友達を見つける

Armenia : 0 - 2 : Turkey

A resolute display from Turkey was enough for them to see off Armenia.

The 61-year-old Danish Armenia coach Jan Poulsen preferred a defensive   4-2-3-1 formation, which was the only way to get away with a draw from the game, whereas Fatih Terim picked an attacking midfield with two strikers on the up front.

In the first half Turkey had fought a hard battle against the Catanacchio system, the hard surface, the wind and of course, the disadvantage of being the away team - being under a great pressure. With the young striker from Sochaux - Mevlut Erdinc's unbelievable misses, the half time score was goalless and even.

In the second half Terim has called the time for taking risks and put the game into the opposition half, by substituting lacksture Mevlut Erding for the flamboyant winger Kazim Kazim. As Terim planned, the ex-Fenerbahce midfielder Tuncay Sanli played as the second striker, and had more space to move into while the team was starting to be more dangerous on the wingplays - the promising winger Arda Turan seemed to be more active on the left channel.

Not long after the substution the away goal came - Kazim made the assist by a perfect quick-thinking touch to Arda Turan's curling cross and Tuncay found the back of the net. After the goal Poulsen called the sturdy defensive play off and brought on a striker for a 4-4-2 formation since his side had nothing to lose.

As he already knew, by having a weaker side and preferring a defensive formation his side had to score first - conceding one would create a mount to climb. And it did. While Armenia's attacks were being lost in the towering defence of Turkey, they conceded the second - it was Semih Senturk the goalscorer, who created the goal out of nothing - again - with his unnatural anticipation following Brazilian-born Mehmet Aurelio's missed header from a corner kick, and simply making a touch to find the net, enjoying the following deep silence in the stadium.

It was an impressive performance from Turkey despite its two missing indispensable stars - Rapid striker Nihat from Villareal and creative wing-back Hamit Altintop from FC Bayern weren't on the squad due to their injuries.

It was getting the three points what was important, and the resolute performance provided the victory..On Wednesday Turkey will have a stronger side here at Sukru Saracoglu Stadium - they will take on Belgium. And we are eagerly anticipating the match..

 --Written by theMasterMinD