Turkey to sweat in last ‘win-wait’ matches

ISTANBUL

Turkey will host Gibraltar in Istanbul on Nov. 13 and challenge Montenegro in Podgorica on Nov. 16 in the last two matches of Group G, hoping to win both, while waiting for the Netherlands and Norway to lose points to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.

In this group, third-place Turkey with 15 points is competing against second-place Norway, which bagged 17 points so far, and the leader, the Netherlands, which bagged 19 points, for the top spot. 

The match between Turkey and the underdogs Gibraltar will take place in Istanbul’s Başakşehir Fatih Terim Stadium. 

Some 17,000 spectators will support the Turkish national team, with all tickets sold out days ago. 
Visitors Gibraltar lost all their eight matches to bottom Group G. 

Montenegro has 11 points to be fourth in this group.      

Latvia and Gibraltar have already been eliminated.      

“We know it is beyond our power to qualify for the World Cup, but we will fight until the last minute and wait for others to lose,” Turkish national footballer Taylan Antalyalı said at a press conference. 

“We have two matches that we have to win. We want two lopsided victories and want to go to Qatar,” he added.