Postmatch: Galatasaray 2-0 Kayserispor, Nothing special. Galatasaray continues on the path to the championship

By: Musab | March 9th, 2008

Well I guess even champions need to be able to write off these kind of matches. After a couple of pretty hard matches with Bayer Leverkusen, Fenerbahce, and Besiktas, Galatasaray took on high flying Kayserispor who were on an 11 match unbeaten streak.

GALATASARAY: 2 – KAYSERİSPOR: 0

Stadium: Ali Sami Yen
Referee: Selçuk Dereli, Cem Satman, Serkan Gençerler

GALATASARAY: Aykut, Sabri, Emre, Servet, Hakan Balta, Mehmet Güven (min. 63 Ayhan), Mehmet Topal, Lincoln (min. 79 Volkan Yaman), Arda, Nonda (min. 73 Hakan Şükür), Ümit Karan
Coach: K.H.Feldkamp

KAYSERİSPOR: İvankov, Koray, Aydın, Saidou, Ali Turan, Mehmet Topuz, Ragıp, Mehmet Eren (min. 69 Turgay), Kemal Okyay, Gökhan Ünal (min. 69 Iglesias), Cangele
Coach: Tolunay Kafkas

Goals: Sabri (min. 18), Ümit Karan (min. 35)
Yellow Cards: Ümit Karan, Ayhan (Galatasaray), Gökhan Ünal, Ali Turan (Kayserispor)

Not much to say about the match. Galatasaray started pretty well and laid siege to Kayseri’s goal and began to bombard the net with shots. Eventually in the 18th minute Sabri Sarioglu found the back of the net. Yes, the same Sabri who I have called every name in the book. Umit Karan found the second goal in the 35th minute with a well placed shot on goal. I’ve always said the Umit deserves to play in Europe.

Without a doubt Mehmet Topal was amazing. He made great passes for his teammates, cut his opponents passes, and gave his all for 90 minutes. My pick for youth player of the year. Servet Cetin was also great. Who knew that the Ex-Fenerli would really shine with us. In Turkish theres a well known song with the lyrics “Sana kirmizi cok yakisiyor” “Red looks very well on you” A perfect way to describe Servet. Terrible at Fener, a beast with us.

However the top of the table is getting pretty hot:

Besiktas-55
Galatasaray-54
Fenerbahce-54
Sivasspor-54
Kayserispor-45
Trabzonspor-35

I don’t remember the race for the championship being so tight ever. The big three are up there and Sivasspor is also mounting a very serious challenge. Kayserispor’s also not so far, maybe they could also try to challenge for third or fourth.

Our next couple of matches seem pretty good for us:

Week 26-Away to strugglers Ankaraspor
Week 27-At home to midtable Denizlispor
Week 28-At home to strugglers Gaziantepspor
Week 29-Away to strugglers Genclerbirligi
Week 30-Home derby against underperforming and inconsistent Trabzonspor

If we can get all three points in these five matches, we will be the undisputed favorites for the league championship.