The Fair Draw

The Fair Draw

The first leg of the game between Chelsea FC and Galatasaray AS, ended with a well played 'draw' at Istanbul, Turkey.  

The second leg between the two teams will be played at Stamford Bridge Stadium of London, on March 16, 2014. 

          Stamford Bridge Stadium, London

I wrote a blog a few days back titled: 

'The Chess Match Begins'

The link is attached below, please find it on this site, click on this site.

Back to today's blog:

Chelsea looked like they wanted the 'win' after scoring an early goal to make it 1 - 0, and afterwards created many quality chances to make it 2 - 0 or even 3 - 0, however, this did not happen.  The defensive vulnerability of Galatasaray was evident, and at 33th minute, Roberto Mancini, Gala's coach made a substitution for a 'defensive midfield', which changed the flow of the game, in their favor.  

The substitution for Galatasaray began many improved 'spell of attacks' on Chelsea's net, which finally gave the host a well deserved goal, to make it 1 - 1.  

          Roberto Mancini, with Jose Mourinho in the background

If 'luck' was in Gala's favor, I do believe that they deserved another goal for a 'win' in Istanbul. 

Chelsea FC has the advantage since they scored a crucial away goal, and therefore a 0 - 0 result in London will have them make it to the 'Last 8' of the UEFA Champions League.   

          Burak Yilmaz & Eden Hazard

This will be another 'well fought' tactical game, and in my opinion there will be a couple of goals scored, even though Jose Mourinho will try to have a Chelsea FC play defensively.  

Prediction by my 'heart' says: 2-1 for Galatasaray. 

Prediction by my 'mind' says: 2-1 for Chelsea. 

May it be an exciting game.  

Thank you for reading,

Ben

The Midfield Battle

The Midfield Battle

Today, I would like to further analyze the soccer/football game played last week between Chelsea FC & Galatasaray AS, in UEFA Champions League. 

The game was played in Istanbul and the result was a deadlock tie score of 1 - 1. 

          Jose Mourinho & Roberto Mancini

The game did not look as close as the final score, in the first 30 minutes of play Chelsea FC was all over Galatasaray AS.  The reason for this, in my opinion was that Gala's manager Roberto Mancini had the wrong formation on the field.  He choose a 4-4-2 formation. This means that there were 4 defenders, 4 midfielders, and 2 strikers.  

This kind of formation against a very good dribbling and passing team like Chelsea FC is not very smart, since it gives the Londoners plenty of room and space in the midfield area.  And in turn, plenty of passes to the strikers for goal scoring opportunities.  Luckily for Gala, Chelsea FC only scored on one of the attacks, instead of 3 or 4.  

          Jose Mourinho in the Bench

Being a good Manager, Roberto Mancini saw this (loosing) battle between the two teams midfielders, and he therefore completed a substitution in the 33 minute to bring in a defensive-midfielder named 'Yekta Kurtulus', and also changed the formation to a 4-5-1.  

This tactic payed-off as Gala started plenty of attacks on Chelsea net, while clearly winning the midfield battle.  

Surely, a goal would come, and it came in the 68 minute, to make it 1 - 1.  

This was an entertaining, well played game by both clubs. 

          Gala Bench

I'm looking forward to watching the 'return leg' of the game between these two clubs on March 18, 2014.  It will be another 'chase match' of a game between Jose Mourinho of Chelsea FC and Roberto Mancini of Galatasaray AS. 

May the better team make it to the last 8 of this competition.  

Thank you for visiting. 

We Have

We Have

Today, March 18, 2014, the game I will be watching in the UEFA Champions League is:

Galatasaray versus Chelsea

It should be an exciting game, may the better team, make it to the semi final of this competition. 

Sincerely, 

Ben

Galatasaray'dan Guzel Bir Aciklama

Galatasaray'dan Guzel Bir Aciklama

Galatasaray Sampiyonlar Lig'inden  elenilmesinin ardından, resmi sitesinden bir acıklama yayınladı.

          GS Otebusu

Yapılan acıklama asagida, aynen yazdim:

'''Bu yıl ki Sampiyonlar Ligi maceramıza Stamford Bridge’teki son doksan dakikayla veda ettik.  Hedefi her zaman kazanmak ve daha ileriye gitmek olan Galatasaray icin, (zor bir gruptan cıkma basarısını gostermis olsa da) gelinen sonucun kabul edilemez oldugunu biliyoruz.  Tum Galatasaray'lıları; bu sonuctan cok, takımın ortaya koydugu direncsiz ve mucadelesiz futbolun hayal kırıklıgına ugrattiginin hepimiz farkındayız.  

Basta Londra’da, doksan dakika boyunca takımlarını destekleyenler olmak uzere, ekranları basında macı izleyen tum taraftarlarımız, elestirilerinde sonuna kadar haklıdır.  Bu elestirilerden herkes gereken dersi çıkaracaktır elbette…

Ancak hayat devam ediyor.  

Galatasaray, kurucusu Ali Sami Yen’in koydugu hedef dogrultusunda,"Yabancı olan takımları yenip adını dunyaya duyurmak" icin, gelecek yıl da devler ligi macerasına kaldıgı yerden devam etmek zorundadır.

Bugun cesitli kademelerde Galatasaray’a hizmet edenlerden hicbirimiz, yarın yerlerimizde olmayabiliriz.  Ama, Galatasaray arması gelecek yıl da mutlaka orada olmalıdır.  Orası Galatasaray’ın arenasıdır.

Bunun icin yalnızca dokuz haftamız var.  Bu dokuz haftada, 

- hocanın oyundan aldıgı oyuncular kızmayacak, kırılmayacak.

- Bu nedenle elestiriye ugrayan hoca kızmayacak, kırılmayacak.

- Yonetim kendisine gelen elestirilere kızmayacak, kırılmayacak.

- Taraftar da takımına kusup, kırılmayacak.

Kısır tartısmaların arasında unutulmamalı ki, Galatasaray'ın her yıl Avrupa'da yarısma hakkına sahip olması bile, Turk futbolu ve taraftarlarımız icin baslı basına gurur kaynagıdır.

Ozetle;

Butun zorluklara ve engellemelere ragmen pes etmedik, etmeyeceğiz!  Bundan boyle, Galatasaray armasına yakısir bicimde savasmaları icin oyuncularımızın yanında olacagız.  Ligin sonuna kadar sahamızı kapattırmamak icin hep birlikte gereken ozeni gosterecegiz.  Her sonuca acık olan futbolda, dorduncu yıldız Kaf Dagı’nın ardında degildir.  Tek tek isimleri sayıldıgında rakiplerinin hayal bile edemeyecegi bir kadroya sahip olan Galatasaray, taraftarıyla kenetlendiginde Turkiye’nin en buyuk gucu oldugunu bir kez daha ispatlayacaktır.

Yine unutulmamalı ki; "Savası kaybetmek bir seyi, cesareti kaybetmekse her seyi kaybetmektir."'''

Ben sahsen bu aciklamayi cok begendim,  siz ne dusunuyorsunuz?

Saygilarla, 

Ben

🤓

Galatasaray ve Agir Borc

Galatasaray ve Agir Borc

Galatasaray Spor Kulubu'nun net borcu aciklandi ve sizlere bugun bu bilgiyi paylasmak istiyorum. 

Lutfi Kırdar Uluslararası Kongre ve Sergi Sarayı'nde gerceklestirilen Galatasaray Kulubu Genel kurulu'nda faaliyet ve denetim raporları verildi. 

2013 yılı sonu itibarıyla, odenecekler sunlar:

597,262,859 lira, borc,

1,152,401,719 lira  yukumlulukler olarak aciklanmistir,

555,138,860 lira konsolide net borc. 

Bu 'borclar' fazla gorunuyor ve Baskanimizdan ve Kulup uyelerimizden istedigimiz, bu borclari kapatmalarini.  Boyle fazla borcu hemen kapatmak zaman alicaktir, onun icin, biran once bu borclara dusurulmesino ve buyuk paralar yatirilmasini istiyoruz.

Bu konu hakkinda, ilerki bir tarihte daha detayli bir inceleme yapacagim.  Simdilik bu kadar yazacagim. 

Saygilarimla. 

Game Over for Cesare Prandelli

Game Over for Cesare Prandelli 

Galatasaray Football Club has sacked Mr Cesare Prandelli following a series of poor results that culminated in the teams early exit from UEFA's Champions League.

I wish Mr Prandelli success in his future endeavours.  

Here We Go Again

Here We Go Again

3rd Place

3rd Place

This years uefa champions league is well underway and after 3 games, Galatasaray SK is sitting in last place in their group, which has the following teams, from first to last:

Dortmund, 9 points

Arsenal, 6 points,

Anderlecht, 1 point, & 

Gala, 1 point.  

The first two teams make it to the last 16 of the champions league.  The third place team goes to the uefa cup competition, and will be in the last 32 teams in this competition.  And the last place team will be eliminated from European soccer competition for this season.  

I would recommend to Gala to really try to finish this years competition in third place, therefore they could continue  their journey in uefa cup competition, instead of the champions league.  Let us be honest, Gala is not very strong this year and they are not firing in all cylinders.  

The uefa cup competition will be better suited for Gala this year as the teams in this competition are more likely competitors for Gala. 

The last 3 games remaining for Gala are: 

Borussia Dirtmund, at Germany,

Anderlecht, in Belgium, &

Arsenal, in Turkey. 

I cannot see the team get even 1 point from the Germany game.  However, they should be able to secure a minimum of 1 point from Belgium.  The last game will surely need to be a win.  Therefore, Gala will hopefully finish with 5 points. 

Their direct competitor will be Anderletch.  The Belgium sides last 3 games are: 

Arsenal, at home,

Gala, at home, &

Dortmund, in Germany. 

I cannot see Anderlecht winning or tiring with Arsenal and the game against Borusia Dortmunf will be a definite win for  Dortmund.  

This is my analysis of this group within the champions league, therefore, from first to last, here below is the standing after 6 games: 

Borussia Dortmund,

Arsenal, 

Galatasaray, &

Anderletch.  

What do you think?

Sincerely. 

What Happened to Gala?

What Happenned to Gala?

My opinion is this.   

The game on October 1st, 2014, Arsenal vs Galatasaray, ended with a win for the English club, with 4-1 result.  

           the first goal by Arsenal 

Briefly, the problem is that the coach of Gala, Mr Prandelli is fooling around too much with the lineup. 

He played a 3 - 5 - 2 formation against Arsenal.   And he only played this formation once before.  Yes, you read that right, once before.  

Don't try new shit against these strong clubs, it works in Turkey, but will not work against European clubs.    

         Penalty for Gala

Play it safe, a 4 - 4 - 2 or 4 - 5 - 1 formation is best for Gala.  This is how (we) Gala, played for 40 years. It's in our culture.   

Fuck I hate that, a coach fooling around too much with the lineup, before a very important soccer game.  

Mr Prandelli will not last long now as the coach of Gala.  

We have a lot of good young coaches that deserve a chance but we as fans are not patient, we need to learn this, however not now, as here is the scenario unfolding at Gala, presently.  

Soon as the president of Gala resigns his position, effective October 25, 2014, the incoming new president will fire Mr Prandelli.  This is good, but bad aswell in that we are wasting to much money, since we will need to pay his salary for the entire season.  

          the only goal by Gala is from Burak Yilmaz

We should have never have fired Mr Terim or Mr Mancini, the previous two coaches for Gala. 

The future for Gala is not looking very bright, today. 

Tomorrow, needs to come fast. 

Thank you,

Ben

🤓

Sympathy for Gala

Sympathy for Gala 

Galatasaray soccer team has been eliminated from UEFA Champions League; it is a sad day, today.  However, hold your head up Gala, we the supporters, are still proud of your current and past achievements. 

          Burak Yilmaz

Always your supporter.  

Sincerely, 

Ben

The Colors of Galatasaray

The Colors of Galatasaray

The choosing of the 'colors' of the football/soccer team of Galatasaray, Istanbul, Turkey, is the topic of my writing today. 

The love of Galatasaray to her current colors, was a 'love at first' story, as the saying goes. I will explain.  

One of the founders of Gala was Mr Ali Sami Yen, and this story is from his recalling of the incident of the decision to choose the colors.  

          Gala of 1909

I will translate this story from author Mr Utku Erisik's book titled: 'Hava Atisi'. 

The first colors of Gala was the colors of Turkey's flag of red and white.  

The very first jerseys were 'hand-sown' by another of the founders of Gala, the goalkeeper Mr Asım Tevfik's mother and his sister.  

Mr Yen states that "When we first wore the red and white jerseys, we as a team got scared, as we did not want to be in trouble with the state and the occupiers of our home land".  

I will need to give some 'historical' background here.  Galatasaray was founded in 1905, and during this turmoil times, before World Was I, the Ottoman Empire was fighting many uprisings from all corners of her territory.  Plus, the British and French, to name a couple of 'opportunistic' countries were busily trying to occupy further territories of this 'collapsing' Empire.  

Therefore, Mr Yen was trying to explain that, him and his team mates did not want to be killed by the occupiers for having the colors of red and white; the colors of the flag for both the Ottoman Empire and Turkey.  

The red and white jerseys were retired immediately, and 20 new jerseys with the colors of yellow and black were ordered from England.  However, when the jerseys arrived from England, none of the founders and players liked this new color combination, and once again, another jersey with the colors of yellow and black, were retired.  

Therefore, the search for the colors of Gala was still quietly in progress.  

The goalkeeper of Mr Asım Tevfik and Left-side defenseman named Mr Emin Bulend, 'informally' took on the duty, to find the 'true' colors of Gala.  

One afternoon when Mr Tevfik and Mr Bulend were walking in the neighbourhood called 'Bahcekapi', inside a clothing store, they spotted, in their own words "Two elegant and soft fabrics, placed side by side, one was a bit darker color of a 'sweet' red cherry fruit, and the other was a 'full', 'bright' yellow, with a tiny hint of the color being in-between yellow and orange.  

When the players saw these colors side by side, a flame was born inside of them, and they immediately knew that all other founders and players would approve this color combination.  

The two fabrics were taken home to be sown into a jersey by Mr Tevfik's mother again.  

The first time the colors of yellow and red were worn on December 6, 1908 against an English team of soldiers from the 'War ship' named 'Barham'.   

Ever since this date, the colors of Galatasaray has stayed the same.  

I thought this was an interesting story and wanted to share with you.  

Thank you. 

Preview, Galatasaray vs Real Madrid in November 2013

Preview, Galatasaray vs Real Madrid in November 2013

This game will be the 5'th for both teams, who are in Group 'B' of the UEFA Champions League.  Real Madrid is in first place with 10 points, and has guaranteed to make it to the coveted 'last 16' of this competition.  Galatasaray have 4 points, and is in second place, and requires a 'good game' to boost their confidence, and try to 'steal' a win, with a likelier result of a 'tie'.

          Real Madrid emblem

Coach Carlo Ancelotti of Real Madrid has confirmed today that the star player of Cristiano Ronaldo will miss this game due to an injury of a 'thigh problem'.  The news of Cristiano Ronaldo not playing in this game is good news for 'Gala'.  With him in the line-up, I would have given Gala 'no chance' of securing a point(s).  Without him, and other 'key' players not dressing-up for this game, I do believe it will be more of an 'even' competition.  

         Galatasaray emblem

The game will be played at Estadio Santiago Stadium in Madrid, on Wednesday November 27, 2013.  Make time to watch this game, as I believe it will be an exciting game.

Thank you for reading, 

Ben

Last 16, of the Champions League

Last 16 of the UEFA Champions League

I would like to congratulate Galatasaray FC, for making it to the 'last' 16 of 2013/14 UEFA Champions League. 

That's two years in a row for this organization.  

Well done. 

Thank you.  

Group B of UEFA Champions League

Group B of this seasons UEFA Champions League

Group B of this seasons UEFA Champions League, looks like this, after 4 games have been played.  

Clubs.            G.     W.      T.       L.   P. 

Real Madrid    4.     3.      1.       0. 14.     

Galatasaray    4.     1.      1.       2.   4.   

Kobenhavn     4.     1.      1.       2.   4.  

Juventus         4.     0.      3.       1.   3. 

I am a 'Gala' supporter, and my second favorite team is 'Real'.  I do believe that Real Madrid has guaranteed to make it to the 'Last 16' of the competition, congratulations to that organization. 

          Galatasaray FC

However, the second place spot, and the qualifier for that coveted 'Last 16' is still up-for-grabs.  The remainder games in this group are:

27 November 2013

Real Madrid 20.45 Galatasaray

Stadium: Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid

27 November 2013

Juventus 20.45 Kobenhavn

Stadium: Juventus Stadium, Turin

10 December 2013

Galatasaray 20.45 Juventus

Stadium: Ali Sami Yen Spor Kompleksi, Istanbul (TUR)

10 December 2013

Kobenhavn 20.45 Real Madrid

Stadium: Kobenhavn 

For Galatasaray to make it to the 'Last 16', they will need to finish ahead of Juventus and Kobenhavn, therefore they will need to 'hopefully' not loose at Madrid, a tie would be a good result.  The last game will be against Juventus, and I do believe the winner of this game, will make it to the 'Last 16", which is the next round of the Champions League.  

          Real Madrid FC

I am sorry to say that, I do not give Kobenhavn has any chance of making it to the next round, therefore the last game against 'Gala' and 'Juve' will be a 'do or die' game.   The winner, surely will finish second in the group and proceed to the next round, and the looser will finish in third place.  

My prediction for 'Gala's' next two games are:

Real Madrid 0 - 0 Galatasaray

Galatasaray 1 - 0 Juventus

What is your prediction?

Thank you for visiting,