Eagles win to give fans something to cheer about

The 2010-11 Spor Toto Super League season ends for Beşiktaş this weekend when it takes on southeastern representative Gaziantepspor away at the Kamil Ocak Stadium. The Beşiktaş players will then go on holiday but the coach and some administrators won’t as they will have the stay behind, conclude transfer deals and also plan the overall strategy of the Eagles next season.

It is interesting to note the Eagles came from a goal down to accomplish Monday’s feat and that the three goals were scored by their Portuguese players, dubbed “Çete” (the gang). Eskişehirspor right back Erkan Zengin scored in the 26th from a well planned free kick to put his side 1-0 up and silence the thousands of Beşiktaş adherents at İnönü. But “gang” member midfielder Manuel Henriques Tavares Fernandes equalized for the Eagles in the 37th, dribbling past the entire  sleepwalking Eskişehir defense before whacking the ball past then teams’s hapless Croatia keeper, Vanja Ivesa.

Another “gang” member, centerforward Hugo Almeida, made it 2-1 for the Eagles with a header goal in the 58th. Winger Sabrosa, also of the “gang clique,” sealed the deal for Beşiktaş from the penalty spot in the 90th.

The week 33 victory on Monday was made all the more sweeter for the Eagles given that they had won the Ziraat Turkish Cup last Wednesday, after beating İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor in a penalty shootout after the score was deadlocked at 2-2 at the end of regulation and extra time. Furthermore the win came on the same day stand-in trainer Tayfur Havutçu –- a legendary Beşiktaş and Turkey midfielder -- officially became the coach of the Black Eagles after signing a two-year contract plus a one-year option with the İstanbul club.

Havutçu, an assistant to underachieving German coach Bernd Schuster, temporarily took over the reins of Beşiktaş on March 15 when the German was sent packing for gross incompetence after a string of dismal results. On Monday the deal was signed, seal and delivered The “new” Beşiktaş coach now faces a daunting task of forming a team that will be capable of winning the league championship next season and also making a headway in the UEFA Europa League. As is known, the cup holder represents the country in this competition.

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall,” said Confucius. The Eagles did exactly that by rising from the dead to win the Turkish Cup and salvage something from an otherwise lost season.