Prediction: Croatia vs Turkey

Verdict: Home win

Best Odds: 4/7

Bookmaker: William Hill

Croatia kick off the 2018 World Cup qualifiers hoping to build on some very good performances at the Euro 2016 and they have got to be considered favourites to win this match. New-look Turkey showed signs of promise in the warm-up game vs Russia, but remains to be seen whether they can compensate the absence of several star players.

Croatia

The Croatian national team have been on a major uptrend over the last couple of decades, although they experienced some problems after current West Ham United manager Slaven Bilic decided to step down. A great deal of controversy surrounded the appointment of Ante Cacic, but, he has done pretty well so far, with his side largely impressing at the Euro 2016 finals. After progressing from the group stage, Vatreni completely outclassed eventual winners Portugal in the Last 16 stage, but ended up losing after extra time. There have been no major changes to the squad since, which is hardly a surprise, although captain Darijo Srna has retired from international football. Talented youngsters Tin Jedvaj, Ante Coric and Marko Rog have all made the cut, while star players Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic, Ivan Perisic and Mario Mandzukic are obviously included as well. Crotia have every reason to feel optimistic ahead of the clash with Turkey, seeing as how they are unbeaten in last 13 home fixtures, with Vatreni also heading into the game with virtually the same squad that represented them at the Euro 2016 finals, unlike their next opponents.

Team News

Danijel Subasic and Josip Pivaric didn’t even make the squad due to injury, while Darijo Srna has retired from international football.

Ivan Rakitic has returned to the camp after requesting a leave for personal reasons, and he is expected to start against Turkey.

Turkey

With so many high-quality footballers in the squad that had played together for quite some time, Turkey were expected to go far at the Euro 2016 finals, but they instead largely disappointed, crashing out in the group stage. Milli Takim were beaten by both Croatia and Spain, meaning that 2-0 win over Czech Republic did not matter much, and Fatih Terim in turn decided to introduce numerous changes to the playing squad ahead of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. Key men Arda Turan, Gokhan Gonul, Selcuk Inan, Burak Yilmaz, Caner Erkin and Hakan Balta have all been omitted, with the long-serving coach adding quite a few talented footballers to his first post Euro 2016 squad. Borussia Dortmund starlet Emre Mor has been given the freedom to work his magic after showing a great deal of potential at the tournament in France, with Hakan Calhanoglu and Oguzhan Ozyakup the other players in the creative department. The problem is that the Besiktas playmaker will not be in contention to face Croatia due to injury, meaning Turkey will have a tough time in an attempt to get revenge on Vatreni for the 1-0 defeat at Parc des Princes.

Team News

Oguzhan Ozyakup misses out through injury, whereas Arda Turan, Selcuk Inan and Burak Yilmaz are some of the high-profile players to have been overlooked.

Fatih Terim is widely expected to field the same side that shared spoils with Russia in their only warm-up game for the new qualifying campaign.

Key Factors to Consider

• The match will be played behind closed doors
• Croatia defeated Turkey 1-0 at the Euro 2016 finals
• Milli Takim much changed from the European Championship
• Turkey have never beaten Croatia in regular time (D3 L3)
• Croatia won 12 of last 13 home games (D1)

Conclusion

Croatia are flying high after the promising Euro 2016 tournament and they are at full strength, so we believe they can beat Turkey for the second time in the space of a couple of months. Milli Takim head to Zagreb without a number of key men and we don’t see how they are going to get anything from this game.

Verdict: Home win

Best Odds: 4/7

Bookmaker: William Hill