Photo courtesy of Galatasaray’s official Facebook page
Bursaspor-Galatasaray was a match that started out in a frenzy as both sides immediately hit the ground running looking for the opening goal.
Bad passing with physical and stubborn defending did not allow either side to put the ball into the back of the net.
This, I am afraid to say, is why Turkish soccer is not and will not be on the rise any time soon.
There were only a handful of players who proved that they belong on the professional stage since they could truly make a difference… and honestly, even they weren’t all that great.
Burak Yilmaz showed his ability when he latched onto a brilliant through ball from Hamit Altintop by spinning into the area while simultaneously controlling the ball before curling it past a helpless keeper into the back of the net. Both of these players worked hard in this match and created the goal to back up their performance.
Bursa’s goal was brilliant as the ball was lobbed into the area to a wide open right striker who sent a take-it-and-score pass to a 16-year-old Enes Unal who tapped home the equalizer.
That goal was so beautifully set up that the Gala defense actually froze.
Besides those two plays, the best player overall on the field was Fernando Belluschi of Bursaspor. His smart runs, precise set-plays and vision allowed his team to actually compete with the much better Galatasaray (on paper that is) in this second week of the 2013-2014 Turkish Super League fixture.
The game in Turkey is too sloppy, and it is starting to get a bit embarrassing. In Spain, England, Germany, France and Italy, the games are played smoothly, simply and beautifully. Almost every game we see something that is etched into our memories forever. In Turkey, we do not see pretty soccer on a weekly basis; instead, we see desperate shots, wild passes, impatience, too much patience and an overall performance that breaks our hearts at the end of the day because we realize that this nation will never win anything big unless a dramatic change is made.
