Harry Kewell Shines in the Turkish Super Cup Final

On May 17, 2008, the Turkish Super Cup was played for the third time in the history. The format of the competition is the winner of the Turkish Super League and the winner of the Turkish Cup plays a final match on a neutral stadium, usually in Germany; so the Turkish workers living in Germany can see the Turkish teams play. The winner of Turkish Super League, Galatasaray was heavy favorites against the Turkish Cup winner, Kayserispor. Galatasaray have very skillful and also experienced players like Arda, Linderoth, Kewell, Fernando Meira and Nonda. Kayserispor's squad is younger compared to Galatasaray but hardworking. Galatasaray board was being criticized by the sports media because of the transfer of injured Harry Kewell.

This was Galatasaray's second final as they played with Besiktas and lost the match 1-0 in 2005. This year MSV Arena in Duisburg, Germany hosted the event. The referee was Selcuk Dereli who is a rising star amongst UEFA referees. The match started in a very nice weather but the stadium was half empty. The tempo was very low at the beginning since it's the start of the new season and both teams failed to create a goal scoring chance. Galatasaray players were also tired because of the Champions League match in the mid week. The only goal scoring chance in the first half was the Kayserispor player Purovic's header that was denied by the post. Both teams started the second half with offensive tactics. In 67^th minute, Baris Ozbek who had a very bad first half was substituted by Harry Kewell. It was also 67^th minute that Hasan Sas, the captain of Galatasaray crossed the ball into the penalty area as Harry Kewell scored by a header. It was the first time he touched the ball after being brought into the play. As Galatasaray couldn't use the left side of the pitch effectively in the first half, this changed after Kewell. It took only 6 minutes for Galatasaray to score the second goal. As Harry Kewell got the ball, dribbled and passed it to Nonda perfectly; there wasn't anything the Kayserispor keeper could do. Kewell played very well for the rest of the game. He was in very good shape and his passes were accurate. It was almost the end of the match; Mehmet Topuz took advantage of the tired Galatasaray defence and scored it in 89^th minute.

After the whistle, Galatasaray was the side who won the Turkish super Cup for the first time in its history. The veteran Galatasaray players dedicated the cup to the new players that joined the team this year.