1.
6:04 p.m
Let’s go! Referee François Letexier releases the game equipment. Turkey is in red, while Romania is in yellow.
1.
6:03 p.m
Game start
5:48 p.m
Everything is set for an exciting semi-final. The question remains who will take the decisive step towards the World Cup. The ball starts rolling from 6:00 p.m.!
5:43 p.m
Montella emphasized in advance: “It’s a very, very important game for us. We have to play a complete game and be prepared for every situation.” On the other hand, veteran Lucescu, the world’s oldest national coach at 80, is combative: “I don’t want to run away like a coward.”
5:40 p.m
The focus on the Romanian side is players like Radu Drăgușin, Dennis Man and captain Ianis Hagi. Turkey, on the other hand, is holding its own with illustrious names like Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Arda Güler and Kenan Yıldız, who want to lead their country to its first World Cup participation in 24 years. Meanwhile, Romania is dreaming of its first finals appearance since 1998.
5:37 p.m
Romania also qualified for the knockout phase with 13 points, but played two more games in a group of five and finished third behind Austria and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Coach Mircea Lucescu’s team is difficult to assess. A 7-1 win against San Marino was offset by a 1-3 defeat in Bosnia, and a 1-0 win against Austria also set an exclamation mark in qualifying.
5:31 p.m
However, a look at the recent past shows that the last direct duel against Romania was lost, albeit in 2017. Overall, the balance of the last five meetings speaks slightly in favor of the guests, but this only has limited meaning for today’s game.
5:25 p.m
For both teams it is about getting into the final qualifying duel, where the winner of the duel between Slovakia and Kosovo awaits. Turkey is going into this encounter with a lot of tailwind. Although Vincenzo Montella’s team had to settle for second place behind Spain in the group phase, they showed very strong performances overall. The clear wins against Bulgaria (2:0, 6:1) and Georgia (4:1) as well as the respectable 2:2 in the second leg against Spain underline the good form. With the home advantage behind them, the role of favorites is clearly distributed, but at the same time the pressure of an entire nation rests on the shoulders of the players.
5:15 p.m
On the other hand, Mircea Lucescu also made a lot of changes after the 7-1 win against San Marino at the end of the group phase and sent the supposed first guard onto the pitch. Only the full-backs Ratiu and Bancu, Dragomir in central midfield, as well as Man and Bîrligea in the attacking three-man line of a 4-4-3 formation remain in the starting line-up.
5:08 p.m
Compared to the recent 2-2 draw in Spain at the end of the group phase at the end of November, Vincenzo Montella changed his starting eleven in almost all positions and moved back to the supposed starting eleven. Only Akaydın and Kadıoğlu remain in the first eleven of a 4-2-3-1 formation. Fenerbahçe and Galatasaray have the most starting eleven players with three players each. Çalhanoğlu leads the team onto the field as captain.
5:00 p.m
Hello and a very warm welcome to the playoff semi-finals of the World Cup qualification! Turkey will face Romania at Tüpraş Stadyumu at 6 p.m. The game will be officiated by French referee François Letexier.
