Turkey cruised to their second friendly win in Germany by beating Finland 2-0 today at MSV Arena in front of 15.036 spectators. Forward Tuncay Şanlı scored the winner of his side on 15th minute. Two minutes from time Fenerbahçe's Semih Şentürk doubled Turkey's lead, having put the ball into the lead with a cross coming from his team mate Kazım Kazım.
Galatasaray defender Servet Çetin has made a return to the Turkish team with this match after recovering from a groin injury, while FC Sochaux-Montbéliard striker Mevlut Erdinç was fielded in the starting eleven by Coach Fatih Terim.
Turkey started the game with an influential football and seemed closer to scoring a goal. They have found what they have been looking for 16 minutes in to the game as Middlesbrough FC's Tuncay Şanlı touched Sabri Sarıoğlu's right-wing cross to put his side ahead. Following the goal, Finland held up the ball for some time but none of them ended up with a dangerous attack and the half-time ended with an average midfield battle. Terim chose not to revise his team for the second half and fielded the same eleven.
Turkey's defensive concentration problems might bring goals for Finland but as they lacked finishing, they failed the chance to equalize. Finland coach Stuart Baxter, fielded 37-year-old forward Jari Litmanen through the final half hour in order to bring attacking power to his side.
Both teams made several changes to see different alternatives for different positions, none of the players came off the subs bench were unable to change the course of the game. Final stages were far from being entertaining.
However, Fenerbahçe's Semih Şentürk who became the top goalscorer of Turkcell Super League especially with the goals he scored after coming off the subs bench, scored the second goal of the national team only seven minutes after he was substituted.
Turkey: Volkan, Servet, Hakan Balta, Gökhan, Emre Belözoğlu (Gökdeniz 89), Mehmet Aurelio (Mehmet Topal 88), Nihat (Semih 82), Tuncay (yellow card 20) (Arda 67), Hamit (Ayhan 79), Sabri, Mevlut (Kazım 75)
Finland: Enckelman (Frederikson 46), Nyman, Kallio (Moisander 82), Pasoja (Lampi 53), Kuivasto, Väyrynen, Eremenko (Litmanen 61), Heikkinen (Johansson 61) , Forssell (Sadik 79), Eremenko, Kolkka
Goal: Tuncay 15, Semih 88 (Turkey)