Portugal are set to take on Turkey in their next Fifa World Cup qualifier at the Estadio do Dragao on Thursday evening with the winners to face either Italy or North Macedonia five days later.
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Portugal come into this game on the back of a 2-1 defeat to Serbia in their most recent game after goals from forward Dusan Tadic and striker Aleksandar Mitrovic sealed the victory over Dragan Stojkovic’s side, while Renato Sanches scored the consolation goal for Portugal.
Turkey, on the other hand, managed to defeat Montenegro 2-1 in their most recent games when goals from winger Muhammed Kerem Akturkoglu and midfielder Orkun Kokcu secured the win for Stefan Kuntz’s outfit after cancelling out striker Fatos Beciraj’s goal which proved to be a consolation goal for Montenegro.
Portugal head coach Fernando Santos: “It’s simple: we need to win, nothing else matters.
“This is the most important challenge I had as Portugal manager. Not the most difficult, the most important. We must be in the World Cup for our people. The tickets were sold out in minutes more than a month ago. Our fans will be a major factor and we can’t let them down.
“We are in this spiral of drama that is not positive for us.
“We lost one game in the last seven games. There were things that didn’t go well, but we just didn’t win a game against Serbia.
“We were very upset about that, but now it’s about taking what was positive and win again. Talent wins games, but a team wins championships. Players know that and they are in the right mindset.”
Turkey head coach Stefan Kuntz: “I would like to say that we will put on a performance that the Turkish people will be proud of, see our determination to win and support with enthusiasm.
“Man-to-man marking is one way to defend Ronaldo, but our plan is more about team defense. We have to prevent the passing to Ronaldo, try to prevent him from staying one-on-one,” Kuntz said on Ronaldo.
In eight head-to-head meetings between the two sides, Portugal have the advantage over Turkey, having won six games and only losing two.
When Portugal and Turkey last did battle back in 2021, Turkey defeated the Portuguese 3-1 through a brace from striker Umut Bolut and an own goal from defender Pepe, while Nani scored the only goal for Portugal.
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Portugal boss Fernando Santos will be without three key players for the game as Manchester City defender Ruben Dias is out injured, while Man City full-back Joao Cancelo is suspended for the game, while experienced FC Porto defender Pepe is soldered due to Covid-19.
Stefan Kuntz has no injuries or suspensions on the cards and will have the likes of Merih Demiral, Caglar Soyuncu, Cengiz Under, Hakan Calhanoglu and Burak Yilmaz fit and ready for the qualifier.
Despite having Cristiano Ronaldo in the squad, Liverpool star Diogo Jota will definitely play a crucial role in attack for Portugal and with his current form of 19 goals in 39 games for the Reds, he could be the difference between the two teams.
Inter Milan midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu has impressed this season in the Series and has chipped in with six goals and nine assists for his club, and he could be a key player to influence the outcome of the match in his side’s favour.