Sivasspor bound to keep the fairytale alive
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Hürriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Şubat 21, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - Despite the doubters' presumptions that a collapse will come soon, Turkcell Super League's surprise package Sivasspor continues its parade on top. Bülent Uygun and his boys are proud that they are representing Anatolian success along with second-place Trabzonspor, and believe that they can end the Istanbul teams' domination
Before each weekend, the big teams in the Turkcell Super League wonder if Sivasspor’s amazing streak will come to an end. So far, their hopes continue to be let down.
After last year’s performance saw then finish the league in fourth place with a dazzling 70 points, Sivasspor was not expected to fare better than that. After only five wins in the opening 10 games of this season, it seemed the doubters were right.
Well, with its moderate squad and lack of experience, it would be normal for Sivasspor to have a slump anytime, but it hasn’t happened yet, and doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon and those who thought Sivasspor’s success was a one-off, are looking less convincing.
Sivasspor is trying to write a fairytale in becoming only the fifth club to win in the league’s 50-year history with its limited squad and small budget. And unlike last year, the Red-Whites believe they can.
Last season, coach Bülent Uygun constantly played down his team’s title chances in the midst of the season, famously saying, "Sivasspor will not win the league." Later he would explain that he said what he said to give a message to the rest of the country who were firmly convinced that there would not be a fifth champion in Turkey. Uygun thought that his ironic remarks would be good both for criticizing the Turkish football scene and easing the pressure on his players.
After losing 5-3 to Galatasaray in what would be a title-winning game last year with two weeks left in the season, Sivasspor might be more experienced now. The players are used to playing more on that level, and coach Uygun knows how to handle the situation when the going gets tough.
This year’s big-game performance tells it all: Sivas managed to get eight points from a possible 12 in four games against title contenders. Last year it was only three from 18.
Uygun is more confident as well, and doesn’t need to be ironic when talking about his team’s championship chances.
’We want the title’
"We want to be the champions," said Uygun this week, again underlining the everlasting Istanbul-Anatolia clash in the country’s football scene. "The beautiful people of Anatolia deserve beautiful things. They can do anything with limited resources and Sivasspor shows that."
The effects of the Istanbul-Anatolia duality can be traced in many of Uygun’s speeches. He hints that he would be pleased to see Trabzonspor win the title as well, instead of Istanbul’s big three of Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş.
"Anatolian teams have a good chance of winning the league, now more than ever," he said, when asked about the belief that Istanbul’s big boys would never let anybody else win the title. "There are brave people in Anatolia, and they will conquer Istanbul again." Sivasspor welcomes Eskişehirspor on Saturday’s league game.
"We want to win to extend our lead," said Uygun, whose Sivasspor has been unbeaten in the last 10 games since Nov. 9, last year.
Coach Rıza Çalımbay believes that his Eskişehirspor side can end this streak, though with no disrespect to the league leader.
"If an Anatolian team can win the league, I hope that will be Sivasspor," said Çalımbay. "We respect them a lot, but we need points as well."
The two teams’ first game this season ended 2-2.
Eskişehirspor is likely to miss its injured striking duo of Batuhan Karadeniz and Souleymane Youla, who scored eight of team’s nine goals scored since the start of the new year.
"Of course that’s bad," said Çalımbay. "But I trust my players who will get to play instead of them."
After last year’s performance saw then finish the league in fourth place with a dazzling 70 points, Sivasspor was not expected to fare better than that. After only five wins in the opening 10 games of this season, it seemed the doubters were right.
Well, with its moderate squad and lack of experience, it would be normal for Sivasspor to have a slump anytime, but it hasn’t happened yet, and doesn’t seem likely to happen anytime soon and those who thought Sivasspor’s success was a one-off, are looking less convincing.
Sivasspor is trying to write a fairytale in becoming only the fifth club to win in the league’s 50-year history with its limited squad and small budget. And unlike last year, the Red-Whites believe they can.
Last season, coach Bülent Uygun constantly played down his team’s title chances in the midst of the season, famously saying, "Sivasspor will not win the league." Later he would explain that he said what he said to give a message to the rest of the country who were firmly convinced that there would not be a fifth champion in Turkey. Uygun thought that his ironic remarks would be good both for criticizing the Turkish football scene and easing the pressure on his players.
After losing 5-3 to Galatasaray in what would be a title-winning game last year with two weeks left in the season, Sivasspor might be more experienced now. The players are used to playing more on that level, and coach Uygun knows how to handle the situation when the going gets tough.
This year’s big-game performance tells it all: Sivas managed to get eight points from a possible 12 in four games against title contenders. Last year it was only three from 18.
Uygun is more confident as well, and doesn’t need to be ironic when talking about his team’s championship chances.
’We want the title’
"We want to be the champions," said Uygun this week, again underlining the everlasting Istanbul-Anatolia clash in the country’s football scene. "The beautiful people of Anatolia deserve beautiful things. They can do anything with limited resources and Sivasspor shows that."
The effects of the Istanbul-Anatolia duality can be traced in many of Uygun’s speeches. He hints that he would be pleased to see Trabzonspor win the title as well, instead of Istanbul’s big three of Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş.
"Anatolian teams have a good chance of winning the league, now more than ever," he said, when asked about the belief that Istanbul’s big boys would never let anybody else win the title. "There are brave people in Anatolia, and they will conquer Istanbul again." Sivasspor welcomes Eskişehirspor on Saturday’s league game.
"We want to win to extend our lead," said Uygun, whose Sivasspor has been unbeaten in the last 10 games since Nov. 9, last year.
Coach Rıza Çalımbay believes that his Eskişehirspor side can end this streak, though with no disrespect to the league leader.
"If an Anatolian team can win the league, I hope that will be Sivasspor," said Çalımbay. "We respect them a lot, but we need points as well."
The two teams’ first game this season ended 2-2.
Eskişehirspor is likely to miss its injured striking duo of Batuhan Karadeniz and Souleymane Youla, who scored eight of team’s nine goals scored since the start of the new year.
"Of course that’s bad," said Çalımbay. "But I trust my players who will get to play instead of them."