Kerem Akturkoglu was the hero for Turkiye as they booked their place at the World Cup with a 1-0 win over Kosovo in Tuesday’s qualification play-off finals.
The Fenerbahce forward scored the winner in the 53rd minute at Stadiumi Fadil Vokrri, ending Turkiye’s 24-year wait to return to the World Cup finals.
Turkiye started on the front foot as Kenan Yildiz, Hakan Calhanoglu and Akturkoglu all got shots off in the opening 15 minutes, but it was Kosovo who went closest in the first half as Fisnik Asllani saw his effort tipped onto the crossbar.
Tensions rose just before the break as Akturkoglu and Albian Hajdari faced off, firing up the home crowd, though they were silenced eight minutes into the second half as Akturkoglu turned Orkun Kokcu’s mishit shot into the bottom-left corner.
Turkiye pushed to add a second and almost did so through Yildiz after the hour mark, but his curling effort was pushed well away by Arijanet Muric in the Kosovo goal.
The hosts absorbed the pressure and gave everything in hopes of taking the match to extra time, but their best chance, which fell the way of Florent Muslija on the edge of the box, flew just wide of the left post as Turkiye booked their trip to North America.
Data Debrief: Guler and Yildiz shine again
There was not much to separate the two sides in the expected goals (xG) battle in the end, with Kosovo producing 1.03 xG from 11 shots to Turkiye’s 1.21 from 12 attempts, with both sides registering two shots on target each.
However, Real Madrid’s Arda Guler and Juventus’ Yildiz were the difference makers.
Yildiz, who played a crucial role in Turkiye’s winner, completed the most dribbles (four) and registered the most touches in the box (10) of any player, while Guler created the most chances (three).
Turkiye will now face the United States, Paraguay and Australia in Group D at the World Cup; the last time Turkiye featured at the finals was in 2002, when they finished third overall.
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