Sunday, October 29, 2006

ANKARAGUCU ......... ON FIRE ..... AT LAST !!!

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Good news at last…… ANKARAGUCU are now realising their potential. I’m not saying that they are the `finished article` but it is beginning to come together. Today…….

ANKARAGUCU 4 Erciyes of Kayseri 1

The day started out slowly……. in The Chopin Bar. Yours truly, Huso Kanka and Nuri Kanka, met and conversed for over an hour in our broken Turkish and English. We made it though. Perhaps the EFES helped a little ??!! It’s amazing what you can achieve when there isn’t a translator (Oz Kanka) there to make it easy !!! Maniac Kanka was at a Volleyball match with his daughter and couldn’t come and so he was forgiven. However, what about all the other Ankara Kankas who are (were ?) so famous in Ankara ? Where were they today ??!! Marash Kanka Hakan came late and joined us just as we were leaving for the Stadium.

Off we went to Maraton again and met up with Maniac Kanka Harun and his beautiful daughter Hazal, who will NOT be called Little Maniac Kankie ! Her name is Melek (Angel) Kankie and she is now the official Kanka Mascot.. For those of you who have never met an angel before then you need look no more. Just meet Melek Kankie and you will have met your first angel !!

ANKARAGUCU started with the same line up as in the past 2 matches and again their tactics were similar…….. attack …….. attack ! I have to take my hat off to Hikmet Bey. Since his arrival, the team are really all fired up.

The match was only 5 minutes old when Mustafa put ANKARAGUCU into the lead after some nice work down the left wing and a cross ball in which Mustafa met unmarked.

The Gecikondu End was full, Maraton was almost full and Kapali was almost full. So, the volume of the singing increased as the crowd anticipated more……… and it came. Five minutes later and the moment we were all praying for after many weeks……. a goal for Bebbe ! Good passing (Hikmet is NOW reading our blog !!) put Bebbe clear and he struck an unstoppable shot to open his account for the season.

What a start. Could it continue ? Good question. 10 minutes later came the answer and yet another ANKARAGUCU attack down the right wing with Abdulrahman Dereli involved. With everyone expecting a cross, he fired in an angled fierce shot which screamed into the top left hand corner of the goal with the goalkeeper clawing air !

3 – 0 up after 20 minutes and we were all jumping up and down shouting, singing, dancing and kissing each other. Was there more to come we were thinking ???

Actually, no. The pace slowed down a little and Erciyes came more into the match leading up to the half time whistle, but that’s how it stayed.

Into the 2nd half and it was more end to end stuff now and all credit to Erciyes for not throwing in the towel. However, after only 10 minutes came the goal of the match. Ceyhun disposessed the Erciyes full back, who was in half a mind what to do with the ball, and with only the goalkeeper to beat, cut it back for the incoming Bebbe to slot it home for his 2nd goal of the match. The Stadium errupted at this stage and Bebbe’s name was resounding around the Stadium. This must have been sweet music in his ears after so many near misses and frustrations over the past few weeks.

The pace of the game slowed even further as ANKARAGUCU made 3 substitutions with the match well won. However, a bad mistake from the normally reliable Emre gifted a chance to Erciyes in the last few minutes which they took very well.

This was more like the ANKARAGUCU of old. Attacking and scoring, and defending in depth. Running off the ball, passing accurately and playing as a team. An excellent performance which will be leaving Genclerbirligi supporters trembling in fear as next Sunday’s local derby match approaches.

Moving up into the mid-table region now and……… thinking SERIOUSLY about the UEFA Cup next season !!!!

After the match it was to The Cappakokia Bar for celebration drinks and lots of toasts to Bebbe, the hero for the day !!

Details of the Gencler V ANKARAGUCU match next Sunday coming up from Oz Kanka in an email soon.

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim……… still on a high !

The goals can be seen here

12 comments:

  1. Anonymous12:32 am

    And we won again:)))) (and I hope we keep doing this)
    I couldn't watch the game (but mackolik and/or livescore had ease the pain a little).
    I hope Jim will be right and that next year a UEFA cup match (or more) will be played somewhere nearer me..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oz Bey, thanks for the kind words you left on my blog. Let me first say that I'm a little different than most Fenerbahce fans. For one, I'm American and speak only a limited amount of Turkish. I thought there must be others out there like me (even if only a few) who want to read about Fenerbahce or other teams but don't speak much Turkish, which is why I started my blog. Secondly, I don't hate Galatasaray, Besiktas, or any other Turkish teams. In fact, I hope they do well when Fener isn't playing them. I have several close friends who are fans of GS, BJK, etc. I think the best thing for all of us is that each team does well in European play. And to be honest, although I don't think they'll win the Lig, I was happy to see V. Manisaspor sitting at the top for a little while. I think it adds to our lig's credibility.

    I chose to support Fenerbahce after traveling to Istanbul and being persuaded by some friends of mine who are Fener fans. I agree with you though - I wish there was more support for the non-Istanbul teams. I think the dominance by the big four since 1959 is the main reason for that. Like I said, I always cheer for the "little teams" when they aren't playing Fener.

    Thanks again for your kind words. Don't be afraid to drop me a note regarding GS or any other teams - I'm not the kind of Fenerbahce fan you may be accustomed to. On a side note, I can't wait to visit Ankara in the future. I hear it's beautiful. One of my close friends is likely getting married there soon, so hopefully I'll be able to come.

    Iyi gunler, arkadas -

    Nathan

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good to hear from you again Safak and I'm pleased that you joined in the celebrations of last night. With Amstel or Heineken ??!!

    Dreaming of the UEFA Cup is not `pie in the sky` when you consider that ANKARAGUCU are only 8 points behind 3rd placed BJK !

    If we play PSV I am sure we will not under-estimate them as a certain other Turkish team did recently !!! More to come tomorrow night !

    Welcome to our blog Nathan and we look forward to seeing you when you come for your friend's wedding. As I said to Safak before, just tell us when you will be here and we can arrange a meeting - hopefully on a match day.

    Also, there is a slight chance that we might forgive you for being a FB fan, especially after your thoughts about teams outside the Big 4 !!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous1:23 pm

    In Twente they only drink Grolsch:)
    We will look and see tomorrow:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Further to my info on the upcoming local derby......

    I can confirm that it is on Sunday 5 November KO 2pm.

    Gencler is the HOME team so for those of you without Kombine tickets, please make sure you go to the correct white cabin for your tickets.

    For Ankaragucu supporters the same applies. The white cabin at the AWAY end will be used I guess.

    I will be unable to make it due to work commitments. However, I will be free to join you after the match for the `celebrations` and `commiserations` !!!

    Oz Kanka will send out an email or a blog about meeting venue pre and post match.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Abdurrahman Dereli included in Hurriyet's team of the weekend for the 2nd week in a row.

    Could be a world record coming up if he plays like a hero again on Sunday against Gencler ??!!

    However, on the down side, we don't want any `spies` coming down the road from Istanbul !!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well I guess spies might have to come down the road as its unlikely the game will be on Lig TV. Personally whilst I enjoy being able to watch all GS games, I do think its crazy that they only televise the big4 matches and seem to ignore the other teams, but then again so do the newspapers...until then the first city spies will have top schlep over Bolu to the second city

    ReplyDelete
  8. Spot on Gulay !

    Digiturk could take a leaf out of the UK TV companies book. All the teams in the Premier leagues of Scotland and Ingallind get have a slot throughout the season on either Saturday, Sunday or Monday.

    Real footie fans would be sure to watch the Ankara and Kayseri derby matches.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous5:11 pm

    Jim another question, do you know a online store who sells ankaragucu merchadising (I would like to buy the home (or away) shirt .. But sporx and taraftarshop doesnt have these stuff ..

    ReplyDelete
  10. Safak,
    No online place but next time you are in Ankara we will take you to Maniac Kanka Harun's shop in Kizalay, he makes all sorts of Ankaragucu gear.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous8:00 pm

    Thank you Oz Kanka, 2 years ago I bought it by Canspor but they shutted it down I heard. I heard of Harun in ulke alani right?

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous1:42 am

    Hey Harun, too bad its gonna take more then half a year before I am in Ankara again. But then I will surely come by your place. By the way Maybe a online store is a idea? I think (hope) a lot of people would be interested:) outside Turkey.

    ReplyDelete