Turkey came from behind to extend their unbeaten start to the World Cup qualifying campaign with a 2-1 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina in Istanbul.Edin Dzeko gave the visitors the lead after 27 minutes, but then turned villain as he gifted Turkey the equaliser with an own goal.Mevlut Erdinc's effort secured the win for the Turks as they maintained the pressure on Spain and Belgium at the top of Group Five..
Turkey came from behind to extend their unbeaten start to the World Cup qualifying campaign with a 2-1 victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina in Istanbul. Edin Dzeko gave the visitors the lead after 27 minutes, but then turned villain as he gifted Turkey the equaliser with an own goal.Mevlut Erdinc's effort secured the win for the Turks as they maintained the pressure on Spain and Belgium at the top of Group Five.
Spain lead the way on nine points from their opening three games, with Turkey and Belgium both two further back.After a narrow opening day loss to the Spanish, Bosnia-Herzegovina came into the match full of confidence following a resounding 7-0 victory over Estonia.
Turkey, meanwhile, had to cope without the injured trio of Semih Senturk, Nihat Kahveci and Gokhan Unal. And the visitors' fine form looked like continuing when Dzeko headed Bosnia-Herzegovina into the lead. Turkey came out firing after the break though and in the 51st minute they drew level, Sabri Sarioglu's free-kick headed into his own net by Dzeko.
The Turks completed their comeback in the 66th minute when Mevlut headed home. Bosnia-Herzegovina produced a late rally, but Euro 2008 semi-finalists Turkey held on for a valuable win. Turkey's next assignment is against Estonia in Tallinn on Wednesday, while Bosnia-Herzegovina host Armenia in Zenica.
Teams
Turkey Demirel, Cetin, Balta, Kas, Sarioglu, Turan, Aurelio,Kazim-Richards, Akman (Altintop 64), Erdinc (Simsek 80),Karadeniz (Sahin 39).
Subs Not Used: Zengin, Kurtulus, Yildiz, Erkin. Booked: Kazim-Richards. Goals: Dzeko 51 og, Erdinc 66.
Bosnia-Herzegovina Hasagic (Brasnic 83),Ibricic (Ibisevic 64), Berberovic, Spahic, Merzic, Rahimic,Damjanovic, Radeljic, Misimovic, Dzeko, Salihovic.
Subs Not Used: Bartolovic, Muslimovic, Vladavic, Nadarevic, Pjanic. Booked: Radeljic. Goals: Dzeko 27.
Att: 23,628
Ref: Yuri Baskakov (Moscow).
