Turkish Football And The Dawn of a New Era
With all of the end of season excitement going on currently, the...
Türkiye Süper Küpasi
Beşiktaş JK – Galatasaray SK
Location: Konya Arena
Referee: Mete Kalkavan
Date: Saturday, August 13th
Time: 19:45 (GMT+2)
Channel: ATV
As tradition will have it each new season starts off with last season’s champions facing last season’s cup winners, the 2016/17 season is no different as champions Beşiktaş take on cup winners Galatasaray.
Both teams retained their coaches for the new season but Galatasaray has had a significant squad overhaul with new arrivals Eren Derdiyok, Serdar Aziz, Tolga Cigerci, Luis Cavanda and the return of Bruma – who was out on loan at Real Sociedad.
Beşiktaş on the other hand retained most of their squad that won the Süper Lig season, only topscorer Mario Gómez isn’t back this summer. But additions such as Adriano Correia, Gökhan Gönül, Fabricio and Aras Özbiliz are sure to prove a quality injection.
However head coach Senol Günes has hinted at sticking to a starting lineup tomorow that includes mainly players who were here last season. That could mean no start for Adriano Correia, who is matchfit. Rhodolfo and Gökhan Gönül are not considered to be ready to take on a full 90 minutes so they’ll most likely start on the bench.
Atiba Hutchinson remains a bit of a question mark as his wife is set to give birth to the couple’s second son, if she were to go in to labour Atiba would likely travel to Istanbul to be with his spouse.
Cenk Tosun will surely get the nod up front, the 25 year old striker proved his worth last season as back up to Mario Gómez and has been the most prolific goalscorer during the preseason training camp.
Aras Özbiliz could be one of few new faces to get the nod tomorow, depending on whether Günes deems Quaresma to be ready to start or not as he joined the team late due to an extended vacation after winning the 2016 Euros in France with his nation Portugal.
Beşiktaş are still looking to add a new central defender to their squad and tomorow’s backline could be very different than the typical backline we’ll be seeing throughout the season, with Necip, Tosic, Marcelo and Beck all being seen as mainly backups to Adriano, Rhodolfo, Gökhan Gönül and the new CB transfer. In addition Tolga is expected to start ahead of Fabricio, who impressed during the preseason training camp and whom many hope will take over the reigns between the sticks as the season progresses.
So regardless of the result tomorow, it is expected that Beşiktaş will look signifcantly diferent – atleast at the back – as the season continues.
Tolga Zengin; Andreas Beck – Marcelo – Necip Uysal – Dusko Tosic; Atiba Hutchinson – Oguzhan Özyakup – Tolgay Arslan; Olcay Sahan – Ricardo Quaresma – Cenk Tosun