Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Fenerbahce 1, Inter 0... What more can anyone say?

Fenerbahce 1, Inter 0... What more can anyone say?
By Ozgur R. Nazilli

A dream start for Fenerbahce. Even UEFA.com had to admit that "Fenerbahçe's showing could well have been enough to overcome the full-strength Italian title-holders". So the biggest authority in the Champions League kills the idea that "Fenerbahce won because Inter was missing so many players" before it has time to plant its seeds of doubt.

Fenerbahce played excellent futbol, from the first minute to the last, period. There might have been a few periods where they seemed to lose control and almost succumb to self-doubt, but with some considerable help from Roberto Carlos' 108 Champions League games experience, Fener players pulled themselves together and managed to send Inter back to Italy empty handed. And it really was some display, considering that even though Internazionale was missing a lot of defenders, they had a full attacking squad with the likes of Ibrahimovic, Suazo, Crespo, Stankovic and Figo. A flawless display from the back duo Edu and Lugano, supported by Onder and Roberto Carlos kept Inter at bay, and ensured the 1-0 victory.

And what a goal that was! I have been watching Fenerbahce for years now, but that was easily one of the top 10 goals of all time. Carlos, with one of his countless fast-breaks on the left wing, passed the ball to Kezman in front of the penalty area, THEN pointed where he should pass to Kezman. The ball found Alex on the right side thanks to Kezman's pass navigated by Roberto Carlos, Alex "broke the defender's back" as we say in Turkish with such a move that the Inter defender fell on his back trying to keep up with him, then Alex sent it a bit back towards the penalty spot with a long pass, where it was volleyed with a fierce shot passed the goalkeeper by Deivid. In short, it "the" best goal of Fenerbahce so far this season, with a perfect organization, topped by excellent displays from Alex and Deivid. It was a sight to behold.

Not one player was lagging behind on Fenerbahce and all the players were fighting with everything they had for the 3 points today. One of the defining moments of the game was when Figo, an international legend, took the free-kick from the right side and it was deflected back by Roberto Carlos, another international legend. This, in this match, showed how far Fenerbahce has progressed on the way to becoming an international giant. We are not there yet, but every year that passes takes us a step closer to that goal.

We are at a 3 game winning run so far in the European games, and hopefully, Fenerbahce will continue this pattern in October against CSKA Moscow. I would like to thank everyone, both on and off the pitch, for letting us watch such a fine performance by Fenerbahce. Congratulations Fenerbahce!

(photo courtesy of www.antu.com. Even though I do not normally use pictures from non-media sources, this picture shows everything that was right with today's game. Faith, motivation, ambition. It was all on the field today, and Deivid in this picture, with his shirt wet from sweat, his hand gesture, and his facial expression, is a living proof of it. The photo can be clicked on to get a better view.)

8 Comments:

Blogger PARISTEXAS said...

congratuation!
very excited, satisfied.
and thank you for your good article as well.

7:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congratulations for your well done victory.

I agree with your article, Fenerbahce just dominated FC Inter, no doubt about it.

Was Inter defeat in Istanbul a reflect of Inter's latest trend of failure in European competition?

Anna Italia
Italian Soccer Serie A.com

7:17 PM  
Blogger Nathan L. Redd said...

I have to get a DVD of this game!!

7:23 PM  
Blogger Ozgur R. Nazilli said...

Thank you everyone for your kind comments. I am in a great mood, more because of the futbol that was played than the scoreline. Today is a good day to be a Fener fan :)

And Anna, thanks for being so open-minded. I hope Inter will do better in the next couple of games (not against Fenerbahce, of course :) ) and Inter and Fener will be the two teams that qualify from our group. By the way, if you have no use for Adriano, I'm sure Fenerbahce would be happy to buy him from you :P

8:26 PM  
Blogger noname said...

Hello Anna,

In your article it says: "Fenerbahce manager Fatih Terim, who has some knowledge of Italian football after being briefly with Milan and Fiorentina surprised Inter coach Roberto Mancini. Fenerbahce coach Zico was the winner."

Fatih Terim has nothing to do with Fenerbahçe. He is the manager of Turkish National Team. And nearly every Fenerbahçe fan hates him. He can never ever work for Fenerbahçe.

2:44 AM  
Blogger Eski Kanka Jim said...

Well done Fener from `The Round Ball in Ankara`. A great all round team performance.

I'm just praying that they only reserve this type of footie for the Champions League and don't play like that against ANKARAGUCU next Friday !!

4:35 AM  
Blogger Emre Kızılkaya said...

Like Nathan, I would also like to have a DVD of this match as it was definitely among the best 10 Fener performances I have ever watched. (Considering European games, it was probably the best one at least for my lifetime.)

On the other hand, I still have doubts about Zico. He might be a great gentleman, but his sole contribution to last night's victory was placing Wederson on the left. He watched the rest of the game as if he is a fan. i.e: In today's football, no manager has got the luxury to not use the right of two substitutions; especially when there are many exhausted players on the pitch and while your opponent strikes with full strength.

10:49 AM  
Blogger Emre Kızılkaya said...

I must add something: We should criticize especially when we win.

This substitution issue is just one of the problems... Not only Zico didn't use his remaining 2 substitutes during the match, but he also did a wrong choice for the only one (Kezman-Semih substitution).

Why didn't he change Deniz Baris (who played good in the first half, but was very tired in the second half)? Why didn't he use speedy Colin Kazim in the second half against desperate Inter?

What did Zico really do for last night's victory?

After the match, he told that the big difference between last two matches is about "the competition." So our players can play good in CL, but not in Super Lig.

Then what job he is doing there where players can only be motivated by the competion, not the trainer himself??

Ozgur has recently posted Alex's interview with Zico. Zico told that Mourinho is currently the best manager in the world.

Mourinho resigned last night after Chelsea couldn't win against Rosenborg.

Maybe now you can understand what a great trainer Zico is... From his own words...

11:19 AM  

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