SCOTLAND Under 21s resume their qualifying campaign on Friday night in Edinburgh with a visit from Turkey.
Scot Gemmill has a new look squad of players for this campaign and they are realistically trying to get one of the runners-up spots which would put them in a play-off for a place at the Finals in Romania and Georgia next year.
However, even that is extremely unlikely with runaway group leaders Belgium boasting a 100 per cent record after six games and the young Scots already five points behind second placed Denmark at the halfway point in the group.
Scotland will pin their hopes on the likes of Calvin Ramsay, Josh Doig, Harrison Ashby and Lewis Fiorini and it may be a qualification too soon for this young squad.
However, Turkey are no great shakes either and Scotland passed up plenty of opportunities in the opening game in the group in a 1-1 draw in Bursa which Scotland really should have won.
Turkey have won just one game in the group and that was away to bottom side Kazakhstan. They are behind the Scots on goal difference having played a game more.
How the bookies view it
Scotland are favourites at 11/10 with bet365. The Turks can be backed at 9/4 with the same firm, with the draw 11/5 with McBookie.com
Recent head to head
As stated, the sides battled out a 1-1 draw in Bursa in September and only a fine display from Besiktas keeper Ersin Destanoglu prevented the Scots from winning.
Here are the highlights.
Players to watch
Glenn Middleton scored in Turkey and the St Johnstone star is the oldest player in the entire qualification because he was born on January 1, 2000!
He has five goals in 20 appearances for the U21s and will likely lead the line here too.
For the Turks, Ali Akman is a highly-rated 19-year-old striker who plays with NEC Nijmegen on loan from Eintracht Frankfurt. He's scored six league goals in 15 starts this season.
Anything else catch the eye?
It's always a tricky one with Under 21s at the best of times, but especially after a six month break. On paper, Scotland have plenty of young guns who can make the spine of a decent team.
They were the better side in Turkey and should have won so they should have enough about them here with home advantage at Tynecastle so take the 11/10 with bet365.
The Turks have been in Edinburgh preparing since Monday and the vast majority of their squad are domestically-based. But they've been poor at Euro 2023 qualifying so far.
For the Scots to hold out any hope of a runners-up spot, they must collect six points from this game and their exhausting trip to Almaty next week to face Kazakhstan.
It may be a goal could settle this encounter with Scotland usually trying to keep it tight and the under 1.5 goals at 9/4 with McBookie.com could come up.
This match between Scotland Under 21s and Turkey Under 21s will be played on Mar 25, 2022 and kick off at 19:05. Check below for our tipsters best Scotland Under 21s vs Turkey Under 21s prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.