Kerkyra 0-0 AEK

The Champions of Greece faced off against 2nd Division bound Kerkyra today in a match that was, to be quite honest, pretty lackluster. The game did come to life towards the end as we managed to create some chances but Kerkyra’s keeper was in fine form and seemed determined to not concede.

To be fair to the team, as much as I would have liked to see us close out the season with 2 wins, I can understand the more laid back pace. We have just clinched the title and have a Cup game coming up in a couple weeks which could give us our first double in over 40 years, so I’m not surprised the team weren’t pushing too hard for all three points.

Despite the lack of chances on the pitch, the atmosphere in Kerkyra seemed to be electric from the moment the team arrived on the island. Not surprisingly, the reception for the team was enthusiastic to say the least:

In other AEK news, on top of the success this season for our football and basketball clubs, our handball team has also made it to the final of the EHF Challenge Cup after knocking out Portuguese club Madeira. The final, which will take place against Romanian side Potaissa Turda, will be played over two legs on the 13th and 20th of May.

AEK 3-1 Kerkyra

After another weekend of wins for Oly, PAOK, and Atromitos, the pressure was on AEK again today to get a win. Sure enough, they delivered yet again and for another week remain on top. Its still a fragile lead, with only one point separating us and Oly, but as long as we keep getting results I can’t complain.

Today’s match went as expected against second to last placed Kerkyra, although Kerkyra definitely didn’t get off to the start they had hoped for after their keeper scored an own goal to open the scoring for AEK. It all happened in the 11th minute when Lazaros had two chances to finish from point blank range but it was instead the keeper who ended up getting the ball into the back of the net.

Kone continued the scoring, scoring his first goal with AEK in over ten years. And what a goal it was; a poor clearance by Kerkyra landed right at Kone’s chest who with some great control and a beautiful finish lobbed the ball right out of the keeper’s reach and into the net.

Araujo finished off the scoring for AEK after yet another poor clearance by Kerkyra’s defense ultimately landed at the Argentinian’s feet. Araujo, showing sings of what we came to expect of him last year, finished it beautifully with a one timer that left the keeper with no chance.

Kerkyra managed to pull one back but it was too little too late for them. The penalty that lead to their goal was questionable at best, but it was the only downside of what was another convincing performance by AEK.

Whats most impressive for me about our recent performances is that we’re consistently getting results without Mantalos and Johansson. Players like Klonaridis and Kone who earlier in the season weren’t showing as much promise as we expected are now proving to have rather considerable roles in the team. Even Araujo, who had a slow start to his season this year, is starting to find himself on the scoresheet more and more often. Its a good time for the team to find some form since it will only get tougher from this point on as the pressure increases. The only thing I’m weary about at this point is that with the Christmas break fast approaching, its a very real possibility that the break might affect our momentum. Of course, it might not affect us at all, but its always a risk when you’re away from the game for a while.

 

Today’s result wasn’t the only news for our football team today. Earlier in the day, the draws took place for who we would face in the Europa League Round of 32 and to be honest, I feel like it could definitely be worse. The luck of the draw paired us with Dynamo Kiev, Ukranian runners up last season. I’m not saying it will be an easy two matches by any stretch, but we definitely have more of a chance at getting a favourable result against them than say Atletico Madrid or Arsenal for example (even if both of those teams aren’t in great form in their respective leagues).

 

One last piece of AEK news worth mentioning comes from our basketball game yesterday. We played Olympiakos and considering our recent league form, I don’t think anybody was realistically expecting much of a result. Instead, what happened was something that hasn’t happened in 13 years: we won! 13 years since the last time we beat Olympiakos in Basketball, we beat them again with a score of 66-62. It was a tight game, and towards the end the lead was fluctuating between the two sides quite a bit.

Its been an interesting season for our basketball club. We’re in mediocre form (and thats being generous) in the league and we’re even worse off in European play, yet we’ve beat PAO and Oly within the span of about a month. Strange times indeed, but hopefully our recent switch of coaches will help after we hired Dragan Sakota as our coach for the third time in his career.

AEK Bounces Back with Two Great Wins

After our unfortunate result against PAO last weekend, the team wasted no time in finding some form again with two impressive results: a 2-0 away win against Platanias and a comfortable 5-0 win against Kerkyra in Athens.

The 2-0 win against Platanias was particularly noteworthy for two reasons, first of which was the fact that not only did Vinicius start the game at left back, but he also played a fantastic game which also saw him score the opening goal. Also worth noting from the game in Chania was the fact that Aravidis came on as a sub and scored yet again. His goal was a beautifully taken one and judging by what Jimenez had to say after the match, I think we might see Aravidis play at least a few more times before the season ends.

Our second game, which took place today, was an all too easy 5-0 win against Kerkyra. Didac, Pekhart, and Bakasetas were the scorers with Pekhart and Bakasetas both scoring two. Definitely a performance which helps boost confidence heading into the homestretch before the playoffs but what I appreciated just as much as the score was seeing Bakasetas hold a Lambropoulos jersey after the game as a show of support for his injured teammate. Hearing the comments that players have made, it sounds like the atmosphere in the locker rooms is more positive than it has been all season which is something that was sorely missing with previous managers, and our performances so far with Jimenez certainly suggest the same.

It was an interesting day in the superleague today with PAOK beating Panathinaikos 3-0 and Olympiakos barely holding on for a 1-1 draw with Levadeiakos. The results don’t chance anything at the top of the table, but it sets up an exciting final two games as far as the 2nd through 5th place teams are concerned.

 

Wins for AEK in Football and Basketball

AEK 4-0 Kerkyra

Our first Cup game off the season ended well for us, even if it didn’t get off to the greatest of starts. I didn’t get the chance to watch the match (yet) but I did notice the lineup Morais went with beforehand and I must say it looked quite interesting. Noticeable changes he made from our 0-0 with Panionios over the weekend included starting Barkas as keeper with Lambropoulos as center back beside Kolovetsios and Diaz starting at left back. Galanopoulos and Lazaros were added to our midfield with Aravidis and Pekhart playing up front.

We got on the scoreboard seven minutes in at which point I thought we would comfortably coast to a win but it took an awfully long time for us to get our second (and third, and fourth…) goal. Lazaros, with his first official goal for AEK, got the goal that finally sealed the win for us in the 78th minute with Pekhart adding further insurance two minutes later. An own goal by Kerkyra in the 90th finally finished things off for the guests.

Its a big win for us as we head into this weekend’s derby against PAOK but really, nobody expected us to drop points to Kerkyra so I’m hoping the players don’t look too much into the result. Sure it was nice to see us score some goals, but a 4-0 home win over Kerkyra means very little heading into a derby in Toumba. Still a lot of work that needs to be done if we expect to get any kind of result up north.

For another look at the game, and some highlights, check out agonasport.com’s review of the match here. And, for those of you who like myself didn’t get to watch the game, you’re in luck. YouTube has the match in its entirety:

 

2 for 2 in Basketball Champions League

Our basketball team followed the Cup win with a win of their own, a 80-58 away win over Belgin side Proximus Spirou. Its our second Champions League win in a row and our sixth straight competitive win of the season following our Cup win and three League wins. A great start to the season for sure for what is one of the more promising teams we’ve had in a while. Ukic was the key player of yesterday’s match, leading the scoring with 18 points.

We play Trikala this weekend, a game which I feel we should win, followed by Rethimno the week after. However, the 12th of November is when things get interesting as we face PAOK in Thessaloniki. It will be our biggest test of the year so far in the league, but I’m actually confident we can get a decent result since we’ve had decent results up there the past season or two.

The match that will really be worth watching will be our game against Besiktas next Tuesday. Winning this game will go a long way to getting us out of the Champions League group stages and will be a great test as to where we currently stand as a team.

AEK 2-0 Kerkyra

With relative ease, we managed to book our place in the Final 8 of the Greek Cup. I was feeling a bit uneasy going into the game but our players handled the situation brilliantly, taking control fairly early on and rarely giving it up. The team deserves credit after getting past two First division teams to get where they are now and depending on who we get drawn against for the next round, they should be confident of making to the quarter finals at least.

Speaking of the next round, the draw will take place tomorrow to determine who we play. The possibilities are the following seven teams: Olympiakos, Xanthi, (who just earlier today knocked out Panathinaikos), Panionios, Chania, Iraklis, Apollonas Smyrnis, and OFI. Obviously some fairly tough teams in there, but there are certainly some that I think we can comfortably challenge, including Apollonas, Iraklis, and Chania. Realistically, I think we actually have a decent chance against Panionios and Xanthi as well, though obviously Olympiakos will be a challenge (especially considering some of the remarks made by Melissanidis, I wouldn’t be surprised if Marinakis wants to make sure AEK don’t get any further).

As for today’s match, I’m pleased to say that, in my opinion at least, we really deserved the win. Not only were we comfortably able to keep control and possession, we also fought back hard whenever possession was lost and often won it back fairly quickly. Our ball movement and creativity were both pretty good as I saw attacks coming in from all angles. Particularly though, we were most dangerous through the middle with Barbosa and Johansson controlling the play nicely, though Soleidis down the left wing and Mantalos down the right also provided quite a few options.

Our offense generally stood out as being especially strong, though I’d have to say part of the reason that was the case was simply due to Kerkyra not creating many chances until later in the second half. I was worried though whenever Kerkyra did have a chance seeing as Anestis didn’t seem all that confident in net today. One of his errors during a Kerkyra corner led to Kekyra coming awfully close to scoring though thankfully a defender was in position to clear the ball.

I’d have to say that Barbossa and Johansson were key players to our victory today with how well they complimented each other. I found that Johansson was strong with the ball at his feet and able to control possesion in the middle while Barbosa added some of the creativity that we needed. MVP of the match however was Aravidis, who not only scored a difficult counter attack goal, but also came close on a few other chances.

Highlights of the match can be seen below:

To see statistics of the match and line-up information (and in English!), visit AEK’s official site:

http://www.aekfc.gr/mdpls/aek-kerkura-44536.htm?lang=en&;;path=-549382123

Kerkyra 1-1 AEK

Despite having trouble finding a link that worked for the first time, I managed to find a working one in time for the second half. A few overall impressions/observations from the game:

-Can’t hell but smile when AEK is playing an away game yet all you hear are AEK chants. Our supporters were pretty awesome today and a fair amount of the chanting was in favour of our stadium in Nea Filadelfia

-Generally the game was rather sloppy from both teams, though I know it had rained before the match and it seemed like the pitch wasn’t in perfect shape as I saw players slipping on couple occasions

-Without a doubt we can do enough to make it to the next round when we next face Kerkyra for the second leg at home

-I was pleased to see AEK pressure Kerkyra even more after we went down 1-0. Of course its never ideal to be losing in a game, but its nice to know that we won’t back down or buckle under the pressure

Overall I wouldn’t say this was one of our better games, but all things considered I think its acceptable. Considering we now have the away goal advantage going into the second leg, I’m not at all worried about our chances of going through. I’m not in any way saying progression is guaranteed, but if the pitch in oaka is in good shape and we play the good football I know we’re capable of, then we shouldn’t have too hard a time. Kerkyra did have a few chances of their own but honestly I think we made them look better than they are as a result of our sloppiness.

Our goal was scored by Johansson who had only just came onto the pitch as a substitute. I hadn’t seen too much of him before this game but I was pleased with what I saw. He seemed eager for goals but also seemed to fit well within the team. I feel that with time, he could become a key part of our squad.

Kerkyra-AEK Streams

For once in as long as I can remember, an AEK match has actually lined up with my free time, meaning that I can actually watch a game from start to finish (assuming, that is, that the streams are working).

For anyone else who wishes to watch the game, this link here has some links: http://www.aekfans21.com/2015/01/live-stream-kerkyra-aek-kypello-ellados.html

Should be a good game! I’d say that this is probably our most important game of the season so far.

AEK to face Kerkyra for Greek Cup Round of 16

The draw for the next round of the Greek Cup took place today and while there were a number of Second Division sides we could have faced, we were drawn with Superleague club Kerkyra. Am I worried though? After yesterday’s match, not at all. I haven’t seen Kerkyra play this season, though they currently sit lower in the standings than Atromitos, so I’ll take that as a positive.

Heres a video from the last time we played Kerkyra in the Cup, a game which also took place in the round of 16:

Kerkyra 0-1 AEK

Believe it or not, we’ve had four wins from our last five games. And we’re only one point behind PAO. And only five behind a playoff spot.

There would’ve been a time when seeing all of this happen would not be a surprise for AEK… if anything, it would be expected. But we all know times are rough, so well done to the team and management for turning things around like this.

I didn’t manage to watch to the Kerkyra game, but I did see our 1-0 win against Panionios two weeks ago, and the quality of the football we were playing was night and day compared to what I saw before the holidays. We managed to control the game, control the tempo, pass with what seemed like little effort, and we created chances.

Considering the situation we’re in, I can definitely say we’re heading in the right direction. Just a few more wins and a playoff spot could very well be ours. How great would it be if we get in the playoffs and not PAO?

We play PAOK this weekend. Not gonna be an easy game, just because these derbies rarely are. But I wouldn’t be surprised if we get the three points. I’m hoping for a decent crowd, and I’m sure regardless of how many supporters are there, the atmosphere will be great.

FORZA AEK!

Another Season Finished…

So, I know its a bit late, but I figured I’d get a short review of the season up (even though its a season, one of many, that I would ultimately like to forget about)..

I guess it would be most appropriate to start from the beginning though in all honesty, I can barely remember much from the first half of the season! Pre-season started well for us, with a trip to Australia where we took part in a small football tournament. The friendly tournament consisted of AEK, Rangers (Scotland), Blackburn (England), and Sydney FC (Australia), three respectable opponents. I must admit that, after the positive results of the tournament (AEK scored five goals in her first match and ultimately ended up winning the tournament after beating all three teams), I had very high expectations of the team. Despite having  very little time to adjust to the jet lag, AEK played some very impressive attacking football at times (I remember Libe, Leo, and Burns all standing out for me in those games) and things were looking good early on. The team was clearly gelling well together.

Unfortunately, it was not long after that  until we were brought back down to earth with the reality of Greek football. At a friendly in Athens some time in August, Bajevic was attacked by a bunch of AEK supporters (though there were thankfully just as many, if not more, defending him).

It was not long after the events in Athens that AEK traveled to Scotland to take on Dundee in the first leg of the Europa League Qualifiers. Our record against Scottish opposition before the game was fantastic (two victories against both Hearts and Rangers, both in official European games) and Dundee did not seem to pose much of a threat to us. Thankfully, we left Scotland with a 0-1 away win, putting us in a fantastic position for the return leg.

Things were not looking good for AEK, however. Repair work going on at OAKA meant the stadium was not available for us to use. After looking for other solutions, the team decided the match would be played in Panionios’ stadium. Of course, with this being Greece, and AEK, things did not work out as smoothly as we would have liked. The Panionios supporters seemed to have a problem with AEK playing the match in their stadium (pity for them, as I can hardly see their scum team playing another European match in that stadium for a very long time…) and they thought it would be a good idea to vandalize the stadium to the point where it would not be usable for the match. After damaging goal posts, spraying graffiti, and tearing up half the grass on the pitch, the stadium was in fact deemed not usable and AEK were again forced to find another location to host the match.

Again, as I mentioned before, things are never easy for AEK. Eventually, we managed to secure Karaiskaki stadium for the match. However, due to the location of the stadium, right in the heart of enemy territory, AEK fans were not allowed to attend the match (so yes, Dundee ultimately ended up playing two home matches as only their supporters were allowed in). The match ended 1-1, which meant AEK were through thanks to our away goal in Scotland.

So, thats all I can remember from the pre-season, but feel free to add whatever I may have missed in the comments section below.

I could go through the entire season, but it was a rather depressing one to be honest. Sure, we had some good results (derby wins against PAO and Oly, as well as a fantastic 0-4 away win against Aris) but it also saw us end up with some of our worst results in history. A 0-4 home loss to Olympiakos Volou, and a 6-0 away loss against Olympiakos (both matches were with Jimenez as coach) showed that the situation with our club and the current team we have are clearly not up to the standards they need to be. I didn’t watch the 0-4 loss, but I certainly will put some of the blame for our 6-0 loss on the ref, and other circumstances, however, it was clear in that match that we were badly outplayed at times.

Overall, it was a dreadful championship for us. After the playoffs, we ended up fourth in the league. Throughout the championship, whether we had Bajevic or Jimenez as coach, we struggled against teams which AEK should NEVER struggle against, teams such as Kerkyra, Olympiakos Volou, Panionios, etc… We were painfully inconsistent, playing beautiful football one match, sloppy the next… as a supporter I must say that this AEK team was the most difficult to follow that I can remember. Especially when I compare the current team to the Championship winning team we had four years ago (lets face it, a team like we have right now will never compare to a team with Papastathopoulos, a younger Dellas and Libe, Zikos and Ribo controlling the midfield, a Blanco who could score anything). Sure, this past season we had some hard working Greeks like Georgeas, Kafes, and Makos, as well as Dellas and Libe. And sure, we had a solid keeper in Saja, and a fantastic player in Scocco, but overall as a team, we have been lacking greatly these past couple of years.

Anyways, as dreadful as the championship was, the Cup did manage to bring us some happiness. We knocked out some tough opposition on the way to the final including PAO (thanks to a wonder goal from Michel), and PAOK (thanks to the one and only Traianos Dellas), and we ended up winning the final 3-0 against Atromitos. Above all, the greatest moment of this season for me was seeing Libe raise the trophy. Its a pity that great men and players like Libe can end up going their entire career without ever raising a trophy, while teams like Oly end up buying their way to Championship after Championship… thats the reality of Greek football, and to be honest, I don’t ever see it changing, as it is also the reality of Greek life in general. However, for us, AEK is a sickness, something we can never leave, never abandon, and despite all the obstacles she will face in the future, we will always support her. I really do not see next season being any better than the last one. If anything, it will only be worse (I simply can no longer see the hope that others might see). Our management is slowly abandoning us, and like our basketball club, things will only get worse if something does not change. The supporters club has a good idea set up with its current plan. How long it will last, and what difference it will make, only time will tell. Until then, we will all still forever support our club.

And before I end this post, I want to once more bring our attention to the handball club, and team of guys who have all but dedicated their lives to AEK. The results in the championship, cup, and European tournaments, all show what a team can do when they put all their energy into playing for the love of your club rather than simply awaiting the next paycheck… MANY players from our football club could learn a thing or two from them.