A NEW LIFE IN THE BANK ASYA LEAGUE FOR ANKARAGUCU

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

My PC couldn't connect to the Ankaragucu link, so I've nicked Bellshill Kanka's report from his Ankaragucu Iskocya Blog.

An expected defeat, but things might have been different if Ankaragucu had played the match with 11 players on the field !

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Ankaragucu took a 2000 strong away crowd to the game in Kayseri and they were on there feet after 25 minutes when Timur Ozgoz got onto the end of a nice through ball, the striker kept his calm before slotting the ball past Behram in the Kayseri goal. It was an excellent finish from the striker who made his long awaited debut.

Ankaragucu passed the ball about well and the defence with Umit Kurt in particular looking solid. Then came the changing point in the match. Goalscorer Ozgoz went up for a challenge with the Kayseri defender, the referee rushed to the striker before handing him a red card for an alleged elbow. Replays show the decision was wrong and there was no contact and no attempt at an elbow.

There is no doubting this changed the match. Ankaragucu put men behind the ball to try and hold out for the win and went in at half time 1-0 up.

The second half started and Kayseri took the game to Ankaragucu. After 54 minutes a nice through ball found Mehmet Ayaz and he took his time before putting the ball past Bayram Olgun. The young Ankaragucu team looked out on their feet at this point.

Kayseri continued to dominate and got the winning goal ten minutes from time. Poor defending down the left hand side from Ankaragucu allowed Kayseri in and the ball found new signing Gohou who put the ball into the back of the net.

A defeat for Yilmaz Ozlem in his first game in charge. He now must pick his players up and hope that tomorrow the transfer ban will be lifted. This young Ankaragucu team needs some experience to help them get through this difficult season.

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All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

What a difference a week makes

Coming off last week's 3-1 victory I was confident that Gencler would put newly-promoted Akhisar to the sword. In the end it was only the heroic efforts of Ramazan that kept us from having our arses whipped.

Akhisar 0 - 0 Genclerbirligi  

It was Spine, Emin, the Alkaralar crowd and me at the Beer Bus on Saturday night, all of us looking forward to a hat full of goals. Throughout the match, it was always "just around the corner" and "Akhisar are doing well but they won't be able to keep it up".

Bloody frustrating in other words. Genclerbirligi weren't terrible but they weren't very good either.

I think the possession stats ended up about even but the big difference was that Akhisar seemed to have so much time on the ball whilst our boys had milliseconds to make their choices. Akhisar pressed and pressed and forced mistakes. We seemed to just lay off.

We had a few chances during the match but most went flying out or straight at the keeper. One especially horrible shot was from Zec, I think, a great chance just inside the box and he hit it with all the strength of an injured Girls Under 6s player. Pathetic.

One other position where we should have at least got a shot on target was when Jimmy Durmaz (whom I learnt last night is an Assyrian) got past a few players near the post and no one, no one was there to take the obviously coming pass. Last week Zec scored from being in that same now vacant position. Hopeless.

No one played very well last night, except for Ramazan in goal. As I said before we were bloody lucky to come away with the draw. Hopefully we will pick up a bit for next week's home match against Ordu.

UPDATE: Just watched the "highlights". Worse than I thought.

Gencler fail to deliver

Akhisar 0 - 0 Genclerbirligi

"Frustrating" is a word I seem to use often when I'm talking about Genclerbirligi. "Bloody-lucky-not-to-have-fucked-up" is another. Many more words to come tomorrow. In the meantime... aaaarrgghhh

Kırmızı Kara Burası Ankara

Some more stuff from our friends on twitter @kirmizikara


Not sure what happened above, but I found another one here.

Gencler wobble but end up fighting through

Victory this evening was certainly deserved but there is no way that I can say that we were brilliant, or even that it was a comfortable win. What was brilliant about it was the way the crowd got behind the team when we were down, the way the team never gave up, and, probably most important, the way Gencler look like being a truly united team. The scenes after the final whistle were great to behold. Fuat Capa is really looking like the kind of coach who can really weld together disparate personalities. All augers well.

Post match celebrations. Photo courtesy of @kirmizikara on Twitter

Genclerbirligi 3 - 1 Antalyaspor

It's the middle of August. It is summer. This is the time for swimming, cricket, complaining about water cuts. It is not the time for football. So it was that I grabbed Little Oz Kanka and reluctantly headed off to the Beer Bus where we were joined by a new Kanka, Matt, and his old man Bruce. Oguz showed up a bit later and we all reluctantly had a beer or two.    

Having got our chewing gum to mask any signs we may have partaken in some amber fluid we were shocked when entering the stadium when the boys in blue indicated that we had a problem in the boot of Oguz's car. In between various scuba diving equipment were a couple of bottles of spirits.

I had no idea that an airport style "no liquids" policy was in place at the 19 Mayis car park (let me repeat, this is at the entrance of the car park, not the stadium itself). Oguz tried to reason with our police friend but it was clear that reason would never enter the head of one of Ankara's finest.

The conversation (this is approximate because a: it was in Turkish and I only understood part of it and b: I've made most of it up, not too much though).

Us: "The booze will be staying in the boot."
Copper: "Sorry you can't have alcohol in a car"
Us: "We aren't taking it into the stadium."
Copper: "Sorry you can't have alcohol in a car"
Us: "So what can we do with it?"
Copper: "You can leave and park outside the car park"
Us: "But we are in the car park because we want to park the car"
Copper: "Sorry you can't have alcohol in a car"
Us: "Can we leave the booze with you and get it after the match?"
Copper: "No. But you can leave it in the rubbish bin conveniently positioned right next to me. You can then take it after the match."

Booze was then placed in the bin and off to the match we went.

Got in just in time for the national anthem and was pleasantly surprised to see that despite most of Ankara being away for the bayram and the rest listening in to the closing stages of the third test between England and South Africa we had a decent crowd. Maraton was pretty full... well it wasn't as empty as I was expecting and the young kids from the Genclerbirligi school were out in force at the Kapalı section.

A cagey start and it wasn't long before Antalya looked like scoring. In the end a cross hit the crossbar but it was a little bit disturbing. A couple more attacks but Gencler didn't seem too rattled. In the crowd though we were getting a bit restless. First home match of the season... attack you buggers!

Then came a very weird decision against our keeper Ramazan. A foul for having thrown the ball whilst being outside the area. It certainly didn't look like he was outside the area, but in the end Tita sent the free kick out.

We started to put the pressure on but there wasn't much happening and then it seemed certain we had a penalty with the Antalya goalkeeper taking Zec out. It looked certain to me but it wasn't given. Yet again I went back to biting my nails. I look forward to seeing the replays of that one.

Half time and ... er... not the best football, but I guess we were slightly ahead.

Us fans were still in good voice and it was clear that the Gencler players were trying but it was Antalya which scored first in the 60-something minute after Azo clearly fouled one of their players. The free kick was well taken and met by the head of someone-or-other and Antalya were one up. How many bloody times have I felt this kick to the guts?

With not that much time on the clock Gencler go for it, and obviously Antalya tried to slow down play.

Azofeifa took a corner which went straight to an unmarked Oktay and then in. The crowd goes up. This is a match we can win. A full 81 minutes gone and all is on.

Just two minutes later with the crowd roaring them on Oktay got a lovely pass in the box through to Zec who had to merely tap it in. In the lead now and all is good.

90th minute and an amazing four minutes of extra time was added. God knows why so many.

Hursut almost got another after bamboozling his opponent but managing to send the shot just wide and then, deep into extra time, Zec takes control of the ball just outside the box, aims, shoots, then does a somersault after seeing the goal awarded. In the stands, we are all hugging each other.

And that was that. We had won and the team came over to the stands dancing the halay.

After the match our coach Fuat Capa told reporters:

"We did our work, us on the field, our supporters in the stands," Capa said. I'd like to thank our fans who came despite it being the bayram. From the first minute they gave us great help."

One down, 33 matches to go. No one, I repeat no one, can stop us from finishing ninth this year.

Oh yes, checked out the rubbish bin after the match and... the booze was still there. Time for a quick snifter.

UPDATE It seems that this year Digiturk have finally woken up to the idea that if you don't want your match highlights put up on Youtube, you had better put them up at least on your own website. So, here are the highlights  
 
   

Ankaragucu vs Kayseri Erciyesspor match preview

Ankaragucu kick off their season this coming Sunday way at Kayseri Erciyesspor. Every match this season will be a difficult match for Ankaragucu but an away match to start the season might take some of the pressure from this young side. Ankaragucu lost all their first team players last season apart from Aydin Toscali. The clubs former captain left in the summer to join Mersin which leaves the club with no first team players. Both Mehmet Cogum and Muhammet Turkmen have been training with the club but it remains to be seen if they will stay on with the club this season.

Kayserispor Erciyesspor known as the blue dragons finished 8th last season in the Turkish Bank Asya. A tough competitive league which saw the likes of Elazigspor, Akhisar and Kasimpasa all promoted last season. Veli Torun left Ankaragucu in the summer to sign with the blue dragons and will be hoping to get one over on his old team mates. The club have also added Ustun Biligi to their squad this season after his move to Ankaragucu fell through last week. The striker hoped to have signed for Ankaragucu but the club have failed to lift the current transfer ban.

Ankaragucu have the youngest squad in the league for a second year running. The club have struggled in pre season scoring only 2 goals and playing only 4 games. The key players for Ankaragucu this season will be the likes of Bilal Gulden, Mert Erdogan, Serkan Sirin and their will be big expectation for teenage strikers Hasan Ayaroglu and Sinan Kurumus.

Their will be 2000 Ankaragucu fans travelling to the Kadir Has stadium in Kayseri to cheer on Ankaragucu. Lets hope they can take something from this game. Ankaragucu will need to be well organised at the back as well as putting away any chances that come their way. My prediction is a 0-0 draw.

Gencler get the rhythm

I met a few guys after last week's Ankara TSYD Cup and they said they were doing work on some multimedia stuff for Genclerbirligi. They had been taking photos and video and whatnot at the match and said they were doing all sorts of stuff. This was posted by @kirmizikaya on Twitter today.

 

UPDATE: And another one I've just found. In this one an old man is walking along an overhead bridge, sees the Gencler movie makers and merely asks "How is Cavcav?"

The way in which these guys are doing their videos and the photos are exactly how they should be done. They capture the whole feel of Genclerbirligi and the fans so well. It is understated, it is arty, it is cool, it is Anatolian and it is Ankara.

No doubt I'll be posting more and more.

Good news time

This was posted on Azofeifa's Facebook page the other day. Sort of shows that us fans can affect the players: 

Today I just came back from Costa Rica, because as you know, I was there for birth of second baby Santiago. And this afternoon I played a friendly game in Cebeci with my team Genclerbirligi against Karabuk, we draw 1-1 and then we win by penalties. In this game something AMAZING happened, while I was warming up, the supporters from Genclerbirligi, start to sing the name of my new baby ,SANTIAGO SANTIAGO OLE OLE OLE. Such kind of things make me feel like I am at home and also this things are what make me give more than 100% for this team. I want to show all my respect to the supporters of Genclerbirligi and of course to say to you thanks a lot for what you did today.  

HERKESE ÇOK TEŞEKKÜR EDERIM
Randall Azofeifa

Gencler to play Antalya as 2012-2013 kicks off

The Turkish Football Federation have announced the first week fixtures for the Super Lig and us Gencler fans will have to wait through the whole weekend before we head off to the 19 Mayis Stadium.

Genclerbirligi are to play Antalyaspor on Monday, August 20 at 7:30 pm. We shall of course be meeting down the pub for pre-match refreshments.

Exact dates have yet to be announced for the TFF 1st division matches but Ankaragucu have been drawn to play away to Erciyesspor on the first weekend of that comp. On the TFF website it says that that match will be held on the weekend of August 26ish. You have to love the extreme forward planning of the TFF.

Gencler scrape through in the summer heat

It is the middle of summer, 30-something degrees in Ankara, the middle of Ramadan, the world is holding its sports day in London - so what the hell are we doing playing football?

Genclerbirligi 1 - 1 Karbukspor 
(Penalty shootout: Genclerbirligi 4 - 2 Karabuk) 

A good old suburban stadium just minutes stroll through Kurtulus Park to Kizilay. 

A lovely Friday afternoon in the Beer Bus; just me, Efes and the paper (Spine forgot to show up) and then off to the stadium. Not the 19 Mayis but the Cebeci Inonu Stad. Like the 19 Mayis, the Cebeci Stad was built back in the middle ages and hasn't had any work done to it since. There were seats where we were but for most of the stadium it is standing only with only metal bars to stop people from crushing each other, much like the terraces of old.

A few hundred Gencler fans and a few Karabuk fans as well were there for the Ankara Sportswriters Cup. Just to give them a kick when they are already down the Sportswriters decided not to invite Ankaragucu to this traditional pre-season competition. Disgraceful. At the very least they could have invited them for the completely cynical reason that they would have got a lot more people through the turnstyles.

Match was on and well... rusty might be the word for it. Karabuk were rubbish and we weren't much better. We were attacking though and once they get into the swing of things we will probably end up with a team that will finish about ninth on the table.

Hursut Meric was captain for the day and it was he who scored the first goal in the 23rd. We could have had a couple more but for some bad luck and some crappy non-attempts on goal... if you have a chance boys  - take a bloody shot.

Karabuk came back not long later with a decent header that Ramazan had no chance of getting. All up Ramazan had a good match, not just during the penalty shootout.    

It was all a bit of a laugh really with neither side really going for it and the fans not really caring either. It was more of a chance to catch up with people whom I only ever see at the stadium.

It did give us a chance though to watch some of the new players. Serbian fellow Lekich up front was a bit slow but did get some decent headers (are we going to rue getting rid of Herve Tum?) and his fellow countryman Tosich seemed okay at the back... venturing forward at times which scared the opposition. The new Turkish players in the middle seemed okay, I guess, but the new player I'll be looking forward to seeing a lot more of is Jimmy Durmaz, a Swedish fellow who came on in the second half on the left wing. He is creative and is always looking for some weird way around a defender, much like Hursut.

It finished 1-1 and off we went to penalties. I'll just give the results

Hursut - miss 0-0
Karabuk - miss 0-0
Lekich - goal 1-0
Karabuk - goal 1-1
Azofeifa - goal 2-1
Karabuk - miss 2-1
Zec - goal 3-1
Karabuk - goal 3-2
Jimmy - goal 4-2

It it was all fun and then we walked to Kizilay for some beers. I didn't recognise one of the fans after he said that we had met in my place while I was selling my flat in Istanbul to someone called Murat. As I always do in these situations I just pretended that I remembered him and we continued talking. About 30 minutes later he realised that he had never met me before in his life and that in fact the person he had remembered was Spine. Weird.

UPDATE: In late news, Genclerbirligi have taken the Ankara Sportswriters Cup after defeating Sivas 7-1 on Saturday evening. The spectators then decided to stay at the stadium as the thunderstorm hit. No further reports from the match are to be published here.

THE 'BROTHERHOOD' IS STILL WORKING

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

I was proud to support Bursaspor last night ........ albeit in front of a TV screen !

A large Ankaragucu banner was on display in the Stadium and then to cap it all ........... in the 6th minute the song began ......... Lay lay lay lay lay lay .....Aaaaankaaaraagooojoo !!!!

Amazing really when you consider the fact that it is unknown when the two 'brother' clubs will ever play each other again !

Bursa was on fire last night at beat Kupi 6-0 in the Europa Cup.   Old Ankaragucu favourite, Sestak, had a very good match and set up two of the goals with astute passes.

Thanks for your loyalty Bursaspor supporters.   Needless to say that I'll be supporting Bursa this season in the Super League.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

THE TSYD CUP

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

The TSYD Cup (The Ankara Sportswriters Cup) will be held in the 19 Mayis Stadium this season on 10 and 11 August.

The competing teams are Genclerbirligi, Sivas, Karabuk and Elazig and the draw to see who plays who will take place tomorrow.

Our regular readers will be wondering ..... 'where is Ankaragucu ?' ........ and the answer is ...... they were not invited in view of their lowly status as a Bank Asya League team !!!!

Without checking the history books it is quite likely that this is the first time Ankaragucu has not been part of this competition in its 46 years history !

No doubt Oz Kanka will take up the pen and report on the matches involving Gencler, and hopefully their results will be better than their pre-season tour of Belgium and Holland !

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim