🇹🇷 Türkiye

Montella deploys a 4-2-3-1 in which Hakan Calhanoglu and Salih Ozcan or Kaan Ayhan form a double pivot, shielding the defence while recycling possession. Arda Guler operates as the ten, with Kerem Akturkoglu and Kenan Yildiz providing width. Ferdi Kadioglu pushes forward aggressively from left-back, effectively creating a 3-4-3 shape in possession. Turkey press in mid-block and look to transition quickly through Guler's line-breaking passes.

The eye inevitably goes to Arda Guler first — Real Madrid's teenage magician whose dribbling and left-footed delivery in tight spaces make him the most technically gifted player Turkey has produced in a generation. Hakan Calhanoglu is the engine underneath him, Inter Milan's deep-lying playmaker who dictates tempo and strikes from distance with genuine menace. Kerem Akturkoglu provides the direct, high-speed width that stretches defences and creates the space those two exploit.

Hakan Calhanoglu's ability to control tempo and score from range gives Turkey a genuine match-winner in central areas. The combination of Arda Guler's creativity and Ferdi Kadioglu's overlapping runs down the left creates a consistently dangerous corridor that top defences struggle to contain.

Merih Demiral and Caglar Soyuncu are experienced but neither is playing at the very highest club level, leaving the central defence exposed against elite pace. Turkey's squad depth in central midfield is also thin — if Calhanoglu is suspended or injured, Orkun Kokcu and Ismail Yuksek are significant steps down in quality.