Top placed Russia will aim to claim three points against Mircea Lucescu’s Turkey to ensure they finish first in the group and deny Turkey the chance to do same when the two teams clash at the Olimpiyskiy Stadion Fisht on Sunday. Russia are currently on four points and were held to a 0-0 draw with Sweden on Thursday. Russia registered 58% possession and a total of 547 passes against Sweden but could only get one shot on target as they toiled with little to show for their play. Daler Kuzyaev who replaced Aleskey Ionov in the 76th minute had his 81st minute right footed attempt from outside the box thwarted by Swedish goalkeeper Robin Olsen with a superb acrobatic save in the top right corner after Artem Dyzuba had laid on an assist. Russia have failed to score in only three other games this year – defeats against Brazil, Austria and Uruguay.
Turkey drew 0-0 to Bosnia and Herzegovina in an international friendly game on Thursday but recorded a victory in their recent UEFA Nations League game. They defeated Sweden 3-2 in dramatic circumstances in their second game in the group in September. After going two goals down to Sweden, Turkey pulled one back through Hakan Calhanoglu in the 51st minute while Akbaba scored two late goals to complete the turnaround and finish the game with an unlikely three points.
Turkey do have some rising stars such as Cengiz Under (Roma), Yusuf Yacizi (Trabzonspor), Berkay Ozcan (Stuttgart) and Caglar Soyuncu (Leicester) as well established players like Hakan Calhanoglu and Oguzan Ozyakup to call on for this game while Russia will be without Zenith St Petersburg forward Aleksandr Kokorin and Krasnodar midfielder Pavel Mamaev after a Moscow court ordered their arrest following a charge over violent attacks in Central Moscow. They won’t however lack the presence of top scorers Denis Cheryshev and Artem Dyzuba. Cherchesov is expected to persist with the back four that kept a clean sheet against Sweden on Thursday with Guillherme also starting as goalkeeper. Ionov who was ineffective against the Swedes may lose his position to the man who replaced him in the same match – Daler Kuzyaev. If that change does happen, it should push Cherchesov to switch formation to a 4-2-3-1.
Sinan Bolat was in goal for Turkey in the Bosnia friendly game and kept a clean sheet. That should ensure he stays in goal over Serkan Kirintili. Both Akbaba and Topal sit out this fixture which means Okay Yokuslu will most likely be paired with Mahmut Tekdemir in midfield. With the midfield area looking a bit light for this game and Turkish wingers Calhanoglu and Under having decent starts in the Serie A, Mircea Lucescu may look to wreak havoc on Russia by using the width of the pitch and the guile of his wingers.
This is a game Turkey cannot afford to lose if they are to have any chance of topping this group. Russia know it’s their spot to lose, so expect a tepid game especially in the first half. The firecrackers may be lit in the second half. The referee for this match is Pawel Raczkowski from Poland while the kick off time is 18:00 CET.
Verdict
I think this game could be a draw, I am undecided on if it will be a scoring draw or not. Russia have home advantage but Turkey have shown a lot of fight so it won't be easy and Turkey cannot afford to lose this game either.
Recaps
Just a little catch up on my previous predictions, the Croatia v England game was terrible and probably not helped with it being played behind closed doors, I did predict England to win 1-0 and they probably should have on the chances they had. However it finished 0-0 but that was of more help to Spain than these two sides.
Belgium did win as predicted but with a 2-1 scoreline, Lukaku getting two goals for his country and probably leaving Mourinho bewildered has to why he isn't scoring for United. Belgium comfortably lead the group now with 2 wins from 2 and I suspect top spot is all but secured now.
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