Turkey vs Georgia Euro 2024 Prediction: Can Turkey live up to hopes?

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·9 May 2024

Turkey vs Georgia Euro 2024 Prediction: Can Turkey live up to hopes?

The first round of Euro 2024 group stage fixtures nears its close as Turkey take on tournament debutants Georgia.

Turkey vs Georgia Euro 2024 Prediction: Can Turkey live up to hopes?

Turkey vs Georgia Latest Prediction

There were a lot of hopes and expectations on Turkey going into Euro 2024 as one of the tournament’s dark horses but they massively underperformed. Turkey finished bottom of Group A, losing all three of their matches against Italy, Wales and Switzerland. This time around, Group F presents a good opportunity for Turkey, against Portugal, Czech Republic and Georgia.

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Georgia are something of an unknown quantity, with this being their first-ever major tournament, and they’ll be hoping to make a name for themselves in Germany. Although they struggled during the qualifying campaign, Georgia did score in seven of their eight games, including home and away against Spain. So you could back them to score, but a win may be too tall of a task.

We’ll also have more tips here closer to the time so make sure you check back closer to kick off for all of our best tips and predictions.

Turkey get their Euro 2024 campaign underway on June 18 with a game against Georgia at BVB Stadion in Dortmund.

Turkey were in an interesting qualifying group with a few teams of equal quality, but they were one of the two to advance. They actually finished top of their group, one point clear of Croatia and five ahead of third-placed Wales. Turkey suffered just one defeat in qualifying, losing to Croatia in their second match, recovering with a six-game unbeaten run.

No one will have given Georgia a chance of qualifying for Euro 2024 through their group, placed alongside Spain, Scotland, Norway and Cyprus. And they finished fourth with eight points from their eight matches, beating Cyprus home and away alongside draws with Scotland and Norway. But they got the second chance through their UEFA Nations League finish, beating Luxembourg and then Greece in the play-offs.

Turkey Latest Team News

Vincenzo Montella has been in charge of Turkey for just six games so far, tasked with overseeing the end of Euro 2024 qualifying which he did with two wins and a draw. But even in this short period of time, now spanning six games, Montella has made his tactics very clear. However, what isn’t as clear is who will play in certain positions.

Only three players have featured in every match for Montella, with those being Ismaiol Yuksek, Kerem Akturkoglu and Baris Alper Yilmaz. But with a full-strength squad, you’d only really expect Akturkoglu to start. Ugurgan Cakir does seem to be the preferred goalkeeping choice, with Merih Demiral among those you’d expect to start in defence. The midfield is a bit more predictable, as you’d expect Hakan Calhanoglu and Orkun Kokcu both to feature, with Arda Guler a potential through the middle.

Up front, Kenan Yildiz is the go-to man, and there will be a lot of hope for the teenager to take Turkey to a new frontier.

Georgia Latest Team News

The star man for Georgia will be Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, but while the 23-year-old plays on the wing for Napoli, he is one of the central outlets for the national team. This wasn’t always the case, with the switch coming in the past few matches, but it’s one that has brought a lot of success. In his final three qualifying games, as a striker, Kvaratskhelia scored four goals including a brace in a 2-2 draw with Scotland.

That switch came as Georgia manager Willy Sagnol altered the formation to a front two, and it would be weird for the Frenchman to do anything different as that is what got him to the Euros. It has Georges Mikautadze up front alongside Kvaratskhelia, with the pair combining well as a partnership so far. Sitting just behind them will likely be Giorgi Chakvetadze.

Between the sticks, Giorgi Mamardashvili is reliable and may need to bail out the defence on occasion.

Turkey vs Georgia Head to Head

Turkey will be confident about this game as they have won three of their five previous meetings against Georgia, only losing 1-0 in a friendly in 2007. However, they haven’t faced off in 12 years so a lot has changed.