Turkiye Drops 1-0 Friendly to Georgia

Turkiye traveled to Georgia on Wednesday and dropped a 1-0 friendly to the host team. Georgia's Davit Siradze headed a ball into the back of the net from a corner kick in the 75th minute for the game's only goal. The win was Georgia's first ever victory over Turkiye.

Turkiye had opportunities to find an equalizer, but were unable to put the ball past the magnificent Georgian GK, Georgi Lomaia. Turkish substitute Gokdeniz Karadeniz had a fantastic opportunity six minutes into the second half after he picked off a pass to take the ball in with only he and Lomaia near the goal. Lomaia, however, was able to prevent Karadeniz from scoring.

Fenerbahce was represented by Volkan Demirel, Tumer Metin, Tuncay Sanli, Mehmet Aurelio, and Can Arat, who was wearing the national shirt for the first time. Arat did not play, however. Metin came into the game in the 63rd minute replacing Arda Turan. Tuncay Sanli left the game right after the halftime break and was replaced by Fatih Tekke.

Turkiye now turns their attention to a Euro 2008 qualifier on March 24th against arch-rival neighbor Greece in Greece. That game will be followed four days later by a match against Norway.