Who the hell are Bellinzona?

By: Musab | September 17th, 2008

Tomorrow Galatasaray begins its journey to the 2009 UEFA Cup final in Istanbul by taking on AC Bellinzona. What do we know about Bellinzona? Not much. Here are some factoids on the club

-Swiss club founded in 1904 (one year before Galatasaray) based in the beautiful alpine town of Bellinzona.

-Have won the Swss Super league only once in their history back in 1948

-Has been the club of several modern day Football stars such as Igor Budan, Matuzalem, John Mensah, and Amauri

-Galatasaray legend Kubilay Turkyilmaz played for Bellinzona back in 2000 in the final stages of his career

For Galatasaray to play against Swiss opposition is something a bit important for us fans. It is said that the origin of Galatasaray’s nickname “CimBom” is in Switzerland. According to legend, a couple of students from the Galatasaray Lycium went on a trip to Switzerland where they watched a football match. The students heard the Swiss fans shouting “Jim Bom! Jim Bom! Jim Bom!”. When they returned to Istanbul they decided to use that chant as a nickname for their school’s football team, and it stuck to this day.

Galatsaray coach Michael Skibbe is expected to make a couple of changes to the team roster, especially after Hasan Sas’ suspension and Arda’s injury.

Goalie: Morgan de Sanctis
Defense: Serkan Kurtulus, Fernando Meira, Servet Cetin, Volkan Yaman
Midfield: Harry Kewell, Ayhan Akman, Aydin Yilmaz, Lincoln
Forwards: Shabani Nonda, Milan Baros

I can’t really say that I disagree with the lineup. Umit Karan has been very lackluster these past couple of weeks and maybe its time to sit him on the bench. One very big question mark is Serkan Kurtulus, the 18 year old right back who hasnt seen first team action yet. This match just might be able to spark his career if he is able to have a good match. However his young age could backfire if he isnt careful.

Instead of saying that I expect Galatasaray to win, I’m going to say that I am expecting Galatasaray to win 3-0. They just have to. Bellinzona just isn’t a real rival to us. The difference in quality should be enough to see us go through. However as the Bellinzona manager stated: “Football is filled with surprises”. The team needs to be aware of their opponents, not take them ligtly, and do the job they’re being paid to do.