Turkey sets sights on Germany after 2 straight qualifying wins

And the expected happened as the Turks had to come from behind to claim a hard-fought victory over the towering Belgians, who played with 10 men for almost 30 minutes after Manchester City center back Vincent Jean Mpoy Kompany was sent off in the 64th for a second bookable offense. Bayern Munich emergency striker Daniel van Buyten’s header goal from a corner kick gave Belgium the lead in the 28th minute. The Belgians stayed in front until three minutes into the second half, when Hamit Altıntop scored from a rebound after Borussia Mönchengladbach’s keeper Logan Bailly saved his first shot.

Substitute Fenerbahçe forward Semih Şentürk put the Turks 2-1 up in the 66th, but the lead lasted only three minutes before van Buyten scored again with a header off a free kick in the 51st.

Turkey had the last word, with young Galatasaray captain-playmaker Arda Turan scoring the winning goal in the 78th minute when his shot deflected off a Belgian defender and sailed into the back of the net.

“The important thing is winning and we succeeded in doing so,” said new Turkey coach Guus Hiddink, after his second competitive game in charge of Turkey since taking over last month.

“Two wins in as many matches is no fluke. Belgium is a very good team, and therefore this victory makes us mightily happy. We are getting better with every game and learning where our weaknesses lie. We will strive to fix them before the next group game [against Germany on Oct. 8].”

As the Dutchman implicitly noted, Turkey’s victory does not conceal the fact that the national team has many flaws. Teamwork was essentially lacking, and there was a deep hole between the midfield and attack.

That the team is winning is due to the individual efforts of Arda, prolific Fenerbahçe midfielder Emre Belözoğlu, Bayern Munich’s Altıntop and the incisive footballing brain of Bursaspor, veteran captain-defender Ömer Erdoğan -- the only newcomer on the Turkey team. The defense masterminded by off-form Galatasaray center back Servet Çetin is far from promising.

Most important of all, young Trabzonspor keeper Onur Kıvrak deputizing injured Fenerbahçe first-choice keeper Volkan Demirel was a total disaster Tuesday night. The 22-year-old Onur performs wonders between the posts week after week for the Trabzonspor Black Sea Storm, but his performance -- or non-performance on Tuesday -- proved that experience is equally important on the international level. That Onur really lacks.

The two Belgian goals all came from dead-ball situations, and on both occasions Onur punched the air instead of the ball, allowing the Belgians to head in the ball with relative ease. The Trabzonspor keeper has blown his chance, to say the least, and no Turkish soccer lover wants to see him in goal until he improves drastically.

Germany is a much better side than three Belgiums and Kazakhstans combined. So Hiddink must right all the wrongs on or before Oct. 8.

Most sports writers and commentators are really unhappy that the Dutch coach did not introduce some fresh blood to the Fatih Terim team, which failed to make South Africa 2010. Maybe it is too late to completely overhaul the team now that the Euro 2010 qualifiers are under way. But Hiddink can at least tighten the loose screws in his team before their date with Joachim Löw’s Germany.

Klose scores twice as Germany run riot

Elsewhere in Group A, Miroslav Klose scored twice and Lukas Podolski returned to form with a goal in Germany’s 6-1 win over visiting Azerbaijan.

Germany dominated possession and had several chances before substitute Heiko Westermann scored in the 28th minute and lifted a rebound past goalkeeper Kamran Agayev. Podolski then scored in stoppage time and one minute later laid on an assist to Klose, who took Germany to a 3-0 halftime lead.

In the second half, Azerbaijan captain Rashad Sadhikov scored an own goal and Germany then conceded a goal when a ball saved by keeper Manuel Neuer bounced off Azerbaijan striker Vagif Dzhavadov’s back into the goal.

Holger Badstuber scored in the second half and Klose, with another assist from Podolski, finished off the match with his 55th goal in his 103rd international in the second minute of stoppage time.

Austria wins with stoppage-time goals

Austria scored twice in stoppage time to snatch a 2-0 win over rank outsiders Kazakhstan in the home team’s opening Euro 2012 qualifier.

The Kazakhs, bashed by Turkey in their first match last Friday, were on the ropes from the start, but Martin Harnik wasted two early chances for the Euro 2008 joint hosts.

Harnik missed from 12 meters after only three minutes and then shot straight at goalkeeper Andrei Sidelnikov when he was put through soon after.

Kazakhstan substitute Sergei Khizhnichenko forced Jürgen Macho to make a difficult save with a close-range effort after halftime as the visitors grew in confidence. With the crowd growing impatient, Austria finally broke through in the first minute of injury time when Roland Linz netted following a goalmouth scramble. One minute later Linz set up substitute Erwin Hoffer for the second.

Spor Toto Super League fixtures

Friday: Bursaspor vs. Eskisehirspor
Saturday: Kayserispor vs. Fenerbahçe;
Konyaspor vs. Bucaspor; Beşiktaş vs.
Ankaragucu; Manisaspor vs. Antalyaspor.
Monday: Kasımpaşa vs. Karabükspor;
Trabzonspor vs. Sivasspor; Galatasaray vs.
Gaziantepspor; Gençlerbirliği vs. İstanbul BŞB.