Group F Takes The Field: Turkey vs Georgia, Portugal vs Czechia

Euro 2024 Group F is a hard-fighting bunch who will pull no punches on the field and hold nothing back, focusing their sights on getting all the way to the final match and snatching the championship. 

Euro 2024 Group F will be facing off in the tenth and eleventh matches of the tournament. Those matches will be the first glimpse of the strategies each team will deploy to ensure victory and advancement in each round. But not all of them will make it. The suspense is nail-biting already. 

Which teams will make it to the next round? It depends not only on the success of their strategy but equally on the success or failure of their opponents’ strategies and how they clash. Join us now for an insider look at all the competitors’ records and the key players and strategies you will see in action on the field. 

EURO 2024 Group F Match Day 1: Introduction

The four national teams representing their countries in Group F are Czechia, Georgia, Portugal, and Turkey. 

Turkey’s national team last competed in the Euros in 2020, whereas Georgia will be making its debut, participating in the tournament for the very first time. Turkey’s last best showing was when they made it to the semi-finals in 2008. Georgia has no track record, so whatever happens will surely make history!

Czechia and Portugal both enter the match as previous winners of the competition. Portugal won against France in a surprise upset back in 2016, and it is not out of the question that they could do it again. Czechia was the winner nearly fifty years ago, in 1976, and could be due for another chance at the trophy. 

The victor of the Group F matches will advance to play the third-placed team of Group A, B, or C. The runner-up will advance to a match with the winner of Group D. The third-place team in Group F might go on to play the winner of Group B or C. Let’s go check out which teams have the best and worst chances of living to play another day. 

Turkey Vs. Georgia

Turkey vs Georgia: Euro 2024 will be Turkey’s third consecutive qualification, having missed 2012 after their competition-best showing in 2008. They almost didn’t make it this time after a draw with Algeria. But after replacing coach Stefan Kuntz with Vincenzo Montella, Turkey rallied to a qualifying bid, creating a sense of excitement around the team. 

Montella is the first foreign coach to lead the team to qualification, with help from star players like Kerem Aktürkoğlu, Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Ferdi Kadıoğlu.

Georgia will play their cards in a Euro match for the very first time, an unlikely and unexpected addition to the roster. Their best weapon is their strong spirit, finally qualifying after fifteen attempts since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Encouraged by manager Willy Sagnol, the team’s strongest players could pull off some surprising moves. 

One player showing talent is Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who has been the highest scorer of their historic ascension to Euro 2024 qualification, with four goals scored across the qualifying matches. He will be backed up by Giorgi Chakvetadze and Guram Kashia.

While Turkey is expected to emerge victorious in this match-up, Georgia has shown some raw talent and could pull off an upset, as they did with Luxembourg and Greece in the qualifying rounds. 

Portugal Vs. Czechia

Portugal vs Czechia: Portugal is the team tipped to take the crown in Group F and Czechia will have to really rally to overturn the outcome. 

Portugal rides into Group F without a clear challenger and following a strong run, having won all ten games of their qualifying match-ups. After their disappointing loss at the 2022 World Cup, knocked out in the quarter-finals by Morocco, the team replaced coach Fernando Santos with Roberto Martinez. However, it remains to be seen if Martinez can deliver in a major tournament like Euro 2024.

Czechia won’t go down easy, that’s for sure. However, the team has been marked by turmoil all the way up until seven months before the start of this year’s tournament, when returning manager Ivan Rasek agreed to take over. Since then, team play has been inconsistent. Their highest hopes lay most on just placing somewhere in Group F amongst the more formidable contenders. 

Players Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, and Bernardo Silva will be in charge of Portugal. At the same time, Czechia looks to Matej Jurásek, Patrik Schick, and Tomás Soucek to give it their best shot. 

Portugal is expected to claim victory in this match with very little challenge. 

Unraveling The Underdogs

Georgia’s national team is the undisputed underdogs in Euro 2024 Group F. With no track record to point to, how they will play, or place are both tough calls to make.

Georgia is expected to face a lack of possession and will have to match it with speed. Manager Willy Sagnol will probably head into their historic first Euro match utilizing a 3-5-2 formation. He has used it in the past six matches and has helped Georgia win sixteen of the thirty three matches they have played under his guidance.

Czechia is more of a wild card than an underdog, given their somewhat weak performances in qualifying matches. They are hoping, at best, to capture third place in Group F, giving them another opportunity to advance, perhaps with a more evenly-matched opponent from Group B or C. However, it could turn out to be a strong contender, like England or Spain.

In their contests with both Turkey and Portugal, Czechia is expected to implement a back-three strategy while being forced to rely on inexperienced goalkeepers. 

Both the underdog and the wild cards’ best chances of advancing is if one or the other can finish ahead of Turkey or at least each other to take runner-up or third place. It’s not entirely out of the question that they both could place behind Portugal and take Turkey out of the running altogether. 

Key Players To Watch

Each team will put their best players first, giving Group F matches the potential to showcase exciting faceoffs, pitting players who have plenty to prove against players who have no reason to doubt themselves. 

The key player to watch on the Georgia team is Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, the top Golden Boot contender. He has just two goals behind his tally for last year, and he is expected to surpass that count handily. He will be flanked by Giorgi Chakvetadze, who is considered a counterattack threat and likes to play short passes, and Guram Kashia, who will cover the long balls and whose biggest strength is tackling. 

They will be pitted against Turkey’s leading players, Kerem Aktürkoğlu, Hakan Çalhanoğlu and Ferdi Kadıoğlu. Aktürkoğlu is primarily a winger who just this year surpassed his previous goal record of eleven in the 2021/22 season. Çalhanoğlu is the team’s top tackler. Look out for him – he’s on his fifth yellow card already! Meanwhile, defender and midfielder Kadıoğlu will bring his strengths in dribbling and passing to the field. 

Portugal has three strong players: Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, and Bernardo Silva. Ronaldo scored the second most goals on his team in qualifying, averaging a goal every 4.7 shots. Three of those goals came from penalties, and he scored in six of the nine qualifying matches. Truly a force to be reckoned with. He will be backed up by Fernandes, an attacking midfielder who scored six goals in qualifying, and Silva, whose playing style is often described as ‘dynamic.’

Czechia will try to counter with its best players, Matej Jurásek, Patrik Schick, and Tomás Soucek. Jurasek is the one to watch. The youngest player on the team, his specialty is corners, and he has four goals across sixteen games playing for Slavia Prague this season. Schick is the team’s top contender for the Euro 2024 Golden Boot. Many say that Soucek, their top tackler, is the team’s great hope for any kind of victory in Group F. 

Conclusion: A Race For Second Place

Portugal is considered the front-runner for dominance in Group F, and the buzz is that it could even come down to a Portugal-France 2016 rematch in the end. Still, Portugal could face stiff competition from England if they wind up the champions of Group F, as they are widely expected to be.

Thus, it comes down to a race between the three remaining teams to secure another chance at advancing. Turkey still has to come back from their lackluster showing at the last Euro competition in 2020. Georgia is poised to be the little team that could. Czechia will have to be feisty and catch a few breaks to stay on the board. 

All in all, Euro 2024 Group F is a contest of rivalries and wills that you are going to have to see to believe and will surely not come up short in its fair share of twists and turns!