0-2 Deja vu

Not again!!! Yes, unfortunately, as in the first half of the season, Gencler manage to topple Gucu, and again by a score of two to nil.

Connect Kanka Steve, Mountaineering Kankas Robbie and Judy as well as myself all made the journey to the Chopin from Bilkent.

But something was different: we actually made it to the Chopin before Eski Kanka Jim this time. I guess he just wasn’t as thirsty as usual.

No worries though. We didn’t have to wait long before he too showed up, followed not long after by Kaleci Kanka Tansu (Yankee Kanka and his cousin met us at the stadium).

On the Gencler side there was only Spine Kanka Steve, as Oz Kanka Chris had work related duties to attend to. Flying Dutchman Kanka Carlo, I believe, went directly to the stadium.

The Gucu fans quickly filled up the away section, and the Gecekondu guys and gals were in fine form. They even had a new chant to the tune of Turkey’s 2009 Eurovision song contest entry Hadise’s (Shakira rip off) Dum Tek Tek. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVM7PFHWVCw

“Dum” is right. Sounded much better with the Ankaragucu lyrics.

I believe it was also during the first half that some fans began chanting for Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek. Another group of fans began responding with the very negative Turkish “Yuuuuuuu!”.

I suppose the rumors concerning the merger of Gokcek’s team Ankaraspor and Ankaragucu are still floating around out there.

Eski kanka wrote about this in this September 10 entry from of The Round Ball, but since then I have not heard anything new. And our expert on matters such as these Maniac Kanka Harun (Come back Maniac. Come back.) is unfortunately nowhere to be found.

About the football, there is not a whole lot worth talking about. Neither team looked particulary good, and for about the first half hour or so they appeared to be evenly matched.

Serkan was in fine form and in the 35th minute made an absolutely beautiful save when Kahe drilled one from outside the penalty area.

As the first half wound down, however, Gencler appeared to be fighting harder and more successfully than we were. Nonetheless, nothing dramatic occurred, and when our players left the pitch at half time, the fans gave each player a round of hearty applause.

The second half started more or less like the first half had. Our guys were passing as often to the Gencler players as they were to each other. Gencler too were less than stellar, but at least they were giving Serkan some work to do. Gencler’s keeper Isailovic was having himself a bloody holiday.

On the up side, our fans appeared to have infiltrated the home sections of the stadium by not wearing their colors. Soon the Gucu chants were circling the stadium much as they do when we are the home team. Unfortunately for us, chanting does not win matches, goals do.

And in the 63rd minute one happened. I couldn’t see it that well from my vantage point, but according to Eski Kanka Jim, Serkan badly misjudged Momha’s free kick, and Mustafa who had ghosted in behind Serkan was able to get to the ball first. Gencler was up by one.

The rest of the 90 minutes was spent with us playing catch up. And then “In the closing minutes with Ankaragucu looking like lost sheep, a curling shot from Troisi deceived everyone, and with Serkan 'blinded' by the defenders in front of him, Troisi's quick thinking saw the space in the top left corner and went for it. Great goal!”

Following the match, the Ankaragucu chants got nastier. Targets were the ref, the management in general, and Cemal Aydin. The fans also once again turned their backs to the players.

It could have been a lot worse. I think if we had been playing someone other than Gencler, the mood would have been much darker and the chairs might once again have started flying.

When we arrived at the Chopin again afterwards, we found Oz Kanka Chris, Spine Kanka Steve, and Flying Dutchman Kanka Carlo waiting for us. They were complete gentlemen and did not rub even a grain of salt into our wounds. Chris had little Oz Kanka with him and wasn’t able to stay too long, but Carlo went the distance with us.

After leaving, a number of us picked up flowers for the women in our lives in honor of International Women’s Day.

Next week we will be at home playing league leaders Sivas (shudder shudder).

In keeping with Eski Kanka Jim’s near perpetual optimism, however, let us look on the bright side: Ankaraspor was able to take one point away from their match yesterday with Sivas and we were able to beat Ankaraspor in their “stadium from hell” last November, so anything is possible.

Highlights from the match.