2002-2003 1.Süper Lig

Week 8 - Analysis by Serbülent Şengün

"Time to Dance" - from Beşiktaş-Gaziantepspor game

Like two weeks before, this week started off with the ECL game of Galatasaray and continued with the UEFA cup games of five Turkish teams. Galatasaray drew with Club Brugge of Belgium on home ground, with neither team being able to score. The total shots on goal for both teams were only 4, pretty much describing the quality of the game. Nevertheless Galatasaray is still in second place with 4 points in 3 games.

In the UEFA cup, three Turkish teams qualified while two bid farewell in the first round. Beşiktaş scored a remarkable 5 goals against Bosnian Sarajevo in Sarajevo to win 5-0 and 7-2 on aggregate. Fenerbahçe scored two second half goals against the Swedish AIK Solna after a 1-1 first half to win the game 3-1 and the series 6-4 on aggregate. Denizli lost 3-1 to the French side Lorient in a game which had 12 minutes of extra time at the end. 3-3 on aggregate Denizli went through on away goal difference. Kocaelispor, who is having a disastrous season so far, lost 1-0 on homeground against the Hungarian side Ferencvárosi TC, losing the series 5-0 on aggregate. Ankaragücü, lost 3-0 to CD Alavés of Spain to loose the series 5-1 on aggregate.

The regular league fixtures started on Saturday afternoon again with Galatasaray. This week was interesting as the amount of energy on the fields showed no parallelism with the amount of goals scored. A pitiful 15 goals were scored in total, of which 9 were by the visiting teams and 6 were from the home sides. 2 games were won by the home sides, 3 games were won by the visitors and 3 games were tied. The goal drought was so severe that 2 out of the 3 total penalty kicks were missed. This week all teams that stepped out on the field with a defensive approach, got what they wanted. The competition was fierce indeed. The goal sheets were low, but the quality of the matches were high indeed.

Games :

Elazığspor – Galatasaray : Here again just like in the Club Brugge KV game on Tuesday, Galatasaray was not able to score. The home side was not any better either. The game was low in quality, actually the only game of the week were there was not very serious competition on the field. Elazığspor looked like they lacked the mental capacity to win over Galatasaray’s name, and Galatasaray looked as if they were too bored to play. The most serious goal chance of the game came late in the second half as a shot from Elazığspor hit the woodwork. The game ended the way it started. (0-0)

İstanbulspor – Diyarbakırspor : İstanbulspor was back on track after last week's loss. This was the team that very seldomly won or lost with two or more goal differences last year and it seems like this year not going to be any different. The game was also interesting as Diyarbakırspor’s two strikers from last year Fazlı and Kona were playing for İstanbulspor this year. All throughout the game both teams had their chances, İstanbulspor missed a penalty kick in the first half through Cenk, who is seriously suffering form the past few weeks. In the second half İstanbulspor’s U-21 starlet Selçuk scored a header to provide his team with the goal that was need for the three points. Both teams missed a few more chances and the game ended for the home side. Sunny days for Diyarbakırspor still seem far ahead. (1-0)

Adanaspor - Malatyaspor : Adanaspor had their last victory on the third week and were eager to get it Saturday night, Malatyaspor had crushed Altay with six goals just last week, and the game looked like it was going to be an interesting one. And so it was, both team had a lot of chances throughout the game. The visitors were the first ones to score through Sertan’s header early in the second half. Adanaspor attacked relentlessly and finally all the hard work paid off through Gökmen’s header equalizer. The last quarter of the game the game was all in Adanaspor’s control, however they could not manage to break the tie and the game ended in a draw (1-1)

Bursaspor – Trabzonspor: Another interesting game. Bursaspor is continuing to play good ball and being unable to put it in the standings chart. Trabzonspor so far had never scored two goals in one game, and in the eight week they did. The attacking football of both teams gave the spectators a very exciting game to watch. Trabzonspor scored the first goal on the seventh minute after a very sloppy defending from the Bursaspor defence. Bursaspor’s equalizer came early in the second half. Both teams hit the woodwork several times before Marco Aurelio scored a penalty goal at the 83rd minute to secure the first two goal victory for Trabzonspor. (1-2)

Beşiktaş - Gaziantepspor : The team that managed to score 5 goals in the UEFA cup game was once again unable to score on homeground. This was mostly due to the heroics of the Turkish national goalkeeper of Gaziantepspor, Ömer. Gaziantepspor only looked for the counter offensive whereas Beşiktaş was up there around the penalty zone throughout the game. The game was really up-tempo, but neither side could manage to score, so it ended the way it started. (0-0)

Gençlerbirliği - Denizlispor: Gençlerbirliği is still unable to win a game for the fourth week in a row. Denizlispor obviously tired after the 102 minutes of Lorient, stepped up to the field for a single point against their tough opponent. And Denizlispor players got what they wanted. Gençlerbirliği pushed forward and forward all through the game, but with strong defending especially through the U-21 National Servet, Denizlispor managed to hold on to the game. This was especially tougher after Denizlispor’s Ali Tandoğan got sent off at the 66th minute. With the final whistle ended the third goalless draw of the week. (0-0)

Kocaelispor - Göztepe: No one could convince me in the pre-season, that Kocaelispor would loose nine games out of the ten. But they have. The cup winners of the last season have absolutely anchored themselves to the bottom of the league after 8 games. Göztepe was down to ten man after just 18 minutes, and Kocaelispor was attacking relentlessly, but surprisingly it was Göztepe that managed to score the first goal at the beginning of the second half. Kocaelispor captain Nuri got sent off one minutes later. Then Kocaelispor came back with a goal from the promising youngster Uğur after seven minutes which gave rise to Kocaelispor fans hopes one more time. But after that Göztepe played a skillful counter attack football, scoring two goals and missing a couple more through the lonely striker Zafer. Turmoil in Kocaeli continues. (1-3)

Altay – Fenerbahçe: The second game of the week which ended with a 3-1 victory for the visitor team. Altay looked far different than the team which lost terribly to Malatyaspor the previous week. It was the İzmir side that managed to score the first goal after an unexpected mistake from the National goalkeeper Rüştü. But then it was Ortega time. The little donkey scored an equalizer through a header, after a 35 m. free kick of Ceyhun hit the woodwork and came directly to him. A few minutes later a superb passing scheme between Ortega and Ogün gave the İstanbul side the second goal. Ortega continued his eventful football with an excellent dribble to set up Stevic for a third goal late in the second half. With the final whistle the visitors got away with what they wanted. Altay on the other hand played promising football for the coming weeks. (1-3)

Samsunspor – Ankaragücü: Samsunspor are probably going to be the thieves of the league throughout the season. They rarely concentrate fully on attacking, yet when they get to the penalty zone, they get what they want. Once again, Samsunspor played a medium level game, looking mostly for the counter attack, whereas Ankaragücü looked like they wanted to score much more. Samsunspor got the goal they were looking for at the 71st minute through a well organized and well finished counterattack sealed by the ex leading scorer Serkan Aykut. Ankaragücü had their chance of equalizing at the 81st minute. But veteran Hami missed the penalty, kicking it just wide. The home side stole 3 more points to move them up to sixth place in the overall standings. (1-0)

Goals of the week :

1. Ogün (Fenerbahçe) : Ogün passed the ball to Ortega at exactly half field and made a fast drive, Ortega controlled the ball for about just one second and made an excellent pass, Ogün was there after a 25 m. sprint to control the ball, pass the ball over the goalkeeper and finish the scheme. Good, good teamwork.
2. Serkan (Samsunspor) : A great pass from the defense to left flank, where youngster Sinan made a hit first time to make an excellent cross to the right hand side of the field. The cunning run and eloquent first time finish from Serkan showed everyone what the definition of a counter attack goal is.
3. Zafer (Göztepe) (first goal) : Zafer got the ball on the left side of the attacking field, started his dribble to the opposite side of his defender leaving him out of the game, then passed a second defender running parallel to the goal and then shot a beautiful reverse corner shot that left Kocaelispor goalkeeper Ahmet staring.

Team of the week : Göztepe SHTAŞ İzmir

Playing with one man down for 50 minutes against a desperate Kocaelispor, Göztepe managed to keep their calm, and play a brilliant counter attack football. In the last 20 minutes of the game, they missed about 3 more great chances and then finally scored to seal the game. Thumbs up for the team who never lost its mental concentration all throughout the game.

Player of the week : Ariel Ortega (Fenerbahçe)

Yes, he is the most expensive player of the league, and yes, Fenerbahçe is not playing good football, but this man is just so great to watch. He is inspiration to all youngsters, with his humble ways and great teamwork effort. He is not selfish, although he is the most fouled player of the league he never responds back in aggression, he does not even look like he gets angry; and has won the respect of not only his fellow teammates but of his defenders too. Simply sensational.