Slipperduke
The Camden Cad
While England’s footballers sulk in their sun-loungers, the rest of the continent will be contesting the 2008 European Championships. Iain Macintosh, who still won’t allow the word ‘McClaren’ to be uttered in his home, runs the rule over some of the potential stars of the summer. This week, it’s the turn of Villarreal and Turkey striker, Nihat.
It's not often that Villarreal come into a game as anything other than the underdogs, despite their fine performances over the last five years. The wonderfully named Yellow Submarines play in a small 23,000 stadium in a town that is home to barely double that amount. However, when they went to visit little Almeria, they were the big guns, chasing a La Liga title and their opponents were the yapping pretenders, snapping at their heels. The home side's tenacity, while obviously brilliant for them, was disastrous for this feature and it's subject, the pacy striker Nihat.
After a full-blooded opening to their clash, with half-chances for either side, Villarreal received a heavy blow when their goalkeeper, Diego Lopez, was sent off for bringing down Albert Crusat after miscontrolling a reckless backpass. Almeria missed the subsequent penalty, but were forced to withdraw Nihat's strike partner, the former Manchester United player, Guiseppe Rossi, in order to field their reserve goalkeeper. This meant that Nihat was isolated and forced to endure a difficult evening.
Nihat began his career at Bestikas under the tutelage of the current Wales manager John Toshack. A slow developer, he scored just 27 goals in over four years in his home country, but showed enough signs of potential while there to encourage Toshack to take him to Real Sociedad. Nihat excelled in La Liga and, in 2002/03, he was the second highest goalscorer, tied with Ronaldo. He stayed until 2006, when he left for the Yellow Submarines. Sociedad were relegated the season afterwards.
The first thing you notice about Nihat is his exceptional movement. Even when he had the luxury of Rossi as a strike partner, he darted about the pitch, coming deep to help with the midfielders and surging forward to try and attack. He's quick and, at 5ft9, he's very diffiuclt to knock off the ball. Like Michael Owen, he likes to hang around on the shoulder of his man-marker, waiting for a throughball and trusting in his superior speed. He had one opprtunity in the first ten minutes, but was harshly adjudged to be offside. He wasn't.
When Lopez's dismissal effectively ended Villarreal's chance of dominating the game, it didn't quash the Turkish striker's desire. He continued to pound the turf in search of the ball and it was encouraging to see him chasing down the goalkeeper on every back-pass. It would have been nice to see him with the ball more often, but Almeria were so aggressive that they practically camped themselves in Villarreal's half. New to La Liga, they've already stunned a few of the bigger teams and Santiago Acasiete's late winner was no less than they deserved.
Nihat went away empty-handed, withdrawn with seven minutes left, but there was no doubting his commitment to the cause. Turkey have been fortunate enough to find themselves in one of the easier groups at Euro 2008. Portugal struggle for consistency, Czech Republic are ageing fast and missing key players and Switzerland are so dreadful that even their own fans can't predict anything other than humilation. With Sanli Tuncay, Yildaray Basturk and Halil Altintop to accompany Nihat on the front-line, is it beyond the realms of possibility to see Turkey as a potential dark horse this summer? If they all work as hard as Nihat, you can't rule it out.
STAR PLAYER - Nihat (Turkey)
Speed - 8
Skill - 6
Determination - 9
Total - 23
It's not often that Villarreal come into a game as anything other than the underdogs, despite their fine performances over the last five years. The wonderfully named Yellow Submarines play in a small 23,000 stadium in a town that is home to barely double that amount. However, when they went to visit little Almeria, they were the big guns, chasing a La Liga title and their opponents were the yapping pretenders, snapping at their heels. The home side's tenacity, while obviously brilliant for them, was disastrous for this feature and it's subject, the pacy striker Nihat.
After a full-blooded opening to their clash, with half-chances for either side, Villarreal received a heavy blow when their goalkeeper, Diego Lopez, was sent off for bringing down Albert Crusat after miscontrolling a reckless backpass. Almeria missed the subsequent penalty, but were forced to withdraw Nihat's strike partner, the former Manchester United player, Guiseppe Rossi, in order to field their reserve goalkeeper. This meant that Nihat was isolated and forced to endure a difficult evening.
Nihat began his career at Bestikas under the tutelage of the current Wales manager John Toshack. A slow developer, he scored just 27 goals in over four years in his home country, but showed enough signs of potential while there to encourage Toshack to take him to Real Sociedad. Nihat excelled in La Liga and, in 2002/03, he was the second highest goalscorer, tied with Ronaldo. He stayed until 2006, when he left for the Yellow Submarines. Sociedad were relegated the season afterwards.
The first thing you notice about Nihat is his exceptional movement. Even when he had the luxury of Rossi as a strike partner, he darted about the pitch, coming deep to help with the midfielders and surging forward to try and attack. He's quick and, at 5ft9, he's very diffiuclt to knock off the ball. Like Michael Owen, he likes to hang around on the shoulder of his man-marker, waiting for a throughball and trusting in his superior speed. He had one opprtunity in the first ten minutes, but was harshly adjudged to be offside. He wasn't.
When Lopez's dismissal effectively ended Villarreal's chance of dominating the game, it didn't quash the Turkish striker's desire. He continued to pound the turf in search of the ball and it was encouraging to see him chasing down the goalkeeper on every back-pass. It would have been nice to see him with the ball more often, but Almeria were so aggressive that they practically camped themselves in Villarreal's half. New to La Liga, they've already stunned a few of the bigger teams and Santiago Acasiete's late winner was no less than they deserved.
Nihat went away empty-handed, withdrawn with seven minutes left, but there was no doubting his commitment to the cause. Turkey have been fortunate enough to find themselves in one of the easier groups at Euro 2008. Portugal struggle for consistency, Czech Republic are ageing fast and missing key players and Switzerland are so dreadful that even their own fans can't predict anything other than humilation. With Sanli Tuncay, Yildaray Basturk and Halil Altintop to accompany Nihat on the front-line, is it beyond the realms of possibility to see Turkey as a potential dark horse this summer? If they all work as hard as Nihat, you can't rule it out.
STAR PLAYER - Nihat (Turkey)
Speed - 8
Skill - 6
Determination - 9
Total - 23
