After sacking Stefan Kuntz due to poor performances against both Armenia and Japan, today is former Sevilla and Milan manager: Vincenzo Montella’s turn to push Euro 2008 semi-finalists, Türkiye forward into a European Championship spot. His debut game sees him travel to fellow group-topper contenders, Croatia, who are currently unbeaten in the Euro 2024 qualifiers so far.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe last time these sides faced each other ended in a 2-0 away victory to Croatia, thanks to a brace by Mateo Kovacic. Despite this defeat and a shock draw against Armenia, Türkiye are still major contenders to qualify from this exciting group, with Wales not putting up the performances that fans expected from them.
Embed from Getty ImagesTürkiye come into the game with a record of two wins, two defeats and one draw in their five last games with the latest result being a 4-2 friendly defeat to Japan which eventually saw the previous manager sacked. The recently confirmed Euro 2032 co-hosts enter the game with an injury to young Real Madrid talent, Arda Guler and are also without centre-back Merih Demiral due to suspension. They will head into the match as 17/4 underdogs, despite being Croatia’s main threat for the top of Group D and qualification into Euro 2024.
Embed from Getty ImagesSpeaking of Croatia, Zlatko Dalic’s side head into the game unbeaten so far in the European qualifiers, sitting at the top of the group. Winning four of their past five games in all competitions, they previously grabbed a narrow 1-0 victory against Armenia. The Vatreni head into the game without Tottenham’s Ivan Perisic and Feyenoord’s Luka Ivanusec due to injuries.
Will Türkiye grab the winner thanks to a new manager bounce and claim the top of the group or will Croatia’s dominance continue leaving ‘Ay-Yildizlilar’ to compete for second place against Wales and Armenia?
