Turkey vs Georgia Prediction: Tricky encounter to look forward to in Group F

In the ongoing Euro 2024, Group F openers will begin with Turkey taking on Georgia in Dortmund at the Signal Iduna Park. Heading into this game, the bookmakers have Turkey pegged as possible favorites. However, with Georgia coming off consecutive victories, can we see the Crusaders shock Europe?

Turkey have a big job to do when they take on Georgia in the opener of their 2024 Euro tournament. Ahead of this Tuesday's match, we have not witnessed Turkey display quality performance in recent times, considering this will be the fifth match this team will play without securing a win. 

Looking at their qualification stage, Turkey surprisingly finished top of Group D with 17 points from a possible 24, scoring 14 goals and conceding seven times. In fact, they finished top of the 2018 World Cup final side, Croatia, which ended the group with 16 points, a surprising one. However, this team has lost to Austria, Poland, and Hungary in recent encounters, while their best results were drawn against Wales and Italy. In those five games, Turkey conceded a whopping total number of ten goals while netting just three times. However, it is worth noting that Turkey went on to win three consecutive games before those results, a run in which they defeated Croatia, Latvia, and Germany.

This encounter will make it the sixth time Turkey will take on Georgia. In their previous encounters, Turkey were victorious three times, with a 3-1 success being the last result of their previous meeting in an international friendly back in May 2012.

Georgia could be one of the surprising sides in this Euro 2024, and they definitely boast of a squad that can do the impossible. While the most influential name in this team is Napoli star man, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, we have also seen a lot of players step up for this Georgia side in their previous games. 

In the qualifier of this competition, Georgia finished 4th in Group A with just 8 points and then needed wins over Luxembourg and Greece to make it to this big stage. While this will be their first ever major tournament they will participate, this side will look forward to delivering quality performance. 

Heading into this opener, Georgia defeated Montenegro 1-3 in what was a friendly encounter, which is expected to be a momentum boost for this side in this game. While the Crusaders have suffered just one loss in their last seven games while recording five wins, we look forward to seeing them play their best football in this game as they take on the big stage in football. 

Turkey Possible Starting Lineup:

Gunok; Ayhan, Demiral, Bardakci, Kadioglu; Ozcan, Calhanoglu; Guler, Yildiz, Akturkoglu; Yilmaz

Georgia Possible Starting Lineup:

Mamardashvili; Kverkvelia, Kashia, Dvali; Kakabadze, Kiteishvili, Kochorashvili, Shengelia, Chakvetadze; Kvaratskhelia, Mikautadze

These two teams have a lot to prove, as this game is definitely expected to be a hot one. Georgia did have a fine form into this encounter, but their record in this fixture has not been too impressive. On the other hand, we have seen the best of Turkey in the past, and despite their poor performances in recent times, it is undeniably difficult to write them off.

This should be an intensely fierce encounter, but Turkey have more quality in their squad, which could be the difference. Therefore, with little chance for Georgia in this game, I am on Turkey to take maximum points in a game that could end with few goals.