Portugal failed to win their final two matches of UEFA World Cup qualifying resulting in Fernando Santos’s team falling into the UEFA World Cup qualifying playoffs.
Now, Portugal will face off with Turkey in the WCQ playoff semifinal. A win would send them up against either Italy or North Macedonia in the playoff final. It isn’t an easy road for Portugal and Turkey will feel they have the chance to eliminate the favourite to progress on Thursday night.
𝙁𝙤𝙘𝙖𝙙𝙤𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙟𝙤𝙜𝙤! 👊🏆 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘊𝘶𝘱 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘺-𝘖𝘧𝘧𝘴 🇵🇹✖🇹🇷 🗓 5ª feira às 19h45 (PT) pic.twitter.com/Jtn2YCB3AE— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) March 22, 2022
𝙁𝙤𝙘𝙖𝙙𝙤𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙟𝙤𝙜𝙤! 👊🏆 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘊𝘶𝘱 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘺-𝘖𝘧𝘧𝘴 🇵🇹✖🇹🇷 🗓 5ª feira às 19h45 (PT) pic.twitter.com/Jtn2YCB3AE
Turkey had a hot and cold 2021. The Turks were incredibly poor at the Euro 2020 tournament, but rebounded in WCQ with four straight matches ending without a loss to close out qualification.
Despite going four straight matches without a win – including winning each of their last three fixtures in WCQ – Turkey played the scrubs of their qualifying group.
Turkey played Norway (1-1), Latvia (2-1), Gibraltar (6-0), and Montenegro (2-1) to finish out qualifying. Thanks to those four results, the Turks made the playoff semifinal. The competition was weak and it allowed Turkey to stamp their ticket to play Portugal.
Santos goes into Thursday’s match in Porto without his first-choice centre-backs. Pepe tested positive for COVID-19. Manchester City defender Ruben Dias is unavailable due to an injury. Santos will likely use Lille’s Jose Fonte in central defence alongside Goncalo Inacio.
Cristiano Ronaldo will lead the attack. He could be paired with Joao Felix and/or Andre Silva. Both are having respectable season at the club level. AC Milan’s Rafael Leao has been called in and the in-form forward could get his fourth Portugal cap.
Thirty-six-year-old Burak Yilmaz remains Turkey’s best hope in front of goal. The striker has 30 international goals in 76 games. Marseille’s Cengiz Under is playing well at the club level and will fight for starting berth.
Portugal have a strong head-to-head record against Turkey. The Portuguese have posted a record of 6W-0D-2L versus the Turks dating back to 1955. Turkey did win the teams’ most recent meeting, 31, which was a friendly.
However, Portugal and Turkey last played 10 years ago. The result should have no effect on Thursday’s massive WCQ playoff semifinal.
The playoff semifinals are one-legged. This means teams will need to go out and play hard from the start. There no second leg to right any wrongs.
Portugal should come out firing with Ronaldo leading from the front. Ronaldo should power Portugal to a win and progression to the WCQ final. Both teams should get on the scoresheet with Portugal’s strength showing. The teams should combine for over 3.5 goals.