The match between the bottom two teams in the group takes place in Baku.

Switzerland

Zurich is Switzerland’s largest city and a place I have been two twice. Indeed it was the last overseas city I went to for leisure purposes in February 2020, when we used it as a staging post to visit Liechtenstein.

Bisected by the Limmat River that empties into Zurichsee, it is a pleasant place to visit, albeit fiendishly expensive. The train journey we undertook to St Galen on the way to tiny Liechtenstein was lovely as we traversed the shores of Zurich’s lake.

Turkey

Haydarpasa Station used to be where trains departed eastwards from Istanbul to the rest of Turkey and beyond into the Middle East.

Built in 1909 by the Anatolian Railway Company as the western terminus of the Baghdad and Hejaz rail terminus that would transport pilgrims towards Mecca & Medina.

Sadly the grand station has been shut for almost a decade, with little known about its future. There is even worrying talk of turning it into a hotel.

For now trains east depart from Pendik, a suburb outside Istanbul that has electrified lines to speed you to the capital of Ankara.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Haydarpasa opened its doors once more and the departure board showed train times for express services to Baghdad, Tehran and Damascus. Just a pipe dream sadly.

I departed from there in 2009 as we made our way to Syria via Ankara and through the Toros Mountains to Adana.

Score prediction – Turkey 1 Switzerland 1