ISTANBUL
Turkey will have home advantage when the Crescent Stars play the Czech Republic in their UEFA Euro 2016 Group A qualifier on Friday.
The game will kick-off in Fenerbahce's home ground of Sukru Saracoglu Stadium at 20.45 CET (1945 GMT).
Turkey is struggling to recover from a shock 3-0 defeat to Iceland away while the Czech Republic is buoyant after a 2-1 win against the Netherlands thanks to a late goal in Prague.
In other Group A matches, the Netherlands will host Kazakhstan in Amsterdam while Iceland face Latvia in Riga.
Friday’s game in Istanbul will be refereed by Swedish official Jonas Eriksson.
- Before matchday two, Group A standings are as follows:
|
Teams
|
P
|
W
|
D
|
L
|
GF
|
GA
|
Pts
|
|
1- Iceland
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
3
|
|
2- Czech Republic
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
|
3- Kazakhstan
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
|
4- Latvia
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
|
5- Netherlands
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
0
|
|
6- Turkey
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
0
|
Before their matches against the Czech Republic and Latvia, Turkey had been tussling with injury problems.
Absentees included Bayer Leverkusen center-back Omer Toprak and attacking midfielder Hakan Calhanonglu, Fenerbahce goalkeeper Volkan Demirel, Galatasaray striker Burak Yilmaz, Besiktas forward Mustafa Pektemek and Schalke 04 defender Kaan Ayhan.
In place of these, Fehmi Mert Gunok, Adem Buyuk, Muhammet Demir and Hamit Altintop were called in.
- Turkey squad is as follows:
Goalkeepers: Tolga Zengin (Besiktas); Fehmi Mert Gunok (Fenerbahce); Volkan Babacan (Istanbul Basaksehir)
Defenders: Osman Tarik Camdal, Semih Kaya (Galatasaray); Gokhan Gonul, Caner Erkin (Fenerbahce); Ersan Adem Gulum, Ismail Koybasi (Besiktas); Umit Kurt (Sivasspor)
Midfielders: Selcuk Inan, Olcan Adin, Hamit Altintop (Galatasaray); Bilal Kisa, Guray Vural (Akhisar Belediyespor); Oguzhan Ozyakup, Olcay Sahan, Gokhan Tore (Besiktas); Mehmet Topal (Fenerbahce); Ozan Tufan (Bursaspor); Arda Turan (Atletico Madrid)
Forwards: Umut Bulut (Galatasaray); Adem Buyuk (Kasimpasa); Muhammet Demirci (Gaziantepspor)
- The Czech Republic squad is as follows:
Goalkeepers: Petr Cech (Chelsea); Tomas Vaclik (Basilej); David Bicik (Sparta Prague)
Defenders: Tomas Sivok (Besiktas); Pavel Kaderabek (Sparta Prague); Radim Reznik (Viktoria Plzen); Michal Kadlec (Fenerbahce); Marek Suchy (Basilej); David Limbersky, Vaclav Prochazka (Viktoria Plzen); Daniel Pudil (Watford)
Midfielders: Vladimir Darida (Freiburg); Jaooslav Plasil (Bordeaux); Ladislav Krejci, Borek Dockal, Lukas Vacha (Sparta Prague); Daniel Kolar, Vaclav Pilar (Viktoria Plzen); Josef Sural (Slovan Liberec); Tomas Rosicky (Arsenal)
Forwards: David Lafata (Sparta Prague); Tomas Necid (PEC Zwolle); Matej Vydra (Watford)
www.aa.com.tr/en
