkish origin players Besiktas midfielder Veli Kavlak, Red Bull Salzburg midfielder Yasin Pehlivan and Ingolstadt goalkeeper Ramazan Ozcan.

Turkey won their last four matches and they are unbeaten in 12 matches in all formats !

But, Austria is very strong team ...

Austria beat Turkey 2-0 in Vianna last time they met in 2012 .

Austria National team won 9 and draw one in winning Euro qualifying group G ! 

Fatih Terim's boys qualified for Euro finals with a little luck and help from other teams and reached to EURO finals as the BEST THIRD PLACED TEAM  

It should be good match ...

Enjoy it .

Turkey beat Sweden with Cenk Tosun's two goals !

Turkish Natioanl team started the new year on a good note with 2-1 against Sweden ...

Thirt thousand fans filled Antalya' newly build stadium to support the National team.

This was a morrel booster for the team before the Euro 2016 tournament this coming summer ..

Cenk Tosun scored two great goals  one in the first half and one in the second half after Sweden tied the match !

Fatih Terim's boys played good in this match...


One interested thing was pretty much whole match Terim played without stopper on the pitch

Barca player Arda Turan played more like attacker on the left side of the wing ...

At times he was in the middle directing the team from the middle .

Selcuk Inan's pass was superb on Cenk Tosun's goal.....

Keeper Volkan Babacan was good in the net for Turkey.

Terim used some young players  along with the the old players...........


After Hakan Balta was injured , young Ahmet Calik came in the game on defense.

Players like , Oguzhan Ozyakup , Ozan Tufan and Kerim Frei saw action ...

Terim even put Altinordu's young talent Caglar Söyüncü and another promising young star   Yunus Malli from Germany in to the match for few minutes !

After the match Terim said , he was happy with the play and his players...

Turkey will play their second friendly match in Austria on March 29th .

Before the big tournament in France, Turkish National team will play couple more warm up matches
One of the is against England in England !

Turkey will play against Croatia, the Czech Republic and Spain in Group D in the Euro 2016 . 

Only in Turkey ! Trabzonspor player shows referee the red card

 Trabzonspor's Salih Dursun  was sent off for showing a red card to the referee in a Super Lig match against Galatasaray.

Dursin was upset  by showing the red card as his teammate Luis Cavanda was sent off by referee Deniz Bitnel on Sunday which left Trabzonspor with only eight men. And with Salih Dursun receiving the red  card, Trabzonspor were reduced to only seven players.

Following Cavanda's red card, Trabzonspor's players surrounded the referee, causing him to drop his  red card on the pitch . Salih Dursun  grabbed the card and showed  it  to confuse Turkish referee Deniz Bitnel who then snatched it back and showed the red card to Dursun ! 

It was a bazaar scene...

All of  his calls were wrong ....

Including two of the penalty kicks...one for Trabzon and the winning  penalty  for Galatasaray !

Today, Turkish referees head of person admitted, referee Deniz Bitel made a lot of mistakes in this match ....

This is on going  problem in the Turkish football !

The refs are really bad ...

And this will not be the end ,if they don't shape up ..

American- Turkish Youngster Called Up to U.S. U18 National Team Camp !

American Turkish sooccer player  Arda Bulut who plays in the U.S. Development league for San Jose U-16 team , called into U.S. U18 National team camp in Florida .......

The camp will start January 17 and end January 23 .

Out of this camp, U18 new coach, former Iran's coach Omid Namazi will pick his 20 players out of the 36 players for Argentina tournament .


Arda Bulut has been in the U.S. National team pool of players since age 14 ....


If he is chosen to U-18, he will be the first American-Turkish player to play for USA national team !

Arda Bulut was born in 09/30 1999 and he is only 16 years old ...

Arda plays as striker and in the 2013-2014 season he scored 33 goals with De Anza Force Academy U-14 team


This season, Arda Bulut scored 14 goals in 15 matches with San Jose U-16 team

Arda  Bulut is one of the top goal scorer in the league....

 Last years College soccer champions  Stanford University offered  scholarship  to Arda at the age of 15 !

Arda will graduate from high school year 2017.....


I have talked to Arda  Bulut and his mother on the phone and they are really excited with the news.

Arda wants to stay in the school, play soccer  and go to Stanfard University  to finish his education...

Arda Bulut has 4.75 GPA in his current high school....

Arda's father and mother are both from Ankara ,Turkey and they are working as professionals in San Jose area .

It is nice to see American-Turkish youngster getting attention from USA National team and very good University ..


I wish him all the best !

He is going to make a name for him self ....

If he does, he will be American version of Arda .....

Just watch his video  ,,,,

Here is the video for Arda Bulut ...


Ahmet Bob Turgut

Arda Turan Makes His First Start with Barcelona

Waiting is over for Arda Turan and Barcelona ....

After transferring to Barca last summer, finally Arda  played his first match today in a cup match !

With his number 7 jersey , Arda Turan was on the pitch for  68 minutes ...

He played in the midfield and looked good while he was on the pitch ...

 Arda Turan nearly scored a goal, after being played through by Messi , seven minutes before he came out of the match ! 

Goalkeeper  Pau Lopez to deny him with an excellent near-post save.

Overall Arda , was no shape to finish to match ...

That's why his coach took him out at 68 minute ! 

HOW WILL ARDA TURAN FIT IN .......


Let's not forget this was cup game for Barcelona...

To order to start in the league matches it will be different story !
 

With Barca' s 4-3-3 formation ,Arda will replaces one of the big names ,Messi, Neymar  and Suarez
When they are injured !

For him to start in the midfield ,he has to be much better ....

If he is fit, we will see him come off the bench and play more in the cup matches !

For sure, Arda Turan is the pride of TURKISH football now ...

His work just began ,if he wants to be there permanently!

I think, he has learned the new work ethic there , and he could still be better ...

He is idol to many Turkish kids around the world ...

Not to many TURKISH players have chance to play next to Messi !

I wish him the best ...