Since I last updated the reader on the status of the Turkish top-flight, football has taken an international break for World Cup qualifying and resumed for a single round of domestic battles. The Turkish national team had a disappointing break, earning four points where six were expected. Though without their two best players – Nihat Kahveci and Hamit Altintop – an away tie in Armenia was in little doubt and the major headlines involved the invitation and subsequent visit of President Abdullah Gul across the border. A dour encounter resulted in an easy 2-0 victory.
In mid-week, Turkiye entertained Belgium, with Bosnia their major contenders for second place (Spain is overwhelming favorite for first), in Istanbul. Victory was expected but a draw was the result. Mehmet Aurelio and Hakan Balta were also missing for this match but Turkiye have enough experience overcoming depleted squad depth so there is little respite in such excuses. I was not able to watch the entire match but by all accounts Belgium were on top early and deserved their goal, despite it being the result of awful marking. Turkiye should have leveled by half-time but failed to do so. The inexplicable withdrawal of Colin Kazim-Richards for Mehmet Topuz highlighted a frustrating second half though a penalty by Emre earned the points. Emre, by the way, has no business being in the squad at the moment, let alone being captain.
In domestic play, the big match of the weekend was Trabzonspor entertaining Besiktas along the Black Sea coast in a clash of the early season leaders. I was able to watch the entire match but I soon realized that was no special privelege. The game was horrible and both sides seemed content with a nil-nil draw. Beskitas showed flashes that could see them win the title but barely threatened to score. Edouard Cisse and Delgado, at times, were influential but Serdar Kurtulus and Under-21 international Aydin Karabulut were below-par. Trabzon did not have Yattara available and big off-season signing Gokhan Unal seemed reluctant to run or pass, which bodes ill for the future.
The other big teams also faired poorly. Fenerbahce lost at Hacettepe (recently known as Genclerbirligi OFTAS) 2-1. Hacettepe looked decent but Fener never should have lost the game. They went ahead with a brilliant goal but two awful mistakes by young defender Can Arat, whose potential seemed so great at one time but looks to be ruined just like many other young prospects at Fenerbahce, turned the tide. At times, Fener seem to play with eight attackers as the full-backs push far up the field and leave the two centre backs to deal with counter-attacks. A strange sequence at the end saw Hacettepe awarded a penalty, which was missed. But the aftermath saw Fenerbahce goalkeeper Volkan dismissed for what seemed to be complaint. Roberto Carlos should have been the one to see red but probably escaped by virtue of the name on his shirt. Things are looking dire early in the season for Fenerbahce but hopefully a Champions League match with Porto in mid-week will provide respite rather than further trouble.
Galatasaray were able to earn only a draw against Antalyaspor, who, honestly, are not good. The stage seemed set for an old-fashioned romp when Nonda finished a nice move early in the game. But Antalya struck against the run of play thanks to poor marking (by the very same fools who allowed the Belgians an open header in the national game). The game was pretty poor until the last fifteen minutes when Galatasaray pressed hard for a goal and came up short. Antalya actually had the best two chances in the second half with clear break-aways but they’ll be happy with the draw. For Galatasaray, Arda failed to influence the game though Kewell looked good and so did Aydin, another young prospect with loads of potential. Milan Baros came on in the second half and came close a number of times. Lincoln also made a cameo though his contribution was contriving to get opposite goalkeeper Omer sent off – after full time! A strange decision by the referee considering that Omer was doing nothing as Gala supporters threw abuse and other flotasam at him and Lincoln pushed him to the ground. Ah well, such things are not out of the ordinary in Turkiye.
In other news, Sivasspor beat Bursaspor to go top with Beskitas and Trabzonspor. Gaziantepspor joined them on points after drawing at home with bottom club Ankaragucu in a match with four red cards – all in the last five minutes. There are still over thirty games to play but the start by Sivas shows their performance last season was no fluke and if Gaziantep can cause problems – along with Kayserispor – that will make the league even more interesting. Stay tuned for another update at the end of the month.
