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Upbeat Canaries take on desperate Karabükspor away
Don’t be fooled by the score because the Canaries were lackluster in last Sunday’s derby at Şükrü Saracöğlu Stadium. A poor finishing by the erratic Beşiktaş forwards and good defending by Fenerbahçe’s Nigeria defender, Joseph Yobo, enabled the Canaries to win.
That prompted Beşiktaş’s Portuguese coach Carlos Carvalhal to declare: “I can say that the best team on the pitch [the Eagles] did not win [on Sunday].” No one doubts the witty words of wisdom from the Braga man, Carvalhal. The only thing that he wittingly or unwittingly forgot was to say that “only goals matter in football; therefore, you can’t win if you can’t score.”
Fenerbahçe is the protagonist in the ongoing match-fixing scandal that erupted on July 3 of last year. Club Chairman Aziz Yıldırım and two top aides are still behind bars at Metris Prison pending formal charges.
But the fact that the Canaries have still been able to keep their heads above water and remain in the leading pack, despite the odds, is worth commending.
Fener coach Aykut Kocaman will definitely start with Slovakia winger Miroslav Stoch and Yobo, the two best players now on the team. Senegal forward Moussa Sow, who scored for Fener in his debut on Sunday, is another sure starter.
Brazilian captain-playmaker Alex de Souza, fighting a losing battle against age and gravity, is showing serious signs of a slump nowadays. This fall from grace is what no one -- friend or foe -- understands. The best solution, therefore, would be to bench Alex until he can pull himself together.
Don’t write off Karabük
The Canaries (15-6-4) are the favorites over Black Sea representative Kardemir Karabükspor. But the fact is that the host is fighting an uphill battle against the drop and so it does not have the luxury of losing at home on Sunday.
Coach Bülent Korkmaz, aka “Büyük Kaptan” (Great Captain), has transformed Kardemir Karabükspor in the last several weeks from a whipping boy to a team capable of winning.
On a player-to-player basis, Fenerbahçe has the upper hand. But Büyük Kaptan’s team has players like Galatasaray reject Mustafa Sarp and Fener reject İlhan Parlak, who are still capable of doing the Canaries harm.
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