Wednesday, April 05, 2023

ANKARAGUCU BRUSH ASIDE THE LEAGUE CHAMPIONS TO REACH THE SEMI FINAL OF THE TURKISH CUP !!

 



 

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

 

This was more like the Ankaragucu that we became familiar with a few months ago when Omer Erdogan was the Coach.

 

Hopefully this performance last night was not a one-off and can be reproduced and bettered in the remaining league matches.

 

In the meantime, we will savour a Cup run into the semi final for the first time in hundreds of years ............. well, a long time anyway   !!!

 

ANKARAGUCU            3                         Trabzonspor            1

 

Team – Bahadir, Atakan, Mujakic, Radakovic, Keven, Zahid, Andrej, Matej, Taylan, Emre and Ali Sowe

 

Substitutes – Firatcan, Diack, Tasos, Arda and Gokhan

 

The match sprang into life in the 22nd minute when Trabzon prised open the Ankaragucu defence to score a well crafted goal and I have to confess that I wasn’t hopeful of an equaliser at this stage of  the match.

 

A long telling pass was  played from the half way line to Abdulkadir, who had ghosted in behind 2 Ankaragucu defenders, and he  had the easiest of chances to slot the ball in with Bahadir exposed by slack defending.

 

Ankaragucu wasn’t for throwing the towel in   !        They had 2 good chances to find the equaliser but were unlucky with both.    Firstly, from Zahid’s corner kick, Ali glanced his header just past the post, and secondly, Emre had a goal bound shot well saved by the goalkeeper.

 

Trabzon went in ahead at half time, but after they had gone behind, Ankaragucu had shown fighting spirit and attacking intent which had been lacking in their recent league matches.

 

That perseverance paid off 6 minutes into the 2nd half when Ali did the biz.     A cross came in from the left to Ali in the centre who’s header came back off the bar, but he was first to the rebound and headed in for the equaliser.

 

Ankaragucu’s tails were up now and they poured forward searching for the breakthrough to take the lead.

 

It almost came in the 62nd minute when Taylan’s goal bound shot, heading for inside the left post, was well saved for a corner.

 

Another chance arrived a minute later when the ball was played to Ali in the centre, but surrounded by 3 defenders, he was unable to put his shot in on goal.

 

However, the goal which their attacking play merited finally arrived 5 minutes later.    The corner kick on the left was sent over into the near post by Zahid and Diack rose above everyone else to send his powerful header into the top left.

 

The 3rd goal almost arrived 10 minutes later from a smart piece of football at a set piece situation.      Ankaragucu had a free kick just outside the box on the right which was taken by Emre to Ali who had peeled away on the right.     He took the ball to the goal line and cut it back for Diack, but his shot went whizzing past the right post.

 

However, the 3rd goal deservedly arrived 5 minutes later.    A long clearance was made inside the Ankaragucu half which was headed on to Ali in the box.    He swivelled to wrong foot the defender and sent his shot from the left to inside the right post to cap an excellent match, which I may add was an all round great team performance.

 

So, into the hat Ankaragucu goes for the Semi Final Draw which will obviously take place after all the Quarter Final ties had been completed, ie ............

Galatasaray v Istanbul Basak

Fenerbahce v Kayseri

Probably Sivas with Gaziantep unable to play at the moment

 

First up though it is back to league business and the vital match against Istanbulspor at home on Saturday which falls into the category of ............ MUST WIN.      Another performance similar to last night’s will do nicely   !!!

 

As always, watch this space for the outcome.

 

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

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