Belgium Leads Turkey 2-1 at Halftime in UEFA Nations League Match

Belgium holds a 2-1 advantage over Turkey at the halftime break in their UEFA Nations League A Group 1 match at Gürsel Aksel Stadium in İzmir.

The match, which kicked off at 20:00 local time (17:00 UTC) on Thursday marks the 13th meeting between the two nations.

Turkey opened the scoring in the 20th minute through Arda Güler, but the lead was short-lived. Belgium responded seven minutes later when Kevin De Bruyne leveled the score in the 27th minute. Charles De Ketelaere added a second goal for the visitors just three minutes later, establishing the 2-1 lead heading into the interval, according to reports from the Turkish Football Federation (TFF).

This match represents the first appearance for the Turkish national team under new head coach Sergen Yalçın, who was appointed following the departure of Vincenzo Montella. Yalçın addressed the short preparation time during a pre-match press conference, noting that his staff focused on mental preparation and minor tactical adjustments. “In this short process, we prepared well,” Yalçın told Cumhuriyet.

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Yalçın also addressed his roster selection, confirming that players like Kenan Yıldız were unavailable and that Zeki Çelik would likely only see limited minutes due to recovery from injury. He further explained that Arda Okan Kurtulan could not be selected because “he does not play because he did not choose the Turkish National Team.”

Addressing questions regarding the exclusion of İrfan Can Kahveci from the squad, Yalçın stated, “He may have been upset, but there are 25 other players who are upset. Let’s not perceive this individually. We chose a squad for these two matches.”

Turkey enters this fifth group stage match seeking their first point of the tournament, having lost their previous four encounters. The team fell 1-0 to France in Kocaeli, 4-1 to Italy in Bursa, 3-0 to Belgium in the reverse fixture, and 3-1 to Italy in Bologna, as documented by Anadolu Agency.

Historically, the two teams have met 12 times prior to this evening. Across these matches, which included eight official contests and four friendlies, Turkey recorded three victories while Belgium secured four wins, with five matches ending in a draw. In those encounters, the Turkish side scored 17 goals, while Belgium responded with 21.

The most recent meeting in October resulted in a 3-0 victory for Belgium, which stands as the largest margin of defeat for Turkey in this series.

In matches played on Turkish soil, the sides have been evenly matched, with each team recording one victory and two draws across four previous contests. The team’s lone home victory against Belgium occurred on September 7, 2010, in Istanbul with a 3-2 result during the European Championship qualifying group.

The match is officiated with Lukas Fähndrich serving as the VAR, assisted by Luca Cibelli. Following this fixture, Turkey is scheduled to conclude its UEFA Nations League group campaign on November 15 with an away match against France.

In the group’s other fixture, Italy and France are set to play in Milan later tonight. Looking ahead, Yalçın noted the importance of the remaining schedule, saying, “But if a point or points come, we have a play-out situation.”