By Amjad Baker
What's next? As if the English hooligans have not yet done enough damage in Belgium, Turkey's striker Hakan Sukur retained his team's Euro 2000 quarterfinal dreams with two goals over the Belgiums. More nasty clashes on Monday involving jubilant Turkish fans followed in the wake of the match.
The Turkish were extremely delighted with a 2-0 victory, which catapulted them into quarterfinals after grounding Belgian at their first championship hurdle.
But the victory was not to come to Turkey without a superman man like their goalkeeper Rec Ber Rustu who did a number of fine saves to keep his net unshaken until the final whistle.
Unlike Belgium's goalie Filip De Wilde, who failed in a fleep to catch a high Turkish clearence and offered Sukur his first goal on a golden plate.
Unfortunately for Belgium, De Wilde paved the way once again for Sukur to stretch his team's rainbow leading score to 2-0.
Monday's triumph came just a month after Galatasaray won the UEFA Cup, the first triumph at European level for a Turkish club.
The sweet taste of victory was clearly seen on all Turkish sides; the fans, the players and the coach, Mustafa Denizli, who had not much to say as he cried between joyful smiles.
"There is not much I can say about a victory like this. All Turks must recognize this first success for our country," Denizli told AFP, adding that "now we are playing in the quarterfinals against Portugal who have been the best team in this tournament so far and we must see what we can put right."
Sukur, who has agreed to leave Galatasaray and join Inter Milan soon after the tournament, was the architect of the victory with two pieces of predatory finishing.
The first came in the second minute of the injury time at the end of the first period.
Sukur was decisive, however, and nipped in ahead of the goalkeeper and watched his header cross the line to give Turkey an interval lead.
And the second goal came his way from his teammate Suat Kaya who is well known in Istanbul as the "Bull of the Bosphorus".
Kaya broke down Belgium's offside and penetrated the upper right side and then squared the ball to Sukur who ended the brilliant attack. His fine finish sent a close-shot soaring into the roof of the net.
It was the second face slamp for the Belgium fans who then started creeping silently out of the stadium. Ten minutes later, De Wilde rushed out of his zone to attack Turkey's Arif. De Wile caught the Turk by the head and then slammed him down to the ground in a move, which earned him a red. The unfortunate Arif was carried out on a stretcher for medication.
Disappointed Belgium coach Robert Waseige lamented the lousy show and echoed his thought by AFP "it's a pity but the results show we weren't able to qualify.
"However, we played some good football and we were a little unlucky but you have to accept it as the results show. It's difficult to take though.
"My feelings were positive in the early stages and we thought that we could win.
"Four players weren't 100 percent fit, but we needed an early goal and then conceded a silly goal in injury time (in the first half).
"One man could have been our hero tonight but (Emile) Mpenza missed the chances and De Wilde made a silly error," - Albawaba.com
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
