TURKEY – CZECH REPUBLIC | Saturday 6pm
Two European ‘middle-class’ national teams who, like Italy, will not take part in the World Cup starting tomorrow in Qatar. Turkey managed to hold their own against the top-ranked Netherlands in their qualifying group, but in the end had to settle for second place, ending up in the play-off ‘lottery’. The draw was by no means benevolent for Calhanoglu and his teammates, who had to face Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in the first round of the playoffs. Entrusted to German coach Stefan Kuntz, Turkey is now looking to restart, focusing on the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifiers. In the meantime, it immediately regained the Nations League B, easily winning the League C group after finishing ahead of Luxembourg, the Faroe Islands and Lithuania. On Wednesday they played another friendly match: Ozan Kabak and former Roma player Cengiz Under castigated Scotland (2-1).
The Czech Republic will also miss Qatar 2022. Despite a good European Championship, Jaroslav Silhavy’s men finished third in the group behind Belgium and Wales. The disappointment of not qualifying was also followed by relegation to the Nations League B. In the same group with Spain, Portugal and Switzerland, the Czechs won only four points, which did not allow them to ‘save themselves’. After four defeats in a row, they returned to winning ways on Wednesday by thrashing the Faroes (5-0).
Schick, the big absentee in this friendly
The Prediction
Turkey should be able to avoid defeat in a match in which the Czech Republic are also likely to score on at least one occasion, despite the heavy absences of their two star strikers Schick and Hlozek
Turkey v Czech Republic matchday squad
- TURKEY (3-4-3): Cakir; Soyuncu, Kabak, Ozkacar; Celik, Calhanoglu, Kokcu, Elmali; Under, Unal, Akturkoglu.
- REPUBLIC CZECH REPUBLIC (4-2-3-1): Pavlenka; Coufal, Zima, Brabec, Zmrhal; Soucek, Kral; Cerny, Barak, Navratil; Chytil.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 2-1
