Of all the groups vying for a place at EURO 2016, Group A has produced some of the most interesting results thus far. Many had expected this pack to be dominated by the Netherlands, who finished third at the 2014 World Cup, but as things stand, the Oranje are in danger of not even qualifying as they sit in fourth place.
Instead, it's Iceland that are leading the way, with the Czech Republic hot on their heels and Turkey's solid performances seeing them sitting in third. On Saturday, the Czech Republic will take on Turkey with the hopes of another win in order to seal top spot in their group. Whilst they have already qualified for next year's EURO tournament, they nonetheless would want to hopefully be seeded better by finishing as group winners.
Czech Republic
EURO 2016 will represent the ninth time the Czech Republic has participated in this tournament, and they will be keen on making some vast improvements after their impressive showing during the 2012 edition that saw them reach the quarter-finals. They have only done better than this on two occasions; during the 2004 competition in which they finished third overall after featuring in the semi-finals and finishing second during the 1996 edition in England.
Unlike Iceland, the Czech Republic have some tricky matches ahead, namely Turkey and the Netherlands, both of whom will be fighting for a play-off spot. The team started their qualifying campaign off well, winning four straight games, starting with a 2-1 win over the Netherlands and finishing out 2014 with another 2-1 victory over Iceland.
However in 2015, they stumbled. First was a surprise 1-1 draw with Latvia followed by a friendly loss to Slovakia, and then they ended up on the losing end as Iceland edged them out 2-1 in the reverse fixture. Still, they have since bounced back with wins over Kazakhstan and Latvia and will be coming into this game seeking their third straight win against Turkey, who will be desperate to earn a vital win to keep their play-off aspirations intact.
Still, it will not be easy for the visitors. The last meeting saw them take the lead, but only to see all three points disappear after the Czech Republic rallied back to beat them 2-1.
Turkey
Whilst they have done well so far and are still in contention for a play-off spot, Turkey's record against the Czech Republic is not favorable. They will surely regret throwing away a lead against their upcoming opponents in a game that could come back to truly haunt them, and their last two visits to the Czech Republic have ended in utter disappointment with heavy 3-0 and 4-0 defeats.
Nonetheless, they crushed the Netherlanda 3-0 which restored their confidence following a frustrating 1-1 draw with Latvia, who, despite having no hope of qualifying, are perfectly happy with holding out for a stalemate that hurts their opponents by causing them to drop two vital points. In any case, they will need four points from their last two games - a win and a draw - to edge out the Netherlands on a superior head-to-head record. Although this seems easy enough on paper, in theory, this will be a lot easier said than done. Turkey will have to take on Iceland after this and will be hoping that the top-two sides will be already thinking ahead to France in order to snatch a win and a draw.
All in all, the visitors have won or drawn their last seven games, which will naturally boost their confidence ahead of this tough game with the Czech Republic, but have only won one out of their away qualifiers this campaign.
These two sides have faced off a total of eight times, including in friendlies since the Czech Republic became an independent nation. Saturday's hosts enjoy the better head to head record, with five wins versus Turkey's two, and only one of these games have finished as a draw - a 2-2 result during a 2006 friendly match.
Here's how things look in Group A prior to Saturday's game:
Will the Czech Republic continue their good track record against Turkey to hopefully overtake Iceland at the top of the group? Or will Turkey snatch a vital draw - or even better, win - as they seek to make the play-off rounds?
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