Ileana Sanchez
Dailysports's expert
On March 30, Sakarya Atatürk Stadi (Adapazari)) will host the match of the 29th round of the Turkish 1. Lig, in which Sakaryaspor will compete with Eyupspor. The battle will start at 19:00 CET.
Sakaryaspor
The team has got only one major achievement during its entire history that was reached in 1988 – the Turkish Cup. Generally speaking, that decade, perhaps, was the most successful for all the time. The same season brought a record, even if modest, 5th place in the Super Lig. But, after spending a couple of seasons at the beginning of the century there, “the Anatolian Sun” went to the third division of the country in 2017. And only the results of the previous draw, when the team won its “alarm” group, gave a possibility to return to the 1. Lig. Moreover, its performance seems to be very solid there – there are frequent victories, especially in the late segment of the season. However, the higher mentioned successes are not surprising – there are such well-known players in the club, albeit past the peak, as Deni Milosevic, Odise Roshi, Ukrainians Artem Kravets and Hrechyshkin. And it goes without saying that a Congolese player, Kasongo, who scores a lot of goals, stands one step higher.
Eyupspor
The club, like so many others, is based in Istanbul. There are no doubts that it is difficult to prove oneself in such a dense competition. Especially when the neighbours are Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray and Beşiktaş. However, “the Purple and Yellows” are inferior to many other representatives of the more-than-a-million-inhabitant city. Suffice it to say that it was not even possible to be among the leaders at the 1. Lig level for more than 3.5 decades. And only in 2021 the team finally returned. Moreover, it immediately jumped into the play-off zone, finishing in the 6th position. The most important thing is that it is able to continue the progress. Nowadays, being under the rule of Uzulmez Ibrahim, who had been a legendary fullback of Beşiktaş, the team is in the group of undisputed leaders of the division. However, the higher mentioned result is not surprising – there are such players as Babel, Olivier Thill and Sinan Kurt. On the other hand, the tempo fell down in the spring. For instance, Rizespor defeated the team, which became the second misfire in three previous rounds.
The statistics of head-to-head matches
Until the current championship, where there has already been a 2-1 success of Eyupspor, the teams had got head-to-head matches in the 2019/2020 draw, in the 2. Lig – then, both matches resulted in 1-1 draws.
Predictions
Bookmakers are waiting for the guests to win, but the hosts are at least not weaker. We bet that Sakaryaspor will not lose (odd: 1.63).
