Türkiye to face Hungary in friendly ahead of Euro 2024

BUDAPEST

Türkiye's national football team is gearing up for a friendly match against Hungary set to take place at the Puskas Arena in Budapest today.

Injuries have forced Türkiye to shuffle their lineup, with Fenerbahçe stars Cengiz Ünder and Ferdi Kadıoğlu being sidelined from the candidate squad. In their place, left-back Rıdvan Yılmaz from Glasgow Rangers and Alanyaspor's winger Oğuz Aydın have been drafted into the team.

Türkiye's squad boasts several young players who are making their debut appearances on the national stage. Semih Kılıçsoy, Can Uzun, Ahmetcan Kaplan and Muhammed Şengezer have all been called up to the national team for the first time.

The friendly against Hungary comes on the heels of Türkiye's successful run in the Euro 2024 qualifiers. Finishing atop Group D with five wins and two draws in eight matches, Türkiye clinched the top spot ahead of Croatia and Wales.

Hungary, for its part, finished group G undefeated, ahead of Serbia and Montenegro, with five wins and three draws.

The team departed for Hungary on March 21 via private plane. Following the match, Türkiye will remain in Hungary for a three-day training camp, where they will tune their preparations for the upcoming showdown against Austria on March 26.

Meanwhile, Germany’s preparations for the European Championship were dealt a blow on March 20 with Manuel Neuer's thigh injury ahead of the goalkeeper's planned comeback.

Germany’s World Cup captain had been due to return to the national team after breaking his leg in a skiing accident, but he sustained a muscle fiber tear in his left adductor during training, the German federation said.

It said the 37-year-old Neuer will miss Germany’s upcoming friendlies against France and the Netherlands but didn’t give any further indication of how long he will miss. Neuer had already left the squad.

Germany plays France in Lyon tomorrow, then the Netherlands in Frankfurt on March 26.

Neuer broke his leg while skiing shortly after returning from the 2022 World Cup and hasn’t played for Germany since. He spent over 10 months out of the game before reestablishing himself as Bayern Munich’s No. 1.

Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann is almost certain to make Barcelona’s Marc-André ter Stegen his No. 1 in Neuer’s absence. It had been reported that Nagelsmann was favoring Neuer between the posts for Euro 2024, which Germany is hosting.

If Neuer is to regain his place from his rival, his first opportunity to play for Germany will be in the friendly against Ukraine in Nuremberg on June 3 – just 11 days before the opening game of Euro 2024 against Scotland in Munich.

Germany also has a final tournament warmup game against Greece lined up.

After playing Scotland on June 14, Germany plays Hungary in Stuttgart on June 19 and Switzerland in Frankfurt on June 23.

Neuer’s injury is a blow, too, for Bayern, which plays Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga on March 30 and faces Arsenal in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal on April 9.

Neuer has made 117 appearances for Germany. He helped win the World Cup in 2014, but he only played at the World Cup in 2010 because René Adler, who was Germany’s No. 1 at the time, suffered a rib injury before the tournament.