Galatasaray Elendi

Galatasaray Elendi

Gonul verdigimiz Galatasaray Uefa kupasindan elendi.   Elendigi takim ilk defa Avrupa kupalarina katilan Isvicre ulkesinden Ostersunds FC idi.  Hayatimizda belki ilk defa duydugumuz bir amator takimina elenmeye basardi Galatasaray ve ben cok uzgun oldugumu belirtmek isterim, yani kelimeler ifade etmez.  

Birde bu sene cok sayida futbolcu transfer eden bu yonetimden sikayetciyim, bu kadar borc varken niye bu kadar transfer yapildi? Bir veya iki tane transfer yeterdi ve farkettigseniz hic gormemistim bu kadar yasli oyunculara oyle yuksek ucretler verildigi bir baska onceki yil. 

Sizi bilmem ama ben topculardan, odenen yuksek ucretlerden, teknik directorden, cirkin yeni formadan ve bilhassa yonetimden sogudum.   

Gonul verdigim Galatasaray'dan baya sogutuldum ve o eski cocukluk yillarindaki masum ve sonsuz sevgi herhalde mazide kalicak.  

Ben hakikatten bu isten sikildim, siz nasil hissediyordunuz?

Saygilarimla,

Ben

The Chess Match Begins

The Chess Match Begins

On February 26, 2014, the UEFA Champions League game between Chelsea FC vs Galatasaray AS will be played at 'Turk Telekom Ali Samiyen Stadium', in Istanbul, Turkey. 

This is the knock-out phase of the competition, and the next game between the two clubs will be on March 18, 2014, in London, England. 

          Mourinho 

The winner will be in the 'last 8', semi-finals of this tournament.  

However, before dreaming about titles, Chelsea's Coach Jose Mourinho, will need to win the 'Chess Match', with Galatasaray's Coach of Roberto Mancini.   

          Mancini

Mr Mourinho had the following to say, about this tie:

“I think this is a tie that will go to the end. It will go right to the end.”

I do agree with Mr Mourinho; this will be a tricky couple of games, and it will go right to the wire.

Thank you, 

Ben

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

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

🤓

Will Anderlecht of 1977 Show Up

Will Anderlecht of 1977 Show Up

Galatasaray soccer team is based out of Istanbul, Turkey.   They finished in second place, in last years domestic competition, behind the champions Fenerbahce.  

          Preview

Anderlecht soccer team is based out of Brussels, Belgium.  The team finished champions in the Belgium domestic division last year.  

Today is the first game of 2014 - 15 UEFA Champions League for both clubs.  

The game will be played at 'Turk Telekom Arena' in Istanbul, home of Gala.  

How is Anderlecht's record against Turkish opponents in Turkey? 

I found that it is a decent record of:

Won 2,

Draw 1, &

Lost 2. 

Both teams have last met almost 40 years ago, in the 1976 - 1977 'European Cup Winners Cup' competition.  After two games, Anderlecht triumphed to a 10 - 2 trashing of Gala, after winning each game with the identical result of 5 - 1.

It is with enthusiastic anticipation, I will be following this game.  Let the better team win. 

Thank you, 

Ben 

🤓

Galatasaray Basketball Team

Galatasaray Basketball Team

'Galatasaray Odeabank' became the first Turkish female basketball team to win a European title, after a big victory over arch rival of Fenerbahce on April 13, 2014. 

       the champions 

Amazing achievement for Turkish Women's Basketball as two teams from the city of Istanbul, played in the European Final.  

Galatasaray played to a 69 - 58 victory over Fenerbahce in a game played in the city of Ekaterinburg, Russia, to claim the Euro-league Women's title in a historic match for Turkish basketball. 

Alba Torrens of Galatasaray scored nine points along with her four rebounds and six assists in the final, and therefore was named the Most Valuable Player of the Final Eight, in the Euro-league. 

“This is a team victory,” Coach Memnun said.  

Galatasaray shocked overwhelming title favorite UMMC Ekaterinburg in the semifinal on April 11, 2014, while Fenerbahce beat Tango Bourges for a place in the final game. 

Incredible achievement in Turkish basketball. 

Congratulations to both clubs. 

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. 

The Chess Match Of Galatasaray and Chelsea

The Chess Match Of Galatasaray and Chelsea

On February 26, 2014, the UEFA Champions League game between Chelsea FC vs Galatasaray AS will be played at 'Turk Telekom Ali Samiyen Stadium', in Istanbul, Turkey. 

This is the knock-out phase of the competition, and the next game between the two club will be on March 18, 2014, in London, England. 

          Chelsea

The winner will be in the 'last 8', semi-finals of this tournament.  

Galatasaray

The last game of Galatasaray was against rival Besiktas,

Result was a difficult 1-0, win. 

The line- up was:

Muslera, Semih, Ceyhun (Yekta 69), Hakan, Veysel, Melo, Selfuk, Sneijder (Gokhan 81), Telles, Burak, Drogba.

Chelsea

The last game of Chelsea was against Everton,

Result was a 1-0, win. 

The line- up was:

Cech, Ivanovic, Terry, Cahill, Azpilicueta; Matic, Lampard; Hazard, Oscar (Ramires 46), Willian (Torres 62); Eto'o (Schurrle 69).

          Gala

This will be an exciting game to watch, make time for it. 

Thank you, 

Worrisome Developments at Galatasaray

Worrisome Developments at Galatasaray

I am a supporter of Galatasaray Football Club, of Istanbul Turkey.  However, I am extremely worried of the past 5 games of the club; prior to the Champions League game against Chelsea FC of London England. 

          Jump around

I have written below the past 5 games, and the record for 'Gala' is: 

2 wins, 2 draws, 1 tie. 

Next game: 

Sun 02/02/14, League, Galatasaray vs Bursaspor

          No matter how cold it is, need to train 

Wed 29/01/14, Turkish Cup, Galatasaray 3 - 0 Elazıgspor

Sun 26/01/14,Turkish League, Gaziantepspor 0 - 0 Galatasaray

Wed 22/01/14, Turkish Cup, Elazıgspor 1 - 0 Galatasaray

Sun 19/01/14, Turkish Cup, Antalyaspor 1 - 1 Galatasaray

Wed 15/01/14, Turkish Cup, Galatasaray 2 - 0 Tokatspor

          Stretching for top form

Understandably, the team is trying to find a 'new' playing style under the rule of Mr Roberto Mancini, however, they better do this extremely quick. Galatasaray needs to find 'top-form' to convince us loyal followers and 'football watchers' of the world that they have any chance of eliminating Chelsea FC from the Champions League, and making it to the last 8 of this competition. 

The 'clash' of Galatasaray and Chelsea will be on February 26, 2014; therefore, plenty of time to re-develop top-form, however 'convincing future Turkish League victories' will be the key to develop high-morale of the players.  

          Practising and jogging 

Here is a link titled 'The Clash of Galatasaray vs Chelsea', which I wrote recently of the match held between the two clubs in 1999.  If the link does not work, please copy/paste it to the address bar. 

http://goodread10.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-clash-of-galatasaray-vs-chelsea.html

Good luck to both teams.  

Thank you for reading,

Ben

🤓

Coolest Teams to Support in Football

Coolest Teams to Support in Football

The 'Bleacher Report' magazine reported the '10 coolest teams to support in football'; and I have attached the link for you below:

          the champions

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1893299-ranking-the-10-coolest-teams-to-support-in-world-football/page/11

I am extremely happy with this list, since the team I have supported for over 4 decades is on the list; the name of the team is,

Galatasaray

The list is below:

10.  Celtic FC

9.  Sao Paulo FC

8.  S.L Benfics

7.  Arsenal 

6.  Galatasaray FK

5.  Athletic Bilbao

4.  Borussia Dortmund

3.  Boca Juniors

2.  FC St. Pauli

1.  SSC Napoli

What team would you have liked to see on this list? I'm surprised Real Madrid FC and Barcelona are not on this list. 

Thank you. 

Last 16 Teams of 2013 / 14 UEFA Champions League

Last 16 Teams of 2013 / 14 UEFA Champions League 

Congratulations to the last 16 'Football/Soccer Clubs', that made it to the UEFA Champions League.  The teams will now face each other in a 'knockout phase', which will begin on February 18, 2014. 

               Barcelona FC

Below are the teams which made it this far in the difficult, prestigious, and well organized tournament.  

Manchester United (England)

Bayer Leverkusen (Germany)

Real Madrid (Spain)

Galatasaray (Turkey)

Paris Saint-Germain (France)

Olympiacos (Greece)

Bayern Munich (Germany) 

Manchester City (England)

Chelsea (England)

Schalke 04 (Germany)

Borussia Dortmund (Germany)

Arsenal (England)

Atlético Madrid (Spain)

Zenit (Russia)

Barcelona (Spain) 

Milan (Italy)

The world respects accomplishment of these 'first class' teams.  

               Borossia Dortmund FC

Good luck to all the teams on their journey to the 'final'. 

What is your prediction for the last 2 teams to face each other in the final?, let me know please.  

               Athletico Madrid FC

Thank you for reading.  

Snow In Turk Telekom Stadium

Snow In Turk Telekom Stadium

If you are following this blog, I wrote about the stressful 6th, and last game of 'group B' of the Champions League; the title of the blog is simply 'Galatasaray vs Juventus in December 2013'.  

The game was played on Tuesday, December 10, but only for 31 minutes.  Why? you ask, since a soccer/football game is played for a total of 90 minutes.  

Due to snow, and hail falling onto the pitch, the game was 'called off' and after speculations of 'will the game be played' at all.  It was decided by the governing body of Europe, UEFA, that the game will be played the next day, for the remaining 59 minutes, that was today, December 11, 2013. 

Here are a few pictures of the game, while/when it was being 'called off'. 

Thank you. 

Odds & Champions League of 2014

Odds & Champions League of 2014

The teams that are remaining in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League are listed below.  Beside the each 'mighty' team, I have included the 'odds' given by:

www.williamhill.com

to win this prestigious trophy, here they are:

1. Bayern Munich 11/4

2. Real Madrid 9/2 

3. Barcelona 11/2

4. Borussia Dortmund 10/1

5. Chelsea 10/1

6. Manchester United 10/1

7.  Athletico Madrid 14/1

8.  Paris Saint Germain 14/1

9.  Manchester City 16/1

10. Arsenal 33/1

11. AC Milan 66/1

12. Bayer Leverkusen 100/1

13. Galatasaray 150/1

14. Zenit St Petersburg 250/1

15. Olympics 500/1

16. Schalke 04 500/1

Now, I'd like to bring to your attention another 'bet' taking place in the webpage of:

www.skybet.com

on the team to reach the finals in May 2013, again, here they are:

1. Bayern Munich 6/5

2. Real Madrid 2/1

3. Barcelona 9/4

4. Borussia Dortmund 11/2

5. Chelsea 6/1

6. Athletico Madrid 6/1

7. Paris Saint Germain 13/2

8. Manchester United 13/2

9. Manchester City 13/2

10. Arsenal 12/1

11. AC Milan 28/1

12. Bayer Leverkusen 66/1

13. Galatasaray 80/1

14. Schalke 04 100/1

15. Zenit St Petersburg 100/1

16. Olympics 200/1

I am following this tournament, since I like to watch the game, plus an added bonus is that the team I support, Galatasaray, has made it this far.  

As we can all see in the above 'odds', chances are very low that 'Gala' will progress further in this difficult tournament.

But there is always 'HOPE'.  

Next matchup for Gala is against Chelsea FC.  I am hoping that the 'underdog' will prevail to make it past the 'London' club.

I will analyze this matchup numerous times over the coming months since the 'head to head', knockout games will not be played until February 18 and March 11, 2014, respectively. 

Thank you for reading, please visit again in the future.