Please, try again later
Greece don’t have a bad record away from home recently, but the quality of their opposition has hardly been the most testing. They’ve beaten Liechtenstein, Estonia, and Egypt, while losing to Croatia, Saudi Arabia, Hungary, and Finland. Turkey, meanwhile, have won at home against Moldova, Iran, and the Republic of Ireland in the same period, only losing to Russia and Sweden.
On the balance of things, Turkey’s home advantage and more experienced squad should be enough to get them a win on Thursday, so we’re backing that along with a 1-0 correct score prediction.
The domestic season has drawn to a close around Europe, but that is far from the end of football. We’re thrown right into an international break that includes some crucial Euro 2020 qualifiers, but the action starts with a trip to Turkey as Greece take on their hosts in a friendly.
The Turks are currently sitting in a decent position in their qualifying group, with two wins from two putting them just behind favourites France on goal difference. They have a good chance of qualifying for Euro 2020, and as such they are bringing their top players along to all these international breaks.
Hakan Calhanoglu is one of the main threats in a number 10 role, while talented winger Cengiz Under is also present and the likes of Burak Yilmaz and Cenk Tosun offer options up front. The chances are that all of these talented attackers will play a part on Thursday, lining up in a 4-2-3-1 setup with Yilmaz leading the line and Tosun cutting in from the left.
Greece certainly aren’t out of the running in their qualifying group either, but their main hub of players have been approaching the wrong end of the age spectrum for years now, and it’s forced Angelos Anastasiadis to blood some fresh faces. The likes of Sokratis, Kostas Manolas, Andreas Samaris, and Kostas Fortounis are still present, but it’s a largely inexperienced squad. In fact, 15 of the 25-man squad have fewer than 10 international appearances under their belt.