By Chris Wright
The names of several of the last great Turkey squad of the late 90’s will forever be laser-etched in our memory: Hakan Sukur, Emre Belozoglu, Tugay Kerimoglu, Rustu Recber, Sergen Yalcin, Yildiray Basturk, Alpay, etc, etc – but sadly Oktay Derelioglu’s just isn’t one of them.
A fairly nondescript forward who settled longest at Besiktas during a fairly nomadic career, Derelioglu won 18 caps for Turkey between 1995 and 2001, scoring 9 goals.
The best of those nine – and we say this with confidence despite having never seen any of the other eight – was his frankly astounding virtuoso effort against Belgium during Turkey’s ultimately unsuccessful attempts to qualify for the 1998 World Cup en France.
Already 2-0 down at the time, Derelioglu picked the ball up on the right touchline just a few yards inside the Belgian half.
The rest, as they say, was abso-friggin’-tively marvellous…
Sadly, Belgium went on to win the game 3-1 and qualify for France ’98.
Turkey, alas, did not.
More Random Great Goals on Pies…
Johan Elmander destroys Wolves
Bombastic Steven Reid unleashes 98mph blaster
PSG cult hero Francis Llacer paints his masterpiece
Stuart Pearce rockets home an ‘FA Cup-winning’ freekick
Paul Gascoigne tears Moldova apart
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink almost breaks the sound barrier
Laurent Robert’s weird ninja volley
The most beautiful goal of Zico’s career, as voted by Zico
Jorge Campos (yes *that* Jorge Campos) scores a bicycle kick
Many thanks to Pies fan Tobias for this Random Great Goal nomination!
If you’ve got a doozy you’d like to see featured, drop us a line at waatpies@gmail.com and let us know.