The Cup Helps?

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Top 4 of the World Cup 2010 and what they won:

Winner Spain: 30 mio$
2nd the Netherlands: 24 mio$
3rd Germany: 20 mio$
4th Uruguay: 18 mio$

July 11, 2010
Sunday
South Africa
Johannesburg
Stat Soccer City
Against The Netherlands
Spain
The great Casillas, goal keeper of Spanish team
The 116th minute goal
From Andrés Iniesta makes
The World's biggest in football:
Viva Espanaaaa!

I think I will not easily forget the World Cup Final last night! The match left me sleepless until midnight because of extratime but its worth a match even if you dislike the football. The man of the match, Iniesta, gave Spain its first World Cup title with his late but excellent goal that came after superb positioning and movement on the field! Bravo Iniesta, made history in the World Cup Championship!

Wondering if winning 30 mio$ from lifting World Cup will boost the Spanish economy? This will mean a recovery for bad signaling Spanish money markets this year?

Hey! Don't forget to give Congrats to your Spanish blogger-non blogger and real-time, even online friends:)

I Know Why I Am Missing!

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a pond in green germany

chihuahua al pasifico train crossing the copper canyon in mexico

poseidon lines in rodos, greece

matsumoto castle in central nagano, japan

yellow rose from the southeast england

newport, oregon in the us

express train approaching to santa lucia station in venezia, italy

taj mahal in india

To miss is a desire to change the current town of where I live in. Sometimes I may find myself in a soul like this. Therefore I am missing all above spots...

So it is. The Netherlands is the first semi-finalist for the World Cup 2010 in South Africa. The Dutch is waiting Germany or Spain? What's your estimation for the second finalist? Who will be the winner for the Cup? I want ALMANYA to be the cup winner, Germany.

Important eve, stressful hours --am off to watch Germany vs Spain.

::updated to add 07/08::

The Netherlands 3-2 Uruguay
Germany 0-1 Spain

Final match, on Sun Jul 11, 2010

Spain vs the Netherlands

Something Out Of Ordinary

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New.
Not ordinary.
Inspired by the nature.
Painted on water.
Shaped by brush strokes.
Perfect combination of art and sport.




L'arte Ebru(*), which means marbling art as the way the world knows, is the point of origin to the logo design. Applying paint on the water and then dragging a stick through it, we achieve to get the desired tulip [effect] that is a primary element in turkish fine arts -remember our official symbol. So- the new logo perfectly communicates basic three elements of our Turkish culture and tradition: soccer, hospitality and modern day Turkish lifestyle. The ribbons in different colours over the ball symbolize the mosaic structure of Turkey for visitors to discover!

Here's a clip about Turkey's candidacy, and official site:

Our road to the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship (commonly referred to EURO 2016) took important step forward with this candidacy logo at a special ceremony at the House of European Football in Nyon, Switzerland on Feb 15th. News in detail can be found here

The Committee will announce the host nation on 28th May 2010: Türkiye? Fransa? Italya?

Switching my mind on strategically analysis of this logo, the brand is the culture and branding has to be connected to culture. Forever. Again, not new.

This is obvious, and we do not need to move away from:

"Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature.
It will never fail you."
by Frank Lloyd Wright

ps. l'arte Ebru(*), my hobby I'm passionate about. I will talk more about it and present my studies. Soon, maybe sooner. Stay tuned!

We Are In The Grandstand

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So sad to say we could not make the cut after unbelievable Euro run! In October we tried for the final 2-matches and the scores realized like these:

Oct 10~ Belgium vs Turkey: 2 - 0

Oct 14~ Turkey vs Armenia: 2 - 0

The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be the first time in history that an African country hosts the competition. South Africa will be after beating out other African countries like Egypt and Morocco. Therefore for four weeks next year South Africa will be the centre of the world. It's too frustrating and hard to believe that a team demonstrating such high-quality games was disqualified from WC 2010: oh my country's, Turkish team!

Seen in the last standings table above, Spain stays perfect in the qualifiers and goes into the South Africa as one of my favorites.

Other than Spain as qualified teams?

Well. Speaking about Europe, they are:

Denmark (Gr 1)
Switzerland (Gr 2)
Slovakia (Gr 3)
Germany (Gr 4)
Spain (Gr 5)
England (Gr 6)
Serbia (Gr 7)
Italy (Gr 8)
Netherlands (Gr 9)

Even though the results will be impossible to predict the only thing I could say is that there will be excitement and chaos in the biggest tournament in football.

Nothing more to reportage after today, at least for our team. You know where you can find us:

Tribündeyiz.

Unfair Draw

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Time again to review our Gooool status while approaching the end of World Cup 2010 qualifying rounds.


Sep 9th.
Wednesday evening.
Turkish team in the Bosnian city of Zenica.
In the first 5th minute,
Our player, Emre, stunned Bosnia.
Nationals up for 1-0.
In the 26th minute,
Bosnia equalized from a freekick.
1-1 closed the first half.

Second half started,
We went on full attack,
In the final moments of the game
We increased the pressure,
Our Arda hit the Bosnian post
In the 86th minute.

But result unchanging: Sep 9~ Bosnia vs Turkey: 1 - 1


Our team director Terim is very sad that we missed the chance but still hopeful as we will have two more opportunities that we must take:

10/10/1009 Belgium vs Turkey

&

14/10/2009 Turkey vs Armenia


We now get a mixed bag of good and bad, fortune and misfortune, where chances of we're succeeding seem high but there is also a possibility of mishap. Latest standings in our Group5:

'Outstanding Season' Start

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Football season started by the beginning of September. I am not excited for it but if it is World Cup 2010 my heart always beats so fast.


As you remember, in April we got suspicious upon our lost match against Spain. But Saturday evening certainly got the season started off with a bang:)

I stunned our National Team with a seventh minute goal from just outside from the penalty area, leaving us struggling to find our national rhythm until our player Tuncay grabbed a 29th minute equaliser with a strike into the corner of the net.

Then we looked in control, making it 2-1 in the 37th minute. In the second half, a sloopy start gave a chance to Estonia from long range in the 53rd minute. This was enough to test the nerves of anxious Turkish people.

And, waited success came before too long! We did our best to beat Estonia 4-2 with two goals helping us keep our faint World Cup European Group 5 qualifying match:)

Sep 5~ Turkey vs Estonia: 4 - 2

Saturday evening brought us a new light going with our hopes alive, more than saying stronger. Let's have a quick look at current outstandings in our Group:


Now we are focused on Wednesday against Bosnia Herzegovina. We are going to Bosnia.

Are We Sinking?

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There are some times that you can dedicate yourself to gain victory very much. You can not handle the situation even if you are capable to winning easily. And, the worse is that you might lose your precious 1-point on the way to have an emotional victory. This is what happened to our team on wednesday:

Apr 1~ Turkey - Spain : 1 - 2

We wasted so much chances when it was yet 1-0 for us, and also 1-1.

Spain who had beaten us at home maintain their 100% record in 2010 World Cup qualifiers. Now leading our Group V with 18 pts.

Third-placed Turkish team faces an uphill battle on 8 pts with 4-games remaining. Upcoming match will be against Estonia on Sept 5th in Istanbul.

Unstoppable Espana

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The current European champions Spain knew beforehand that this would be a tough match against semi-finalist in the last Euro2008 tournament, our Turkish team.

Tuncay Sanli,

Turkish's midfielder reacts
after missing a goal during the match

On Saturday night we showed a strategic game plan. We played very good. It wasn't expected. But having played worse in the second half of the game, we gifted the game to Spain that they were a finely tuned machine and managed to open up our players in one of the few chances that they had to score the only goal of the game, winning hard Turkish Team:

Mar 28 ~ Spain - Turkey: 1 - 0

And Spain moved clear at the top of Group V with a very victory against us in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid on Saturday. Here's current standings in our Group as follows:


Next rendez-vous for two teams will be here in Istanbul one day after today. Hope unlucky Turkish team will be a force of a great game on Wednesday on home soil, and get deserved point as a part of its Group V-World Cup 2010 qualifying rounds.

Unthinkable Game

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Estonia got their first point in World Cup Qualifying match last Wednesday after they managed to hold us to a goalless draw:

Oct 15 ~ Estonia - Turkey: 0 - 0

We had many chances. Unfortunately we failed to convert the opportunities, and it was a surprise that we have not scored. So it was not an exciting match. The result left us second in the group, four points behind leader Spain who beat third-placed Belgium 2-1. Current standings as follows:


Here's year round calendar for our matches:

28/03/2009 Spain vs Turkey

01/04/2009 Turkey vs Spain

05/09/2009 Turkey vs Estonia

09/09/2009 Bosnia H vs Turkey

10/10/2009 Belgium vs Turkey

14/10/2009 Turkey vs Armenia

Confidence Like Art

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We came from behind to extend our unbeaten start to the World Cup 2010 qualifying match with a 2-1 victory over Bosnia Herzegovina last Saturday.

Now Turkey has seven points in Group 5, while Bosnia has three. Seven points from three matches is a decent return for us, and we can look towards our midweek trip to Tallinn with confidence.

Oct 11 ~ Turkey - Bosnia Herzegovina: 2 - 1

Our next assignment will be against Estonia the day after tomorrow, on Oct 15.

Fleeting Moment

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Often nicknamed 'Emperor'

Success gained with Turkish team Galatasaray leading him to Lega Calcio Serie A of Italia. Managed teams of Fiorentina, AC Milan as well as got offers from other clubs like FC Barcelona and Liverpool. Placed among the best-eight soccer coaches in the world; awarded in Germany on Jan 2001. Honored with the rank Commendatore OSSI (Commander of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity) by Italia on May 2008. Remembered as the Comeback Kings, he and his team during EURO2008 Football Championship.

(Above) Our National Team's coach, Fatih Terim

Turkey drew 1-1 with Belgium in Group 5 World Cup Qualifier yesterday. We rank the second in the group with 4-pts in two games. By today, current rankings as follows:

Upcoming matches for Turkey:

11/10/2008 Turkey vs Bosnia-Herzegovina in Istanbul

15/10/2008 Estonia vs Turkey in Tallinn


Group 5 is my fantasy group. My favourites are Spain, and Turkey of course! Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in football that helps absorbing all positives:)

The Bird of Happiness

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Saturday evening.

Istanbul time: 07:00PM

The longest 90 minutes starts.

Why? Turkey and Armenia are at the crossroads of history with the upcoming 2010 World Cup Classification Games between the two countries to be held in Yerevan, Republic of Armenia.

Very frustrating minutes that easily not come to end... I cannot just look at a narrow timeframe. Because we being two peoples who share a long and common history are coming together for very first time in football. It was giving me a feeling as if playing game to my brother... How would you react?

Then I receive a few calls from my Armenian descent friends whom I knew from my childhood, telling their wishes like 'Hope Turkey wins. Turkey plays very good.' Their sincerity and those many moments I hold deep in my heart since our friendship is true happiness and bliss, I think. Gives me hope and courage to carry on. I believe it's then that I find my inner strength, not wining a race, an argument, a battle or winning the lottery.

The hard match starts.

Tuncay gave the lead GOLLLLLLLL in the 61st minute. I noticed that our team was not playing well. Maybe they were in the same feelings like me... This first score could not be really enough? The bird in my heart wanted to get out, to stop the match, but I was too tough for him, I say, stay in there. I'm not going to let anybody see you;) He did not understand but it's a combination of sport and strategy; football. Rules and tactics. No mistakes acceptable on the edge of competition.

Before too long, Semih made the second GOLLLLLLLL in the 79th minute, not forgiving on a defender's mistake.

My heart still beats too fast, maybe a third one?

No. Oh Thankfully, guys:) 90th minute ends.

Second half-goals yesterday gave Turkey, EURO2008 semifinalist and the 3rd finished in the Championship, a 2-0 winning start to the World Cup qualifying campaign against Armenia in the First match:

Sep 6 ~ Armenia - Turkey: 0 - 2

Oh very exciting moments to air!

On Wednesday, Sep 10 '08, we will host Belgium in Istanbul, and Armenia is at European Champion Spain. Stay tuned!

The Joy Of Applause

Unexpected end for Turkish love story on EURO2008...

A Turkish fan cries after loosing the game

Two weeks ago 16 teams began the final stages of the EURO2008 football championships after working there way through the qualifying stages.

Two weeks of very exciting and surprising football have reduced the field to Germany taking on Turkey and Spain taking on Russia to determine who will meet in the championship game on June 29th, Sunday, in Vienna.

Dramatic result of the last night: Germany could not hold the lead for long. Germany did not beat us easily. But we lost the semi-final match to Germany.

Jun 25 ~ Germany - Turkey: 3 - 2

Of the big four dream teams, our Turkish soccer team's never-give-up attitude is still on the minds being the most exciting team of EURO Cup.

I'm so proud of Turkish soccer team's success so far. Everybody knows that Turkish soccer team was ''very strong'' despite the depleted team's injuries of star players and suspensions that was what made our team's run even more remarkable.

Once again APPLAUSES and ENDLESS HEARTFELT THANKS to our team as they are the Team of Spirit and the Team of the Hearts!

Turkish team and then Russia finished 3rd
in the 2008 Euro Cup,
related UEFA news

Turkish soccer team reached 3rd place in the 2002 World Cup, and now...

Target is the World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

Los Angeles

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Did you like this 'Wings for the Candles'?

Designer: O.D.C. by Ozgen

I loved, loved Los Angeles:) Comes in greeting card with envelope, stainless steel with matt finish, dimensions: 6cm X 4,5cm

O.D.C. is set by Koray Ozgen, a Turkish designer in Paris, and recently awarded the Observer Star by French Design Prize 'Observeur 06'. About 100 select boutiques and museum stores carry O.D.C. products. If you're interested in other products or selection of dailylife objects designed by Ozgen Design Studio (O.D.C.), browse his collection here.

And, this candle is just for our team to wish the best luck for semifinal date on Wednesday.

I just feel the sky is the limit now:)

Comeback Kings

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A Turkish fan awaits the quarter final match

Last night we made another speciality of being the comeback Kings advancing to the semi-finals with a 3-1 shootout victory over Croatia following a 1-1 draw through injury time:)

Jun 20 ~ Turkey - Croatia: 4 - 2

We will meet Germany, who beat Portugal 3-2 on Thursday, in the first semi-final, in Basel, Switzerland, on Wednesday.

I can easily see the European Champion 2008;) And you?

Turkish players celebrate after beating Croatia

Friendly Victory

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Jun 7 ~ Portugal - Turkey: 2 - 0

Jun 11 ~ Switzerland - Turkey: 1 - 2

Jun 15 ~ Turkey - Czech Republic: 3 - 2

Three goals in the last 15 minutes gave us a remarkable 3-2 comeback victory over Czech Republic in a winner-take-all EURO2008 thriller yesterday on Sunday, earning a quarter-final meeting with Group B winners Croatia.

Crossed fingers to beat Croatia in Vienna on Friday!

On Target

Turkey secured its place at UEFA EURO 2008 after a 1-0 victory versus Bosnia-Herzegovina at Ali Sami Yen Stadium in Istanbul yesterday evening (following shots from the match). However, the win already assured Turkey's climbing to a second place behind Greece qualifying Group C at Norway's expense. The strategy worked as Turkish team held out to pip Norway 2-1 last saturday. Now Turkey boosting bid to qualify for the finals in Austria and Switzerland, from 7 to 29 June 2008. UEFA reveals finals draw seedings, take a peek here.

Soccer-mad Turkey partied on the streets and also avenues on night after the national team beat. Millions being gathered at one-big-heart more watched on television across the country and at home with family -like me- and friends, dining on beer at pubs and take-away pizzas.

The result brought a big cheer to the crowd, and Turkish fans declared themselves happy with the smooth victory. Of course, Turkey will be happier after Final Match:)

Although football is not my interested area, but I like watching the matches if it is World Cup and European Championship. My everytime favorite in football is Italian team. Easy to understand that my heart will beat for two-times -both Turkey and Italy- in EURO2008:)

Mark your agenda! The final of Euro 2008 will be held at the Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna, Austria on June 29, 2008 Sunday.

Mascots Trix and Flix are pleased to announce
the remaining time as of today for

UEFAEURO2008
198 days-1 hrs-40 mins-17 secs