A busy weekend and start to the week for me has led to this post being just a touch late.
Antalyaspor 2 - 2 Genclerbirligi
We had guests over the weekend and I couldn't think of a better place to take them after a session of tobogganing the slopes of Segmenler Park than the Red Lion Club.
Only problem was the kiddy guests weren't all that interested in the Antalya-Gencler match.
I could sort of see why as the football on show wasn't that great.
By the time we started watching Gencler were already 1-0 down but Antalya had had one of their players sent off.
We managed to claw back but then Cem Can was silly enough to earn a second yellow card. We had been controlling the play up until that point but Antalya smelt blood and it wasn't long before they went ahead again.
It was only near the end when Hursut sent in another one of trademark crosses onto the head of Herve Tum who scored his ninth headed goal of the season.
I'm afraid I can't remember much of the match, so I'll just wrap up by saying it was good to see Azofeifa back in the starting 11. I promise to be a bit more detailed after the next match.
The Round Ball in Ankara! Dedicated to football lovers in Ankara (Except for those who follow Osmanlispor)
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Ergin Keles and Bora Kork Sign for Karabukspor
So thats now Ugur Ucar, Kagan, Guven Varol, Bora Kork and Ergin Keles all signed for Karabukspor. Time to start preparing for life in Bank Aysa. So many things make me angry about all of this.
First of all, Cemal Aydin and The Gokceks have destroyed this 102 year old club. It is going to take a long long time to get back into the Super Lig if ever. But how can the Turkish FA and the Government just sit back and allow this to happen ? It is so clear there has been coruption and people have been filling there pockets. UEFA have also done nothing except hand out a transfer ban.
I am loosing my passion for Turkish Football, this corrupt FA will at the end of the season refuse to hand out a relegation to clcubs found guilty of match fixing, they even want to change the rules so this doesnt happen.
Disgraceful, shame on you all !!!
First of all, Cemal Aydin and The Gokceks have destroyed this 102 year old club. It is going to take a long long time to get back into the Super Lig if ever. But how can the Turkish FA and the Government just sit back and allow this to happen ? It is so clear there has been coruption and people have been filling there pockets. UEFA have also done nothing except hand out a transfer ban.
I am loosing my passion for Turkish Football, this corrupt FA will at the end of the season refuse to hand out a relegation to clcubs found guilty of match fixing, they even want to change the rules so this doesnt happen.
Disgraceful, shame on you all !!!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Four seems to be the magic number
O-4...again!
Normally when there is a sinking ship, it is the women and children who are supposed to abandon ship first. In an interesting reversal, however, due to the vulgarity of the chants employed by Ankaragucu fans in recent weeks, the TFF banned the adult males from the stadium. So the men were forced to abandon the sinking ship that Ankaragucu has become this season, and only the women and children were allowed to "stay on board". They managed to fill the left most section of Gecekondu and their chants could be heard throughout the match, so we must all take our hats off to them.
We must also take our hats off to the squad that once more took on a team that was far superior. Though it didn't take Trabzon's Adin long to score. Gucu managed to play respectably well for most of the first half of the match, and occasionally in the second. Nonetheless, in the end, we once again found ourselves looking at a four-nil score.
I'll be back with more details after the Arsenal-Aston Villa match.
After watching the two Premier League clubs go at it, I have to admit that it is difficult to look back on the football we played this afternoon. Had we played either one of the two teams at Emirates Stadium this afternoon, I shudder to think what the score would have been.
Our starting eleven didn't look so different from last week's starting line up. There was one glaring difference however. As Bora left this past week to go to Antalyaspor, there was a new face in goals, a bearded face. This face belongs to one Bayram Olgun, who, it must be said was NOT the weak link in our squad this afternoon. He did rather well actually in his first appearance.
Our team:
Bayram
Mehmet Aydin Ishak Bilal
Ümit Muhammed Veli (79. O. Evci)
Serol (74. Atilla Aybars) Serkan (48. G. Erdoğan)
Ergin
Before the match even began, it was clear that the MKE Ankaragucu was facing hard times. The pitch looked like absolute crap, almost literally since large swathes were brown. Against this backdrop, Trabzonspor were trying to put their passing game together, and Ankaragucu were fighting hard to keep Trabzon from succeeding, and were doing a decent job of it until former Gencler player Serkan Balci managed to pull off a beautiful cross that bypassed the Gucu defense and allowed Adin to slot it in past Bayram.
So Trabzon were up, but we were not out of the match yet. However, the most worrisome indicator of where this match was going was the fact that even though we were able to strip the ball off the Trabzon players fairly regularly, they would almost always manage to get the ball back immediately after. We weren't able to capitalize on the advantage when we had it.
Ergin was a busy man. In the 25th minute he took a shot from well outside the penalty box but blasted over. About four minutes later some nice passing on the part of our boys nearly got the ball to Ergin in front of the Trabzon goal, but Trabzon keeper Tolga was able to pounce on it before Ergin could get to it. Despite all his running, though, Ergin could just not find an opportunity.
Late in the half Ankara had a free kick, but Tolga didn't even break a sweat in handling it.
Things were just starting to look dire towards the end of the first half when during the 41st minute there was a goal mouth melee in front of our goal, and our defense was completely incapable of clearing the ball. Five minutes later, in extra time, Burak acted like he got fouled just outside the penalty box and was awarded the kick. Fortunately he sent the ball straight into Bayram's arms, and the first half came to a merciful end with us still only down by one. We still had a chance.
However, when the second half came it was Trabzon that came out looking like the improved side. Paulo Henrique came on for Volkan Sen and his speed on the right wing seemed to give Trabzon the edge they needed.
And then it happened. In the 56th minute Trabzon's Mustafa Yumlu launched a wonderful long pass and Burak managed to race ahead past Umit Kurt to go one-on-one with Bayram. Just before Bayram could get to it, Burak chipped it over him and into the net.
Around the 64th minute Gucu's attacking prowess began to look a little better when İshak was nearly able to fire off a shot from close range. Before he could take it, though, Balcı broke up the opportunity. Two minutes later, Ergin took a shot from the top of the box only to see it go slightly wide. And then a few minutes later came our best attempt yet when Gökhan made a beautiful cut back to Serol who unfortunately was unable to get it past Tolga.
Not long after that, Adrian who had come in for Colman got deep into the box on the left and ripped a pass across to Enrique who was waiting by the far post. The pass never got to Enrique though. An unfortunate Ishak in an attempt to block the pass sent it into his own goal. Had he not, though, it wouldn't have mattered. Enrique would have done it himself. Trabzon was up by three. Two minutes later Alanzinho sent a brilliant through pass to Burak who didn't hesitate in putting the sword fully in.
The game might as well have ended there, but we sat through another painful thirteen minutes before the ref mercifully ended the match precisely at the ninety minute mark.
And that is when things got sadder still. The Trabzon players gave their jerseys to the Ankaragucu players, but the Gucu players had to keep theirs because (as we all remember from the Sivas match) they don't have enough to even change at halftime.
Another heart breaking day in Ankara. Next week sees us away to Ordu. This is a match we might stand a better chance of winning. Not getting my hopes up though.
BattleDamagedKanka
After watching the two Premier League clubs go at it, I have to admit that it is difficult to look back on the football we played this afternoon. Had we played either one of the two teams at Emirates Stadium this afternoon, I shudder to think what the score would have been.
Our starting eleven didn't look so different from last week's starting line up. There was one glaring difference however. As Bora left this past week to go to Antalyaspor, there was a new face in goals, a bearded face. This face belongs to one Bayram Olgun, who, it must be said was NOT the weak link in our squad this afternoon. He did rather well actually in his first appearance.
Bayram
Mehmet Aydin Ishak Bilal
Ümit Muhammed Veli (79. O. Evci)
Serol (74. Atilla Aybars) Serkan (48. G. Erdoğan)
Ergin
Before the match even began, it was clear that the MKE Ankaragucu was facing hard times. The pitch looked like absolute crap, almost literally since large swathes were brown. Against this backdrop, Trabzonspor were trying to put their passing game together, and Ankaragucu were fighting hard to keep Trabzon from succeeding, and were doing a decent job of it until former Gencler player Serkan Balci managed to pull off a beautiful cross that bypassed the Gucu defense and allowed Adin to slot it in past Bayram.
So Trabzon were up, but we were not out of the match yet. However, the most worrisome indicator of where this match was going was the fact that even though we were able to strip the ball off the Trabzon players fairly regularly, they would almost always manage to get the ball back immediately after. We weren't able to capitalize on the advantage when we had it.
Ergin was a busy man. In the 25th minute he took a shot from well outside the penalty box but blasted over. About four minutes later some nice passing on the part of our boys nearly got the ball to Ergin in front of the Trabzon goal, but Trabzon keeper Tolga was able to pounce on it before Ergin could get to it. Despite all his running, though, Ergin could just not find an opportunity.
Late in the half Ankara had a free kick, but Tolga didn't even break a sweat in handling it.
Things were just starting to look dire towards the end of the first half when during the 41st minute there was a goal mouth melee in front of our goal, and our defense was completely incapable of clearing the ball. Five minutes later, in extra time, Burak acted like he got fouled just outside the penalty box and was awarded the kick. Fortunately he sent the ball straight into Bayram's arms, and the first half came to a merciful end with us still only down by one. We still had a chance.
However, when the second half came it was Trabzon that came out looking like the improved side. Paulo Henrique came on for Volkan Sen and his speed on the right wing seemed to give Trabzon the edge they needed.
And then it happened. In the 56th minute Trabzon's Mustafa Yumlu launched a wonderful long pass and Burak managed to race ahead past Umit Kurt to go one-on-one with Bayram. Just before Bayram could get to it, Burak chipped it over him and into the net.
Around the 64th minute Gucu's attacking prowess began to look a little better when İshak was nearly able to fire off a shot from close range. Before he could take it, though, Balcı broke up the opportunity. Two minutes later, Ergin took a shot from the top of the box only to see it go slightly wide. And then a few minutes later came our best attempt yet when Gökhan made a beautiful cut back to Serol who unfortunately was unable to get it past Tolga.
Not long after that, Adrian who had come in for Colman got deep into the box on the left and ripped a pass across to Enrique who was waiting by the far post. The pass never got to Enrique though. An unfortunate Ishak in an attempt to block the pass sent it into his own goal. Had he not, though, it wouldn't have mattered. Enrique would have done it himself. Trabzon was up by three. Two minutes later Alanzinho sent a brilliant through pass to Burak who didn't hesitate in putting the sword fully in.
The game might as well have ended there, but we sat through another painful thirteen minutes before the ref mercifully ended the match precisely at the ninety minute mark.
And that is when things got sadder still. The Trabzon players gave their jerseys to the Ankaragucu players, but the Gucu players had to keep theirs because (as we all remember from the Sivas match) they don't have enough to even change at halftime.
Another heart breaking day in Ankara. Next week sees us away to Ordu. This is a match we might stand a better chance of winning. Not getting my hopes up though.
BattleDamagedKanka
Friday, January 27, 2012
Ankaragucu vs Trabzonspor Match Preview
Ankaragucu host Trabzonspor in the capital on Sunday and the game will be played behind closed doors.
Crowd trouble at the recent Ankaragucu vs Genclerbirligi match has saw Ankaragucu fined and also given a one match stadium ban. Ankaragucu go into the match coming off the back of a 4-0 defeat at Galatasaray.
The last time the two sides met, Ankaragucu twice went ahead through Turgut Dogan Sahin and Theo Weeks only for Trabzonspor to win 3-2 late on. A brave performance in Trabzon for Ankaragucu who were unlucky to come away from the game empty handed.
A lot has changed since then, Ankaragucu have lost there whole first team squad apart from Aydin Toscali, Ergin Keles and Muhammet Turkmen. Trabzonspor have been inconsistent but have started to show some form of late and won 4-1 at home to Eskisehirspor midweek. They have won 7 of there last 8 games with only Karabukspor beating them.
Trabzonspor added Olcan Adin to there squad in the January transfer window in a deal which saw Marek Sapara move to Gaziantepspor. Adin has been excellent and has formed a good partnership with the brilliant Burak Yilmaz. If Ankaragucu are to take anything from the game then Yilmaz, Adin and Andreij will need to be kept quiet.
Ankaragucu will again rely on there remaining experienced players in Aydin, Ergin and Muhammet. The young players will get more valuable experience and will hope to improve on the defensive horror show against Galatasaray midweek.
A huge ask again for this young team, and even more difficult without the backing of the fans.
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Gencler claw back to win a point
It wasn't until the very end but Gencler managed to pull off a draw against Bursa Wednesday afternoon. The draw saw us slip a place or two on the table but the hunt is still on.
Genclerbirligi 2 - 2 Bursaspor
With snow everywhere and a kicking off time of 3:30 pm Little Oz Kanka and myself decided to watch the match at the Red Lion Club. We were the only patrons there but we had 11 friends to watch on the telly.
Kick-off and Gencler played their usual possesion game. A couple of chances thanks to good runs down the wings from Hursut and Yasin but the goal just wouldn't come as the Bursaspor keeper kept everything out.
There was a bit of a disaster as Curri got stretchered off after 11 minutes or so after falling awkwardly and with both Ante Kulusich and Aykut Demir still injured (they should be back for the next match) we were down to our third-string defenders.
Bursa's only chances came from counter-attacks but each one of those looked dangerous and it was in the 40th something minute their first goal came. Former Ankaragucu player Sestek sent in a perfect cross from the right which was wonderfully headed by someone. The Red Lion went quiet but Gencler looked like they could get back into it... Oh.
Gencler were given a free-kick for some reason or another somewhere deep in our side of the field. Ergun then inexplicitly kicked it pretty much to a Bursa player who took a shot and ... goal. The Red Lion was so quiet this time as Little Oz Kanka started screaming at the telly. Dear oh dear Ergun, that was just stupid.
Second half seemed to be going along listlessly and I got a call from the missus ordering me to get home at once because we had been summoned by no less than the prime minister to attend dinner and soft drinks. So just as the Gencler coach replaced a defender with midfielder Azofeifa, his first run since being injured about four weeks ago, Little Oz and me trudged off.
As I was getting ready back home Little Oz screamed out "YES!" He had somehow got onto a football scores site and had discovered we had scored. Not long later came another louder scream as we scored again in the depths of injury time. And that's how it finished.
I have no idea how our goals were scored, all I know is that we had the draw. We should have had the win, but to come back from 2-0 down is a pretty good effort.
Off to dinner with the prime minister only to discover that 3,000 others had also been invited. Hmmph.
Genclerbirligi 2 - 2 Bursaspor
With snow everywhere and a kicking off time of 3:30 pm Little Oz Kanka and myself decided to watch the match at the Red Lion Club. We were the only patrons there but we had 11 friends to watch on the telly.
Kick-off and Gencler played their usual possesion game. A couple of chances thanks to good runs down the wings from Hursut and Yasin but the goal just wouldn't come as the Bursaspor keeper kept everything out.
There was a bit of a disaster as Curri got stretchered off after 11 minutes or so after falling awkwardly and with both Ante Kulusich and Aykut Demir still injured (they should be back for the next match) we were down to our third-string defenders.
Bursa's only chances came from counter-attacks but each one of those looked dangerous and it was in the 40th something minute their first goal came. Former Ankaragucu player Sestek sent in a perfect cross from the right which was wonderfully headed by someone. The Red Lion went quiet but Gencler looked like they could get back into it... Oh.
Gencler were given a free-kick for some reason or another somewhere deep in our side of the field. Ergun then inexplicitly kicked it pretty much to a Bursa player who took a shot and ... goal. The Red Lion was so quiet this time as Little Oz Kanka started screaming at the telly. Dear oh dear Ergun, that was just stupid.
Second half seemed to be going along listlessly and I got a call from the missus ordering me to get home at once because we had been summoned by no less than the prime minister to attend dinner and soft drinks. So just as the Gencler coach replaced a defender with midfielder Azofeifa, his first run since being injured about four weeks ago, Little Oz and me trudged off.
As I was getting ready back home Little Oz screamed out "YES!" He had somehow got onto a football scores site and had discovered we had scored. Not long later came another louder scream as we scored again in the depths of injury time. And that's how it finished.
I have no idea how our goals were scored, all I know is that we had the draw. We should have had the win, but to come back from 2-0 down is a pretty good effort.
Off to dinner with the prime minister only to discover that 3,000 others had also been invited. Hmmph.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Dayan Ankaragucu
Photo taken from Webaslan.com
I really have only two comments to make about this match.
1) The result could have been worse. Losing 4-0 to Galatasaray in this case was getting off easy. Our defense fought hard--bless their hearts (tip of the hat to Judy)--but Aydın in particular was struggling. From the lapses in defense came four goals, two of which occurred in the first ten minutes of the match.
2) The Galatasaray fans and players, and Fatih Terim demonstrated an admirable degree of sportsmanship. Even before the match started, the GS fans had hung a banner reading "Dayan Ankaragücü" (Hold on Ankaragucu), and when Ergin Keles came off towards the end of the match, he got applause from Terim and the GS fans. Even the Istanbul crowd shows our team more respect than the criminals in Ankara who have let our team sink to these levels.
Thanks to the team for keeping their heads up. Respect.
BattleDamagedKanka
Monday, January 23, 2012
The final Ankara derby?
Could that have been the last Ankara derby? Quite possibly so as Ankaragucu need some sort of miracle to stay in the top flight next season. It was cold, the field was in places waterlogged and the football on show wasn't that great. In any case though it will be a great shame if we don't see another derby match and hopefully Ankaragucu will still be around next season.
Ankaragucu 0 - 1 Genclerbirligi
Sunday afternoon in the Beer Bus and various Kankas were looking the worse for wear after spending Saturday afternoon at the British Beer Festival at the Red Lion. Still nothing an Efes couldn't cure. Gencler kankas Spine, Oguz, Emre, Robin, the Flying Dutchman and your reporter for the day discussed everything from the first 120 years of AKP rule to how Ankaragucu need a Middle Eastern saviour.
One thing we couldn't discuss was how the Ankaragucu fans felt because none of them showed up. Normally the home side has to do the report but looks like I got saddled with it instead.
At the stadium we were surprised to see queues. Yes queues to get tickets for the Gencler end. Gencler don't have a big support base but it was good to see so many come out on such a cold day.
We missed the first five minutes or so and I doubt we missed much. As I said the place was cold and the pitch waterlogged in places, not the best conditions for good football. As Ankaragucu were forced to play their youth team it wasn't much of a surprise that Genclerbirligi controlled most of the play.
The only goal of the match came in the 19th minute when Yasin on the left did extremely well to get around his man and then with players streaming into the box he passed to Hursut who struck it well from just outside the box.
Of course we cheered, but then we just politely clapped. None of the Gencler fans want to see Ankaragucu go down but at the same time we need the three points to keep up our fight for a place in Europe next season.
Genclerbirligi continued to control the ball for the rest of the first half but with Azofeifa still injured we are really looking poor in the midfield. Once again there were a million horizontal passes and no real penetration. I'm not sure that we forced the Ankaragucu keeper to make more than a couple of saves for the whole match.
I had no idea at the time but one Ankaragucu kanka was at the match, namely Cider Kanka John and as he posted on the blog, the Ankaragucu fans were having fun throwing snowballs onto the pitch. It started pretty much as an attack on Hursut for having scored the goal but later on everyone was fair game. It seemed petty at first but later just seemed like fun, after all, snowballs are much better than chairs.
Also weird was the "we share your pain" display by the Ankaragucu fans as thousands of them took off their shirts and threw their atlets/singlets/vests on to the pitch. I might take part in a similar display myself some day, but certainly in January.
Second half and Gencler flaffed around, sent some balls over the top and generally played like they wanted to get off the field as soon as possible. Sensing this the young Ankaragucu players started having a go and they were very unlucky not to equalise late late in the second-half. If it wasn't for Ramazan in goal, the match would have finished one-a-piece.
Match over and very subdued applause from us. During the match the Ankaragucu stands started up various "Hukumet istifa" and "Gokcek istifa" chants, which the Gencler fans of course joined in and so it was slightly annoying that at the end a very small group of Ankaragucu fans sitting to the left us started shouting "you are all sons of disreputable women". We merely applauded them, which only got them more pissed off. Ultimately the police went in and pushed them out of the stadium, after which much larger groups of Ankaragucu fans shouted their appreciation for our support and we started singing Ankaragucu chants.
All very weird.
Thanks to Karabuk beating Trabzon on Saturday, Gencler now go into fourth spot on the ladder. Wow, you could have got very good odds for betting on that at the beginning of the season. Let's see if we can keep it up.
Ankaragucu 0 - 1 Genclerbirligi
Sunday afternoon in the Beer Bus and various Kankas were looking the worse for wear after spending Saturday afternoon at the British Beer Festival at the Red Lion. Still nothing an Efes couldn't cure. Gencler kankas Spine, Oguz, Emre, Robin, the Flying Dutchman and your reporter for the day discussed everything from the first 120 years of AKP rule to how Ankaragucu need a Middle Eastern saviour.
One thing we couldn't discuss was how the Ankaragucu fans felt because none of them showed up. Normally the home side has to do the report but looks like I got saddled with it instead.
At the stadium we were surprised to see queues. Yes queues to get tickets for the Gencler end. Gencler don't have a big support base but it was good to see so many come out on such a cold day.
We missed the first five minutes or so and I doubt we missed much. As I said the place was cold and the pitch waterlogged in places, not the best conditions for good football. As Ankaragucu were forced to play their youth team it wasn't much of a surprise that Genclerbirligi controlled most of the play.
The only goal of the match came in the 19th minute when Yasin on the left did extremely well to get around his man and then with players streaming into the box he passed to Hursut who struck it well from just outside the box.
Of course we cheered, but then we just politely clapped. None of the Gencler fans want to see Ankaragucu go down but at the same time we need the three points to keep up our fight for a place in Europe next season.
Genclerbirligi continued to control the ball for the rest of the first half but with Azofeifa still injured we are really looking poor in the midfield. Once again there were a million horizontal passes and no real penetration. I'm not sure that we forced the Ankaragucu keeper to make more than a couple of saves for the whole match.
I had no idea at the time but one Ankaragucu kanka was at the match, namely Cider Kanka John and as he posted on the blog, the Ankaragucu fans were having fun throwing snowballs onto the pitch. It started pretty much as an attack on Hursut for having scored the goal but later on everyone was fair game. It seemed petty at first but later just seemed like fun, after all, snowballs are much better than chairs.
Also weird was the "we share your pain" display by the Ankaragucu fans as thousands of them took off their shirts and threw their atlets/singlets/vests on to the pitch. I might take part in a similar display myself some day, but certainly in January.
Minus 10 was still too warm for these Ankaragucu fans.
Second half and Gencler flaffed around, sent some balls over the top and generally played like they wanted to get off the field as soon as possible. Sensing this the young Ankaragucu players started having a go and they were very unlucky not to equalise late late in the second-half. If it wasn't for Ramazan in goal, the match would have finished one-a-piece.
Match over and very subdued applause from us. During the match the Ankaragucu stands started up various "Hukumet istifa" and "Gokcek istifa" chants, which the Gencler fans of course joined in and so it was slightly annoying that at the end a very small group of Ankaragucu fans sitting to the left us started shouting "you are all sons of disreputable women". We merely applauded them, which only got them more pissed off. Ultimately the police went in and pushed them out of the stadium, after which much larger groups of Ankaragucu fans shouted their appreciation for our support and we started singing Ankaragucu chants.
All very weird.
Thanks to Karabuk beating Trabzon on Saturday, Gencler now go into fourth spot on the ladder. Wow, you could have got very good odds for betting on that at the beginning of the season. Let's see if we can keep it up.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)