Football Previews
Australia under 20’s meet the hosts, Turkey under 20’s this Friday evening at the Hüseyin Avni Aker Stadium in Group C where all four teams still have a chance of qualifying.
Australia drew 1:1 with Colombia in their opening match before suffering a shock 2:1 defeat at the hands of El Salvador. Turkey defeated El Salvador 3:0 in their opening match and were unfortunate to lose 1:0 in their latest outing against Colombia.
This is a must win match for Australia if they are to qualify for the knockout stages and while a loss for Turkey will not be disastrous, a win will almost certainly ensure they will progress to the knockout stages of the FIFA Under 20 World Cup.
Recent form:
Australia U20 – L D L L L L L
Turkey U20 – L W L D W W W
Australia haven’t won a game in seven, Turkey have won four of their last seven.
Group C looks like this:
Colombia play El Salvador at the same time and are currently 1/5 favourites with bookmakers so we can assume that Colombia will be the winners of Group C.
Turkey and Australia will be fighting for second spot unless El Salvador can cause a massive upset in the other game.
If Turkey draw with Australia and Colombia draw with El Salvador, goal difference will come into play and Turkey currently have a four goal cushion over El Salvador.
These two sides haven’t met at under 20 level in recent years so there is no history to go on.
Bookmakers side strongly with Turkey.
Current betting odds: Australia U20 (11/2) Draw (16/5) Turkey U20 (1/2)
Gamingtips Prediction – Australia U20 1:3 Turkey U20
Turkey have looked strong defensively so far in the tournament (conceded 1 goal in their first 2 matches) and although Australia suffered a shock defeat against El Salvador, they may have more to offer if they can be forgiven for that performance.
Although Turkey should win on paper, there have been quite a few upsets so far in this tournament and odds of 1/2 aren’t inspiring from a betting angle.
Some punters will side with Australia based on the fact that they managed to draw against Colombia while Turkey suffered a loss against the aforementioned team. Australia haven’t won a competitive game since 2012 so it’s very difficult to side with them based on this fact.
Over 3.5 goals offers value to punters at odds of 13/8.
This game gets underway at 19:00 CET and can be viewed live on Eurosport.
Alternatively you can keep up to date at the bottom of our livescores page
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