ANKARAGUCU V WERDER BREMEN

Greetings Kankas. For those of you who didn't watch the match tonight the score was -

ANKARAGUCU 0 Werder Bremen 2

The first surprise I had tonight was that the match was played in what was obviously a Sports Complex somewhere in Austria. In view of the fact that Euro Sport was covering the match I was under the impression that it would be played in a recognised footie Stadium.

The second surprise was that it pissed down with rain pre-match, during the first half and at half time, making the first half a bit of a lottery.

The third surprise was that ANKARAGUCU played the match without names on their shirts, thereby giving the impression that they came from another planet (very unprofessional) and this didn't help the commentators in their commentary.

The fourth surprise is that we lost........ only joking !!!

Before I leave the subject of the commentators, let me just say ....... give me the BBC anytime (even if their license fee is extortionate !!). The 2 commentators didn't do their homework on the ANKARAGUCU players and very rarely mentioned their names. Very unprofessional I thought ! Also, they kept going on about Chelsea all the way through the match !!! OK, Chelsea are a famous team, but ...... what the f*** have they got to do with a match being played in Austria between a Turkish team and a German team ??!!

Anyway, back to the match, and in all fairness to Bremen they took control of the match from the outset and never looked in any danger of losing it. They were fitter than our boys (hope the Coach reads this blog !), their passing was accurate, and they didn't play too many high balls out of defence.

Here we go again I thought........... too many high balls again. Yes, Oz Kanka, I think we need to interview the Coach and `advise` him about the ANKARAGUCU malaise.

Bremen scored on the stroke of half time just as I was about to retreat to the fridge to open another EFES and celebrate reaching half time at 0-0 !!

Into the 2nd half and it was all Bremen. I think it was around the 70th minute when ANKARAGUCU had their first and only real attempt at goal ! The fitness levels were beginning to tell now and the 2nd well deserved goal came near the end.

OK, so, not very positive reading for ANKARAGUCU fans, but we have to bear in mind that we were playing a high class team who finished 3rd in the Bundeslig last season. They also left their 2 leading strikers out tonight !!

Taking positives from tonight....... it is always good experience for players to play against the top flight teams and I'm sure they, and the coach, will have learned something.

Man of the Match was definitely the ANKARAGUCU goalkeeper Orkun who was his normal outstanding self. I only recognised a few of the others players..... Ceyhun, Sedat, and Ayhan. Let the others prove themeselves over the next season !!

Let battle commence next week at the Sportswriters Cup !!!

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim