Lithuania vs Turkey

High-flying Turkey take a trip to the LFF stadionas to encounter out-of-sorts Lithuania in a seemingly winnable UEFA Nations League fixture.

An underwhelming 2-0 loss to Luxembourg last time out made it three successive League C opening matchday defeats for perennial Nations League strugglers Lithuania. Back at home, the Lithuanians will aim to arrest a dismal three-match winless home streak (D1, L2), with both defeats in that sequence coming by 2+ goals ‘to nil.’ However, an abysmal return of 12 reverses from their last 15 international outings (W2, D1) suggests they’ll have to work their socks off to bounce back. They’ll have to pull it off, though, if they are to better a third-place finish from the last Nations League edition. Without a clean sheet in 19 internationals spanning back to October 2020, they already look like a doomed outfit here.

On the other hand, Turkey put the Faroe Islands to the sword in their Group 1 curtain-raiser, picking up an overwhelming 4-0 victory to halt a run of consecutive high-scoring defeats. Since drawing 1-1 with Norway in October 2021, none of Turkey’s last six internationals have ended level (W4, L2). But that does not necessarily take the drama away from this fixture, as 67% of those results (win/loss) yielded a single-goal margin. Seeking another emphatic triumph following the abovementioned dismantling of the Faroe Islands, the Turks are going after a third clean sheet in 12 Nations League matches.