In a weird set of scheduling the opening match of the three in Euro2016 on Sunday sees the first match in Group D – Croatia vs Turkey being played even though Group C doesn’t get underway until later in the day.
The match sees Turkey taking on Croatia and with Spain lurking around the corner both sides will be looking get off to a winning start to ease the pressure ahead of the games to come when they collide in Paris in the afternoon game.
We saw Turkey at close hands a couple of weeks ago when they played England in a friendly and they didn’t look too bad especially in forward areas. As with a lot of sides in the tournament there are concerns over them defensively but they seem to have their mojo back going forward which will encourage them.
The Turks qualified as the best third placed side in qualifying so they had a sort of fortunate route to these finals but they had all sorts of inner squad problems at the beginning of qualifying so I’m of the thinking that they were in a false position in their group but even then they still finished above the Dutch.
Key Man
Barcelona midfielder Arda Turan might not be quite as good as he was in his peak Atletico Madrid days but he is still the main man in Turkish football and the man this squad look up to. He has the quality to open up defences but he scores goals too. Very much one to watch.
Croatia go into this tournament as the dark horses for a lot of judges and if their captain Darjo Srna is right about it being their best squad ever then they have good reason to think that. Whether he is correct remains to be seen but you look at their midfield and start to water at the mouth it is so delicious.
Croatia warmed up for this tournament with a 10-0 win over San Marino last week. Quite what they got out of that apart from knowing how to count to 10 I’m not sure but their form prior to that has been strong too so they are very much a form horse heading in.
Key Man
So many to choose from here but I’m a big fan of Ivan Perisic and I fancy he might have a good game to lay a marker down in what is a competitive group and a competitive position in his own squad. The Inter midfielder is a class act and we’ll see that in this tournament.
Team News
It appears Turkey are going to adopt a lone striker formation which means that Burak Yilmaz could well have Arda Turan in behind him. Serdar Aziz and Gokhan Tore are absent from the squad through injury and suspension purposes.
Surprisingly Dejan Lovren was left out of the Croatia squad so they look a little weak defensively but with the possession their midfield will enjoy they might not be as exposed as some. Mario Mandzukic could edge out the former Leicester forward Andrej Kramaric to the lone forward spot.
Head to Head
There have been six previous meetings between these two nations with Croatia having enjoyed three wins to Turkey’s one with two draws. They met in the opening match of Euro 96 for both sides with Croatia winning on that occasion. Turkey got their revenge in Euro 2008 when they knocked Croatia out in the quarter final on penalties.
Betting
I’m looking forward to this game I have to admit and I’m not really sure how I see it going. Both sides go into the tournament in decent form and both are performing better defensively than they should be on paper which is where the difficulty comes.
I do think Croatia will win the match though. They are unbeaten in opening matches in European Championships and they are the stronger side of the two but I’m not expecting Turkey to get blown away by any means.
Backing sides to win by one goal has been a profitable strategy for me in this tournament so far and this has the feel of a game which will be won by a tiny margin so taking the favourites to win by the solitary goal might well prove a lucrative play. Croatia can keep it tight if they need to but we saw against England that Turkey have goals in them so I’ll go with Croatia just to edge it.
Tips
WON – Back Croatia to win by 1 goal for a 3/10 stake at 3.75 with Skybet
Back it here:
Our partners at Betfair have a special offer for ALL CUSTOMERS on this match. Place a bet on a first, last or anytime goalscorer and if that player scores a second goal you’ll get paid out at DOUBLE the odds! Click the banner below to claim this great offer!
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2016
