Kosovo vs Turkey
World Cup Qualifiers – Europe (Group I)
Date: Sunday, 11th June 2017
Kick-off at 19:45 UK / 20:45 CET
Venue: Loro-Borici Stadium, Shkoder.
Kosovo :
Since January 2014, the Kosovar football team has been allowed to play FIFA games, but only in 2016 they joined the global football federation, making it Kosovo’s first qualifying tournament. The country still serves as “pelotonfulling” as they would say in cycling. The Kosovars have won one point in the poule, which was against Finland, which also lost all other matches.
The national selection is not a complete alien’s legacy. For the Dutch, Bersant Celina is a famous name. The Manchester City youth attacker played the past season for FC Twente. The same goes for Milot Rashica, which is a fixed value with Vitesse, and Arber Zeneli, who comes out for SC Heerenveen. The first meeting between both countries was won by 2-0 by Turkey. In the first half, Albert Bunjaki’s team kept tight in the back, but shortly after, Turkey decided the match.
Ujkani; Perdedaj, Rrahmani, Pnishi, Kololli; Shala, B. Berisha, Kryeziu; Rashica, Nuhiu, V. Berisha
Turkey:
Turkey is well-known that they often need overtaking to place themselves for a final tournament. Also in the World Cup qualification, the start of Turkey was difficult. The Turks came back from Croatia (1-1) and Ukraine (2-2), but went back to Iceland. Fatih Terim’s team could not afford to miss “little ones” Kosovo and Finland. Both duels were won by 2-0, leaving the Moon stars back in battle for place two. Croatia seems to be ahead with five points and no more quality.
Turkey did not feel calm in preparation for the qualifying fuel with Kosovo. Monday they practiced against Macedonia, but the team did not make any impression. It was not scored, but the 11-3 draw was significant. On a flight from Macedonia to Italy, star player Arda Türan failed to verbally and physically attack a journalist. Coach Terim found this inadmissible and dropped Türan from the selection. The midfielder did not announce the end of his international career much later.
The fact that Türan is no longer available for Turkey is an understatement. The Turkish team does not have many players playing on the highest stage weekly. Yunus Malli is a fixed value at VfL Wolfsburg and Enes Ünal recently worked for more than 12 million euros to Villarreal. In addition, Emre Mor is a great talent, but he has to earn his place at Borussia Dortmund. Hakan Calhanoglu is usually a base plant at Bayer Leverkusen, just like Ömar Toprak, but Calhanoglu has not played a contest since January and is missing Sunday.
Kosovo vs Turkey: Head-to-head
The two sides met twice so far. In their first clash within a friendly international match back in 2014, Turkey netted 6 goals while Kosovo scored only once. In November’s reverse, Turkey also beat Kosovo with 2-0 through Yilmaz and Sen.
Kosovo vs Turkey: Prediction
Kosovo have nothing to look for in this qualification, while on the other hand, Turkey are a regular participant of major international tournaments, so a failure to qualify will won’t be welcomed. Turkey also prepared for the upcoming match with two friendly international matches – they beat Moldova 3-1 while only drawing FYR Macedonia in a goalless stalemate. However, it would be a surprise if Turkey failed to grab three points in the upcoming match, especially with the boosted morale after the last two fixtures.
