Going into this match, only one point separated Turkey (9) and Estonia (8), and so nothing changed for the two teams after their match ended exactly the way it started.The result has only served to strengthen the position of the Swiss, who beat Georgia 1-0 at home position, in the group whereas Turkey’s hopes of qualifying seem to be hanging by a thread. Turkey coach Hami Mandıralı agrees that the going had gotten tougher after his team dropped four precious points in two home matches. But the former Trabzon and Turkey striker is still optimistic nonetheless.
“As you can see, we wanted to appease our fans and so tried to play good soccer but our opponent [Estonia] wouldn’t let us as they resorted to anti-soccer. We had glaring chances but failed to convert them,” he lamented.
“Against the Swiss in Trabzon we dominated the one-sided match from the beginning to the end, but lost. Today against Estonia, we did not succeed as a team though there were some commendable individual efforts. Estonia is not a strong team and there is no team we cannot beat. But at times things just don’t go your way,” he further stated.
“All in all, it has been a week not to remember. Yes, we are down but by no way out. We have only garnered one point out of a possible six [in two matches], but there are still four games to go and as many as 12 points at stake. And we are still capable of making the impossible possible,” he added.
These are words of consolation from a frustrated coach, but the fans are not happy one bit with what is going on. And they made their dissatisfaction abundantly clear by staying away from Wednesday’s match. Only 2,500 fans were in attendance at the Yeni Rize Stadium even though no gate fees were charged. Saturday’s loss to Switzerland had dampened fan enthusiasm, to say the least.
