Greetings Kankas and Kankies.
There was no lap of honour last night at the final whistle. Ankaragucu played their 'get out of jail' card and were rather fortunate to avoid a penalty shoot-out.
ANKARAGUCU 3 Karsiyaka 2
The kankas met in The Chopin as usual. Battle Damaged Damon, Connect Steve, Phillie Jamie, Flying Dutchman Carlo, 'new boy' Berlin Kanka Karl and yours truly. At the Stadium we met-up with Yankee Kanka and Huso Kanka.
When the players emerged prior to kick-off it was a case of playing the game 'guess the player' ! Was this Ankaragucu or Ankaraspor was my first thought, but hey, Ankaraspor was playing in Tokat (where they got stuffed by the way !) and Ankaraspor don't have yellow shirts !
The Ankaraspor goalkeeper (can't spell or pronounce his name !) was in for Serkan and I will give the names of the others when I can find them. Nothing in The Hurriyet or on the Ankaragucu website this morning, so I may well do an edit tomorrow.
We did have a few Ankaragucu 'olde boys' in the starting line-up, eg, Ceyhun, El-Yasa, Metin and Murat. Also, Vassel came on when Metin went off injured and then Emre came on for Vassell when he went off injured !
So to the start, and what a start ! One up inside the first minute. It happened so quickly that it was difficult to recall as we were just settling down. A break down the right by Metin who crossed for a tap-in by Meye (I think) with the Karsiyaka defence all at sea. Volume up and wait for the avalanche of goals !!
Ermmm hello, we are playing Karsiyaka and not Muglaspor (with apologies to the good people of Mugla !). Karsiyaka steadied themselves and began to play a bit, but it was still all Ankaragucu and the 2nd goal duly arrived on the half-hour mark with a stunning piece of opportunism from Metin who swivelled in the penalty box and struck a half volley into the corner with the goalkeeper helpless.
This is it we all thought with the singing reverberating around the Stadium .... uc uc uc ..... but we fell for the sucker punch. Foot off the pedal, players thinking .... this is easy ...... and then .... with the Ankaragucu goalkeeper out of position and the defence in 'dream mode' the Karsiyaka striker lobbed the ball over the stranded goalkeeper and into the net. A schoolboy error and I'm thinking .... where is Serkan ??!!
Not to worry ..... don't panic. We are 2-1 up at half time and attacking the Gecikondu end in the 2nd half. The goals will come no probs ......wrong !
As I mentioned to the kankas prior to the match, Karsiyaka has a famous history in Turkish footie and they are not coming to Ankara to be lambs to the slaughter. So, it proved. All credit to Karsiyaka for coming out in the 2nd half and taking the game to Ankaragucu. Their footie was at times textbook stuff as they passed the ball around with Ankaragucu chasing shadows. They were in full cry and Ankaragucu was rocking.
It was no surprise therefore when they equalised. How many times has Ankaragucu been caught out by breakaways when our 'old' defenders couldn't play 'catch up'. So it was again with the cut-back and the pick your place in the goal.
2-2 and we were thinking ........ oh no, not a penalty shoot out - Karsiyaka had nothing to lose before the match and would definitely be favourites to win it.
It was nail biting stuff and with only minutes to go Karsiyaka almost snatched the winner with a shot that went just past the post with the goalkeeper beaten.
Shit ! Anxious looks all round from the kankas !!
Almost full time and from one of the few Ankaragucu attacks of the 2nd half the ball was collected by Meye just outside the penalty area. With the Karsiyaka defence backing off expecting the ball to be sent wide, he looked up and fired in a screamer of a ball to the top left hand corner with the goalkeeper clawing air.
Sighs of relief all round and let's start singing again .... cue ...... Annnkaaaaarrrrraaaagoooojoooo !!!
OK, Ankaragucu is into the Group Stage, but only just. Hikmet Bey has some serious thinking to do about how he is going to get his team playing like a TEAM and back to the basics of passing and playing for each other.
Meye had an outstanding match. Apart from his goals he was full of running and endeavour. Also, Metin had a good match in the short time he was on. El-Yasa was his usual reliable self, but Ediz had a shocker and his distribution was abysmal. Ceyhun looked a lonely figure in midfield and the sooner Barbaros and Semavi return the better !
We can only play better than this performance, and it will need to be for next Saturday's match at the Inonu Stadium.
All the best from Eski Kanka Jim
EDIT - Friday 30th October
As promised here is the team for the Cup Match (nicked from the Ankaragucu website) -
Senecky
El-Yasa, Ediz, Koray and Broggi
Ceyhun, Hurriyet, Murat and Theo
Meye and Metin
Substitutes used - Vassell, Emre and Mehmet
The Round Ball in Ankara! Dedicated to football lovers in Ankara (Except for those who follow Osmanlispor)
i hope metin will take his healing at least within 6 months so that we will not suffer to see his retarded game at match line-ups!
ReplyDeleteWhats the story with Vassell?He seems to have become a peripheral figure at Ankaragucu.Only a sub for a cup game and not overly involved in the league of late.Has the whole move gone sour already?
ReplyDeleteDublin Neil.
Neil,
ReplyDeleteAlmost everyone is a bit of a peripheral figure at Ankaragucu nowadays!! There are a couple of exceptions, namely Serkan and El Yasa, but it's all in flux for the moment at least.
I think Hikmet was experimenting a bit during this match. I would wait to see what role Vassell will play up front. He also needs some players he can work with. He seemed ok with Iglesias (but it seems that Iglesias is now out of favor), and it's possible that Meye and Metin would work as well.
As Eski said,"Hikmet Bey has some serious thinking to do about how he is going to get his team playing like a TEAM and back to the basics of passing and playing for each other."
I should also mention that Vassell recently had a dispute with the Club about monies owed to him. I'm not sure if that matter has been resolved but here's hoping it has.
ReplyDeleteAlso, there was an injury problem a few weeks ago which seems to have cleared up now.
Following on from Battle Damaged Damon's hope about striking partnerships. I agree that Vassell, Meye and Metin should be Hikmet Bey's preferred choice up front, with Metin playing just behind the front two supported from midfield by Ceyhun, Hurriyet and either Barbaros or Semavi.
the money dispute had been solved , 300 thousand euro was paid up to him in a single day , hence it's apparent that there is something additional which is irritating darius and hindering him to focus on the field.
ReplyDeleteand we guess in high prospect that its the ''division between players'' within the club.
"Almost everyone is a bit of a peripheral figure at Ankaragucu nowadays!"
ReplyDeleteThat's a great quote Battle Damaged,made me laugh!Seems to sum up perfectly what the politics in Turkish football (if not Turkish LIFE!)can be like.
I would have thought Gucu were expecting to get more for the kind of money they are paying to Vassell and I can see how resentment could creep into the situation from other players looking on.Especially the ones who have much more match time but less wages.Maybe this is an underlying reason as to why the side is not playing like a real TEAM this season?
Dublin Neil.
Aye Neil, Battle Damaged Damon is famous in these here parts for his 'one liners' !!
ReplyDeleteIt has also been said that he's not as stupid as Eski Kanka looks, and on reflection, I wouldn't disagree with that statement !!!
He is also pretty upbeat about Ankaragucu's chances of causing an upset on Saturday. I always thought that I was the optimistic kanka, but on this occasion I'm saying .... nothing !!!
Hello people, I wouldnt get to dissapointed about last nights performance. There were alot of new players playing plus cup games are always difficult. It was a chance for Hikmet to see the new players.
ReplyDeleteAs Jim said its important he gets a settled team though. Whats happened to Bebbe ?
nadeem
Hmmmm Bebbe ? Yes Nadeem, good question !
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about this, but I have a feeling that he is not very popular with the rest of the team for some reason.
I noticed this when I met him in Antalya Airport. He was sitting alone and all the other players were on the other side of the departure lounge laughing and joking with each other.
He also boarded the aircraft alone which I thought was strange at the time.
The fact that he had received a red card in the match the night before should have had little bearing on this because players pick-up red cards during the season (ask Ceyhun !!).
So, I am wondering if he is about to be off-loaded. I hope I'm wrong about this because I like his style and he would be a useful foil for Vassell up front, especially if we also use Meye in the attack.
More on this later when the story unfolds.
Jim actually not only his team mates but also Ankaragücü supporters do not like Bebbe because of the way he followed to quit Ankaragücü, During his transfer to İBB .
ReplyDeleteWe,all the poor Ankaragücü supporters believe that our players do not forsake us!(Provided that we are the team paying them more than the others... )
Volkan
Saturday 31 October -
ReplyDeleteMore controversy surrounding Vassell. It was reported in The Hurriyet this morning that the Club Doctor has said he has an injury and therefore not fit to play. However, Hikmet Bey disagrees !
So, it will be interesting to see if he is in the starting line-up tonight or even on the bench !
The good news is that Meye and Theo Weeks, who did so well last Wednesday, are both named in the team for tonight.
Metin is injured, so if Vassell doesn't play, then I expect Ceyhun to play up front with Meye.
According to the paper I was looking at this morning, Ceyhun was indeed slated to play up front with Meye along with Jim's favorite: Murat (snicker). Of course, if Murat can pull out a performance as good or better than the one he showed us during the GS match, then he may indeed become one of our favorites (without the sarcasm).
ReplyDeleteThe disappointing news is that I did not see Serkan's name in the lineup. I was nooooooot impressed with the performance given by the Ankaraspor keeper (whose name Jim cannot pronouce) during the cup match. Hopefully, he'll pull it together before he faces Tello and Bobo (don't they just sound like they should be playing characters in a movie like Dumb and Dumber?)
I wonder how much control over the starting lineup Hikmet Bey has had and how much meddling from the idiots upstairs he's had to deal with.
As for Vassell, this is a man who drilled through his toe nail with a power drill to relieve the pressure of some minor injury. I imagine if any one can play with in injury it would be him.
ReplyDelete