"There is nothing better than to play like shit and still get the three points," Orcan told me over a beer after last night's match. Pretty much sums it up really.
Genclerbirligi 1 - 0 Bucaspor
Just me at the Beer Bus Sunday afternoon. No worries though as I had my newspaper, kofte and refreshments. In the end I had to pull myself away from the warmth of the bar and into the cold. There was still some snow on the ground at the 19 Mayis but it wasn't deadly cold. Pretty good weather for footy really.
As for the football itself. Urgh. I truly wonder why I support Gencler sometimes. Two matches in a row now, against the same opposition, where we dominate the first half and have nothing to show for it. Harbuzi in particular couldn't do a single thing right. His passing was atrocious and it was no surprise when he was subbed off in the second half. The surprise was that it wasn't earlier.
A few good shots from us but it was still 0 - 0 at half-time and that was thanks to some good saves by Serdar. Second half and after a couple of changes we started to put stuff together. The winner came in the 64th when Mununga sent in a ball from the sidelines that their keeper seemed to have well covered. He dropped it though and Oktay found himself with the ball at his feet and about a metre in front of the open goal. Cue celebrations.
We had a few more chances, one off the post by Murat but the best being when Yasin was put through just inside their half with only the goalkeeper in front of him. Unluckily he managed to toe poke it just a touch too much and the keeper got to the ball without a shot having been made.
And then everything fell apart. Buca should probably have scored three or four in the last 20 minutes. I'm not sure what the hell happened but we fell apart and only thanks to some desperate last tackles, shots smacked into our players, some good keeping and also some crap shots. All the cards fell the right way though and they couldn't score but bloody hell th's was horrible stuff for us to watch.
Still, three points is what we needed.
The Round Ball in Ankara! Dedicated to football lovers in Ankara (Except for those who follow Osmanlispor)
Hey, whatever works. Congrats to Gencler for moving up and keeping Buca down.
ReplyDeletephew! (sorry to leave you alone-had to work)
ReplyDeleteUmit Ozat's in Milliyet today saying he'd quite like to be Minister of Sport.
ReplyDeleteSeriously.
Here's a link to the Ozat interview:
ReplyDeletehttp://sportmeninyeri.com/ankaragucu/3999/umit-ozat--aklim-spor-bakanliginda
It's a fine example of a certain type of Turkish self-justification and rationalisation. Barely a mention of the team's performance. Instead a lot of (I admit interesting) blame-throwing on fans, the club, etc etc.
Plus the classic: "Bizler de insaniz."
Enjoy.
And, as if that wasn't enough balls posted by Spine today, Julian Assange turns out to be a Cimbom fan:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnnturk.com/2011/dunya/02/08/dunyayi.sarsan.adam.galatasarayli.cikti/606039.0/
I'm sure that Mr Faruk Ozan will be laughing up his kilt at Umit Bey's remarks ...... along with all of us !!!
ReplyDeleteCemal Aydin had a kebab and a banana split last night at Gunaydin restaurant in GOP.
ReplyDeleteYour reporter, Spine
And today's news is:
ReplyDeleteAnkaragucu back Michael Klukowski has second child. Antonia, 3kg. Ankara Bayindir Hosp.
With our resident roving reporter, Bellshill Kanka Nadeem, down in London as a 'tourist', it is gratifying that Spine has taken over the mantle, and a fine job he is doing too.
ReplyDeleteEye catching news indeed !
Next he'll be telling us that he has arranged for Umit Bey to join the kankas in The Beer Bus Bar !!!
Keep up the good work Spine.
Spine, that was a really bizarre interview.
ReplyDeleteI'm really concerned about the man's sanity actually. I think, for his own good, he should listen to his mother, father, wife, children, siblings, and quit. If not, maybe, just maybe his 9yr. old son really will come to Ankara and drag Ol'Umit back to Istanbul where he belongs. C'mon Ali Umit, come and get your dad out of our hair.
hello kankas, ive returned to scotland after a nice break in london.
ReplyDeletejust saw something in the turkish news, its something to do with galatasaray assistant manager johan neeskens and ankaragucu, anyone know what it is ?
nadeem
Yeah, Nadeem, I just saw that same news in the paper Fanatik this morning. Not sure yet how reliable it is.
ReplyDeleteAnkaragucu spokesman Avni Kavlak is on the wires today calling for everyone to watch the Besiktas match closely. He says Besiktas directors have a history of threatening/pressuring referees.
ReplyDelete"All we want is for our young referee brother, who we believe has no bad intentions, to run an unbiased and fair match without feeling under pressure," Kavlak said, according to Anatolia.
This is known as getting your excuses in early.
Brilliant quote, Spine.
ReplyDelete