An encounter of the old kind- Altay 1-2 Galatasaray

In the old days Altay was one of the major players in the Turkish Super league. In addition, they have also reached the finals of the Turkish Cup on six occasions, a record for an Anatolian team, bringing the Cup back home to Izmir twice. However after being relegated, Altay has been in the Turkish second tier of football for quite some time, and despite a good try two seasons ago, they failed to make the grade. Galatasaray-Altay matches were once seen as “mini-derbies” as a battle between Istanbul and Izmir, two of Turkey’s biggest cities. After Altay’s relegation, the two old foes havent met each other until today’s Cup match.

ALTAY-GALATASARAY 1-2
Stadium: İzmir Ataturk
Referees: Deniz Çoban, Mehmet Ş. Yılmaz, Mehmet Kısal

Goals: Sehmus (min. 21), Yaser (min. 86), Baros (min. 89)
Yellow Cards: İsa, Ayhan, Mehmet Sak, Şehmus

The match started off relatively slow with both sides not taking any chances. Altay’s team consisted of primarily youngsters while Skibbe decided to give the bench some footy time. However everything changed after Altay took a 1-0 lead after a great volley by Altay forward Sehmus. Then Altay pretty much pulled all 11 players back in front of goal and prepared itself for the storm that followed.

And the storm was mighty indeed. Yellow and red seemed to pour forward from all sides with Arda, Baris, and Hakan piercing through the Altay defence on several occasions. And yet the goals just weren’t there. Put that down as a piss-poor performance from Umit and a bad night for Baros. Special mention to 22 year old Altay keeper Gokhan Erdi for a great perfromance.

The second half saw a slightly more lackluster CimBom side struggling to get past 11 Altay players. Though Baros missed a penalty, it took a magnificent header from Yaser to get the tying goal for us and only three minutes later Baros managed to get past two Altay defenders, round the keeper, and slam the ball in off the top right cross bar. It took three minutes to finally unlock the Altay defence. Ever since Milan got those pink boots, hes scored a goal every match at a rate of a goal every 71 minutes. What better way to promote your goods.

Overall it was a good match, with plenty of chances for the CimBom that were finally taken and used at the end. With seven points, we’re now the leaders of our Cup group and we go into the new year with some morale. Let’s hope the team can keep up with this good form and use it in our quest to the UEFA Cup final in May.

Category: Postmatch

Tags: Altay, Galatasaray, Milan Baros, Pink Boots, Postmatch, Tukish Cup, Yaser Yildiz

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