Bitter Turks

Writing in Turkey's Today's Zaman, Okan Udo Bassey bitterly laments Turkey's loss of points in Saturday's Euro qualifier against Malta:

..The Turks shouldn’t have dropped points against Malta, especially after the arrogant Maltese decided to mix sports and politics by drawing a hyperbolic parallel between the so-called “Great Siege” and Saturday’s match. Back in 1565, the Maltese Knights of St. John, led by Grand Master Jean Parisot de la Vallette, managed to survive a three-month siege by Ottoman forces in what is regarded as one of the greatest victories in military history. The Maltese then built their fortified capital, Valletta, on Mount Sciberras to ensure that they would never be so vulnerable to attack again.

The qualifier on Saturday, Sept. 8, coincided with “Victory Day,” a major public holiday in Malta to commemorate the end of that siege. And the Maltese fans at the stadium showed disrespect to Turkey by whistling and booing when the Turkish national anthem was being sung. What’s done can not be undone. Turkey failed to beat these brats and so the Maltese were bragging and celebrating all the way home after earning a precious point. For a small country with only four points in seven qualifying Group C matches before Saturday, this was no small achievement.

What went wrong for Turkey? In a nutshell -- everything. There was little or no coordination between the defense, midfield and attack; the result was that there were gaping holes in the Turkish midfield and defense. The Maltese occasionally moved into this vacuum. So in the final analysis Turkey could not silence bragging Malta, a country that does not appear anywhere on the soccer map. Too bad indeed! However, this is not the time to cry over spilled milk because the Turks face Hungary in İstanbul on Wednesday in another important Group C qualifier...

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