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EMRE SLAMS BECKHAM

Friday 10th October 2003




Emre: Clashing with Beckham in Sunderland


Turkey playmaker Emre Belozoglu has fired off more taunts aimed at England captain David Beckham, slamming his credentials as one of the best players in the world.
The 23-year-old says that Beckham is known throughout the world more for his celebrity lifestyle than his skills on the pitch.

"Beckham is a superstar but he is famous in Turkey and the rest of the world because of his face, not his football," said Emre.

"He's not in the same class as Zinedine Zidane, who is famous for his football.

"Beckham may be the best player in England but he is not the best player at Real Madrid. Zidane and Raul are better than him."

The Internazionale man was in sparkling form as the Italians destroyed Arsenal at Highbury in the Champions League, and is looking forward to taking on Sol Campbell again.

"I played very well at Arsenal but that has to be forgotten now.

"But if Sol Campbell is a bit scared when he sees me on Saturday, that is good.

"The difference will show in team spirit. England have big, big stars but we only think of ourselves as a team.

"And we have managed to blend together because the team selection has been very consistent."

The 23-year-old was joined by Turkish FA president Haluk Ulusoy in talking down England's chances, saying they are a force of the past.

"It was England's time in the past and the future is ours. It will be our day," said Ulusoy.

"We are an experienced team. We only think of winning. I believe we will succeed in doing that on Saturday.

"We believe it. Now let all Turkey believe in it as well."

Without the injured Michael Owen, England are set to field Everton whizz-kid Wayne Rooney, who played so well in the first meeting between the sides.

Turkish goalkeeper Rustu Recber says that they will not be taken by surprise by the 17-year-old this time around, and are well prepared to keep Rooney quiet.

"Rooney was a surprise last time but now we all know what he's like and that you cannot underestimate him just because he is a kid.

"He is just as dangerous as Michael Owen. People are wrong if they think he can be intimidated because of his age."

[Salem6]

Friday 10th October 2003


Beckham: We are focused

England captain David Beckham has insisted that the crisis in the England camp is over, and that the players are fully focused on the crunch qualifier against Turkey.
Ahead of a press conference in Istanbul, Beckham read out a formal statement on behalf of the England players.

The statement read: "It has been a difficult week for players and The FA, and I would like to make a few things clear.

"There have been many discussions centred around our support of Rio Ferdinand. We appreciate he should not have missed the drugs test - but we went on record to say that we were unhappy with the way in which the manner was dealt with after that.

"The FA have agreed to look at their procedures over something like this and we are now fully focused on tomorrow's game.

"It is the biggest game of the year and we want to win it and qualify. We are aware of our responsibility to the nation and in a strange way this has brought the players closer.

"I assure you the players are proud to wear the shirt. We know we have something to prove to our fans and we will be playing our hearts out for the fans.

“I think the crisis has gone now. We have spoken about it all week, released a couple of statements that have cleared up the matter. Now we want to concentrate fully on the game."

Beckham insisted that the squad's spirit would compensate for a lack of England fans at the stadium.

“We'll recover from having no fans because of the team spirit in the squad. We have had a strong team spirit not just this week but throughout the qualifiers and that is how we'll overcome not having any fans here. That's the way we will always play.

"I am more than convinced we will be ready for this.

"To be honest in a weird way it's brought the players and squad closer together.

"I've realised how close we are as a team. The players will be focused, fighting to win and proud to wear the shirt.

"We've been training hard despite what's been going on off the pitch. We can now fully concentrate and not worry about anything else

"Our fans are very passionate about us winning games and once we step onto the pitch they will see on the boys' faces that everything is behind us and we want England to win this game.

"We have to get through this. If we have to go through a play-off then we will. But we are looking forward to playing this game and to winning it.”

[Salem6]

Friday 10th October 2003


Sven: Slaughtered if England lose

Sven Goran Eriksson has played down reports that he is ready to quit as England coach after the game against Turkey on Saturday.

Speculation in Sweden has suggested the former Lazio boss has already accepted a pre-contract agreement with Chelsea, but he remains fully focused on the task ahead.

With reporters asked not to quiz Eriksson on matters aside from the Group Seven decider in Istanbul, the cool Swede did at least attempt to deny the latest bout of speculation concerning his future.

"If you take the position I had one week ago, nothing has changed up until today," he declared.

"So I think we shouldn't talk about that a day before the Turkey game. Nothing has changed."

The England boss did admit he expects to be 'slaughtered' if his team, missing key figures Rio Ferdinand and Michael Owen, fail to clinch the point they need to automatically qualify for the Euro 2004 finals.

"Every time you lose a game, you are slaughtered," he conceded. "But I have to expect that, it's normal."

Eriksson was keen to stress that the players will be focused, despite a week he describes as being his most 'different' rather than most difficult, as they often are where qualifying matches are concerned.

"The players have been very focused on doing it on the pitch in all the practice sessions," he maintained. "I hope they are concentrated tomorrow because they have to be.

"We need a positive result in Turkey.

"They (England) are a very professional, even if they are a young team, with lots of experience and I think, tomorrow evening, you will see a very good England team out there.

"I don't think it is the biggest challenge though. In the World Cup tournament, every game is a big, big challenge.

"Argentina was win or go home almost, so it's a big game tomorrow, and it means a lot to make a result, but I guess Argentina was even more important.

"But I'm not underestimating Turkey. Absolutely not. I have a lot of respect for them as they are a very good team."

Any rumours of a rift between certain senior players was flatly rebuffed by the unflappable coach.

"The team are very much together and I think what happened has happened and the team has come out as strong as it was," he claimed. "The squad is maybe even stronger.

"It's not the case that there are splits in the camp.

"Even if a lot of things have happened, the practice sessions have been extremely good and the players have worked very, very hard.

"We were very close to losing to Greece at home, a long time ago, but the key to our record is the players are very focused on the 'real' games when you can count the points. Some of the friendlies maybe haven't been that good but every time it's been a qualification game, I must say they have always played very well.

"I can imagine the atmosphere will be very, very good. Even if we don't have any fans there, we will appreciate the atmosphere and it will bring us up, not just the Turkish players.

"We'll try and play as we normally do. We need to be well organised, defending well and attacking well, but the head is very important in games like this.

"If you can keep your head as cool as possible every minute of the 90 minutes, you have a very good chance."

It could be argued that the Swede needs to transmit his own persona towards his players as they head for the white-hot atmosphere in Istanbul.

England coach Sven Goran Eriksson has admitted that he does not have a team capable of playing for a 0-0 draw in Turkey.
The Swede arrived in Istanbul with his squad on Thursday, looking to put the recent Rio Ferdinand affair behind them.

England only need a draw to secure their place at the European Championships in Portugal next summer, but Eriksson concedes his team cannot hold out for 90 minutes.

"I don't think that we have a team which has the mentality which can go out and say `we are going to play 0-0'," he admitted.

"Maybe an Italian team could do it, but not an English team. I will absolutely not tell them to do that as it is not in our character to do that.

"I think it is always too risky if you don't have the right approach to the game and are also attacking.

"You can concede a corner with two minutes to go and they score. Then it is goodnight. It should certainly be better if we do score as I don't think it will be 0-0."