Prediction, Odds & Betting tips for Turkey vs. Croatia at UEQ
Prediction, Odds & Betting tips for Turkey vs. Croatia at UEQ
These two teams are the top favorites for winning the top two places in Group D and securing a place at the upcoming EURO 2024 in Germany. The way things stand at the moment, Turkey and Croatia have more quality than all the other rivals, and it appears that the winner of the group will be decided in direct encounters. Both units have ambitions and motives, and want to win this matchup. Turkey intends to use the home-field edge and boost the morale before the rest of the qualifiers, while Croatia needs to protect its reputation and capitalize on the momentum from winning the bronze at the recent World Cup.
Turkey
The Turks bounced back to UEFA Nations League B division following a win in their group which included the Faroe Islands, Luxemburg and Lithuania. All of these rivals weren’t a problem for the Turkish unit, who recorded four wins with one defeat and loss each.
Afterward, we saw them playing two friendly games, one against Scotland and the other against the Czech Republic, and both ended with the same result, 2-1 in favor of Turkey. Since the start of the UNL campaign, Stefan Kuntz’s crew has been efficient, and in nine events played, only once did they fail to net twice.
Turkey is always dangerous when playing at home, with the fanatical fans behind them. The players will have one more motive to win, due to a devastating earthquake that hit this country.
Croatia
Vatreni, as the fans call them back home, won third place in Qatar, losing to Argentina in the semis but defeating Brazil, Morocco, Japan, and several other teams along the way. Their game may not be as confident and deadly as before, but the results are still there.
Croatia has just one loss in the previous 13 appearances, which was way back in June last year at the start of the UEFA Nations League. After that, they would win nine events and take the top spot in the A division group ahead of France, Denmark and Austria.
The Croats like to play low-intensity matches, and try to keep the ball in their possession and slow down the pace.
Turkey: Cakir; Celik, Kabak, Soyuncu, Elmali; Kocku, Kadioglu; Kahveci, Calhanoglu, Under; Unal
Croatia: Livakovic; Juranovic, Lovren, Gvardiol, Sosa; Kovacic, Brozovic, Modric; Pasalic, Kramaric, Perisic.
The most recent clash between these two units was a friendly in 2020 when these two units played 3-3. Prior to it, we saw them in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, when Turkey won at home, 1-0 while the game in Croatia ended 1-1.
We don’t expect to see too many goals because Croats know how to slow down the intensity, and we’ve mentioned that earlier. Since this is the early stage of the qualifiers, neither side would want to risk too much, so under 2.5 goals looks like the best solution.
Our verdict: Under 2.5 goals