Croatia v Spain, Tuesday June 21
Lens, Live on BBC4, 8pm
The final two matches in Group D take place on Tuesday night when group leaders Spain take on Croatia in Bordeaux and the Czech Republic meet Turkey at the Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Lens (live on BBC4, 8pm).
Czech Republic – the story so far
The Czech Republic saved their Euro 2016 campaign in dramatic fashion when they scored two late goals to peg back Croatia. Milan Skoda’s second half header halved the deficit and following a dramatic delay caused by Croatian fans throwing flairs onto the pitch, Tomas Necid scored a penalty to complete the comeback.
In truth the Czech Republic have been outplayed in both of their group matches, and whilst they will take comfort from taking a point from the game against Croatia, in their first match against Spain they should have been beaten by many more goals than the one they conceded. However now they find themselves in a one-game shoot-out with bottom of the table Turkey, knowing that a win will leave them with 4 points and a good chance of qualifying as one of the 4 best third placed teams.
Turkey – the story so far
Euro 2016 has been a pretty miserable affair for Turkey so far. Outplayed in their opening match against Croatia and lucky to come away with defeat by just a single goal, they were utterly destroyed by Spain in the second Group D match.
A place in the top two in the group is now out of reach for Fatih Terim’s side, but a win against Czech Republic would give them 3 points and an outside chance of reaching the knockout phases by virtue of being one of the 4 best 3rd-placed teams. You would feel that they will need to significantly improve their goal difference if this is to be the case though – at present they are sat on -4, and in all likelihood they will need to quickly improve that figure in order to scrape into the last 16.
Both teams are in need of a win, and in Turkey’s case, they need a win and a few goals. Hopefully this will result in a more open game and both sides may decide to approach the game in a more positive manner. 18-year-old Dortmund forward Emre Mor has impressed in the minutes he’s played so far and will be pushing for his opportunity to play from the start in this one. We fancy a few goals, with neither side looking capable of keeping a clean sheet, and given that a draw helps neither team, it could get very scrappy an open as the game progresses.
Recommended bets
- Czech Republic and Turkey – double chance @
- Turkey to win by exactly one goal @
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