Spain must overcome Turkey but the battle below is still on
Spain Look To Take Charge Of Group D
by Giovani Franco
The defending European Champions, Spain, are set to take on Turkey on Friday the 17th of June and will be looking to acquire all three points along with gaining the upper hand in Group D. La Furia Roja will look to punch into the knockout stages of the 2016 European competition with a victory against Turkey and Spain will have to rely mainly on their depth.
The holders defeated the Czech Republic on Monday, 1-0, the goals coming from the head of Gerard Pique after a Andres Iniesta cross.
Del Bosque’s side displayed absolute dominance over the Czechs, who did show their defensive strengths in the match. The Czech defense stifled the passing routes from the midfield to Spain’s forwards, Alvaro Morata and Aritz Aduriz. Many assume that Turkey is the weakest opponent in Group D, but do the old proverbs of Rome not warn us “does not the dying serpent bite deepest?”
After witnessing the woeful display by Spain’s forwards in their opening match against the Czech Republic, the odds of Del Bosque changing his setup from a 4-3-3 back to either a 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 are at 3 to 1. Alvaro Morata and Aritz Aduriz may have one last chance to impress Vicente Del Bosque and it may be this match against Turkey.
Spain fell flat in the last World Cup due to their abysmal display in front of goal by their forward players. The odds that Turkey will offer a staunch resistance to the defending champions are unfortunately not high. Del Bosque may opt to give Morata and Aduriz one last chance before he possibly goes back to playing a six-man midfield, with one of the many midfielders that Spain possesses playing the false number nine.
Turkey will look to try to bounce back after their 0-1 defeat to Croatia in their opening match of Group D. Turkish midfielder Ozan Tufan, who bore the majority of the blame for Turkey’s defeat to Croatia, insists that Fatih Terim’s side are ready to fight for a crucial result. The Turks have always had a decent reputation in big tournaments of “spoiling the party” for a bigger side. In the European Tournament in 2008 where Spain won their first major trophy, Turkey pulled a massive comeback victory against the Czech Republic.
The defending champions should be able to handle Turkey.
The biggest question would be on how they will manage this match. The other key will be in the other match in Group D with the Czech Republic are looking to bounce back with a result against their Slavic cousins, Croatia.
The Czechs will look to snatch a result against Croatia and if so it will leave the door open for Vicente Del Bosque’s Spain to win Group D with ease.
