Turkey vs Czech Republic

Gaziantep Stadyumu is the venue as free-scoring Turkey and the Czech Republic go head-to-head in an international friendly.

Turkey scored on either side of halftime to sink Scotland 2-1 at home a few days ago and snap a two-game winless streak (D1, L1), marking a third consecutive game featuring over 2.5 goals and both teams scoring. Indeed, scoring has been Turkey’s strong suit of late, with Stefan Kuntz’s men netting 2+ goals in seven of their last eight outings, averaging 2.87 goals per match. Since a 3-2 defeat to Italy in March, the ‘Crescent-Stars’ have racked up a four-game unbeaten run on home soil (W3, D1), again bagging at least two goals on each occasion. Turkey’s free-flowing form in the front third bodes well for their bid to arrest an underwhelming run of back-to-back H2H home losses at the hands of the Czech Republic.

In the meantime, the visiting Czech Republic thrashed the lowly Faroe Islands 5-0 at home in midweek, taking an eye-catching 4-0 cushion at halftime, courtesy of Mojmir Chytil’s quick-fire hat-trick. After putting a disastrous four-game losing streak firmly behind them, Jaroslav Silhavy’s men can win consecutive matches for the first time since November 2021. That would be a welcoming morale boost after they crashed out of the World Cup playoffs in the semifinals and suffered relegation to UEFA Nations League Group B earlier this year. However, they have yet to win on foreign soil in 2022, going from successive draws at the start of the year to losing three away fixtures on the spin by an aggregate scoreline of 6-1.