Turkey are looking to make up for a terrible World Cup and will face a France side in the Nations League who will feel they should have won it back in the summer.
But Turkey haven’t lost to France in their last two and will be keen to make sure new France coach Zinedine Zidane gets off to the worst possible start. But will they manage to? Stats, head-to-heads and a betting tip are coming up.
Turkey - France Betting Tip
Turkey was one of the World Cup's big disappointments. They came in with high expectations, but back-to-back defeats against Australia and Paraguay meant they were the first side to be officially knocked out.
When they eventually beat the USA 3-2 in their last Group game courtesy of a 90th-minute winner, it was all too little, too late for a team with such classy players as Real Madrid’s Arda Guller, Besiktas man Orkan Kokcu and Hakan Calhanoglu of Inter Milan.
As for France, they’ll look back at the World Cup as a missed opportunity. For much of it, they looked like the best team in the tournament, with Kylian Mbappe leading an all-star attack that was unplayable at times, before a meltdown in the semi against Spain, where they just couldn't get going, eventually losing 2-0. That was before a 6-4 loss to England in the third/fourth place playoff match, when morale was low and most players were looking forward to the plane home.
There’s no more Didier Deschamps, so it’s over to the great Zinedine Zidane to take charge from here on.
These two haven’t faced each other in seven years, and that ended in a 1-1 draw; just a few months before that, it was a 2-0 for Turkey in Euro qualifying, so France haven’t had it all their own way in this fixture of late, though they did win all of the four before that.
But those two positive results for Turkey against Les Bleus were a long time ago, and France can be excused for that poor performance against Spain, the best side in the world after all, as a one-off.
It should be business as usual for Mbappe, Michael Oliseh, Ousmane Dembele and co, and they should win this because, as much as Turkey has in terms of potential, this is a France side that has been excellent for the last few years.
France are more than capable of scoring three by themselves, but Turkey can get one of their own, so with three or more goals expected, it makes sense to go with a France win and over 2.5 goals.
- Bet: France to win or draw and Over 2.5 Goals
- Odds: 1.85 (at the time of writing)
Did You Know?
New France manager Zinedine Zidane achieved just about everything in the game, including winning the Champions League, Serie A, La Liga, the Euros and the World Cup, making 108 appearances for France and scoring 31 goals. However, his career ended in the worst possible way, being sent off in the 2006 World Cup final against Italy in the second half of extra time after headbutting defender Marco Materazzi. It was his final game of professional football.
Mbappe may wear the Number 10 jersey for France, but maybe he should wear 6 instead: he has 66 goals in 106 appearances for them.
