TOUGH TURN IN NATIONS LEAGUE: TURKEY AGAINST BELGIUM

The crescent-star team made a quite bad start to the adventure in the tough group. The national team lost 0-1 to France in the first match played in Kocaeli. Then, hosting Italy at home again, Turkey left the pitch with a heavy 1-4 defeat and anchored to the last place without points by getting 0 points in 2 matches. The opponent Belgium made an assertive entrance to the group. Passing Italy 2-0 away in its first match, Belgium lost 0-1 to France at home in its second match. A great balance catches the eye in the historical rivalry between the two teams. In the 11 matches played so far, both teams left the pitch with a victory 3 times, and 5 encounters ended in a draw. In the number of goals, Belgium has 17 goals against Turkey's 18 goals.

The chronological breakdown of all matches played in history between the two countries ranks as follows: Belgium and Turkey drew 1-1 in the friendly match played on December 8, 1957. In the friendly match on October 26, 1958, the parties left the pitch with a 1-1 tie again. Years later, in the match played on August 31, 1996, within the scope of the 1996 World Cup Qualifiers, Turkey beat Belgium 2-1. In the other encounter of the same group, the nationals, who were the guests of their opponent on April 30, 1997, left the pitch with a 3-1 victory. Turkey won the struggle of the two countries, coming face to face on June 19, 2000, in the UEFA Euro 2000 group stage, 2-0. The next appointment took place in the friendly match on April 28, 2004, and Belgium left the pitch victorious 3-2. The preparatory match played on May 24, 2006, ended with a 3-3 draw. Then, the teams, taking place in the same group for the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers, drew 1-1 on September 10, 2008, while Belgium defeated its opponent 2-0 in the rematch played on October 10, 2009. Finally, from the two teams facing each other in the Euro 2012 Qualifiers group stage, Turkey won the match played on September 7, 2010, 3-2; the last official encounter played on June 3, 2011, resulted in a 1-1 draw. In this critical match carrying the quality of breaking the historical tie, Turkey will take the pitch to get its first points in the group. The technical committee spends intense effort to keep the morale of the players high in the tactical training. These tough 90 minutes to be played on Friday evening at 21.45 will directly affect the fate of both countries in the Nations League.

IMAGE: NTV SPOR