Turkey vs Georgia Prediction: Dark Horses may flop at Euro 2024
Group F of Euro 2024 finally gets underway on Tuesday, as Turkey face Georgia in Dortmund, hoping to get their campaign off to a winning start. Given Portugal and the Czech Republic are also in this group, both of these teams will fancy their chances of qualification behind Roberto Martinez’s men.
Below you can find my Turkey vs Georgia prediction, featuring team news, match odds and more.
Team News
Galatasaray’s Kerem Akturkoglu is set to start on the left-wing for Turkey, while Juventus’ Kenen Yildiz is expected to be given a free role behind the striker. Baris Alper Yilmaz is likely to be given the nod up front, while captain Hakan Calhanoglu is expected to play slightly deeper in the middle of the park.
Meanwhile, Solomon Kvirkelia is touch and go for Georgia but is expected to feature here, while Otar Kiteishvili was injured against Montenegro but should recover from that problem to start in midfield. Georges Mikautadze is set to start up front alongside star man Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.Turkey possible starting XI:
Gunok; Ayhan, Demiral, Bardakci, Kadioglu; Ozcan, Calhanoglu; Guler, Yildiz, Akturkoglu; Yilmaz
Georgia possible starting XI:
Mamardashvili; Kverkvelia, Kashia, Dvali; Kakabadze, Kiteishvili, Kochorashvili, Shengelia, Chakvetadze; Kvaratskhelia, Mikautadze
Turkey are the favourites to win this game, priced at 18/25 to take all three points. Georgia can be backed at 21/5 and a draw is available at 13/5. BTTS is 53/50 and over 2.5 goals is 10/9.
Draw or away win @ 1/1
Turkey have once again been given the ‘dark horse’ tag heading into this European Championship campaign. However, they were dreadful three years ago and I am not sure whether they will be able to live up to the billing here. Vincenzo Montella is the current boss and although they won their qualification group impressively, the only real threats were Croatia.
Wales, Latvia and Armenia are all poor sides, and I think Georgia will fancy themselves to get a shock here. I think Turkey are too short a price for the win, so am happy to back against them with this double chance shout. They are the outsiders, having progressed to this stage via the play-offs, but they have faced some big sides in that group, including Spain and Norway. They recently beat Montenegro 3-1, and I think they will be able to cause a bit of a shock here.
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to score anytime @ 23/5
These are huge odds for Georgia’s star man to find the net during the 90 minutes. He is guaranteed to start up front, and near certain to play the full match, while his goalscoring record for his country is also pretty impressive. He has scored 15 goals in 30 international games, and will take all of Georgia’s set pieces and penalties.
Given Turkey have lost three of their last four games, and conceded six against Austria and two against Poland, I don't think they are as strong as many suggest. Georgia will want to get on the front foot, and Kvaratskhelia is the man to cause damage.
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