Football United

An Alex de Souza hat-trick got us the win at the end of a tense encounter with Gençlerbirliği. Souleyman Youla gave the visitors the lead followed by two Alex penalties, once again matched by Youla before Alex took to the stage again. Serkan Balcı was sent off for his protests to the assistant referee.
Tuncay Şanlı was the only regular of late that was missing from the side, as was Pierre van Hooijdonk who seemed likely to start tonight. Christoph Daum opted to keep him on the bench, put his entrance paid off as he was the one to set up the winning goal with an elegant back heel pass.

Referee Cem Deda was to feature a lot throughout the game, making very odd decisions against both teams that would change the course of the game. Both sets of players got aggressive particularly in the second half with pushes and shoves seen on two instances.

An Alex freekick was punched over by Ömer Çatkıç in the 12th minute who repeated another save from the same man four minutes later. But the Ankara side bounced back and Youla hit a first time shot onto Skoko`s dead ball cross which was accurate enough to give them the lead, 1-0.

Mehmet Yozgatlı was on song today, creating space for himself on the right wing with his skill and crossing in well for the attackers. His break into the box resulted in a penalty, a dubious decision considering the slide tackle seemed to get the ball. Alex stepped up and scored the equaliser.

Aurelio was then brought down in the 40th minute for another penalty to be given. Alex beat Ömer again and gave us the lead seconds before half time.

A bad pass by Deniz gifted Gençler with an equaliser, scored once again by Youla who hit hard into the bottom left hand corner.

The tension grew as control was being lost by referee Deda, who took the decision to send off Serkan Balcı for a protest against the linesman in the 79th minute.

Pierre van Hooijdonk was on to add more attacking power as time was running out. Alex`s drive from the centre was concluded with a one two with the Dutchman and a great shot by Alex who saw his effort go in off the post in the 88th minute.

Fenerbahçe: Rüştü Reçber, Servet Çetin (87` Kemal Aslan), Serkan Balcı, Fabio Luciano, Ümit Özat, Marco Aurelio, Deniz Barış (57` Önder Turacı), Mehmet Yozgatlı (72` Pierre van Hooijdonk), Alex de Souza, Marcio Nobre, Nicolas Anelka

Gençlerbirliği: Ömer, Hakan (46` Ali Tandoğan), Ümit, El Saka, Uğur, Erkan, Kerem, Ayman, Skoko (46` Sertan) (73` Ayhan Tuna), Youla, Mustafa

Goals: 26`, 45`, 88` Alex de Souza (p) (Fenerbahçe), 18`, 54` Youla (Gençlerbirliği)

Turkish Superleague

Pos. Team Pld Pts
1. Fenerbahçe 24 62
2. Galatasaray 24 57
3. Trabzonspor 24 55
4. Besiktas 24 45
5. Rizespor 24 37

Source: fenerbahce.org