Portugal vs Turkey Preview

Turkey will travel to Porto this Thursday to face Portugal in the semi-final round of the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying playoffs round.

With a squad full of world-class players like the record-breaking Cristiano Ronaldo and Premier League elite centre back Ruben Dias, Portugal were expected to easily win their World Cup qualifier group.

However, what followed was an embarrassing second-place finish behind group leaders Serbia. The 2016 European Championship winners were demoted to this stage of the tournament courtesy of a last-gasp goal in a clash for the top spot with Serbia.

In a dramatic game at the Estádio da Luz (Lisbon), Cristiano Ronaldo and co. took the lead in the second minute through Renato Sanches but the visitors struck back in the 33rd minute through Dušan Tadić before Fulham hitman Aleksandar Mitrovic struck in the 90th-minute goal to send his country to the next round at the expense of Portugal.

As a result, Portugal come into this tie with the hope of appeasing their disappointed fans. Win this game and the next one and they will be able to participate in the November tournament.

Given that they have a wonderful record so far at this stage of the tournament after winning all four previous WCQ playoff legs they have played, they will come into this tie confident.

As for Turkey, they will look to continue their recent run of form when they face Portugal in Porto on Thursday.

They come into this game with three wins from their last three qualifier games, winning over their opponents by an aggregate score of 10-2. They have tasted only one defeat across ten games, although that was not enough for them to qualify automatically as the Netherlands won the group.

But despite beating Montenegro 2-1 in their last group game of this qualifying campaign, the visitors missed out on automatic qualification by just two points.

They will now focus their attention on finding success through this route, but must perform better than they did in their previous meetings with Portugal.

Given that they have lost just one of their last seven WCQ group games and have scored 2+ goals in three of their last four away WCQ games, they will fancy their chances of causing a huge upset in this game.