The match ended exactly the way it had started, 0-0, even though the Kayserispor Anatolian Tigers played with 10 men for over 35 minutes after 24-year-old defensive midfielder Hakan Aslantaş was sent off by no-nonsense referee Tolga Özkahya for a second bookable offense.And one cannot help asking what the score would have been if the Tigers had played with 11 men for the whole duration of the game.
Fans get their money’s worth when goals are scored in a soccer match. But if there are no goals, like in the Kayserispor-Galatasaray match, then it can be described as a “big fat nothing” because near misses and half chances do not really interest soccer lovers.
Toothless Lions
“This was a bad result, to say the least,” Galatasaray coach Frank Rijkaard said after the match. “We came to Kayseri to win, not to draw and so that was not the result we expected,” he further noted.
The Galatasaray Lions went to the Kayseri game short of strikers as almost all the goal scorers on the team were at the club’s infirmary.
With Democratic Republic of the Congo forward Shabani Christophe Nonda politely dismissed by the Lions with the tag of “free agent,” and newly signed Brazil forward Joao Alves joining Czech striker Milan Baros and Aussie winger Harry Kewell on the long injury list, the Galatasaray Lions were short of attacking options.
Therefore, no one expected victory from the Lions in Kayseri on Saturday, especially after their horrendous performance in the Ziraat Turkish Cup on Wednesday in Antalya, where they were outclassed and outscored 2-1 by the Antalyaspor Scorpions.
The general consensus of most sportswriters and commentators in this country was that a draw would be the best result for the Galatasaray Lions.
Rijkaard started with Mustafa Sarp, newly signed Mexican Giovani Dos Santos Ramirez and Caner Erkin upfront. But apart from off-form Dos Santos, the other players are not natural strikers and therefore it came as no surprise that they did not score. The scoreless draw means the Lions will find themselves nose-diving further down the Super League standings after all the week 20 matches have been completed.
Furthermore the result does not bode well for the Lions, who badly needed a morale booster ahead of their Turkish Cup second-leg quarterfinal against the Antalyaspor Scorpions on Wednesday.
Don’t cry for us, Rijkaard
“There are many players on the Galatasaray squad who can be called upon for duty at anytime,” Rijkaard said when asked why Servet was not fielded. “I rested [defender] Servet Çetin because he has played so many matches for us, and I felt he needed a rest. And I can tell you that Emre Güngör, who played in place of Servet, did a very good job,” he added.
The Kayserispor Tigers have not beaten the Galatasaray Lions for as many as 36 years, and Saturday’s result means that the jinx continues to hang around their necks like the Ancient Mariner’s albatross.
Kayserispor coach Tolunay Kafkas, nonetheless, praised his players for their fighting spirit. “I can say we were the better side in spite of the fact that we completed the match with 10 men,” Tolunay stated. “We will be playing Denizli next, and hopefully we will win and make amends for the two points dropped today [Saturday],” he further asserted.
EsEs wins
Eskişehirspor, popularly known as EsEs, beat İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor 2-1 in the other Super League match that was played on Saturday with goals by Nigerian-born Bahraini striker Jaycee John Okwunwanne in the 45th and Galatasaray reject, Ümit Karan, in the 90th.
İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor’s consolation goal came from Cameroon striker Hervé Tum in the 89th. But Tum turned from hero to villain after he was sent off by referee İlker Meral in the 90th.
Benzer Haberler 
National
