Portugal’s defeat to Serbia last time out was their first at home in World Cup qualifying since 2008
Turkey have never beaten Portugal in a competitive game
Portugal have won five of their last seven matches
Portugal to progress?

With Italy potentially awaiting the winners of this clash, there is a mouth-watering week ahead in World Cup qualifying, and Portugal are highly fancied to get past Turkey.

Fernando Santos’ side were consigned to the play-offs after losing 2-1 to Serbia in November, their first defeat since the European Championships last summer.

But they boast a strong record on home soil, where they have been defeated just twice in 26 games since 2018 (the other loss was to France), winning 12 of the last 16.

Turkey aiming for history

Turkey have not qualified for a World Cup since lighting up the 2002 tournament in Japan and Korea, a miserable record they stand just two wins away from dispelling.

They are right up against it in having to travel to Portugal though, especially as they have not beaten a top-40 ranked nation on their travels since a victory in Sweden in 2018.

Indeed, their recent record against the ‘bigger’ nations is poor, with a 6-1 hammering to the Netherlands following on from Euro 2020 losses to Italy, Wales and Switzerland.

Stefan Kuntz’s side have picked up just four victories in their last 10 games outside of Turkey and they have never beaten Portugal in a competitive international.

You can never write off a team containing Cristiano Ronaldo, so I predict Portugal will win this one, especially as they have such a formidable record on home soil, selecting 3-1 as a correct score prediction.



译文(自动翻译仅供参考):

葡萄牙上次在世界杯预选赛中负于塞尔维亚，这是他们自2008年以来首次在主场参加世界杯预选赛
土耳其从未在正式比赛中击败过葡萄牙
葡萄牙在过去的七场比赛中赢了五场
葡萄牙进步?

意大利队很有可能在等待这场比赛的胜者，接下来的一周，世界杯预选赛将是令人垂涎的一周，而葡萄牙很有可能击败土耳其。

去年11月，费尔南多·桑托斯(Fernando Santos)的球队2-1负于塞尔维亚，这是他们自去年夏天欧洲杯以来的首次失利。

但他们在主场战绩骄人，自2018年以来的26场比赛中，他们只输过两场(另一场输给了法国队)，在过去16场比赛中赢了12场。

土耳其力争创造历史

自2002年韩日世界杯以来，土耳其一直没有获得世界杯参赛资格，这是一个悲惨的记录，他们只差两场胜利就能被淘汰。

然而，他们将不得不前往葡萄牙，尤其是自从2018年在瑞典夺冠后，他们还没有击败过排名前40的国家。

事实上，他们最近对“大”国家的记录很糟糕，在2020年欧洲杯输给意大利、威尔士和瑞士之后，荷兰以6比1击败了他们。

斯特凡·孔茨的球队在土耳其以外的10场比赛中只取得了4场胜利，而且他们从未在国际比赛中击败过葡萄牙。

你永远不能忽视一支拥有克里斯蒂亚诺·罗纳尔多的球队，所以我预测葡萄牙队将赢得这场比赛，特别是他们在主场有着如此令人敬畏的记录，将3-1作为正确的得分预测。