Turkey enters the World Cup as favorites in their opening match against Australia, aiming to secure three key points. After a 24-year absence, Vincenzo Montella's squad arrives with strong form, winning seven of their last eight games. Despite fitness doubts over Kenan Yıldız and Ferdi Kadıoğlu, Turkey's polished midfield and exciting young core are poised to break through Australia's defensive, low-block strategy. Australia's gritty qualification and recent struggles in front of goal make them the underdogs in this Group D showdown in Vancouver.
Turkey enter as the favorites in their opening World Cup game, and we're backing them to secure three key points. Turkey’s World Cup return after a 24-year absence comes with the “dark horse” label, and they’ll look to make a winning start when they take on Australia in Vancouver on Saturday night.
Building on a solid effort at Euro 2024 and consistent form this year, Vincenzo Montella’s men arrive at this tournament with a shot at topping Group D, and myTurkey’s exciting young core enters Group D action on the heels of seven victories in their past eight games, and they could be a sneaky team to advance in your, Vincenzo Montella’s men are worthy favourites on Saturday night — despite fitness doubts over Kenan Yildiz and Ferdi Kadıoglu — and That Turkish spark is in contrast to Australia’s blunt attack outside of exciting young gun Nestory Irankunda.
The Aussies qualified with gritty wins over Japan and Saudi Arabia, but they’ve only won two of their last seven games , and were shut out in three of those outings. Their stubborn, defensive approach under Tony Popovic — who signed an extension as Socceroos boss this week — can only hold up for so long against Turkey’s more polished midfield, led by clever interchanges between Guler and Hakan Calhanoglu.
If Yildiz is fit enough to feature here, Montella will have even more cards to play to unlock a cagey matchup, and performances in qualifying suggest this Turkish squad brings a calmer demeanour than previous versions.more than one goal in one of the last eight outings , and their 1-0 loss to Mexico in a pre-tournament friendly could be indicative of what we see at the weekend, with Australia finishing with just 40% of the possession that day. That puts the onus on Turkey to find a way through Australia’s defensive block, which will regularly shift into a 5-4-1 shape to slow the tempo.
The potential absences of Yildiz and Ferdi Kadıoglu would also limit some of the Turkish swagger down the left wing, meaning Montella’s men may see plenty of the ball without making major inroads. I’m still wagering on Guler and the Turkish attack to find a way through, but there won’t be much room to operate around the Aussie box — and Turkey scraped 1-0 wins in both of their playoff games to qualify for the World Cup.
: Our team of experts has thoroughly researched and handpicked each product that appears on our website. We may receive compensation if you sign up through our links. Tom Oldfield’s sports writing journey over the past 20 years has taken him from the Premier League and Champions League to the NFL, NBA, WNBA and MLB, with a wide range of articles and betting previews. Tom has worked closely with London’s Sportsbeat sports news agency as well as covering the Toronto Raptors’ 2019 NBA championship run, and he has appeared on BBC World Service and The Back Page podcast. A graduate of the University of Nottingham in the UK, he is the author of biographies on Cristiano Ronaldo, Rafael Nadal, Gary Neville and Cesc Fabregas, and he co-authors a long-running series of children’s soccer books with his brother, Matt.
As a regular bettor across the top sports leagues, particularly with FanDuel and bet365, he is well versed on all the major markets and the next big game is rarely far from his thoughts. The best betting advice he has received is to monitor multiple sportsbooks to grab the best possible value. Vinicius Junior Odds & Player Props for the 2026 World CupBrazil vs Morocco Predictions, Picks & Odds — Saturday, June 13 World Cup Match
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