TURKEY FACES UKRAINE IN FRIENDLY WITH EYE ON WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS

Today’s Zaman
12 August 2009, Wednesday

The Turkish national soccer team takes on Ukraine at the Viktor
Bannikov Stadium in Kiev this evening in a warm-up match in preparation
for its upcoming World Cup 2010 European qualifying Group Five

This match is of paramount importance for Turkey coach Fatih Terim
to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of his team before the home
qualifier against Estonia on Sept. 5, the games away against Bosnia
and Herzegovina four days later and on the road against Belgium on
Oct. 10 and the last match at home against Armenia on Oct. 14. We,
naturally, will concentrate more on Turkey’s chances for South Africa
next year rather than on this evening’s Ukraine friendly. The Turks
virtually blew their qualifying chances for South Africa after losing
1-0 to Spain in Madrid on March 28 and 2-1 again to the Spaniards
in Ýstanbul on April Fools Day. ‘April Fools joke’ Turkey losing
to European champion Spain away was understandable but the loss at
home four days later on April 1 looked like an April Fools joke. And
the simple reason was that Turkey was the better side and therefore
did not deserve defeat. To recap: Fenerbahce striker Semih Þenturk,
now at the Kadýkoy infirmary, gave the Turks the lead in the first
half, and it took a dubious 63rd-minute penalty from Xabi Alonso
and a stoppage-time strike from Liverpool teammate Albert Riera to
seal victory for "mighty" Spain — its sixth win in as many Group
Five matches. And Terim was downcast after the April Fools Day
defeat. "Until the moment when the Spaniards scored from a [dubious]
penalty kick, I don’t remember their having any clear-cut scoring
opportunity," Terim lamented at his post-match news conference on
April 1. "This could have been a historic night for Turkish sports, not
just Turkish soccer, but the team let this slip. … Our fixtures are
not easy but the Turkish national team is capable of beating anyone,
anywhere. Bosnia has the advantage now; we have to accept this," he
added. European playoffs There will be 32 participating nations in
the 2010 World Cup. Host South Africa will be joined by five other
African nations, plus 13 from Europe, four from South America and
Asia and three from CONCACAF. There will also be two places decided
by an Oceania/Asia playoff and a CONCACAF/South America playoff.

The nine European group winners will qualify automatically, while
the best eight of the nine runners-up will play a two-leg playoff
to qualify. With Spain (18 points) almost certain to go through as
Group Five leader, Turkey (8 points) now faces an uphill battle to
make it to the South Africa finals with its only realistic hope being
to overtake Bosnia and Herzegovina (12 points) for the playoff place
in the group with only four games to go. And maybe that’s what Terim
meant by saying "Bosnia has the advantage now." This is even more so
because Turkey’s fate for a playoff berth is no longer in its hands
but in those of Bosnia and Herzegovina. With four points separating
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkey, the Bosnians and Herzegovinians can
lose at home to Turkey on Sept. 9 and still finish as group runner-up
if they beat Armenia away on Sept. 5, Estonia away on Oct. 10 and
"already" qualified Spain at home on Oct. 14. This makes Turkey’s
job all the more difficult because the Turks no longer have the
luxury of dropping points. And that’s the main reason for today’s
warm-up game against Ukraine to make the players perform together
and understand each other’s moves. "Ukraine is now experiencing a
real soccer boom," Serhiy Storozhenko, the first vice-president of
the Ukrainian Soccer Federation, said recently. Shakhtar Donetsk,
coached by former Galatasaray and Beþiktaþ championship-winning coach
Mircea Lucescu, clinched the last UEFA Cup, which was played at the
Fenerbahce Þukru Saracoðlu Stadium in Ýstanbul on May 20.

So Terim chose Ukraine for today’s friendly because Turkey needs to
test its strength against quality opposition ahead of the toughies
that lie ahead. Soccer is a sport with endless possibilities where
anything can happen. Therefore the Turks must train hard, even after
today’s match with Ukraine, try to win all their remaining qualifiers
in September and October and hope that Bosnia and Herzegovina will
drop points. Players on Terim’s squad against Ukraine Goalkeepers:
Volkan Demirel (Fenerbahce); Ruþtu Recber (Beþiktaþ). Defenders:
Gokhan Gonul and Onder Turacý (Fenerbahce); Sabri Sarýoðlu, Servet
Cetin, Gokhan Zan and Hakan Balta (Galatasaray); Ceyhun Gulselam
(Trabzonspor); Ýsmail Koybaþý (Beþiktaþ). Midfielders: Hamit Altýntop
(Bayern Munich); Colin Kazým (Fenerbahce); Ayhan Akman and Arda Turan
(Galatasaray); Nuri Þahin (Borussia Dortmund); Yusuf Þimþek (Beþiktaþ);
Tuncay Þanlý (Middlesbrough). Forwards: Halil Altýntop (Schalke 04);
Nihat Kahveci (Beþiktaþ); Sercan Yýldýrým (Bursaspor).

Injured Mevlut, Emre will be missing today Paris Saint-Germain’s (PSG)
Turkey international striker Mevlut Erdinc, injured in the French
Ligue 1 match between Montpellier and PSG on Saturday that ended 1-1,
has been removed from the Turkish national team’s squad and therefore
will be missing today. A statement from PSG said, "Mevlut sprained
his left lower thigh muscle." Injured Fenerbahce attacking midfielder
Emre Belozoðlu has also been taken out of the Turkish squad and will
be conspicuously absent this evening. No replacements for these two
players were announced by Turkey coach Fatih Terim. Ýstanbul Today’s
Zaman Live on TRT 1 21:00 Ukraine vs. Turkey