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Ertugrul Saglam

Bursaspor dropped five points its last three league games and saw its lead cut down to a single point, but the team’s coach is confident that the team will be the champion.

The Turkcell Super League leader hosts Gaziantepspor on Friday night at a sold-out stadium and must win to gain an advantage ahead of Sunday’s derby game between Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş.

Bursaspor coach Ertuğrul Sağlam acknowledges that Gaziantepspor game will be tough, but his side should win to stay on track for the title. Read more…

A Fenerbahçe-Beşiktaş derby is never a dull affair. It is always a rough-and-tumble encounter, yet it is never as dangerous as the “mother of all derbies” between Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray.

Fenerbahce VS Besiktas

This means most of the action will be on the pitch — rather than off it — when the Fenerbahçe Yellow Canaries meet the Beşiktaş Black Eagles in their Turkcell Super League week 30 derby at the FB Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in İstanbul this evening.

The Canaries are placed second in the 17-strong league with 62 points from 29 matches, while the Beşiktaş Black Eagles are a distant fourth with 57. And so the general consensus is that the Eagles, though playing away, will come out with all guns blazing against the Canaries in a desperate bid to win and stay in touch with the frontrunners.

The Fener Canaries were “idle” last weekend but nonetheless won a morale-boosting 3-0 victory and three precious points by default because of their match-up against relegated Ankaraspor. The Black Eagles could only manage a 0-0 draw at home with the Trabzonspor Black Sea Storm, a result which not only dented their championship aspirations but also sent them tumbling to fourth place.

Daum: Vengeance is mine

Fenerbahçe German coach Christoph Daum believes his Yellow Canaries can leapfrog leader Bursaspor if they win all their remaining five matches, including today’s game. Read more…

Turkish player Marsel İlhan beat Belgian Christophe Rochus after a thrilling five-set match at the US Open to become the first Turkish player to win a Grand Slam match. The wunderkind will meet home-favorite John Isner in the second round of the US Open

History Maker İlhan !

He already made history by becoming the first Turkish tennis player in 46 years to play in a Grand Slam, but Marsel İlhan seems unwilling just to make an appearance.

İlhan was through to the second round after beating Belgian veteran Christophe Rochus 3-2 after a thrilling battle on Monday.

The 22-year-old Turk needed a late rally to come back from trailing 2-1 after the third set. He chalked up a win by scoring 7-5 in the last two sets, overcoming his opponent’s experience with his youthful energy.

İlhan will meet home favorite John Isner in the second round on Wednesday. Also on Monday, Isner defeated 28th-seeded Victor Hanescu of Romania, 6-1, 7-6, (14), 7-6, (5).

İlhan made it to the U.S. Open, the fourth Grand Slam of the season, by winning three qualifying-round matches to advance to the first round. Read more…

Serena

Serena Williams is prepared to go without another victory this year, as long as she mounts a successful title defence at next week’s US Open.

“I have to stay focused and consistent and, most importantly, hungry,” the American told Reuters in an interview ahead of the season’s final major which starts on Aug. 31.
Williams, who took her haul of grand slam crowns to 11 by winning the Australian Open and Wimbledon earlier this year, said she would not be satisfied with two majors in 2009. “If I crashed out at the Open for no reason I’d have to win everything else the rest of the year,” she said in an interview arranged by WTA Tour sponsors Sony Ericsson.

“I’d win zero tournaments in order to win the Open again.” Williams has had a mediocre year outside of the grand slams, reaching only one other final, at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami in April when she lost to Belarussian Victoria Azarenka. Read more…

Turkish national football team visits Kiev for a friendly match against Ukraine on Wednesday, hoping to find a form on the early stages of the season. With only a few weeks before two crucial World Cup qualifying games, Turkey obviously sees the Ukraine match as a timely preparation game

Fatih Terim

Turkish national team coach Fatih Terim will have a chance to take a closer look at his players’ early-season forms at the Ukraine game Wednesday.

The match in Kiev is a friendly one, but it offers a crucial final look at how the team performs at this stage, before rolling on to the final games at the World Cup qualifiers.

With the Turkcell Super League starting last weekend, most of the players are only halfway to their top forms, but Terim does not have much time to wait.

In early September, the Turkish side will play two crucial matches in Group 5 of the World Cup qualifying rounds. It will welcome Estonia on the first of September, and then will take on Bosnia and Herzegovina three days later. Read more…

Cristiano Ronaldo

World soccer giants spend millions on transfers despite global crisis

The ongoing global financial crisis has caused thousands of firms around the world financial difficulty, with the US, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and many other economic behemoths receiving the hardest hits from the liquidity crisis, but soccer clubs do not seem to be affected by it at all.

Many international corporations have reduced their expenditures in order to mitigate the effects of the crisis, but leading soccer teams Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Manchester United, Manchester City, Olympique Lyon, Milan, Chelsea and Liverpool have allocated about 1 billion euros to transfers this season. Shelling out 257 million euros, Spanish soccer giant Real Madrid made the greatest transfer moves of the crisis. On the Turkish front, Fenerbahçe secured the big spender slot by spending 72 million euros on transfers. Read more…

Espanyol captain Daniel Jarque died of heart failure..

Espanyol skipper dies of heat failure at age 26

Espanyol captain Daniel Jarque died of heart failure Saturday in his team’s hotel on the eve of a friendly against Bologna in Italy.

Bologna said the 26-year-old central defender was found unconscious in his hotel room in the evening and was taken to a hospital, but “it was not possible to save his life.”

Read more…

Fenerbahce S.K. Turkey Super Cup Final Win..
Turkcell Super League giants Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe lock horns once again, this time competing to take home the Turkish Super Cup. While Fenerbahçe is buoyed by a five-goal victory on the European stage, league champion and Fortis Turkish Cup winner Beşiktaş will try to complete a cup sweep

The Turkish Super Cup will be back on home soil this year when last season’s league champion and cup finalist clash Sunday night at Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.

The cup final has been played in Germany since it was re-launched three years ago following an eight-year break. The move was an attempt to promote the Turkish league among Turks in Europe, and officials must think that purpose has been accomplished. Read more…

Elano

Elano heads to Turkey

Galatasaray announce signing of City schemer..

Galatasaray have announced the signing of Brazilian schemer Elano on a four-year contract from Manchester City.

Elano’s future at the City of Manchester Stadium had been uncertain after he found himself in and out of Mark Hughes’ side last season.

Read more…

The traffic on the Bosphorus Bridge was halted for half an hour on Sunday morning, but this time not due to roadwork or a car accident. The road was blocked for a table tennis match.

The Asia to Europe route on the bridge in Istanbul was closed for thirty minutes for what was probably the first-ever intercontinental table tennis match. Two top-ranked players, Austria’s Werner Schlager and Ko Lai Chak from Hong Kong showed their skills around the table, which was placed right in the middle, laying half on the Asian side and half on the European.

The event symbolically preceded the Asia-Euro Cup, a table tennis tournament that will bring together five players from both continents. First in the two-leg event will be in August in China, one of the strongholds of the sport, and the other will be in Turkey, in November. Read more…

Saturday’s Transfer Clockwatch

Jermain Jenas

Well that’s about your lot from another busy Saturday of transfer news and speculation. Remember to keep watching Sky Sports News and logging on to skysports.com throughout the summer for all the latest breaking transfer news.

• 22.47 Harry Redknapp claims Inter Milan midfielder Patrick Vieira wants to join him at Tottenham.
• 22.37 Jermaine Jenas has poured cold water on reports which have suggested he could be heading for the White Hart Lane exit door.
• 22.08 Getafe have confirmed the signing of midfielder Dani Parejo from neighbours Real Madrid.
• 21.23 Bradford City have completed the signing of Simon Eastwood from Huddersfield.
• 21.00 Zlatan Ibrahimovic could be presented as a Barcelona player on Monday if no late complications arise over his switch from Inter Milan, the Primera Division club confirmed on Saturday night.
• 20.27 Hull City boss Phil Brown has elected against handing trialist Jerome Thomas a contract, despite the winger impressing in pre-season.

Read more…

Ersan Ilyasova

Bucks agree to bring Ersan Ilyasova back..

The Milwaukee Bucks agreed to contract terms with Turkish forward Ersan İlyasova on Thursday, potentially bringing him back to the NBA after two seasons overseas

Read more…