Euro Betting – Spain’s Tiki-Taka Takes on Turkey
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:39 am ESTPublished:
Spain (-222) vs Turkey (+680), Draw (+309)
The reigning European champions Spain (1-0-0, 3 pts) needed injury time to beat the Czech Republic in the first fixture, but they should have an easier matchup when facing Turkey (0-1-0, 0 pts) on Friday at Allianz Riviera in Nice (3:00 PM Eastern).
The Spanish dominated most of the game against the Czechs but failed to create real opportunities to score. The team strung together a bundle of passes, as usual, but showed uncharacteristic impatience when they got close to goal and failed to crack the Czech Republic’s stout defense until the bitter end, when Gerard Pique saved the day with a late header.
Spain are still adjusting to life without midfielder Xavi Hernandez. Xavi was a wizard in the middle of the pitch, opening space for his teammates and putting his squad in a position to score. Without his talents, the scoring chances figure to be fewer and farther between.
Friday’s opponent, Turkey, looked flat in their 1-0 loss to Croatia in the first fixture. The Turks were anemic on offense all game, never really threatening the Croatian goal. Now they have a monumental task on their hands to qualify for the knockout stage, needing at least a draw against Spain – and then a win against the Czechs – to keep their hopes realistically alive.
Coach Fatih Terim has a couple of major decisions to make in the starting lineup. Arda Turan and Hakan Calhanoglu, two of their best players, had dreadful games against Croatia. Both could start the game against Spain on the bench.
Either way, Turkey will have to contend with a foreboding history. Since 1968, these two nations have met three times, and Spain has won all three. Turkey were arguably the weakest looking side through the first set of Euro fixtures. Unless their play includes drastically, Spain is going to dominate this matchup. Don’t bank on Turkey turning the tide.
Pick: Spain (-222).
(Photo Credit: Clément Bucco-Lechat (Own work) CC BY-SA 3.0 [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0], via Wikimedia Commons.)
Sports Writer
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
