Throughout Saturday night and the early hours of Sunday morning, police in German cities such as Berlin, Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe were inundated with phone calls complaining about noisy street disturbances.

The good "burghers" can be forgiven for getting angry about an interrupted night's sleep but it was also understandable that many of Germany's 2.3m strong Turkish community took to the streets in horn-honking car processions, complete with the odd firework.

Last Saturday, Turkey defeated Germany 1-0 in a Euro 2000 qualifier in Bursa, Turkey, to register their first win against Germany for 47 years and only their second in 15 encounters. Not surprisingly, this was one event that Turks, both at home and abroad, were not going to let pass unmarked.

"Turkey's players brought a football giant to its knees and wrote a legend," went the heading in the Turkish daily Hurriyet.

Referring to the fact that this year the Turkish Republic is celebrating the 75th anniversary of its foundation, Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz said: "The national team has given all our people a 75th anniversary present. I thank everyone who contributed."

When all the fuss has died down, we are left with familiar old questions. How much was it a case of Turkey playing well or Germany playing badly? Have Turkey made significant progress in recent seasons or have Germany continued an apparent post-Euro '96 decline? As so often, the answer may involve a bit of both.

For starters, Turkey have long since proved themselves capable of the odd good result, such as their 1-0 win over Holland in a World Cup qualifier in April last year. Furthermore, the full extent of recent German problems was embarrassingly unmasked by Croatia in that 3-0 France '98 quarterfinal defeat this summer.

While the underdogs of the world will take heart from Turkey's win, much attention will focus on Germany's next fixture, their away qualifier against Moldova tomorrow. At first glance, it might seem that newly appointed German coach Erich Ribbeck has got off to the worst possible start. In reality, his new-look side was far from disgraced in Bursa where, in the end, it was the two goalkeepers who made the difference.

While Fenerbahce goalkeeper Recber Rustu made two excellent saves from German strikers Rolf Kirsten and Oliver Bierhoff his opposite number, Bayern Munich's Oliver Kahn, was at least partially responsible for the winning Turkish goal, when a poor punched clearance in the 69th minute was headed home Galatasaray striker Hakan Sukor.

The 61-year-old Ribbeck knew only too well that he was taking on a difficult task when accepting the job in the wake of Berti Vogts's resignation last month. With less than a month to go to a potentially awkward first qualifier, he came into a situation in which wholesale changes were obligatory.

Not only had senior figures such as Juergen Klinsmann and Thomas Haessler retired from international soccer but also Ribbeck's desire to blend the new with the old by fielding 37-yearold sweeper Lothar Matthaus, midfielder Mario Basler and defender Thomas Strunz had to be ditched when all three were ruled out through injury.

Ribbeck was also under huge pressure from both the German sports media and fans alike to make the kind of generational turnover that Vogts had so conspicuously failed to implement.

Accordingly, it was indeed a new-look Germany that faced Turkey with Ribbeck, fielding only four survivors (Oliver Bierhoff, Ulf Kirsten and midfielders Jorg Heinrich and Jens Jeremies) from the side that lost to Croatia in Lyon.

With Jens Nowotny, Marko Rehmer and Markus Babbel in defence, Lars Ricken and Stefan Beinlich in midfield, Germany were solid and dour without giving Bierhoff and Kirsten much in the way of service up front.

Ribbeck's post-match comment summed up the match accurately enough: "We played well in defence but I cannot say the same of our attacking play."

Against Moldova tomorrow, Ribbeck will be hoping for better from largely the same formation. As for Turkey, they may well add to Germany's problems by winning their third consecutive group game against Finland in Istanbul. Stand by for more street celebrations, from Istanbul to Stuttgart.