Les Bleus new era under Zinedine Zidane don begin for Kocaeli Stadium, as Türkiye and France go kick off their Group A1 campaign for di 2026/27 Nations League on Friday night.
Zinedine Zidane na di man wey take charge of French national team for di first time. He replace Didier Deschamps after di long-serving boss leave him role following a bruising World Cup for Les Bleus. France bin be pre-tournament favourites to lift di trophy, but dem finish 4th after 6-4 third-place play-off loss to England.
Zidane new era don start with five uncapped players earning first call-ups to di French senior squad. Guillaume Restes, Andy Diouf, Jérémy Jacquet, Lucas Da Cunha and Esteban Lepaul all dey included for di first time. Kylian Mbappé continue as captain.
Türkiye endure a bitterly disappointing 2026 World Cup campaign under Vincenzo Montella. Dem fail to score for 2 of their 3 group games, including unexpected loss to Australia. Dem end di campaign with 3-2 win over hosts USA, but e no enough to advance to knockout stages. Montella and Türkiye must now regroup. He don name 33 players for September and October hectic Nations League schedule. Two big names dey missing, with Kenan Yildiz (foot) and Hakan Calhanoglu (groin) ruled out for di foreseeable future.
Zidane surely go want make early statement for him first game in charge. Di former Real Madrid boss don wait patiently for di opportunity to manage di country wey he represent at international level. With plenty attention on France on Friday, Zidane hope him players can be assertive from di start. Fortunately for am, he get di personnel capable of taking advantage if Türkiye slow out of di blocks.
France don open di scoring for 8 of their last 10 matches. Their hosts don concede first for 4 of their last 5 games, including all 3 of their 2026 World Cup group games. Dis na obvious patterns to build on. Türkiye dey missing two of their best creators in Yildiz and Calhanoglu. Dis one fit give France opportunity to establish control early. We fit back Les Bleus to lead at interval at almost coin-flip implied probability of 51.3%.
Di Bayern Munich forward dey arguably in di form of him life. He don score a goal per game for Bayern for Bundesliga and net brace for him first UCL appearance dis term. Olise numbers back up him recent output. He don rack up 17 goal attempts, nine of which hit di target. He score hat-trick and provide assist for Bayern recent 7-0 thrashing of Union Berlin. Olise dey deliver for him national team too. In June, he net hat-trick for their World Cup warm-up match with Northern Ireland. Di market imply say only 35.7% chance of am getting on scoresheet. Based on him recent form, dis one seem far too cautious from di market, and we happy to take am on.
Montella get serious issue for final third with him Türkiye side. Dem fail to score for two of their three 2026 World Cup group games. Things no likely to get better, with Yildiz and Calhanoglu both sidelined for di visit of Les Bleus. Dat leave Arda Guler with much of di responsibility for final third. Although he get 42.58% goal contribution rate for di 2026/27 La Liga, e hard to see am breaching di French backline on him own. Lacroix and Upamecano get enough pace and power to keep Guler under control.
Di atmosphere for Kocaeli likely to be intense. However, di Turks lack of focal point up front surely go dey highlighted further against one of di best teams for di world. Di line for France to win with clean sheet seem surprisingly high. E fit dey somewhat influenced by their bizarre 6-4 loss to England for di World Cup third-place play-off. Nevertheless, we believe say there’s more than 35.7% implied chance of Les Bleus taking three points to nil.
