SOCCER - BELGIUM SCRAPE PAST TURKEY DESPITE CROWD TROUBLE .
Bert Lauwers
BRUSSELS 1996-08-31
Belgium kicked off their 1998 World Cup campaign with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over 10-man Turkey in a tense match marred by Turkish crowd trouble shortly after the break .
Turkish fans , upset at their team 's 2-0 first-half deficit , ripped apart dozens of plastic seats and threw them over the fence .
Riot police took 10 minutes to restore order .
The police were given an unexpected hand by second-half substitute Sergen Yalcin who rekindled Turkish hopes in the 61st with a splendid half-volley which stunned Belgian goalkeeper Filip De Wilde .
But Yalcin , who had come on just four minutes earlier , turned from hero to villain barely two minutes after his strike when he was sent off after spitting at an opponent and arguing with English referee David Elleray .
Marc Degryse had opened the scoring for Belgium after 13 minutes , whacking a low 10-metre drive into the net after an incisive pass by defender Dirk Medved from the edge of the penalty area .
Brazilian-born Luis Oliveira then gleefully slipped the ball past goalkeeper Rustu Recber from the right of the area to make it 2-0 seven minutes before the interval , Turkey 's best first-half effort proving to be a vicious 30-metre shot by Ogun Temizkanoglu which De Wilde tipped over .
The visitors , seeking to restore some pride after failing to score a single goal in Euro 96 in June , repeatedly ripped through the left side of the home defence but De Wilde was able to block several sharply-angled efforts .
With only the group seven winners qualifying automatically for the 1998 finals in France , Belgium could not afford a slip-up at home and they frantically chased a decisive third goal .
But they were almost upset 12 minutes from time when De Wilde fumbled a hard Arif Erdem shot and Orhan Cikirikci almost pounced on the loose ball .
Belgium 's best second-half effort came three minutes later when Degryse put the ball over the bar from close range with Recber beaten .
Teams :
Belgium - 1 - Filip De Wilde , 2 - Bertrand Crasson , 3 - Dirk Medved , 4 - Pascal Renier , 16 - Geoffrey Claeys , 6 - Gunther Schepens ( 15 - Nico Van Kerckhoven , 81st ) , 10 - Enzo Scifo , 7 - Gert Verheyen ( 14 - Frederic Peiremans , 62nd ) , 9 - Marc Degryse , 8 - Luc Nilis , 11- Luis Oliveira ( 18 - Gilles De Bilde , 88th ) .
Turkey - 1 - Rustu Recber , 4 - Hakan Unsal ( 14 - Sergen Yalcin , 57th ) , 2 - Recep Cetin , 3 - Ogun Temizkanoglu , 5 - Alpay Ozalan , 7- Abdullah Ercan , 6 - Tolunay Kafkas , 10 - Oguz Cetin ( 13 - Arif Erdem , 57th ) , 11 - Tayfun Korkut , 9 - Hakan Sukur , 8 - Saffet Sancakli ( 17- Orhan Cikirikci , 76th ) .
Belgian coach Wilfried Van Moer said he had not expected Turkey to be so strong and fast .
" We started panicking a bit after the Turkish goal ...
we suffered , " said Van Moer , who succeeded Paul Van Himst as coach in April .
It was Belgium 's first victory under Van Moer after two draws in friendlies against Russia and Italy .