Could we be looking at potential winners of Euro 2016 when Croatia meet Spain in Bordeaux? .
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Turkey, however, has yet to score a goal in its two matches, losing to Croatia 1-0 and to Spain 3-0.
And Friday’s match saw them dominate the Czech Republic for three quarters of the game, denying the Czechs so much as a sniff of their goal as they pressured and attacked relentlessly.
Croatia need a draw to guarantee second place in the group, while a win in Bordeaux would allow them to advance as the group victor.
Following this and a 1-0 victory against Turkey, a point for Croatia would be enough to see them progress to the next round.
Of course, a draw suits both teams just as well – Spain keep first place, and Croatia make sure that the Czech Republic have no way to catch them if they beat Turkey.
However, Del Bosque is keeping his cards close to his chest.
“We can talk about which (half) is better but now you have to win every single match”, he said.
A case could be argued for Turkey being one of the flops of the tournament, especially if they were to lose their final match. Arda is one of our most important players.
Facing Spanish friends and club team-mates from his Barcelona team, Rakitic admits there is equal amount of pleasure and apprehension facing players such as Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Gerard Pique, and Jordi Alba.
“It was not the desired route for us”, said Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque.
Turkey have had a player booked in each of their last 17 games at major tournaments, last avoiding a booking against Italy at Euro 2000.
Spain will try to extend its dominance at the European championship with a 15th straight victory in tournament play as it wraps up its group stage schedule against Croatia. We still depend on ourselves.
With nobody suspended, and playmaker Luka Modric plus striker Mario Mandzukic now fit, they will have a full-strength squad for Saturday’s last 16 match against a third-placed team.
“Everything that is going on with the supporters, all these problems are making us stronger”.
Meanwhile, Germany defeated Northern Ireland 1-nil to go through to the knockout stages as Group C winners. “I think we can go far now”.
Croatia hadn’t beaten Spain since a 2-0 result in friendly in Valencia in 1994.
And Czech veteran Jaroslav Plasil, who scored in that game, played a one-two with Borek Dockal and fired a 25-metre drive that was heading for the corner of the net before Babacan made a dramatic leap to push it wide.
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“Obviously Tomas is a big loss, he is one of our key players, but the other players will have to step up”, Cech said at a press conference.
