Turkey-Armenia is a match on the fifth day of Group D of Euro 2024 qualifiers and is played Friday at 8:45 p.m.: predictions.
Croatia, the big favorite to win this group, was engaged in June in the Netherlands with Final Four of Nations League, lost in the final to Spain. Modric and his teammates have thus played two fewer games than the current leader, Turkey. Who, in the meantime, took advantage of this to take the top of the group and mortgage their qualification to Euro 2024.
Leaded by German Stefan Kuntz, Calhanoglu and his teammates immediately lifted their heads after their only defeat so far – last March they were beaten 2-0 by Croatia itself – not betraying expectations with Latvia (2-3) and Wales (2-0). Two crucial victories added to the one obtained on the first day against Armenia, momentarily the second force in the group (pending Croatia’s recoveries). The one with the “neighbors” is always a delicate challenge, for reasons that transcend purely sports and football aspects. In the first leg, Turkey came out on top 2-1 in a stadium that was armored for public order reasons – relations between the two countries are always very tense – by remounting the disadvantage to begin with (Kabak’s own goal). After that disappointment, however, Armenia did not lose heart, going on to win even 4-2 in Wales and beating Latvia 2-1. Six heavy points, allowing the selection coached by Ukrainian Oleksandr Petrakov to become a credible candidate for qualification.
With the talented Arda Guler – bought in the summer from Real Madrid – injured and excluded from the call-ups along with the other unavailable Unal, Kuntz is relying on the so-called “old guard,” consisting of the various Calhanoglu, Under, Yilmaz, Demiral and Celik. In Armenia there will obviously be no Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who has said goodbye to the national team for two years now.
Armenia
The Prediction
There is no need to reiterate how Armenia feels about this match but not even a sacrifice match could be enough to avoid defeat against a Turkey that, already last March, proved superior. There seem, however, to be the conditions to witness a prolific match: in fact, Armenia has scored seven goals in the first three days.
The probable lineups of Turkey-Armenia
- TURKEY (4-3-3): Bayindir; Celik, Demiral, Bardakci, Soyuncu; Calhanoglu, Ozcan, Kokcu; Under, Yilmaz, Akturkoglu.
- ARMENIA (5-4-1): Cancarevic; Dashyan, Arutyunyan, Haroyan, Mkrtchyan, Hovhannisyan; Briasco, Spertsyan, Iwu, Zelarayan; Ranos.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-1
