We have just the two matches at Euro 2024 on Tuesday as the last of the groups get underway over the course of the day when Group F begins in Dortmund when Turkey take on the debutants Georgia in the opening game of the event for both.
Turkey have been here before and will be out to deliver a really strong showing this time around while having fought so hard to finally get to a major tournament, Georgia will not want to go home without a huge fight.
Where to watch
The match will be shown live and in full on the BBC1 channel in the UK with the build-up to this Group F opener beginning at 4.30pm ahead of the 5pm kick off.
Turkey
It is good to see Turkey back at this tournament. Turkish football was going to get a huge profile boost anyway with the emergence of Jose Mourinho as a coach in the country but their national team have the chance to put it on the map over the next few weeks. They probably have a few questions to answer in terms of whether they can be serious challengers at this event. They have a young squad but one which is exciting and if they play without fear and things go their way they will be fun to watch at the very least.
You would imagine with an Italian manager that Turkey would have a defensive outlook but it is a forward who is in charge of them and that shows because this team are very attack minded. They don’t mind leaving themselves a little exposed in the search for chance creation. If there is a criticism of them then it comes in the form of lacking a top quality number nine to put away a better percentage of the large number of opportunities that they create.
Georgia
Georgia will make their tournament debut in this match and the one thing that we know about them is that they can handle the pressure of big situations. They came through the play-off to make it into this event, seeing off a decent Greece outfit in the final where they won in a nerve wracking penalty shootout. That was on home soil and now they have to depart their shores and look to prove their worth overseas but if they arrive with the attitude that they have won by being here and play with freedom you just don’t know what they’ll deliver.
Critics will be quick to point out that they only won three of their 10 qualifying matches and shipped 18 goals in that time but we shouldn’t forget that they knew they had the Nations League results to fall back on which guaranteed them a play-off spot. Based on what we saw of Scotland in the opening match it doesn’t bode well that Georgia couldn’t get the better of them in either qualifying match but the play-off final was the only time in nine outings heading into the tournament that they failed to score.
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Team News
Turkey will be without a couple of players who are recognisable to fans of English football. Bournemouth forward Enes Unal pulled out of the squad at the start of the month while former Leicester City defender Caglar Soyuncu isn’t around either.
Georgia were rocked a little when midfielder Jaba Kankava decided he didn’t want to join the squad for the tournament. They arrived in Germany with doubts over the fitness of Solomon Kirkvelia and Otar Kiteishvili which isn’t ideal.
Betting
This should be an entertaining match because Turkey can’t really sit back because their defence isn’t good enough to do it. They wouldn’t anyway because their style is very much of an attacking nature and to get their young players into the game and going forward. When you look at Georgia they score a lot of goals and aren’t shy at having a crack at goal but at the same time when it all goes wrong they can surrender chances at will at this level.
The question then is how to play this match but the one issue I have with taking goals here is Turkey create a lot of chances but are prone to missing many of them as well, while it wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility for Georgia to snatch at a few chances given the magnitude of this match. The shots line in this match is 23.5 and that certainly interests me. I watched Turkey in their friendly with Poland last week and they ran up 22 shots in that match alone but regularly they are in double figures for shots. Georgia played Montenegro last week and had 13 shots but shipped 19 while in the play-off final with Greece they had 10 shots in the extra time period alone. I like the over on the shots regardless of whether they end up on target or as a goal.
Tips
Back Over 23.5 shots for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365
