Turkiye Shows USA Who's Boss

Turkiye Shows USA Who's Boss
By Nathan L. Redd

There's football and then there's futbol. Turkiye reminded the USA that futbol still reigns supreme outside of America with a dominant 2-0 win on Sunday. The Turkiye U-17 National Team beat the Americans on their own soil with a big victory in Bradenton, Florida.

The Americans were coming in feeling confident after a 2-0 victory over Brasil this weekend - a team that beat Turkiye handily earlier in the week. Turkiye, however, showed the USA that they still have a lot to learn when it comes to futbol. The match was the final in the USA Development Academy Nike Friendlies.

Ali Cukadar scored both goals for Turkiye in the first half. Turkiye had many opportunities as soon as the match started, earning a corner kick in the sixth minute that Ogulcan Gokce headed just over the bar. Cukadar started his dominance a few minutes later, as he passed his defender and picked up a cross from Omer Karanci cross, sending the ball sailing past U.S. goalkeeper Samir Badr. As the first half wound down, Kamil Tevfik sent a long pass for Berkin Aslan. Aslan saw Cukadar alongside him in the box, sending a beautiful pass across that Cukadar was able to put in from two yards away.

After the match, USA's Carlos Martinez said “I think we had trouble finding a rhythm today. They took advantage of the scoring opportunities they created, and we didn’t put ours away. That’s how futbol goes sometimes."

Turkiye vs. USA Match Statistics:

Participants: U.S. Under-17 MNT ‘92 vs. Turkey
Competition: Development Academy Nike Friendlies, Under-17/18 Competition
Location: IMG Academy; Bradenton, Fla.
Date: December 9, 2007
Weather: Warm, 83 degrees

Lineups: USA: 1-Samir Badr; 2-Zachary Herold, 3-Tyler Polak, 4-Joshua Sylva, 6-Jared Watts; 5-Marlon Duran, 7-Jaime Gutierrez, 8-Edson Lemus, 9-Jack McInerney, 11-Aaron Horton, 13-Andrew Craven

Turkiye: 2-Gokay Iravul, 4-Ogulcan Gokce, 5-Furkan Seker, 6-Baris Yardimci, 8-Orhan Gulle, 10-Berkin Kamil Arslan, 11-Gokhan Tore, 12-Sercan Hacioglu, 15-Ali Cukadar, 16-Armagan Kus, 17-Ferhat Karakaya

Statistical Summary:
Shots: 7 (USA) / 19 (Turkiye)
Shots on Goal: 5 (USA) / 9 (Turkiye)
Saves: 6 (USA) / 4 (Turkiye)
Corner Kicks: 5 (USA) / 6 (Turkiye)
Fouls: 17 (USA) / 16 (Turkiye)
Offsides: 4 (USA) / 2 (Turkiye)

Misconduct Summary: TUR – Gokay Isitan (cautious) 51st minute
USA – Alex Bramall (caution) 56.
USA – Donovan Henry (caution) 62.
TUR – Gokay Iravul (caution) 64.
TUR – Baris Yarimci (caution) 75.
TUR – Kamil Tevfik (caution) 82.

Officials: Referee: Oscar Ortiz
1st Assistant: Syril Madukanya
2nd Assistant: Mark Cahen
4th Official/Reserve: Jeff Gontarek

(some content courtesy of US Soccer)