The Turkish National Team kicked off their marketing campaign Saturday with a profitable begin towards their neighbors, Armenia, in Group D, beating the latter 2-1 in Yerevan.
Orkun Kökçü and Kerem Aktürkoğlu scored for Türkiye, and Ozan Kabak mistakenly scored an personal purpose for Armenia.
Türkiye went behind to an personal purpose within the tenth minute when Armenia’s Kamo Hovhannisyan fired in a cross from the sting of the penalty space and Ozan Kabak’s outstretched leg knocked the ball previous his goalkeeper Mert Günok within the tenth minute.
Kökçü equalized within the thirty fifth with a long-range shot into the nook of the purpose simply past Armenia keeper Arsen Beglaryan.
Aktürkoğlu put the guests forward within the sixty fourth minute when Enes Ünal took a fast free kick in his personal half, placing the winger by means of to fireplace the ball into the nook of the web.
Armenian soccer followers desperate to win
Armenian soccer followers gathered for the Euro 2024 qualifier match in Yerevan, years after the 2 nations first resorted to “football diplomacy” to heal their historic animosity.
Shouting “Armenia, forward!” some 200 members of the native fan membership, Red Eagles, gathered in central Yerevan earlier than kick-off later within the day.
Fans then lit coloured flares, threw firecrackers, and beat drums as they marched towards the Vazgen Sargsyan Republican Stadium.
In the gang exterior the 14,000-capacity stadium below the pouring rain, many blew vuvuzelas and waved Armenia’s red-blue-orange nationwide flags.
“We are in a fighting mood; we have come for a victory,” a Red Eagles’ member Karen Antonyan, 36, advised AFP.
“The spirit and passion of our players will help them to prevail over the strong and experienced adversary.”
Another fan, 20-year-old Mane Zurabyan, stated she was assured in her crew’s win.
“We will help our team with our crazy energy; the stadium will tremble from our shouts and applause,” she stated.
All tickets have been offered for the match, however citing safety considerations, the governing physique of soccer in Europe, UEFA, has banned Turkish followers from attending the qualifier in Yerevan.
Armenian followers have been banned from the return fixture in Türkiye in September.
Hovik Arustanyan, 46, stated his crew’s success relied on “whether our footballers will manage to forget politics and concentrate on the game.”
Armenia and Türkiye have by no means established formal diplomatic relations, and their shared border has been closed for the reason that Nineteen Nineties.
The two nations first performed one another in Yerevan in 2008 in attendance of Türkiye’s then-president Abdullah Gül.
In 2009 Armenia’s chief Serzh Sarkisian traveled to the Turkish metropolis of Bursa to look at a second sport between the 2 nations.
Commonly known as “football diplomacy,” the matches marked the start of a diplomatic normalization course of.
On Friday, Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan stated the 2 nations plan to completely open their borders, which have been closed for 35 years.
Source: www.dailysabah.com
