Slovenia vs Turkey: Preview and Prediction

By Aron Wright 

Slovenia vs Turkey:
International Friendly.
Date: Sunday; 5-June-2016;
Kick-off: 19:15 GMT,
Venue: Stadion Stozice (Ljubljana).

Turkey look to maintain their good form when they meet Slovenia in their final warm-up match before Euro 2016, at the Stozice stadium in Ljubljana on Sunday night.

Turkey are coming on the back of some excellent form and their team work and passion are doing wonders for them on the field. They had lost only once in their last 15 fixture and that only loss was against England on 22nd May. Their key players Arda Turan, Nuri Şahin and Burak Yilmaz have all joined the squad since that defeat and they look in perfect share to get another win here.

Slovenia, who missed out on the Euro 2016 after losing the play-offs 3-1 to Ukraine will be aiming for polishing their squad for the World Cup 2018 qualification campaign. But they are coming on the back of some poor form after tasking victory just once in their last five fixtures. Moreover, head-coach Srecko Katanec has a fairly inexperienced squad, but there is plenty of time to close the holes before the next major tournament.

Slovenia vs Turkey: Predicted Line-ups

Slovenia (4-3-3): Belec – Jokic, Struna, Skubic, Mevlja – Kurtic, Krhin, Kampl – Illicic, Beric, Bezjak.

Turkey (4-1-4-1): Babacan – Gonul, Calik, Topal, Erkin – Tufan – Turan, Sahin, Calhanoglu, Sen – Tosun.

Slovenia vs Turkey: Head-to-Head Stats

The teams have met only on one previous occasion prior to Sunday’s fixture. In a friendly on 31 May 2013, Slovenia beat Turkey by 2-0 margin, Milivoje Novakovic and Tim Matavz scoring in either halves of the match.

Slovenia vs Turkey: Prediction

Turkey will be definitely looking to keep their team morale high and as a reason they are expected to go out with a full strength squad. Slovenia might be on a good run, but haven’t fared well against stronger teams since their exit from Euros. Moreover, they are pretty inexperienced and this could well play into the hands of the inform Turkey.

The game is expected to witness goals at either ends and Turkey are strong favorites to come out with a win at the final whistle. My full time score prediction is 2-1 for Turkey and I believe both teams to score is a good bet for this match.