Ironically, none of three Turkish nationals who also play in the Turkish Premiere League are from the traditional Istanbul powerhouse Galatasaray, the lone Turkish team in the UEFA Champions League. On Saturday, Galatasary, my personal favorite team (I am a Turkish-American) defeated my second favorite Turkish team Bursaspor 2-0 with goals from Burak Yilmaz (52m) and Olcan Adin (90m). This was also Bursapor's first domestic game without the team's long-standing star player Pablo Battalla who now plays for Beijing Guoan in China.
For Gaziantepspor, located in southwest Turkey, the young rising star Muhammet Demir (pictured top) scored two goals in the 72nd and 78th minutes for the team's 2-1 win over Sivasspor.
In another clash of mid-level teams, Eskisehirspor from the western city of Eskisehir, the hometown of Cuneyt Arkin, a Turkish matinee idol from the '70s, got goals from Hurriyet Gucer (pict. bottom) in the 65th minute and Erkan Zengin, a Swedish national of Turkish heritage, who kicked in the game-winning goal in the 76th minute.
Cenk Tosun (43rd min) delivered the only goal for Istanbul powerhouse Besiktas, which was recently eliminated from the Champions League by Arsenal, but BJK will now play in the Europa League. BJK beat Mersin 1-0.
Lastly, it was alas not a good weekend for Rajko Rotman, a Slovenian national, who plays for Basakdemir; he got a red card for his Istanbul team Basaksehir, but the team managed to still get a 1-1 draw with cross-town rival Kasimpasa.
Here are the soccer scores from weekend play in Turkey:
Bursaspor 0 Galatasaray 2
Mersin 0 Besiktas 1
Fenerbahce 3 Karademir Karabuk 2
Kayseri Erciyes 0 Trabszonspor 0, tie
Sivasspor 1 Gazinantepspor 2
Eskisehirspor 2 Konyaspor 1
Rizespor 1 Ankara GB 1, tie
Balikesirspor 1 Akhisar GS 2
Basaksehir 1 Kasimpasa 1, tie
Link to Ahmet Bob Turgut's blog on Turkish soccer:
http://turkeyfootball.blogspot.com/
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