Praise for the National Team and Vincenzo Montella after the historic 6-goal victory in Bulgaria: 'Intelligent, agile, moral, aesthetic, scorer!', 'May God protect him from the evil eye!'

Created: October 12, 2025 07:36

The Turkish National Football Team defeated Bulgaria 6-1 in the third matchday of the 2026 FIFA World Cup European Qualifications Group E.

The goals that gave the Crescent-Stars victory were scored by Arda Güler in the 11th minute, Popov (own goal) in the 49th minute, Kenan Yıldız in the 51st and 56th minutes, Zeki Çelik in the 65th minute, and İrfan Can Kahveci in the 90+3rd minute. Bulgaria's only goal came from Kirilov in the 13th minute.

Following this result, Türkiye rose to 6 points, continuing to follow leader Spain with 9 points. Bulgaria, meanwhile, finished the third week without any points.

FIRST AWAY WIN AGAINST BULGARIA

The Turkish national team played its 12th away match against Bulgaria. Having previously drawn three and lost eight, the Crescent-Stars earned their first away victory last night, 6-1.

HAKAN ÇALHANOĞLU SAID 'DALYA'

Captain Hakan Çalhanoğlu, who was in the starting 11 in the match against Bulgaria, played his 100th match with the National Team.

Hakan, who wore the national team jersey for the first time on September 6, 2013, at the age of 19, in the 2014 World Cup Qualifying Group match against Andorra in Kayseri, played his 100th match against Bulgaria.

NATIONAL TEAM EVALUATION BY MEHMET AYAN AND UĞUR MELEKE

Hürriyet columnists Mehmet Ayan and Uğur Meleke evaluated the Turkish National Team 's historic 6-1 away victory against Bulgaria in their columns today. Here are those articles:

MEHMET AYAN : ARDA'S, CAN'S, KENAN'S!

With a new coach and a hungry squad, Bulgaria knew what to play. It wasn't a secret, after all! It didn't take an inventor to see they'd be closing in on a minimum of five, or even seven or eight, block. The pressure we'd built up until Arda's goal showed we knew the opposition and were working on how to solve them. Our talented front line, supported by the full-backs, was open-handed! How could we have predicted that Arda's goal, which came from Hakan's magnificent assist, would be the starting point for the rest of the first half? After the goal, which was conceded after Zeki slipped and then hit his head, we were lost! Krilov's missed ball in the 28th minute had us in stitches, but the only moment we were excited about was Kraev's own goal in the 35th minute.

CLASSIC 9, EVERY HOME NEEDS BUT...

The familiar NINE-less system, despite Kerem's efforts there, has become a problem even against modest opponents like Bulgaria . You can't open up a closed defense with six skilled feet and two strong full-backs. Every home needs the classic nine, a staple in world football; we can't find enough of them. What can you do?

After Popov's own goal, Kenan Yıldız's classy goal gave us the upper hand. The anxiety from the 46th minute faded in the 51st, but it's fair to say we weren't worried, especially in the first half.

Undoubtedly, they were the ones who couldn't find the stardom of Kenan, the management of Hakan, or the class of Arda... How could they not? Their potential was well known. We got bored a little later, and the sun came out on the cold Sofia night...

COMPOUND MOVEMENT RECITAL

Especially Kenan Yıldız's goal in the 56th minute... A recital of compound movements... May the evil eye not touch you, beautiful boy... Such a wing scorer, yet also agile and brilliantly intelligent; aesthetic... Moral... I believe İlkay Gündoğan is the best Turkish player of all time. Now we have two stars who are likely to surpass İlkay: Arda and Kenan... May God protect us from the evil eye. Can Uzun, who made his national team debut last night, is also capable of rivaling Arda and Kenan. The next 20 years will be spent with our players striving to surpass each other. Starting with the Georgian match on Tuesday night...

UĞUR MELEKE: 8 ARDA GÜLER, 10 HAKAN, 11 KENAN!

There's a thesis I frequently voice: "Montella wants to create a national team club." This is definitely a valuable strategy. I think the Italian manager is a good manager and a smart leader. He has a pool of 25-26 players, and he constantly invites them. The players feel like they belong in the "national team club." They don't worry about minor dips in form or losing their club jerseys. They know the national team is loyal and will always keep them in the family.

Let me support this thesis with some data:

1) 20 of the 26 football players who went to EURO 2024 a year and a half ago were also in the squad yesterday.

2) In the three World Cup qualifiers we played, we had seven players in our starting eleven. Montella only gave a total of 15 players a chance in the starting eleven. For comparison, 51 different players were called up for the 2006 World Cup qualifiers!

3) Yesterday, seven players in our starting eleven were numbered between 1 and 11. By now, we've almost all memorized that 8 is Arda, 10 is Hakan, and 11 is Kenan. Montella, once he got rid of the managers who were saying things like, "We're saving Arda and Kenan for 2032," has begun managing the national team much better. Our young superstars, Arda and Kenan, whom the Italian coach blindly writes down in every match, were once again within three goals each yesterday. Hearty congratulations to Hakan Çalhanoğlu, our "local Pirlo," who played a role in the first four goals and created masterpieces as a deep-lying playmaker.

CAN WE CREATE A PLAN B?

As a journalist who has followed our national team on-site in three of the seven tournaments it has participated in throughout its football history, I have only one question for Montella:

"When our plan A works, when we get the ball down and move it fast, we're fantastic. But when that strategy doesn't work, do we have a plan B?"

Should Montella develop our ability to occasionally play a classic center forward? We have Deniz Gül (who played 8 minutes yesterday) in the squad. There's also Umut Nayır out there who he could call on. Shouldn't we also develop a center-9 playing option when we struggle against deep defenses?