On Thursday night, Turkey and Hungary go head-to-head in Group B3 of the Nations League, as the pair look to make an impact on this year’s competition.
In normal circumstances, Turkey would have already have competed at the last European Championships. However, due to the tournament being delayed until 2021, they will have some extra time to prepare for the competition.
The home team qualified for Euro 2021 by finishing second in a group that also contained group winners France and Iceland among others. The Nations League could be seen as good preparation for next summers big competition.
In truth, Turkey struggled in the inaugural group stage of the Nations League in 2018, as they won just one of their four games, suffering three defeats in the process.
A leaky defence was a big problem for the visitors in that maiden group stage, as they conceded at least twice in three of the four games in their group. However, of course, Turkey’s form has improved since then and qualifying for the European Championships will boost confidence amongst their squad and fans.
Hungary will play against Bulgaria in the Euro 2021 play-offs in October, despite finishing fourth in their qualifying group. However, their performance in the 2018 Nations League was enough to take the visitors to the play-offs.
They won three of their six group games to finish second behind group winners Finland. An eye for goal was the key ingredient to relative success for Hungary, as they scored at least twice in four of their last five games in the Nations League.
Hungary’s international form has taken a turn for the worse since the last Nations League, as they have now suffered defeats in five of their previous six international matches.
Sigér Dávid: "Minden mérkőzésen, így a törökök és az oroszok ellen is a győzelem a legfőbb cél, de most az is fontos, hogy minél többet gyakoroljuk azt a taktikát, amit kitaláltunk, és szeretnénk megvalósítani a bolgárok elleni Eb-pótselejtezőn is".#csakegyutt #magyarok pic.twitter.com/6lZrAPkjig— MLSZ (@MLSZhivatalos) August 31, 2020
Sigér Dávid: "Minden mérkőzésen, így a törökök és az oroszok ellen is a győzelem a legfőbb cél, de most az is fontos, hogy minél többet gyakoroljuk azt a taktikát, amit kitaláltunk, és szeretnénk megvalósítani a bolgárok elleni Eb-pótselejtezőn is".#csakegyutt #magyarok pic.twitter.com/6lZrAPkjig
Forebet predicts that this game will be a close encounter resulting in a low-scoring draw.