Turkey and Romania face off in the first match of the day in the UEFA World Cup Play-Offs. The match will kick off at 1:00 p.m. ET in Istanbul. The winner of this match will advance to the Path C final to take on the winner of Slovakia and Kosovo for a spot in the World Cup. Turkey is the favorite to make it out of the group, with odds of -115 to qualify for the World Cup on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
Turkey is a -250 favorite to win on Thursday and Romania is +600. There are +425 odds that a draw will send the match to penalties. Here is a look at my pick for the first goalscorer prop for the match.
Turkey vs. Romania preview
This is a massive match for both nations. Turkey has not made the World Cup since 2002, and had not made it before then since 1954. Turkey has some very talented players and showed what it is capable of at the 2024 UEFA Euros. In that most recent major tournament, Turkey finished in fifth place. The Crescent-Moons have several high-level talents, most notably Real Madrid’s Arda Guler. Guler is the type of young attacking player who can single-handedly carry a team to a few wins in the World Cup by creating some magical moments.
Romania is a dark horse to make it to the World Cup. Romania has not made the World Cup since the 1990s, but the Tricolours had a great run during that decade, making it to the Knockout Phase of all three World Cups. It would likely take two upsets for Romania to get into the World Cup, but it has one of the most well-respected managers in these qualification Play-Offs. Mircea Lucescu was a legendary Romanian footballer in his day and has won countless trophies across several big European clubs. He is now back to manage his national team, trying to take them to one more World Cup. His leadership is the thing that could carry Romania to the World Cup for the first time in almost 30 years.
Turkey vs. Romania first goalscorer
There are several good choices to score the first goal in this match. Both of these teams had issues giving up goals in the group stage of qualification. Either side could steal an early goal, but Turkey does have the more dangerous group of attacking players. Therefore, I’ll be backing someone from the Crescent-Moons to grab the first goal.
Kenan Yildiz is +500 to be the first goalscorer of this match. That is my favorite prop bet for Turkey vs. Romania. Kenan Yildiz has been Turkey’s leading goalscorer in qualifying, scoring three goals in five games. Yildiz plays his club football for Juventus and has scored 10 goals in Serie A this season. Yildiz just scored on Saturday against Sassuolo in his most recent club match. He is always a threat to score and Turkey should come out of the gates firing.
