Eagles have good chance to go 2nd in Super League

The same applies to the Beşiktaş Black Eagles, the defending champions, who face a must-win situation as they take on Kasımpaşa away in a “mini” İstanbul derby at the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Stadium this evening.

Going into their opening week 26 game today, the Eagles are third with 51 points from 25 matches. The defending champions, therefore, have a golden opportunity to leapfrog Galatasaray into second place, but only if they can beat unpredictable Kasımpaşa, popularly known as “Paşa.”

The Eagles, who were fourth in the 17-team standings before Monday, are in fine fettle after beating the Denizlispor Roosters 1-0 away in their week 25 match on Monday night -- Slovakia striker Filip Holosko scoring the only goal of the game during a goalmouth scramble in the 41st minute. That victory moved them up from fourth to third.

The teams have already met twice this season. The Eagles beat Kasımpaşa 2-1 in their league encounter in the season’s first half at İnönü. Kasımpaşa avenged that defeat in the Ziraat Turkish Cup, winning 3-1, but both teams have been eliminated from the cup.

Judging from recent form, the Eagles, who will be backed by their drum-beating and noisy supporters, are the favorites. Though their team is playing “away,” the Beşiktaş fans will definitely outnumber Kasımpaşa’s more than two to one.

‘Defenseless’ Eagles

But the fact of the matter is that the Black Eagles are “defenseless” because all their defenders are at the club’s infirmary. İbrahim Toraman and Ekrem Dağ, who suffered knocks during Monday’s match in Denizli missed Wednesday’s training, and there was no confirmation yet from club doctor Devrim Urgun as to whether these two defenders will be fit to play today.

Czech Republic defender Tomas Sivok and Italian Matteo Ferrari abandoned Wednesday’s practice session due to acute pain. Brazilian-Turkish striker Mert Nobre was also injured and limped out of training.

Beşiktaş coach Mustafa Denizli has plenty of attacking options even if Nobre is sidelined by injury. But if Toraman, Ekrem, Sivok and Ferrari cannot make the squad then Denizli will be in hot water. A makeshift defense is something Denizli does not even want to think about because it could be as porous as Swiss cheese and that would be dangerous.

But the sexagenarian Denizli has seen it all before, so he did not seem very perturbed. “It [the Kasımpaşa game] is going to be a match like any other match we have played this season. There are no easy matches anymore, and so we are going to take the necessary precautions,” he said this week.

Boon for Kasımpaşa?

One man’s misfortune is another’s gain, and so Kasımpaşa coach Yılmaz Vural and his lads stand to gain from the Eagles’ woes, if they can capitalize on this golden opportunity. And talkative Vural is already talking out loud.

“We know how strong Beşiktaş is,” Vural told Ahmet Tekin of the Cihan news agency on Wednesday. “So it is not going to be an easy match for us and for them as well,” he stated.

“But it is incumbent upon us to win because we have 31 points and want to increase it to 40 so as to pull away from the bottom pack and chase the teams above us. We finished the season’s first half in 12th place and are currently 12th. We therefore know what maximum points means for us in this match,” he further noted.

“We want to win every game, and the Beşiktaş match is one of them; sometimes we succeed and at times we don’t. If the pitch is in good condition, we aim to give Beşiktaş as much as we get and more,” he added.

In a nutshell, Vural is saying that they are not afraid of the “mighty” Eagles. Tough talk, but can his boys deliver?

Kickoff is at 8 p.m., and the referee will be Özgür Yankaya.

Live on LİG TV / 20:00 Kasımpaşa vs. Beşiktaş