Hiddink's Turkey hoping for happy returns
Thursday, July 28, 2011
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Guus Hiddink started his Turkey reign with a 3-0 win in Kazakhstan and, almost a year to the day later, will hope for a similar outcome when the teams meet again.
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Having kicked off their UEFA EURO 2012 Group A campaign with a win in Kazakhstan, Guus Hiddink's Turkey will hope the rematch − a day shy of a year since their last meeting − has no unpleasant surprises in store.
• In the Dutchman's first competitive game as Turkey coach, Hiddink's side won 3-0 in Astana with Arda Turan (24) breaking the deadlock before Hamit Altıntop (26) let fly with a sumptuous 25-metre volley. Nihat Kahveci (76) completed the victory.
• Kazakhstan's record in three games against Turkey reads W0 D0 L3 (W0 D0 L1 in Turkey). The former Soviet Republic have yet to score against Turkey and have conceded an average of over four goals a game in their previous encounters.
• The two previous meetings between the nations came during qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup; Turkey beat Kazakhstan 4-0 in Istanbul on 9 October 2004 and won 6-0 in Almaty in the return fixture on 8 June the following year.
• Fatih Tekke scored twice in both games for Turkey.
• Kazakhstan and Turkey also met in qualifying for the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, with Turkey winning 1-0 at home but surprisingly going down 2-1 on their travels, when Vladimir Yakovlev fired the added-time winner.
• The only time that club sides from the two nations have faced each other was in the second qualifying round of the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League, when FC Tobol Kostanay held Galatasaray AŞ to a 1-1 draw at home before losing 2-0 away.
