Turkey's flying start has Hiddink rejoicing

Guus Hiddink said he could "only rejoice" after a 3-2 victory against Belgium made it six points from six for Turkey, adding that he was now "looking forward to meeting Germany in Berlin" in his new side's next Group A game.

Daniel Van Buyten gave Belgium a first-half lead and then levelled the scores after Hamit Altıntop and Semih Sentürk had struck to turn the tables. However, with Vincent Kompany having been dismissed with the scores level at 1-1, Turkey made their man advantage count as Arda Turan struck a 78th-minute winner to make it two wins out of two following an opening 3-0 success in Kazakhstan on Friday.

"I wanted my team to play positively, and keep looking for scoring opportunities," Hiddink said. "Even though we went behind, our way of playing paid off in the end. Looking back at the first two qualifying games, I can only rejoice. Our ambition was to get the maximum out of these two games. Achieving that goal makes it easier for us to prepare for the next fixtures. I'm looking forward to meeting Germany in Berlin in a few weeks."

Servet Çetin shone in the home defence, and was not too disappointed that his side conceded twice. "I'm happy to say that we did not give away any goalscoring chances; the two Belgian goals came from a corner and free-kick respectively," said the Galatasaray AŞ centre-back. However, he knows lessons must be learned after Van Buyten was allowed to score twice. "I admit that I let him run free," said the 29-year-old. "You are never too old to learn from your mistakes."

Belgium centre-back Toby Alderweireld, meanwhile, believes the Red Devils have nothing to be ashamed of. "Our goalkeeper had nothing to do throughout the game," said the AFC Ajax player. "However, with one man down we knew we would be in trouble against a Turkish team who were pressuring us constantly, but we are leaving Istanbul with heads held high."

Coach Georges Leekens was proud of his young squad, just as he was after their 1-0 opening defeat by Germany, but realised that Belgian fans cannot live on hope alone. "We've been saying the current generation are very talented, and we enjoy getting credit for this abroad. That's all very well, but now we have to get results," he said. "We played well against Germany and Turkey, but the fact is that we have no points yet.

"Qualifying for UEFA EURO 2012 is still our ambition, but that means we have to go for wins in our remaining games while hoping Turkey will drop some points. This generation of players is hungry and eager for success and recognition; I'm sure we'll pick ourselves up for the next game in Kazakhstan in four weeks' time."