Craig Bellamy has made a strong start to life as Wales manager and his charges will travel to Turkey for a high-stakes game with some confidence after a good recent run, writes WILLIAM KEDJANYI.
They travel to Turkey knowing they likely need to win if they are to win their Nations League group, with a draw leaving them needing to beat Iceland and see Turkey lose to Montenegro in the final round of fixtures, whilst the hosts will seal automatic promotion to League A with a victory here.
Bellamy made his managerial debut against the Turks when the pair met in Cardiff, where Wales impressed with their style and attacking patterns given how little time Bellamy had with the group, and they made a swift start against Montenegro before seeing out the game stoutly.
That they couldn’t see out the game against Iceland will have hurt, but in general, it’s been a strong start, with Bellamy benefitting from the excellent form of Harry Wilson – who became the first national men’s team player since Gareth Bale at Euro 2016 to score in three consecutive games – and Brennan Johnson, enjoying a strong season at Spurs in particular during this run.
⭐ TURKEY V WALES STARSPORTS.BET MARKETS ⭐
Turkey v Wales
UEFA Nations League Group Stage
Kadir Has Stadium,
17:00 S4C / BBC iPlayer
LAST FIVE STATS
HEAD-TO-HEAD
SEP 2024 NATIONS LEAGUE Wales 0-0 Turkey
NOV 2023 EURO 2024 QUALIFYING Wales 1-1 Turkey
JUN 2023 EURO 2024 QUALIFYING Turkey 2-0 Wales
JUN 2021 EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS Turkey 0-2 Wales
TURKEY
OCT 2024 NATIONS LEAGUE Iceland 2-4 Turkey
OCT 2024 NATIONS LEAGUE Turkey 1-0 Montenegro
SEP 2024 NATIONS LEAGUE Turkey 3-1 Iceland
SEP 2024 NATIONS LEAGUE Wales 0-0 Turkey
JUL 2024 EURO 2024 Netherlands 2-1 Turkey
WALES
OCT 2024 NATIONS LEAGUE Wales 1-0 Montenegro
OCT 2024 NATIONS LEAGUE Iceland 2-2 Wales
SEP 2024 NATIONS LEAGUE Montenegro 1-2 Wales
SEP 2024 NATIONS LEAGUE Wales 0-0 Turkey
JUN 2024 INTERNATIONAL FRIENDLY Slovakia 4-0 Wales
⭐ STARSPORTS.BET NATIONS LEAGUE MARKETS ⭐
Turkey have enjoyed a solid Nations League campaign after a good showing at Euro 2024, and they’ve also won all three of their games since the stalemate in Cardiff, so their position as favourites for the home leg is understandable.
Tonight’s hosts did go down to ten men during the reverse game – the Turks lost Baris Alper Yimaz to a 62nd-minute red card, and held out against a Welsh onslaught – so the hosts would hope for better, although they were on the back foot before then and do have some defensive concerns.
Turkey will be without defensive trio Ferdi Kadioglu, Caglar Soyuncu and Ozan Kabak due to injury and their only recent clean sheets have come against Montenegro and Wales, who had a goal disallowed and were unlucky not to score. The absence of striker Kieffer Moore is a blow for the Welsh but with Wilson and Johnson in fine fettle they pack a scoring punch and the 17/20 on both teams scoring with starsports.bet looks the way to play this game.
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(NOV 2024): PROFIT/LOSS: +33.53 POINTS
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