BAD START FOR GALATASARAY!…….
August 14, 2008
NONDA SAVES GALATASARAY IN ISTANBUL
Shabani Nonda of Galatasaray celebrates his goal against Steaua Bucharest during their Champions League third qualifying round first leg soccer match at the Ali Sami Yen Stadium in Istanbul August 13, 2008.
Photo:REUTERS/Osman Orsal (TURKEY)
Galatasaray cameback from two goals down to salvage a home draw with FC Steaua Bucharest in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie.
Galatasaray drew 2-2 with Steaua Bucharest of Romania in the first leg match of the European Champions League third qualifying round played in Istanbul on Wednesday.
Steaua looked on course to take a lead back to Romania in a fortnight when Dairo Moreno and Banel Nicolita struck in a first 12 minutes.
Galatasaray’s Shabani Nonda quickly pulled one back, however, and his second goal just after half-time ensured there will be all to play for in Bucharest.
The home side were deprived the services of Harry Kewell, Tobias Linderoth and Umit Karan through injury and were behind in the fourth minute.
Aykut’s goal kick fell to Moreno and the Colombian entered the box and calmly beat the keeper.
Eight minutes later a Steaua throw-in was picked up by Nicolita five metres from goal and his powerful shot doubled the lead.
Despite those setbacks the 20,000 home fans continued to support their team and were given hope on 18 minutes when Nonda struck from close range.
An equaliser nearly arrived not long before the break when Arda Turan found Nonda but Robinson Zapata made a fine reflex save.
Two minutes into the second half an Arda cross from the left was headed in by the Congolese striker.
Now the pressure was on Steaua to hold out and they did so with some comfort despite the introduction of Bar?s Ozbek and Sabri Sar?oglu.
Galatasaray, meanwhile, will hope the return of injured players in a fortnight inspires them to the group stage.
Stadium: Ali Sami Yen
Referees: Laurent Duhamel, Stephane Duhamel, Laurent Ugo (France)
Galatasaray: Aykut, Emre Gungor (Sabri), Emre Asik, Servet, Hakan Balta, Meira, Hasan (Erhan), Mehmet Topal (Baris), Arda, Lincoln, Nonda
Steaua Bucharest: Zapata, Golanski (Nesu), Goian, Radoi, Marin, Nicolita, Petre (Ghionea), Lovin, Toja (Gomes), Bernhardt, Moreno
Scorers: Moreno, Nicolita (Steaua Bucharest), Nonda (Galatasaray)
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Terek Grozny v Zenit St Petersburg match preview
August 13, 2008
This mid-week makeup match will have a huge impact upon Zenit’s fading title aspirations. A victory today would see them locked in a tie with CSKA for sixth in the tight title race while a loss will like re-direct their focus towards the Champions League. However in the way of Zenit is Terek Grozny that knows the Zenit squad is weakened and victory in Saint Petersburg will catapult their European dreams forward.
Recent Form
Terek Grozny - combined (1 W, 3 D, 1 L) ( 2 GS, 3 GA)
Jul 13 FC Moscow 0 - 0 Terek Grozny
Jul 20 Terek Grozny 0 - 0 Rubin Kazan
Jul 27 YFK Shinnik Yaroslav 1 - 1 Terek Grozny
Aug 3 Terek Grozny 1 - 0 Saturn Moscow
Aug 10 Spartak Nalchik 2 - 0 Terek Grozny
Terek Grozny - away (1 W, 2 D, 2 L) ( 3 GS, 5 GA)
May 7 FC Khimki 0 - 1 Terek Grozny
May 16 Dinamo Moscow 2 - 1 Terek Grozny
Jul 13 FC Moscow 0 - 0 Terek Grozny
Jul 27 YFK Shinnik Yaroslav 1 - 1 Terek Grozny
Aug 10 Spartak Nalchik 2 - 0 Terek Grozny
Zenit St Petersburg - combined ( 1 W, 2 D, 2 L) ( 4 GS, 7 GA)
Jul 23 Zenit St Petersburg 1 - 1 Lokomotiv Moscow
Jul 26 Dinamo Moscow 1 - 0 Zenit St Petersburg
Jul 30 CSKA Moscow 0 - 0 Zenit St Petersburg
Aug 2 Zenit St Petersburg 2 - 1 FC Moscow
Aug 10 Rubin Kazan 4 - 1 Zenit St Petersburg
Zenit St Petersburg - home ( 3 W, 1 D, 1 L) ( 13 GS, 7 GA)
Sun. 6 Zenit St Petersburg 5 - 1 Tom’ Tomsk
Wed. 9 Zenit St Petersburg 3 - 4 Spartak Nalchik
Sat. 19 Zenit St Petersburg 2 - 0 Amkar Perm’
Wed. 23 Zenit St Petersburg 1 - 1 Lokomotiv Moscow
Sat. 2 Zenit St Petersburg 2 - 1 FC Moscow
Zenit will be without both Sébastien Puygrenier and Anatoliy Tymoschuk for the match as they were both red-carded in the Rubin Kazan meltdown. Fatigue is certainly an issue as that was their tenth match in four weeks and today is a test of mental toughness in front of their fans. To rebound from this they will need Viktor Faitzulin, Igor Denisov and Konstantin Zyryanov to step-up for this match in the midfield and Andrei Arshavin and Fatih Tekke to regain their finishing touch. Alejandro Domínguez if healthy and in the line-up could make the difference in this match. The twelfth-man will be big element for Zenit as they have shown in the past to rebound in front of their fans.
Terek Grozny knows the champions are bloodied and on the ropes. They will sit tight in a 3-5-2 and be ready to pounce on their errors, learning from Rubin Kazen’s victory. They will slow Zenit down, keep the ball in the tightly packed midfield and follow a disciplined approach with few errors. Match time decisions on the play of the Romanian trio of Florentin Petre, Andrei Margaritescu and Daniel Pancu will have a dramatic impact on the match.
I will review this exciting match, which is set to begin in one hour, after it concludes. The match is broadcast live online so don’t miss out.
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Galatasaray takes on S. Bucharest
August 12, 2008
Turkish Soccer Club Galatasaray will play against Romania’s Steaua Bucharest in the third qualifying round of European Champions League.
Galatasaray wants to take the upper hand in Wednesday’s game with an advantageous score before the return match away in Bucharest.
Laurent Duhamel from French Football Federation will referee the game which will begin at 21:15 local time(2:45 ET) in Ali Sami Yen Stadium in Istanbul.
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Terek Grozny v Spartak Nalchik match preview
August 10, 2008
Both these clubs, while sitting in the bottom half of the table are only nine points out of the top spot and could very easily see themselves in the final race to a European date. Hence each squad will be pushing for offensive creativity and three points.
Recent Form
Terek Grozny - combined (2 W, 3 D, 0 L) (5 GS, 2 GA)
Jul 6 Terek Grozny 3 - 1 Spartak Moscow
Jul 13 FC Moscow 0 - 0 Terek Grozny
Jul 20 Terek Grozny 0 - 0 Rubin Kazan
Jul 27 YFK Shinnik Yaroslav 1 - 1 Terek Grozny
Aug 3 Terek Grozny 1 - 0 Saturn Moscow
Terek Grozny - away (1 W, 2 D, 2 L) (3 GS, 5 GA)
Apr 13 Lokomotiv Moscow 2 - 0 Terek Grozny
May 7 FC Khimki 0 - 1 Terek Grozny
May 16 Dinamo Moscow 2 - 1 Terek Grozny
Jul 13 FC Moscow 0 - 0 Terek Grozny
Jul 27 YFK Shinnik Yaroslav 1 - 1 Terek Grozny
Spartak Nalchik - combined (1 W, 2 D, 2 L) (5 GS, 7 GA)
Jul 9 Zenit St Petersburg 3 - 4 Spartak Nalchik
Jul 13 Tom’ Tomsk 1 - 0 Spartak Nalchik
Jul 19 Spartak Nalchik 1 - 1 PFK Samara Kryliya Sovetov
Jul 25 FC Khimki 2 - 0 Spartak Nalchik
Aug 3 Amkar Perm’ 0 - 0 Spartak Nalchik
Spartak Nalchik - home (2 W, 1 D, 2 L) (6 GS, 7 GA)
Apr 19 Spartak Nalchik 1 - 2 Spartak Moscow
May 2 Spartak Nalchik 0 - 3 FC Moscow
May 10 Spartak Nalchik 2 - 0 FK Rubin Kazan
Jul 5 Spartak Nalchik 2 - 1 YFK Shinnik Yaroslav
Jul 19 Spartak Nalchik 1 - 1 Samara Kryliya Sovetov
Since returning from the break Terek Grozny has retooled their tactics, playing intelligent Football within their means and climbing slowly up the table. Their new trio of Romanian Internationals Andrei Margaritescu (formerly Dinamo Bucure?ti), Daniel Pancu (formerly Rapid Bucure?ti) and Florentin Petre (CSKA Sofia) are changing the teams fortunes and Spartak will need to be at their absolute best to keep them in control and shut-them down in the midfield as they did last week against Amkar Perm’. They will come out in a 3-5-2, with heavy emphasis on possession and creating scoring chances off the counter.
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Turkey ranked 13th in FIFA’s ranking
August 7, 2008
Turkey has climbed from 14th into 13th place in the latest world soccer ranking published by the Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA).
IFA released its world rankings for August 2008. European champions Spain remained at the top of the list.
The first twenty teams in FIFA’s latest world ranking are as follows (previous position shown in brackets):
1. Spain (1) 1,557
2. Germany (3) 1,343
3. Italy (2) 1,320
4. Netherlands (5) 1,299
5. Croatia (7) 1,282
6. Brazil (4) 1,242
7. Argentina (6) 1,219
8. Czech Republic (8) 1,146
9. Portugal (9) 1,122
10. Russia (11) 1,023
11. Romania (12) 1,021
12. France (10) 1,012
13. TURKEY (14) 1,010
4. England (15) 1,003
15. Cameroon (13) 994
16. Scotland (16) 988
17. Bulgaria (17) 930
18. Greece (18) 896
19. Ghana (20) 892
20. Israel (21) 876
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