Fenerbahce Leaves Austria with Confidence

Fenerbahce Leaves Austria with Confidence

By Nathan L. Redd

Fenerbahce leaves Austria with a four-game winning streak in their preseason friendlies. On Saturday, Fener wrapped up its preseason camp with 1-0 win over Sparta Prague. Onder Turaci scored the game's only goal in the 85th minute.

Zico went with Serdar Kulbilge in goal, with Onder Turaci, Can Arat, Tumer Metin, Wederson, Edu Dracena, Deniz Baris, Ugur Boral, Mehmet Aurelio, Deivid de Souza, and Mateja Kezman as his starting eleven. Gokhan Gonul and Selcuk both entered the game as substitutes for Fenerbahce. Roberto Carlos and Stephen Appiah sat out once again.

The crowd was again full of Fenerbahce supporters, taking part in a tribute to President Aziz Yildirim throughout the game. The team now leaves Austria Sunday at 1 PM local time to head back to Istanbul. Fenerbahce leaves their Austrian camp with confidence, but still many questions left to answer. The team was without stars Roberto Carlos, Stephen Appiah, Alex de Souza, and Diego Lugano for most of the camp. The question of team chemistry when those players join the team is still up in the air. Additionally, speculation about Fenerbahce's transfers still linger.

Fenerbahce will now begin focusing on playing rivals Besiktas in the Super Cup in Germany in two weeks. Fenerbahce fans will be eager to see how Roberto Carlos blends in with the current cast of stars in Kadikoy.