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Gaziantep Falcons ready to weather Black Sea Storm
Trabzonspor, after drawing three straight matches and earning the “draw specialist” tag, won at last on Sunday by scoring two last-gasp goals at home to beat hapless Ankara’s Gençlerbirliği 3-1.
Mathematically, Trabzonspor’s league championship hopes this season are still alive but they are flimsier than gossamer.
Going into this evening’s match, the Storm occupies sixth place with 42 points from 24 outings and therefore cannot afford to drop points today or in any of the remaining matches. That, to be frank and candid, would mean killing off the Storm’s fragile championship dreams this season.
The fact of the matter is though that Gaziantep is always an intimidating place for visiting teams, so how the Storm will perform at the Kamil Ocak Stadium today remains to be seen.
Trabzonspor coach Şenol Güneş does not have major injury problems although long-term injury case İbrahim Yatara will certainly be missing, and so will 26-year-old defender Tayfun Cora.
“We are still in the championship race and will not give up the fight to the very end,” Güneş said this week. And the veteran coach also hinted he would make changes to the lineup.
Free-kick specialist Selçuk İnan, Brazilian leftie Alan Carlos Gomes Da Costa (popularly known Alanzinho) and Argentine midfielder Gustavo Colman have suffered a dramatic slump in form and self-confidence recently, and they might have to make way for other on-form players.
There is every likelihood that Günes will keep Selçuk in the starting lineup, but will replace Alanzinho with Germany-born left midfielder Engin Baytar and Colman with another Germany-born midfielder, Sezer Badur. As usual, goal-machine Umut Bulut will be masterminding the Storm’s attacking force.
Antep has nothing to lose
Mid-table Gaziantepspor has an interesting record of eight wins, eight draws and eight losses and therefore seems assured of continuing in topflight next season. The Antep Falcons have never ever won the league title, and no one in their right state of mind expects them to do so this season.
But Jose Couceiro’s men are well known for their spoiler role. And they will try to prove to the Storm this evening that they are still a force to reckon with in Turkish soccer and that their 2-0 home win over the “mighty” Beşiktaş Eagles in week 21 was no fluke.
Kickoff is at 8 p.m., and the referee will be Cüneyt Çakır.
Live on LİG TV / 20:00 Gaziantepspor vs. Trabzonspor
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