Turkey and Paraguay look to revive World Cup hopes
Turkey and Paraguay will both be looking to bounce back from opening-day defeats when they meet in San Francisco on Friday in a pivotal Group D encounter.
Neither side managed to get off the mark in their first matches of the tournament, leaving little room for error heading into the second round of fixtures.
Turkey suffered one of the more surprising results of the opening week, falling 2-0 to Australia despite registering 30 shots and dominating large stretches of the contest.
The result ended an impressive run of form and left Turkey with work to do ahead of matches against Paraguay and the United States.
Paraguay, meanwhile, were beaten 4-1 by the USA in Los Angeles.
Gustavo Alfaro's side found themselves three goals down by half-time before Mauricio pulled one back in the second half, but the South Americans were ultimately unable to recover from a difficult start.
With the United States and Australia both sitting on three points, defeat for either side on Friday would leave their hopes of reaching the knockout stage in serious jeopardy.
Turkey could receive a boost from the return of Kenan Yildiz, who came off the bench against Australia after fitness concerns limited his involvement.
Paraguay will once again look to Julio Enciso, Miguel Almiron and Tonny Sanabria as they attempt to get their campaign back on track.
Predicted Turkey lineup:
Cakir; Celik, Demiral, Bardakci, Kadioglu; Calhanoglu, Yuksek; Guler, Kokcu, Yilmaz; Akturkoglu
Predicted Paraguay lineup:
Gill; Caceres, G. Gomez, Alderete, Maidana; Bobadilla, Cubas; D. Gomez, Enciso, Almiron; Sanabria
