On Thursday, starting at 17:00, the match Turkey-Iceland will be played, in the 9th round of the EURO 2020 preliminaries, Group H. Iceland has won 3 of the last 4 direct meetings with Turkey, including the victory in the round, score 2-1. It was the only failure for Senol Gunes, who took over the “Half Moon” representative from February 2019. The Turks have since won the victories on the line “home”, and another 3 points mathematically qualify them at EURO 2020.
Bringing Senol Gunes to the Turkish national was a real success, with the Turks achieving 8 victories, a draw with France and a single defeat, even with Iceland. The Nordics offer everyone a challenge and they are ready to fight for their chances in Istanbul. Turkey has 19 points in the Group H standings, as does France, with 4 over Iceland. A win for the hosts would bring them the much-needed qualification at EURO 2020, but they also have a rematch with Icelanders, who have won 3 of the last 4 straight meetings.
Iceland has achieved an excellent new evolution in the preliminaries, now in the books for qualifying at EURO 2020. The Nordics are currently ranked 3rd in Group H, 4 points from Turkey and France, but they still have to play a match with Andorra, in outside the Istanbul duel. The Icelandic representative defeated the Turks in the tour match, and in October they were admirably defended with France, who won due to a goal scored from the penalty by Olivier Giroud. Robust formation, very compact defensively, successfully combines the Nordic style with a rather Italian organization.
But Turkey is in a kind of sensation, it will benefit from the hot public input from Istanbul, and this can lead to victory. The hosts have a very valuable lot, with enough foreigners, and Gunes will try to score the first victory against Iceland after 4 years.
Goalkeepers: Mert Gunok (Basaksehir), Gokhan Akkan (Caykur Rizespor), Sinan Bolat (Antwerp), Ugurcan Cakir (Trabzonspor)
Fundasi: Zeki Celik (Lille), Nazım Sangare (Antalyaspor), Caglar Soyuncu (Leicester City), Kaan Ayhan (Fortune Dusseldorf), Merih Demiral (Juventus), Ozan Kabak (Schalke 04), Mert Cetin (Rome), Umut Meras ( Le Havre), Hasan Ali Kaldırım (Fenerbahce)
Midfielders: Cengiz Under (Roma), Deniz Turuç, Emre Belozoglu, Ozan Tufan (Fenerbahce), Efecan Karaca (Aytemiz Alanyaspor), Irfan Can Kahveci, Mahmut Tekdemir (Basaksehir), Okay Yokuslu (Celta Vigo), Yusuf, Yazici (Lus Emre Kilinc (Demir Sivasspor Group), Hakan Calhanoglu (Milan), Omer Bayram (Galatasaray)
Forwards: Burak Yilmaz (Besiktas), Cenk Tosun (Everton), Enes Unal (Real Valladolid)
PREDICTION: Turkey to win @ 1,74
