BOUN
27.01.2008, 10:32
'Big match' attracts interest from world
One of the games to decide the fate of the season at Super Lig will be played today. As leader Sivasspor welcomes F Bahce, the match draws intense interest from world media.
Clash of the titans: Sivas vs FB - 27 / 01 / 2008 07:27
The home team looks to maintain its leading position through their defensive strength while the Yellow Canaries rely on their attacking prowess.
Today's big match has also attracted intense interest from world media. Here are some quotes from the articles:
Sivasspor determined to stay distance ''uefa.com''
Many sides have threatened to break the big four's monopoly on the Turkish title, but none have succeeded. If former Turkey forward Bülent Uygun gets his way, that could soon change.
In recent years Vestel Manisaspor, Gençlerbirligi SK and Gaziantepspor have all challenged strongly, only to fall away as the campaign reached its climax.
The question now is whether Sivasspor will go the same way. Sunday's match at home to third-placed Fenerbahçe SK should help provide the answer.
"Football has advanced a lot down the years and top clubs in our country have prospered," said Uygun, who at 36 is the youngest coach in the Süper Lig. "Their budgets are now millions of dollars while small teams must get by on ten per cent of that. With such competition, it's unimaginable that smaller teams have a chance of winning the league."
Turkish delights continue to surprise ''The Guardian''
If shock league leaders Sivasspor can beat Fenerbahçe on Sunday, Turkey's traditional hierarchy really could be under threat This weekend unfashionable Sivasspor have the chance to put a rocket up the Istanbul hierarchy of Turkish football with a fury not seen since Lagari Hasan Çelebi flew a gunpowder-powered jetpack over the Bosphorus in 1633.
Sivasspor, in case you haven't been paying attention, are the surprise leaders of Super Lig, and the first team to threaten the Besiktas-Fenerbahçe-Galatasaray stranglehold in a generation. They have been propelled to the summit by incredible home form: played 10, won 10, scored 20, conceded three.
In the second half of the season Sivasspor face each of the big three at home. A win over Fenerbahçe this Sunday will set up the most exciting Turkish title race in recent memory.
Sivasspor are a team of anti-stars very much like the Wimbledon of the past. They have a limited squad with average players. Their success depends on speedy counter-attacking football. It says it all that when the club announced they were ready to listen to offers for star player, Mehmet Yildiz, the silence was deafening.
Sivasspor threaten the ultimate shock ''Square Football''
Not heard of Sivasspor? Well that's not surprising as they are a team formed as recently as 1967 who only reached the Turkish Superliga in 2005.
Yet, the team from the Anatolian city of Sivas have spent the first half of this season upturning the natural order of Turkish domestic soccer. Since the formation of a national league in 1959 only 4 sides have won the title- the Istanbul giants Fenerbahce, Galatasaray and Besiktas plus Trabzonspor, the only club from outside Turkey's largest city to finish on top.
Even before the Champions League began to entrench the dominance of Europe's elite clubs, Turkey was a closed shop so Sivasspor's achievement is astonishing.
The upstarts lead the division by a point with the three Istanbul heavyweights arrayed just behind them and all three have to visit Sivas in the second half of the campaign. Success is based on miserly defence and winning matches.
The team have been beaten more times that their three pursuers but they don't deal in draws- only 1 in 19 games this season.
Sivasspor upset the balance of power in Turkey ''Reuters''
Sivasspor supporters are starting to dream that the club from Turkey's freezing Anatolian heartland could break Istanbul's 24-year stranglehold on the league title.
In a country where Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Besiktas have almost monopolized the title since the league was established in the 1950s, the sudden success of the "Brave Ones" is a major upset to the status quo.
In just their third season in the top-flight, Sivasspor sit atop the Super League on 43 points, ahead of Galatasaray on 42 and Fenerbahce on 41 with 19 matches played.
The Black Sea club of Trabzonspor, traditional fourth challengers for the title, are down in 11th. Ahead of Sunday's home match against champions Fenerbahce, the club's rookie coach Bulent Uygun is under no illusions about the scale of the task facing Sivasspor.
"It is impossible for us to put Sivasspor in the same box as the Big Four. The 70 million people living in Turkey support one of the Big Four," he said.
One of the games to decide the fate of the season at Super Lig will be played today. As leader Sivasspor welcomes F Bahce, the match draws intense interest from world media.
Clash of the titans: Sivas vs FB - 27 / 01 / 2008 07:27
The home team looks to maintain its leading position through their defensive strength while the Yellow Canaries rely on their attacking prowess.
Today's big match has also attracted intense interest from world media. Here are some quotes from the articles:
Sivasspor determined to stay distance ''uefa.com''
Many sides have threatened to break the big four's monopoly on the Turkish title, but none have succeeded. If former Turkey forward Bülent Uygun gets his way, that could soon change.
In recent years Vestel Manisaspor, Gençlerbirligi SK and Gaziantepspor have all challenged strongly, only to fall away as the campaign reached its climax.
The question now is whether Sivasspor will go the same way. Sunday's match at home to third-placed Fenerbahçe SK should help provide the answer.
"Football has advanced a lot down the years and top clubs in our country have prospered," said Uygun, who at 36 is the youngest coach in the Süper Lig. "Their budgets are now millions of dollars while small teams must get by on ten per cent of that. With such competition, it's unimaginable that smaller teams have a chance of winning the league."
Turkish delights continue to surprise ''The Guardian''
If shock league leaders Sivasspor can beat Fenerbahçe on Sunday, Turkey's traditional hierarchy really could be under threat This weekend unfashionable Sivasspor have the chance to put a rocket up the Istanbul hierarchy of Turkish football with a fury not seen since Lagari Hasan Çelebi flew a gunpowder-powered jetpack over the Bosphorus in 1633.
Sivasspor, in case you haven't been paying attention, are the surprise leaders of Super Lig, and the first team to threaten the Besiktas-Fenerbahçe-Galatasaray stranglehold in a generation. They have been propelled to the summit by incredible home form: played 10, won 10, scored 20, conceded three.
In the second half of the season Sivasspor face each of the big three at home. A win over Fenerbahçe this Sunday will set up the most exciting Turkish title race in recent memory.
Sivasspor are a team of anti-stars very much like the Wimbledon of the past. They have a limited squad with average players. Their success depends on speedy counter-attacking football. It says it all that when the club announced they were ready to listen to offers for star player, Mehmet Yildiz, the silence was deafening.
Sivasspor threaten the ultimate shock ''Square Football''
Not heard of Sivasspor? Well that's not surprising as they are a team formed as recently as 1967 who only reached the Turkish Superliga in 2005.
Yet, the team from the Anatolian city of Sivas have spent the first half of this season upturning the natural order of Turkish domestic soccer. Since the formation of a national league in 1959 only 4 sides have won the title- the Istanbul giants Fenerbahce, Galatasaray and Besiktas plus Trabzonspor, the only club from outside Turkey's largest city to finish on top.
Even before the Champions League began to entrench the dominance of Europe's elite clubs, Turkey was a closed shop so Sivasspor's achievement is astonishing.
The upstarts lead the division by a point with the three Istanbul heavyweights arrayed just behind them and all three have to visit Sivas in the second half of the campaign. Success is based on miserly defence and winning matches.
The team have been beaten more times that their three pursuers but they don't deal in draws- only 1 in 19 games this season.
Sivasspor upset the balance of power in Turkey ''Reuters''
Sivasspor supporters are starting to dream that the club from Turkey's freezing Anatolian heartland could break Istanbul's 24-year stranglehold on the league title.
In a country where Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Besiktas have almost monopolized the title since the league was established in the 1950s, the sudden success of the "Brave Ones" is a major upset to the status quo.
In just their third season in the top-flight, Sivasspor sit atop the Super League on 43 points, ahead of Galatasaray on 42 and Fenerbahce on 41 with 19 matches played.
The Black Sea club of Trabzonspor, traditional fourth challengers for the title, are down in 11th. Ahead of Sunday's home match against champions Fenerbahce, the club's rookie coach Bulent Uygun is under no illusions about the scale of the task facing Sivasspor.
"It is impossible for us to put Sivasspor in the same box as the Big Four. The 70 million people living in Turkey support one of the Big Four," he said.