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Eagles face tricky test in title defense against İstanbul BşB
The Black Eagles, as Beşiktaş is popularly known, were unstoppable under coach Mustafa Denizli last season, crowning a triumphant soccer year with the domestic league and cup double.
But during this summer's preseason warm-up games, the Eagles performed far below par. They played only four games, won none, drew three and lost one -- including Sunday's TFF Super Cup debacle in which they were drubbed 2-0 by the Fenerbahçe Yellow Canaries.
And the saddest thing of all is that Beşiktaş, a free-scoring side last season, seems to have forgotten the art of scoring. In four games, the Eagles only scored two, while conceding four. It's true that friendlies cannot be used to evaluate the overall capability of a team, but the poor preseason results must have given the faithful Beşiktaş fans plenty of food for thought.
Denizli must have used Sunday's Super Cup defeat as an opportunity to take a good look at his team's weaknesses and right the wrongs. “This was only an exhibition game,” Denizli said after Sunday's loss.
Precious points at stake
The fact of the matter though is that today's match is not an “exhibition” but the 2009-10 Turkcell Super League opener with three precious points at stake.
Denizli will almost certainly bench error-prone Czech defender Tomáš Sivok, whose errors caused the Black Eagles defeat on Sunday. The Bobo-Mert Nobre duo upfront not only seemed lethargic on Sunday, it literally fired blanks. Denizli therefore should think seriously about putting fast Czech striker Filip Hološko in his starting XI.
Newly signed German midfielder Michael Fink is likely to make his Turkcell Super League debut with Beşiktaş today, but defenders İbrabim Üzülmez and İbrahim Toraman -- known as the two İbrahims -- are expected to be sidelined due to injury.
Beşiktaş and İstanbul BşB have acquired several new players (see list of transfers in today's supplement) to boost the standard of play in their respective teams. Furthermore, Abdullah Avcı's İstanbul BşB is famous for felling İstanbul giants in the opening games of the season.
“We don't care who the opponent is,” Avci, whose surname means “hunter,” said this week. “We just go out there and play our game, and let our opponent do the thinking,” he added.
Fenerbahçe has been on the receiving end several times and so fully understands what “the hunter” is talking about. The Eagles therefore have to guard against complacency this evening.
Live on LİG TV
21.00: İstanbul BşB vs. Beşiktaş
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