Turkey welcome Scotland to Diyarbakir Stadium, Diyarbaki, in an international friendly.
Whilst Turkey have a friendly against Czech Republic to come on Saturday 19 November, this match is the final game of 2022 for Steve Clarke’s Tartan Army ahead of UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers commencing in March.
Team News
Turkey have no fresh injury concerns to report with Leicester defender, Caglar Soyuncu amongst those called up.
Scotland will be without Nathan Patterson, Kenny McLean and Che Adams after the trio all withdrew from the squad.
Calvin Ramsay is in line for his first senior appearance after being called up for this month’s squad despite limited game time for Liverpool due to injury.
When Is Turkey vs Scotland?
Turkey will host Scotland in an international friendly on Wednesday 16 November, with kick-off at 5pm GMT UK Time.
Stat Attack
- Turkey won their only previous meeting against Scotland in all competitions, prevailing 4-2 in an international friendly in June 1960.
- Scotland lost their only previous visit to Turkey in all competitions (L1), which came in their defeat in June 1960.
- Turkey scored first in their only previous meeting against Scotland.
- Cengiz Under has scored in three of his four appearances at home for Turkey this year (W2, D1, L1).
- John McGinn has scored in two of Scotland’s four away matches in 2022, albeit their away clash against Ukraine was played on neutral territory in Poland due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Prediction
Despite possessing a high-quality squad, Turkey have been defensively inconsistent with four clean sheets out of a possible eight so I expect to see them focus on tidying up their defensive play because their attacking play is superb with 39 goals in their last 16 matches.
Scotland meanwhile have made strong improvements this season with a series of dominant performances even if their end product has often been their weakest aspect, yet this is now a chance to test themselves ahead of a difficult Euro 2024 Qualifying group against Spain and Norway.
Either way, this won’t be an easy game for both teams because Turkey’s defence can easily be vulnerable against attacking teams, whilst Scotland’s main issue at present is their end product despite delivering excellent performances to win promotion to UEFA Nations League A this year.
A draw therefore is my gut instinct but I wouldn’t be surprised if Turkey’s attacking quality is the difference.
Prediction: Turkey 1-1 Scotland
Result: Turkey 2-1 Scotland
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