THE ANKARAGUCU KANKAS GO ON A ‘WORLD TOUR’ TO ............ BURSA !

THE ANKARAGUCU KANKAS GO ON A ‘WORLD TOUR’ TO ............ BURSA !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

It wasn’t just about going to Bursa to see a footie match.    The main item on the agenda was to welcome Bellshill Kanka Nadeem back to Ankara, not only for his 99^th (or was it 100^th ??!!) match, but for his first away match !

Nadeem flew in from Scotland last Friday morning and the ‘welcoming committee’ met him on Friday evening to discuss plans for our mega trip to Bursa.

The Kanka Group set-off for Bursa early on Saturday morning in our mini-bus.   Nadeem, Harun, Tansu, Ahmet, Osman, Kenan, Oguzhan, Gokhan and yours truly.    Unfortunately, Damon couldn’t join us due to illness and we wish him a speedy recovery.

We met other Ankaragucu tribunes en-route and there was a clamour form them to have a photo opportunity with Nadeem.

On one of our petrol stops we had the pleasure of meeting the famous actress and singer, Hulya Avsar, and after chatting to her for a while we had a photo taken with the great lady.

Approaching Bursa and there was the customary Police Check on all the Ankaragucu buses and it also gave us the opportunity to interact with the other tribunes again.   High Tech has come to Turkey when the Police used a drone to photograph everyone.   A rare, but interesting sight !

We arrived at the Stadium later than planned due to the fact that only two turnstiles were in operation for the two and half thousand travelling fans.   To use the word ‘chaos’ is perhaps an understatement, but despite fighting breaking out among the frustrated fans, the Police managed to regain control ....... eventually.   A scary moment !

    

At last we were able to enter the impressive Bursaspor Stadium but it was 5 minutes into the match.   Oh yes, the match !    However, I don’t intend to say too much about it, probably because Ankaragucu didn’t have one direct shot on goal all afternoon.   Okan in the Bursa goal could have been forgiven for falling asleep !!

No sooner had we taken our seat than the first Bursa goal arrived, but after heated requests from the Ankaragucu players, the referee consulted his TV Monitor and disallowed the goal !

As always, there was lots of friendly interaction between the different Ankaragucu tribunes and also the Bursa tribunes.

Unfortunately, the Ankaragucu striker, El Kabir, received an injury shortly after this which left Ilhan to lead the line.   This left Bifouma and Kenan to support him.   However, as I said above, there was not one direct shot on goal, and as we all know, Ilhan is not what we could call a prolific striker !!

The inevitable Bursa goal came in the 22^nd minute and it was a goal worthy of winning any match.   A cross came in from the right to Umut Meras on the left who looped a header over Hopf who was perhaps too far off his line.

Ankaragucu’s defence was being overworked and special praise here for Alihan who was putting in some saving tackles to thwart the dangerous Bursa forwards.

It was more of the same in the 2^nd half with Bursa looking the more likely to add another goal, but the Ankaragucu defence was just grateful to clear the ball anywhere out of the danger area.

Having said that, Ankaragucu did have three opportunities to equalise.    Firstly, there was a great frun down the left by Bifouma who’s pace was troubling the Bursa defenders.   However, his cross into the box had no takers and the ball was cleared.   Where was Ilhan I was asking ?!

Secondly, Cerci was put through on goal with a well timed pass and all he had to do was beat the goalkeeper.   However, with him being as slow as a cart-horse (no offence intended towards cart-horses !!) a defender easily sprinted past him to clear the danger.

Finally, Ilhan had the chance to be crowned a hero when he was put through on the right, but instead of shooting when well placed to do so, he cut the ball back straight to a Bursa defender !

Almost at the final whistle and Bursa managed to breach the Ankaragucu defence for the 2^nd goal, but the goal was disallowed for what reason I know not !

Game over, and the Bursa players were then summoned to the Ankaragucu away end (minus olde boy, Unut Nayir, who jumped ship last season !) for applause and then there was another ‘love in’ between the Ankaragucu and Bursa supporters singing to each other.

Bursaspor    1                      ANKARAGUCU   0

Ankaragucu now slide into the bottom half of the league which heaps more pressure on Ismail Bey to have the team fully prepared for the next match at home on Sunday 21 October against Yeni Malatyaspor.

Before leaving the Stadium area, we bumped into Ankaragucu goalkeeper Altay and had a photo opportunity.

 

It was then off to Bursa City Centre for the kankas to enjoy some food and ‘refreshments’ in the company of our Bursa friends.

The journey back to Ankara was uneventful with exhaustion overtaking everyone on the bus ride back home.

So, Nadeem is still awaiting the chance to see Ankaragucu beat Bursa, but at least there is little chance that he will forget this trip, especially almost being sucked into The Battle of Bursa Stadium pre-match !!!

We wish him a safe journey back to Scotland on Monday as we begin the countdown for his next ‘home match’ !

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

PS ............ Another great win for Genclerbirligi yesterday with a 1-0 win away to Altay.   Still undefeated and the Gencler rush to the title shows no sign of slowing down !!!

Bursaspor vs Ankaragücü match preview!

It’s six years since we have saw one of Turkeys most unique spectacles in the Turkish Football calendar. A country plagued with football violence, and Tifo displays the match between Bursaspor and Ankaragücü brings a different side to the game, through friendship where both sets of fans sing each other’s songs and support each other apart from when they play against each other.

My second trip to Ankara was a home match against Bursaspor where we lost 5-1 at home. The Ankaragücü fans were unhappy with the teams performance and when goals 4 and 5 went in they cheered for Bursa. Not something us British fans can understand but there is so much history between the two clubs started by Abdulkerim Bayraktar, a Bursaspor fan who studied in Ankara and went to Ankaragücü games. After he passed away the two clubs formed a friendship that has stayed strong to this day.

The fortunes of both Bursaspor and Ankaragücü couldn’t be further apart over recent years. Bursaspor have won a Turkish Super Lig title, played champions league football and been a mainstay in Turkish football. Ankaragücü on the other hand have been relegated twice, promoted twice and had also sorts of financial problems.

After week 7 of the Super Lig, Ankaragücü are 5 points ahead of Bursaspor who are 2nd from bottom and have yet to win a game. They also have financial problems of their own all while things are starting to look up for Ankaragücü.

Bursaspor have struggled to score goals this season which has resulted in them drawing 5 and losing 2 of their first 7 games. They do however have Diafra Sakho the ex West Ham striker who is an excellent player when he is fit and will be their main dangerman in attack if he plays. Former Ankaragücü trio Umut Nayir, Onur Atasayer and Emre Tasdemir can also be called upon.

The two sides met in pre season in Bursa with Ankaragücü comfortably winning 2-0. A lot has changed since then and although they haven’t started the season well Bursaspor are more than capable of winning this match.

Ankaragücü can look to take advantage and try and play the Bursa crowd against their own team. They are already unhappy with how things are going and an early goal for Ankaragücü could make it difficult for the Bursa players to come back from as the crowd will be on their back.

Ankaragücü will be looking to get back to winning after a disappointing 1-0 loss against Antalyaspor last night at home. Ismail Kartal will be hoping to have Djedje, Moulin and Pinto back although it’s unlikely the later will be available.

The Kanka Group will be travelling to the match with tickets going on sale tomorrow. My flight is on Thursday afternoon which gets me in early Friday morning. Looking forward to seeing everyone again. See you soon guys

ANKARAGUCU RECEIVE A REALITY CHECK !

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

There can be no excuses for Ankaragucu’s inept performance last night when Ismail Bey fielded his strongest line-up with the exception of Pinto, who is perhaps injured.

As Harun said post-match, there were only two serious efforts from Ankaragucu on target during the match and both were well saved by the impressive Boffin in goal.   That statistic is unacceptable for what was a ‘home’ match !

ANKARAGUCU    0         Antalyaspor     1

Team – Hopf, Alihan, Erdem O, Sedat, Faty, Yalcin, Mehmet Sak, Putsila, Mokhtar, Bifouma and El Kabir.

Substitutes – Ilhan, Kenan and Cerci

The kankas met-up at The Anasonn Bar – Maniac Kanka Harun, Nurer Kanka, Kenan and Ufuk.    We were also joined by two of my previous High School students, Berkay and Ozgur.   Berkay is an Ankaragucu supporter and Ozgur supports Genclerbirligi !

  

Ankaragucu started brightly enough and almost scored in the 3^rd minute.    Some nice short passing moves on the right resulted in the cross coming over, only for El Kabir to head his effort just past the post.

One minute later and Antalya gave a warning signal.   A blunder from Bifouma just outside the penalty area gifted the ball to an Antalya attacker who probably couldn’t believe his luck.   He evaded a tackle and his shot rebounded off the post and into Hopf’s hands.    A lucky escape for Ankaragucu !

There was a further scare for Ankaragucu 6 minutes later when a cross came in from the right but there were no takers and the ball drifted just past the left post.

The crucial goal came 8 minutes later when Antalya was awarded a free kick on the left just outside the penalty box.   Hakan sent in a low shot into the crowded penalty area which unbelievably evaded all the static Ankaragucu defenders and took a very slight deflection off ‘someone’ to deceive Hopf and in it went to put Antalya’s tails up !

Ankaragucu should have equalised in the 24^th minute but Mokhtar’s effort was well saved by Boffin.    Mokhtar had picked up a loose ball from an Antalya defender’s mistake and took off with only Boffin to beat.    However, instead of curling his shot into the inviting space to the right of Boffin, he sent his shot straight at the goalkeeper who was able to parry it and put the ball out for a corner.   A golden opportunity missed !

Leading up to the half time whistle and Hopf came to the rescue on two occasions with great saves from goalbound efforts.

Ankaragucu started the 2^nd half in determined fashion but there was no cutting edge in their attacks.   Also, the Antalya defence had an excellent match and were soaking up the pressure easily which came their way.

Ankaragucu continued to press forward but for all their huffing and puffing they managed only one serious attempt on target.    A cross came in from the right and Ilhan met it and bulleted a header in which brought us all off our chairs.    BUT, Boffin made an instinctive point blank save to frustrate us all.

Antalya almost caught out the Ankaragucu defence on a few occasions as Ankaragucu  pressed forward searching for an equaliser, but Hopf was having none of it with some fine saves.

Faty had a great chance to find the equaliser with 4 minutes to go but his header from a right wing cross went flying past the post.

Well, in all honesty Antalya deserved to take the 3 points, but on another day it may have been a different story.    There was too much dithering in Ankaragucu’s play and their one touch passes were going to Antalya players most of the time.    Also, there was no cohesion between midfield and in attack last night with too many players having an ‘off day’ !

So, time to stop dreaming of that Europa Cup slot and concentrate on consolidating a mid-table league position.

The Kanka Group are now focused on next Saturday’s match in Bursa and the arrival of our Prodigal Son, Bellshill Kanka Nadeem who is flying over for the match from Scotland.    The Kanka Group will be going to the match in a mini-bus and we know that we will be given a warm welcome by the Bursaspor fans.

There will be lots of photos of the event up here next weekend.    Bring it on !

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

GENCLERBIRLIGI – ZIRVENIN SAHIBI !!

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Headline nicked from the fanatic newspaper, which roughly translates to ......... the owners of the summit !

Genclerbirligi refuse to relinquish their position at the top of the Spor Toto Championship League !

GENCLERBIRLIGI     1       Afyon      0

Last Saturday night they continued their impressive start to the season by winning their 7^th consecutive league match.

Team – Hakan, Arnason, Alper, Claro, A. Oguz, Sessegnon, Yasin, Selcuk, Ahmet I, Jailton and Mert.

Substitutes – Matei and Nadir

However, they had to wait until the 70^th minute to break down a stubborn Afyon defence.   Jailton was the player who unlocked the door !

Bolu and Adana Demir also won and they are obviously determined to keep Gencler in their sights.   They are only 2 points and 5 points respectively behind Gencler.

Let’s keep it going Gencler !

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Ankaragücü vs Antalyaspor match preview!

It’s Monday night football in week 7 of the Turkish Super Lig for Ankaragücü as they host Antalyaspor looking to continue their good run and keep up the momentum in the top half of the table.

As Jim said in his match report from the Serik match, it was a disappointing performance from Ankaragücü against the lower league opposition but we need to take into account the amount of changes made to the team with all but Erdem Ozgenc from the first team rested.

Alessio Cerci showed flashes of what he can bring and there is no doubting his ability. If he wants to break into the starting line up however, then he will need to improve on his fitness and the defensive side of his game. Too often he made no attempt to get back and help the team while Serik were on the attack.

Despite the mounting financial issues at Antalyaspor who have lost all of their big signings including Samuel Eto’o, Samir Nasri and Sandro, they have actually had a good start to the season sitting one place below Ankaragücü in 8th and on the same points.

Former Leeds striker Souleymane Doukara has been a good signing for Antalyaspor and will be one of their key players in attack. The powerful Senegalese International has excellent technique and skill but sometimes his finishing and end product can let him down. He will likely be joined in attack by Turkish International Melvut Erdinc.

Ankaragücü will be without the suspended Bakary Kone through suspension but will have Thibault Moulin back from injury. Moestafa El Kabir will play against his former club and Ankaragücü will be  hoping that he can continue his excellent early season form with another good performance. Thievy Bifouma has all the attributes to be a key player for Ankaragücü but he has been a bit frustrating of late with his decision making in the final 3rd of the pitch, we need a big performance from him and he needs to be careful with his disciplinary.

Bruce Dja Djedje has come into the midfield and formed an excellent partnership with the brilliant Ricardo Faty, it will be interesting to see if Ismail goes with the 3 in the middle now that Moulin is back in contention.

The game will be played at the Yenikent Stadium and kick off time is 8pm, as usual for details on how you can watch the match with the Kanka Group please get in touch with Jim.

ANKARAGUCU ALMOST BECOME THE FIRST SHOCK CUP EXIT !!

Greetings Kankas and Kankies.

Serik is a small town on the south coast to the east of Antalya, and their football team play in the Tukish 3^rd League, so it was expected that Ankaragucu would brush them aside with a ‘cricket score’ !     However, Serik showed great resilience to almost cause an upset.

They may have been over-awed at first, but in the 2^nd half they continually took the match to Ankaragucu and severely tested their defence.    On this performance they must be serious promotion contenders !

ANKARAGUCU    2          Serik    1

Ismail Bey decided to rest his normal attacking trio and gave the fringe players of the squad a run-out.   There was no Hopf, Djedje, Heurtaux, Faty, El Kabir, Mokhtar, Bifouma and Kubilay, but that is no excuse for Ankaragucu’s abysmal 2^nd half performance !

Battle Damaged Kanka, Damon, and I met-up at The Anasonn Bar (the Kanka Group was posted absent without leave !!!) and settled down to watch a goal feast.   However, all we saw at first was the Sanliurfa v Yomra match !   Panic stations with the bar staff trying to find the match, but it was down to A Spor TV deciding to switch, showing that match and ours every 10 minutes or so.   Later there was a third match in the mix when the Rize match joined in !!   So, when the Urfa match was shown, all we had was a ‘minu screen’ in the bottom right of the TV screen !    Bloody frustrating !!

Anyway, we saw most of the action and when the first goal came in the 10^th minute we were smiling and saying ........ here we go for our goal feast !

It was a goal to savour with Ilhan the provider with an excellent pass for Kehinde to fire in a screamer.   Kehinde had another opportunity 8 minutes later but his shot was high and over.

New signing, Cerci, was controlling the match at this point and on this showing he is going to be a key player in Ankaragucu’s attacking armoury.   His deft touches and control oozed pure class !

Cerci was the inspiration for the 2^nd goal on the 22^nd minute mark when he took a quick corner on the right with Ilhan.   He played a one-two with Ilhan, and with everyone expecting a shot to the near post, he drove his shot to the far post and in through about 3 confused defenders.   Shocking defending but a peach of a goal nonetheless !

We were still thinking that this is ‘easy’ and expecting another goal before half time, BUT the goal came at the other end on the half time whistle !

A Serik attacker was put through on the left with an excellent pass which evaded Alihan’s outstretched leg, and he shot across Altay inside the right post for a well taken goal.

We were thinking that this was a ‘wake-up call’ for Ankaragucu, but we were sadly mistaken !

It was Serik who came out for the 2^nd half firing on all cylinders and they obviously ‘smelled blood’.   They continued to harry and chase every ball throughout the 2^nd half and it was backs against the wall for Ankaragucu, with Ankaragucu being restricted to breakaways out of defence.

In the 60^th minute, Altay came to Ankaragucu’s rescue with an outstanding save to tip the goal bound shot over for a corner.

At this stage of the match, A Spor TV was jumping between THREE matches, so we were unable to see any action until the 75^th minute.

Serik was still in the driving seat and looking likely to conjure up the equaliser.

Ankaragucu did score an ‘offside goal’ in the 78^th minute, but we were unable to see the replay due to skipping to the Rize match ..............aaargh !!

I can’t tell you the language we used at this point.   All I can say is that it was uncomplimentary aimed at A Spor TV !!!

So, Ankaragucu ‘escaped from jail’ and avoided extra time, but it was so nearly a night to remember for the Seasiders from Serik.   All credit to them for their efforts, fitness levels and never say die attitude !

Nevertheless, Ankaragucu is into the draw for the next round of the Cup and I’m sure that Ismail Bey will not make the same mistake again of resting so many of his key players at the same time !

Back to League business on Monday night KO 8pm against Antalyaspor at The Stadium from Hell in effin Yenikent.   There will be no under-estimating their opponents for this match with 3 points up for grabs and a chance to move into the Europa cup positions.

I’ll be back at The Anasonn to watch it.

Bring it on !

All the best from Eski Kanka Jim

Ankaragucu vs Serik BB match preview!

Ankaragucu are back at home on Wednesday night at Yenikent as they host amateur side Serik BB in the Turkish Cup. This will be an opportunity for some of the fringe players such as Alessio Cerci, Kehinde, Anton Putsila, Erdem Sen, and Mehmet Sak to get some minutes under their belt as they look to break into the starting line up.

Their will be interest in particular in former Italian international Alessio Cerci who was the clubs big signing in the summer but so far hasnt featured much as he isnt fully fit. Questions have always been asked about Cerci and his attitude and also fitness as there is no doubting the players talent. Hopefully he isnt here just for a final pay day and works hard to fight his way into the starting line up.

Ankaragucu again showed tremendous character and team spirit in their 1-0 away win at Erzerumspor thanks to a Kenan Ozer last minute goal. This was despite the team playing 83 minutes with 10 men due to the sending off of Bakary Kone.

The Turkish Cup hasnt been kind to Ankaragucu over the last few years having been knocked out by lower league Opposition. Serik play in the 4th flight of Turkish football an have had an unbeaten start to the season. They have former Galatasaray and Eskisehirspor playmaker Erman Kilic in their team and will be no pushovers.

Looking at the previous 2 winners of the Turkish Cup Akhisar and Konyaspor, it should give Ankaragucu some motivation that a good run could see them go all the way and qualify for European football next season. The league is the priority but a good run in the Cup and an opportunity to win one of Turkish footballs biggest competitions is something that should be the aim for the club and taken seriously this season.

For anyone looking to take in Wednesdays game, it kicks off at 7pm and you will be able to buy tickets on Passolig.