Turkey (20) v Croatia (24) – Group D – 2pm (ITV) – 12.06.16 – Parc de Princes, Paris
After taking just one point from their first three qualifiers the Turks turned things around in impressive style and were unbeaten in 13 matches with 10 wins prior to their warm-up defeat against England.
Since the start of 2014, 16 of Turkey’s 24 matches have had at least three goals and they only failed to score in the opening game of their qualifying campaign. A sign of the progress this squad has made under Fatih Terim, who has the experience of taking Turkey to the semis in 2008 in his last spell in charge of the national side, is that we have them ranked 20th now, up from 54th three years ago, and they’ve won their last five matches against teams ranked within 10 places (either higher or lower) of them. However, most of those wins were against lesser sides than Croatia as Turkey’s ranking was lower at the time than it is now, and this is a really good Croatian side.
Croatia look the better team but Turkey will attack them and while two of the last three meetings between these teams have finished goalless we shouldn’t see a repeat this time. Both teams have scored in Croatia’s last five matches against teams ranked in our top 50 and that looks an excellent bet at 1.95 and preferable to Over 2.5 Goals as three of those games finished 1-1.
Recommendation: Both Teams to Score at 1.95
