The dream is still on for Spain after a late goal from Gerard Pique saw them break Petr Cech’s resilience. Monday’s victory saw them create a new European Championship record when they went 13 games unbeaten, dating back to Euro 2004. Turkey suffered a disappointing defeat against Croatia in their first game, and at 17/2, they’re very much the underdogs in this fixture.
Whilst the 2014 World Cup was seen as a major disappointment for Spain, the match against Czech Republic was seen more as teething rather than a flawed game plan. The lack of a striker is still an issue though. Alvaro Morata is seen by many as their chief goal threat, and he’s priced at 27/4 to score at any time, however he’s not prolific and scored just 7 goals in the league for Juventus last season. He doesn’t score many goals, but he scores important goals. Andres Iniesta put in a midfield masterclass and has taken over the maestro role from former teammate Xavi. Spain’s defence has been formidable in the European Championships, and whilst the goalkeeper has changed from Iker Casillas to David de Gea, they haven’t conceded in 600 minutes. A clean sheet is tipped at 10/13. The Spanish game plan is designed to wear teams down and tire them out. You can get Spain to score after an hour at 7/5.
Turkey were disappointing in their first game. The defence was carved open and there was little in the way of attack. You’d worry if they perform like they did in the first game against Spain. Their star player, Barcelona’s Arda Turan was anonymous throughout and is backed at 18/1 to score first. He found it tough to break into the Barcelona team in his debut season and he’ll be hoping to make a strong showing against many of his club teammates. Last time Turkey participated in the European Championships in 2008, they made it to the semi-finals. It seems very unlikely that Fatih Terim’s side will made it that far again, with odds of 7/4 on them to qualify from the group.
Match Prediction
Spain’s tiki-taka football is back and they love passing the ball around to each other. The style is reliant upon fitness and endurance with a long term aim, so don’t expect to see an early Spanish goal. The play also doesn’t endear itself to high scoring games and big victories. Turkey will hope to get a point out of the game and you can get a draw at 7/2. A 2-0 win to Spain is more likely though and that’s available at 5/1.
