Post by Salem6 on Oct 12, 2003 8:59:05 GMT
England captain David Beckham shrugged off the moments of controversy that led to a tunnel confrontation between the teams during half-time of Saturday's crucial Euro 2004 qualifier in Turkey.
Beckham was twice the innocent party as Turkey's Aston Villa defender Alpay taunted him verbally and physically before the break.
Real Madrid star Beckham slipped as he took his 37th-minute penalty and blasted the ball high over the bar to jeers from the home crowd after Steven Gerrard had been felled.
But immediately after the miss, Alpay raced up to the prostrate England number seven, taunting Beckham as he towered over him.
Beckham sprang to his feet and the pair squared up before Turkish keeper Rustu Recber intervened to separate them.
"This game is too big and too important to be ruined by silliness " Referee Collina to Alpay and Beckham at half-time .
The niggling between the two sides escalated at the interval, with Alpay poking his finger into Beckham's face as they walked off.
Beckham responded with a quick one-handed shove at Alpay's back.
And there was a larger scuffle involving members of both teams and their staff in the tunnel.
Tetchy
Both Beckham and Alpay were summoned to speak to Italian referee Pierluigi Collina at half-time.
Beckham said of the Alpay incident: "He clipped me round the ear and said something nasty about my mother.
"It was not a nice thing to hear. Then I confronted him in the tunnel and all the other players started coming in and their players were overreacting."
"The referee just said calm things down, have a word with your players. He said this game is too big to be ruined by a bit of silliness."
The players were instructed by Collina to calm their teams down and shook hands.
But early in the second half the atmosphere simmered, with Beckham still a target.
"We said we've stuck together all week through some difficult times and our reward will come tonight " David Beckham
Turkey's Tugay was yellow-carded for a rash tackle on the former Manchester United talisman, who for his part reacted tetchily any time he came into contact with an opponent.
Beckham nearly had the last laugh when his header found the back of the net off Kieron Dyer's cross with just over 10 minutes left, only for the Newcastle midfielder to be adjudged offside.
And he said after the final whistle: "Passions were running high but we said we've stuck together all week through some difficult times and our reward will come tonight."
Beckham added that reports of a split in the squad over their threat to strike in protest at Rio Ferdinand's omission from the party were untrue.
"Our players are all together," he said. "Talk of a split was just rumours. That didn't come from us.
Beckham clashed with Bulent (left) and Rustu in Istanbul
"We're as together as we've ever been and we're very, very happy to be through now.
"The huddle we had at the end to celebrate was not something we had planned.
"Everyone came together because of the bond there is and there was also the relief of getting through after the week we've had.
"We've definitely got that result for Rio Ferdinand and Michael Owen as much as ourselves. They might have been sat at home watching this game but they have played a big part in other games and are a big part of the squad."
And the former Manchester United man said of his penalty miss: "The ground just gave way behind me.
"When we were training last night we were told to stay out of the penalty area and when I stepped up to take it the ground just gave way."
Turkey coach Senol Gunes, meanwhile, believes that the tunnel incident had an effect on the game as he was unable to carry out his planned half-time team talk.
"You have such a short time to talk about things and we had to speak first about what had happened in the tunnel," he said.
"That caused me to lose concentration and it was disruptive to us."
Beckham was twice the innocent party as Turkey's Aston Villa defender Alpay taunted him verbally and physically before the break.
Real Madrid star Beckham slipped as he took his 37th-minute penalty and blasted the ball high over the bar to jeers from the home crowd after Steven Gerrard had been felled.
But immediately after the miss, Alpay raced up to the prostrate England number seven, taunting Beckham as he towered over him.
Beckham sprang to his feet and the pair squared up before Turkish keeper Rustu Recber intervened to separate them.
"This game is too big and too important to be ruined by silliness " Referee Collina to Alpay and Beckham at half-time .
The niggling between the two sides escalated at the interval, with Alpay poking his finger into Beckham's face as they walked off.
Beckham responded with a quick one-handed shove at Alpay's back.
And there was a larger scuffle involving members of both teams and their staff in the tunnel.
Tetchy
Both Beckham and Alpay were summoned to speak to Italian referee Pierluigi Collina at half-time.
Beckham said of the Alpay incident: "He clipped me round the ear and said something nasty about my mother.
"It was not a nice thing to hear. Then I confronted him in the tunnel and all the other players started coming in and their players were overreacting."
"The referee just said calm things down, have a word with your players. He said this game is too big to be ruined by a bit of silliness."
The players were instructed by Collina to calm their teams down and shook hands.
But early in the second half the atmosphere simmered, with Beckham still a target.
"We said we've stuck together all week through some difficult times and our reward will come tonight " David Beckham
Turkey's Tugay was yellow-carded for a rash tackle on the former Manchester United talisman, who for his part reacted tetchily any time he came into contact with an opponent.
Beckham nearly had the last laugh when his header found the back of the net off Kieron Dyer's cross with just over 10 minutes left, only for the Newcastle midfielder to be adjudged offside.
And he said after the final whistle: "Passions were running high but we said we've stuck together all week through some difficult times and our reward will come tonight."
Beckham added that reports of a split in the squad over their threat to strike in protest at Rio Ferdinand's omission from the party were untrue.
"Our players are all together," he said. "Talk of a split was just rumours. That didn't come from us.
Beckham clashed with Bulent (left) and Rustu in Istanbul
"We're as together as we've ever been and we're very, very happy to be through now.
"The huddle we had at the end to celebrate was not something we had planned.
"Everyone came together because of the bond there is and there was also the relief of getting through after the week we've had.
"We've definitely got that result for Rio Ferdinand and Michael Owen as much as ourselves. They might have been sat at home watching this game but they have played a big part in other games and are a big part of the squad."
And the former Manchester United man said of his penalty miss: "The ground just gave way behind me.
"When we were training last night we were told to stay out of the penalty area and when I stepped up to take it the ground just gave way."
Turkey coach Senol Gunes, meanwhile, believes that the tunnel incident had an effect on the game as he was unable to carry out his planned half-time team talk.
"You have such a short time to talk about things and we had to speak first about what had happened in the tunnel," he said.
"That caused me to lose concentration and it was disruptive to us."
