The Turkey national football team will face its toughest test yet in the World Cup 2022 qualifiers as it takes on a resurgent Dutch side in Amsterdam on Tuesday.
The Crescent-Stars had made a great start to its qualifying campaign. It defeated the Netherlands 4-2 in the opening qualifier tie in Istanbul, before beating Norway 3-0 in Spain, before being held to a 3-3 draw by Latvia.
Turkey then had a disastrous Euro 2020 campaign, which exposed certain weaknesses in Şenol Güneş’s young side.
Güneş’s men were hoping to put the European nightmare behind as they returned to international football with another qualifier tie against minnow Montenegro last week.
Turkey was well on its way to a comfortable 2-1 win, but a goal deep into the extra-time for Montenegro meant it had to settle for a 2-2 stalemate, losing two crucial points.
Though it picked up a 3-0 win over Gibraltar in the next match, Turkey’s performance was anywhere near convincing.
The Netherlands, on the other hand, put four past Montenegro in its last match.
With five wins and two draws, Turkey currently leads Group G with 11 points. It is followed by the Netherlands and Norway with 10 points each.
The Dutch will be looking for a win since it will put them on top with 13 points.
The Group G match at the Johan Cruijff Arena will be live on state broadcaster TRT 1 at 9:45 p.m. (1845 GMT).
Goalkeeper: Mert Günok (Beşiktaş), Uğurcan Çakır (Trabzonspor), Altay Bayındır (Fenerbahçe)
Defenders: Zeki Çelik (Lille), Mert Müldür, Kaan Ayhan (Sassuolo), Çağlar Söyüncü (Leicester City), Merih Demiral (Atalanta), Ozan Kabak (Norwich City), Rıdvan Yılmaz (Beşiktaş), Alpaslan Öztürk (Galatasaray), Abdülkerim Bardakcı (Konyaspor)
Midfielders: Okay Yokuşlu (Celta Vigo), Taylan Antalyalı, Kerem Aktürkoğlu (Galatasaray), Orkun Kökçü (Feyenoord), Yusuf Yazıcı (Lille), Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Inter), Ozan Tufan (Watford), Salih Uçan (Beşiktaş), Cengiz Ünder (Olympique Marseille), Efecan Karaca (Alanyaspor)
Forwards: Burak Yılmaz (Lille), Enes Ünal (Getafe), Kenan Karaman (Beşiktaş), Halil Dervişoğlu (Galatasaray)
