It's a bit scary when the biggest thing to cheer about is a shot on goal, but that's Genclerbirligi recently.
A lovely summer's evening at the Beer Bus for a couple of pre-match drinks with Spine and a couple of new Kankas from the US of A. Michael and his son Taylor were smart enough to show up in red and all set for their first exciting match of football. They didn't get it. Dan the Man, his daughter Delia, Tolga and Avsan then joined us at the stadium.
Genclerbirligi 0 - 0 Gaziantep
Haber Turk newspaper headlined their article on the match as "Where is the football?" Not far wrong as neither team seemed to get out of first gear. Antep were probably the better of the two teams at least forcing Serdar to make some good saves. Gencler had a good chance right at the beginning but as I thought we were playing in white I thought it was Antep attacking and so I have no idea who did what.
Jedinak had a pretty average game as did most others. Harbuzi wasn't looking great and was pulled off at the 35th minute mark. I wonder if there was anything else which forced this substitution.
Have I mentioned we didn't have many shots?
A short cheer of "There's only one Billy Mehmet" went up went he came on late in the second half and he rewarded us with one of the few shots that actually forced a save.
It was all extremely frustrating and ironic cheers of "ole" went up whenever our fullbacks passed the ball to each other.
The half-asleep crowd were woken up when the cry went up "Cavcav, you have to re-inforce the team". Not exactly vicious but then we aren't a vicious bunch of fans.
Post match and off to visit Eski and Battle-Hardened at the Beer Bus. It's all quiet on the Genclerbirligi front... as we settle in for another long season.
The Round Ball in Ankara! Dedicated to football lovers in Ankara (Except for those who follow Osmanlispor)
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10668568
ReplyDeleteSome Kiwi with unlikely name of Shane Smeltz apparently flirting with Gencler. Looks like a fill-in for Mustafa...?
Spine
I see from The Hurriyet this morning that the Buca v Gencler match will KO at 10pm on Saturday.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the bad news is that it will be played in The Ataturk Stadium in Izmir.
Why bad news you ask ?
Well, it has a capacity of around 70,000 and how many supporters of Buca and Gencler will be there at that stupid time ??
The last time I was there was back in 2000/2001 when Ankaragucu played Sakaryaspor in a play-off to see which team would go through to the UEFA Cup.
Three quarters of the Stadium was closed and the other quarter had about 3,000 Ankaragucu supporters and a handful of Sakarya supporters.
It was an eerie atmosphere, but that mattered not as Ankaragucu won the match 5-1 !
Gencler sign sponsorship deal with Medicana. some fans upset.
ReplyDeletePlus Senile Old Man Has a Go at Staff, Confirms Smeltz Transfer
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/spor/futbol/15632657.asp?gid=363
Plus: 2011 May Bring Change to Ankara
http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/ankara/15636568.asp?gid=140
Spine
actually, ignore the last link. has little credibility. sorry.
ReplyDeleteSmeltz, Why the hell are we signing players like this, his last team in the UK, were AFC Wimbledon, They are in the English 5th Division. Who is buying the players at Genc. How are we expected to win anything.
ReplyDelete