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BLAZEVIC: WE CAN BEAT TURKEY
Blazevic - hoping for a shock.
Bosnia-Herzegovina coach Miroslav Blazevic hopes his side can spring a surprise in Turkey when they meet in World Cup Qualifying Group Five this weekend.
Blazevic's side have already sent out a signal of intent after they followed a narrow 1-0 defeat to group leaders and Euro 2008 champions Spain with a 7-0 thrashing of Estonia.
Turkey are still unbeaten after two games, but they struggled to take a point from their game with Belgium last time out on home soil.
And Blazevic hopes his side can cause the Euro 2008 semi-finalists even more difficulties.
"Turkey are a great team and they have our respect," he said.
"But we also have good team, with plenty of talent and I think we are ready to get a good result in Istanbul."
Despite the average start to the group Turkey coach Fatih Terim insists he remains "positive" that his team will be in South Africa in 2010.
"We have a World Cup coming up, in South Africa, and of course I'm positive," he said.
"We have good teams in our qualification group like Spain, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Belgium, but I think we'll make it to the World Cup as well."
Spain will look to remain in charge Group Five when they take on Estonia in a top versus bottom clash this weekend.
In-form Spain stretched their unbeaten run to 25 matches with victories in their opening two encounters against Bosnia-Herzegovina and Armenia.
By contrast Estonia have lost their first two qualifiers against Belgium and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and conceded 10 goals in the process to leave them bottom of the group.
But despite their low standing, Spain coach Vicente del Bosque is determined not to allow any complacency to creep in.
"On European nights you always pay for your mistakes," he said.
"It's true that the seven goals they conceded against Bosnia-Herzegovina have overshadowed their performance in Brussels (where they lost 3-2), but in the 70th minute of the match in the Belgian capital they were close to going 2-1 ahead.
"They are a well-organised team, solid and who from dead-ball situations can cause you problems if you don't have the right sort of attitude for these games."
Liverpool winger Albert Riera is set for a return to international duty after Sevilla winger Diego Capel was forced to pull out of the squad earlier this week with a thigh injury that will sideline him for the next month.
Alvaro Arbeloa and Andoni Iraola could also be in with chance of starting at right-back due to doubts over the fitness of Real Madrid's Sergio Ramos.
Armenia will be trying a new approach as they attempt to end Belgium's unbeaten start to qualifying.
The Red Devils have taken four points from their opening two games, while Armenia have lost twice and are yet to score a goal.
However, Armenia coach Jan Poulsen has promised an injection of youth to help turn things around, meaning veteran players Romik Khachatryan and Karen Dokhoyan are set to miss out.
"It is time to test young players," Poulsen said. "Romik and Karen, although both very experienced, have lost their pace."
