About us
  |  
Advertising
  |  
Contact
  |  
Get Home Delivery
  |  
RSS
  |  
Share on your site
  |  
MULTIMEDIA
May 27, 2012
 
 
 
 
 
 

Antalya shows Kayseri downside of pro soccer

Kayseri players leave the Kadir Has Stadium with their heads bowed after being beaten 2-1 by Mehmet “Şifo” Özdilek’s Antalyaspor.
21 December 2009 / OKAN UDO BASSEY , İSTANBUL
If soccer is the best sport in the world, it is the unpredictable nature of and the surprise results in the beautiful game that makes it so.
The Beşiktaş Black Eagles on Friday night blew their chance of going top after they were beaten 3-2 by Ertuğrul Sağlam’s Bursa Green Crocs, a result which meant the Crocs taking over the lead in the 17-team Turkcell Super League -- for 24 hours.

Then all eyes turned to the match between the Kayserispor Anatolian Tigers and the struggling Antalyaspor Scorpions on Saturday. The Scorpions, highly depleted and cash-strapped, defied all pre-match forecasts by beating the Tigers 2-1 in front of their fans at the newly built Kayseri Kadir Has Stadium.

And the surprise outcome not only saw the Tigers tumble from the top like Humpty Dumpty, it was also their first home defeat of the season.

All sports writers, commentators and bookmakers in this country unanimously predicted a comfortable victory for the Tigers, who had won five straight games before this match. Furthermore, Antalyaspor was missing several key players due to injury and suspension before this match. So the question, according to the self-professed expert soccer forecasters, was not about Kayserispor winning, it was indeed about how many goals the Tigers would score.

But Antalyaspor once again proved beyond doubt that no match is ever won until it is played.

The writing was already on the wall after only five minutes when 28-year-old left midfielder Korhan Öztürk scored to put the visiting Antalyans up 1-0, a score they held on to until the end of the first half.

Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Portugal forward Ariza Makukula, now a household name in Turkey, is regarded as a hero in Kayseri having scored 13 goals for the Tigers in the league this season. But Makukula turned from hero to zero on Saturday when he scored an own-goal in the 48th minute to give Antalyaspor a 2-0 lead.

Germany-born forward Ömer Sişmanoğlu reduced the tally to 2-1 for the Tigers in the 90th minute but it was too little, too late to rescue Kayserispor from the jaws of defeat.

After a string of dismal results, the Antalyaspor Scorpions at last did what is expected of them, “Floating like butterflies and stinging like bees” -- thereby making coach “Şifo” Mehmet Özdilek the happiest man in the land.

“We played like lions,” Özdilek gloated after the match. “We deserved victory. We came to Kayseri with only 16 players [because of injuries] and had a hard time forming a team. I congratulate my players from the bottom of my heart, for it is not easy to beat the leader at home,” he further stated.

For his part, Kayserispor coach Tolunay Kafkas rued his team’s missed chances. “We did not play the way we ought to play,” he said. “And we failed to convert the opportunities that came our way, thereby losing a match we really needed to win. These things happen in soccer. We will extract lessons from this defeat and return for the season’s second half better prepared,” he added.

If we may add, what goes up must come down! And so it’s no use crying over spilled milk.

The truth of the matter is that Antalyaspor brought the “mighty” Kayseri Anatolian Tigers down to earth with a stinging bump, and the Tigers’ hopes of being “winter champions” for the first time in their not-so-illustrious history have evaporated into thin air.

Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009 is therefore a day Kayserians will always remember -- for all the wrong reasons.

 
Weather
City>>
ISTANBUL
Today Mon Tue
14C°
22C°
15C°
23C°
15C°
22C°
 

© Feza Gazetecilik A.Ş. 2007, Ahmet Taner Kışlalı Cad. No: 6, Bahçelievler - İstanbul 34194 Turkey, +90 (212) 454 1454, +90 (212) 454 1497(fax)