Football United

Brazil supplied all the names on the scoresheet tonight as we came back from 1-0 down to beat Ankaraspor 2-1 with Alex de Souza and Marco Aurelio’s goals in reply to Tita’s chip of Volkan Demirel.

The final 90 minutes before Tuesday’s AC Milan clash in the Champions League was sure to be difficult, as Ankaraspor boast a rich line-up and many of our players were on the back of an international double-header.

But Christoph Daum obviously collated his men well, with the team looking organised right from the start. Nicolas Anelka showed particular increase in form, frequently exciting our crowd.

Daum kept with the three man central midfield of Marco Aurelio, Selçuk Şahin and Stephen Appiah, who kept a tight midfield and took off the workload from the front three of Alex, Anelka and Marcio Nobre.

A counter attack by Ankara and Önder Turacı’s unfortunate slip while he was on the chase of Tita resulted in the first goal of the game. Önder’s performance throughout the game was worthy of credit though, as he frequently made vital tackles and interceptions in front of goal.

Anelka’s enthusiasm wasn’t broken by the referee’s ignorance of a number of obstructions to him, and his hard and low cross from the left was too hot to handle for Jevic, who spilled the ball for Alex to put in the roof of the net.

An overwhelming period of possession featured a number of dangerous corners for our side - Önder had a goal disallowed for offside and Fabio Luciano came agonisingly close with his header.

But one corner’s clearance by Jevric fell perfectly for Aurelio, who shaped his body well and volleyed in a fantastic shot from outside the area to put us ahead in the 44th minute.

The second half saw Ankara push on with more men, meaning we were to be given more chances to score on the break. But our final balls in and around the Ankara area weren’t to target, with Nobre frequently not getting hold of the ball in appropriate situations.

Source: Fenerbahçe.org