The magical realism of Amedspor
Even though there is very little happy news coming from the southeastern parts of Turkey these days, Amedspor, a team from the heart of the region, the city of Diyarbakır, is stunning the country with its success in the Turkish Cup.
A prominent system coach, Abdullah Avcı, and his team Başakşehir Belediyespor were a serious opponent for Amedspor in the final game of the group stage, but the side that snatched the victory from their hands in the final minutes was, surprisingly, Amedspor. Başakşehir's praised strategic depth was shaken by an early rocket from Ercan Çapar and the team didn't show their usual patience and discipline on the field.
However, even though Amedspor stunned Turkish football, the consensus among serious columnists is that their game was frustratingly similar to the Turkish football tradition, as Ali Fikri Işık from diyarinsesi.org wrote:
"When Başakşehir had the ball, almost every Amedspor player ran back into their own half, but the truth of football orders you to run towards to the ball, not to escape from it. Every move that you make towards your own half leaves more space for the opponent to dominate the game without pressure. If Amedspor had not imitated the expired way of playing football in Turkey, Başakşehir would not have clinched the draw." Nevertheless, their success would be a great inspiration for the people of Diyarbakır, who have been undergoing great suffering.
The reckless rocketeer of Turkish FootballBeşiktaş has always been an extraordinary club in Turkish football history and is notorious for driving its fans crazy by achieving inconceivable defeats and victories. Thus, it was no surprise when 10-men Beşiktaş clawed back into the game after being two goals behind and took the lead, only to concede two goals in the final minutes and lose against a third division team, Sivas Belediyespor.
First of all, I am not going to speculate about the claims that say Beşiktaş lost the game on purpose to be matched with a weaker opponent, that is beyond my knowledge. Nonetheless, what was obvious was Beşiktaş's unrecognizable game and the arrogance of their players. It was the first time I observed Beşiktaş playing so half-heartedly and making no effort to threaten their opponent in any sense. To be honest, at one point, I started to question all of my columns on coach Şenol Güneş and his neo-total preaching. But later, as Beşiktaş stormed the opponent's castle in just 10 minutes, if not relieved, I was able to see what had distorted the game I had bet everything on.
Firstly, even though Şenol Güneş's strategic structure makes Beşiktaş different from the other Turkish teams, key players in the team, Oğuzhan Özyakup, Atiba Hutchinson and Gökhan Töre in particular, are crucial. Like it or not, in order to carry the ball from the defence to offence, the team needs Hutchinson, to organize the offensive model Özyakup has to be used and to execute the final creative move, Töre is absolutely necessary. Yes, Beşiktaş are sometimes able to produce the opportunities they need by their game plan itself, but when the bell rings, unfortunately it is up to those key players to develop an effective game.
On the other hand, I was a bit glad to see Beşiktaş's arrogance towards their opponent punished by a bitter defeat. Beşiktaş players probably thought that they did not need to do anything other than turn up, the goal would come anyway, but when the opponent scored the second goal they worried a bit, finally. Nevertheless, this arrogance appeared again when Beşiktaş came back and took the lead, and cost them the game in the final minutes.
A prominent system coach, Abdullah Avcı, and his team Başakşehir Belediyespor were a serious opponent for Amedspor in the final game of the group stage, but the side that snatched the victory from their hands in the final minutes was, surprisingly, Amedspor. Başakşehir's praised strategic depth was shaken by an early rocket from Ercan Çapar and the team didn't show their usual patience and discipline on the field.
However, even though Amedspor stunned Turkish football, the consensus among serious columnists is that their game was frustratingly similar to the Turkish football tradition, as Ali Fikri Işık from diyarinsesi.org wrote:
"When Başakşehir had the ball, almost every Amedspor player ran back into their own half, but the truth of football orders you to run towards to the ball, not to escape from it. Every move that you make towards your own half leaves more space for the opponent to dominate the game without pressure. If Amedspor had not imitated the expired way of playing football in Turkey, Başakşehir would not have clinched the draw." Nevertheless, their success would be a great inspiration for the people of Diyarbakır, who have been undergoing great suffering.
The reckless rocketeer of Turkish FootballBeşiktaş has always been an extraordinary club in Turkish football history and is notorious for driving its fans crazy by achieving inconceivable defeats and victories. Thus, it was no surprise when 10-men Beşiktaş clawed back into the game after being two goals behind and took the lead, only to concede two goals in the final minutes and lose against a third division team, Sivas Belediyespor.
First of all, I am not going to speculate about the claims that say Beşiktaş lost the game on purpose to be matched with a weaker opponent, that is beyond my knowledge. Nonetheless, what was obvious was Beşiktaş's unrecognizable game and the arrogance of their players. It was the first time I observed Beşiktaş playing so half-heartedly and making no effort to threaten their opponent in any sense. To be honest, at one point, I started to question all of my columns on coach Şenol Güneş and his neo-total preaching. But later, as Beşiktaş stormed the opponent's castle in just 10 minutes, if not relieved, I was able to see what had distorted the game I had bet everything on.
Firstly, even though Şenol Güneş's strategic structure makes Beşiktaş different from the other Turkish teams, key players in the team, Oğuzhan Özyakup, Atiba Hutchinson and Gökhan Töre in particular, are crucial. Like it or not, in order to carry the ball from the defence to offence, the team needs Hutchinson, to organize the offensive model Özyakup has to be used and to execute the final creative move, Töre is absolutely necessary. Yes, Beşiktaş are sometimes able to produce the opportunities they need by their game plan itself, but when the bell rings, unfortunately it is up to those key players to develop an effective game.
On the other hand, I was a bit glad to see Beşiktaş's arrogance towards their opponent punished by a bitter defeat. Beşiktaş players probably thought that they did not need to do anything other than turn up, the goal would come anyway, but when the opponent scored the second goal they worried a bit, finally. Nevertheless, this arrogance appeared again when Beşiktaş came back and took the lead, and cost them the game in the final minutes.
Last Update: January 29, 2016 22:47