Beşiktaş upbeat despite defeat
Monday, August 6, 2007
Article summary
Ertuğrul Sağlam insisted Besiktas JK were on the right track ahead of their meeting with FC Sheriff despite losing Sunday's Turkish Super Cup to Fenerbahçe SK.
Article body
Beşiktaş JK coach Ertuğrul Sağlam insisted his team were on the right track ahead of their UEFA Champions League second qualifying round meeting with FC Sheriff in Tiraspol despite losing Sunday's Turkish Super Cup to Fenerbahçe SK.
Arrivals
The Turkish Cup holders went into the match at the Köln Rhein Energie Stadium with a mountain of expectations after a summer of transfer activity. Senegalese international defender Lamine Diatta was the latest arrival on Friday, following Rodrigo Tello, Mehmet Yozgatlı, Edouard Cissé and Turkish international goalkeepers Rüstü Reçber and Hakan Arıkan. They began slowly in Cologne, however, falling behind to Deivid's early goal before Bobo equalised against the run of play six minutes later.
'Not enough'
Beşiktaş slowly began to gel, with Matías Delgado and Tello both going close to making it 2-1 but with time ebbing away it was Fenerbahçe's Mateja Kežman who struck the decisive goal four minutes from the final whistle. There was still time for İbrahim Üzülmez to be sent off to provide a disappointing end to a match which had promised much. "We played better as the game went on but it was not enough for us," said Sağlam. "We conceded a couple of easy goals and the red card was uncharacteristic of our team."
'Fighter team'
The Black Eagles will not have to wait long for the chance to make amends, though, with Wednesday's second leg against Sheriff looming large. İbrahim Toraman scored the only goal of a tight first leg in Istanbul, and with a third qualifying round tie against FC Zürich in the offing, the pickings appear rich for completing the win. "We have a lot of new names and that makes it will take time for everyone to settle," continued Sağlam. "We will play against a fighting team [Sheriff] on Wednesday and should play better."
Big crowd
It is the second year in a row that the Turkish club Super Cup has been played in Germany following the success of last season's match at the Frankfurt Commerzbank Arena. With nearly two million Turks living in Germany, the match is keenly anticipated and drew nearly 40,000 spectators on Sunday.
