Good evening and welcome along to the second Friday night of Euro 2016. It’s been a week of late goals, drama, later goals and baffling substitutions. But tonight we’re on the slow steady Spain train as they take on Turkey.
Let us know your thoughts, predictions, hopes and dreams on this or any other game in the tournament (but keep it clean).
The team-sheets are in ahead of this 8pm kick-off.
Spain: David De Gea, Juanfran, Gerard Pique, Sergio Ramos, Jordi Alba; Sergio Busquets, Andres Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas, David Silva, Nolito, Alvaro Morata.
Turkey: Volkan Babacan, Hakan Balta, Mehmet Topal, Caner Erkin, Gokhan Gonul, Selcuk Inan, Oguzhan Ozyakup, Ozan Tufan, Burak Yilmaz, Arda Turan, Hakan Calhanoglu.
The teams are out in Nice with Gerry ‘the voice of Spanish football’ Armstrong giving us the most specific prediction of the tournament, forecasting 70% possession for Spain tonight.
10, 9, 8…. yada yada yada. It’s kick-off time.
Yellow card: Bad start for mad Sergio Ramos, Turan nicked the ball beyond him and into the final third. Ramos checks him and he’s booked.
89 minutes is a long time for a man like Ramos to try and get through without being sent off.
Big Turkish presence in the ground giving this game a healthy intimidating atmosphere for the team in possession. Spain threaten after a short corner is whipped in by Silva. And they probe again after the clearance, but can’t thread the needle to Fabregas scampering down the channel.
Solid hit. Morata battles his way into possession and, spinning out into space, he wastes no time unleashing his shot towards the bottom left corner. It’s well parried away for a corner by Babacan.
Yellow card: Yilmaz pays the price for playing against Sergio Busquets, putting his arm out to his opponent’s chest to shield the ball and the Barcelona man reels backwards clutching his face.
Classic Sergio.
Chance! Gerard Pique wriggles clear of his marker as a corner is fizzed in from the left, he rises high, but connects with the header all wrong. The ball crashes to earth and bounces over the bar.
Pique’s no stranger to the score-sheet, that should have been left nestled in the back of the net.
Turkey keeping up a commendable resistance in Nice, but it’s hard to see Spain staying frustrated for long. Los Rojos are making holes in the defence, but for now the ball keeps bobbling around the rim.
I was about to write about how we had settled into a conventional Spain game rhythm as Turkey had set themselves up with a back six, but as I typed, David Silva was dispossessed.
Turan countered down the left flank and they did well to get numbers up in support, but the pass was reversed to a man who had drifted offside rather than to Yilmaz who was begging for a chance to be laid in front of him as he pounded into the area.
Be still my beating right foot. Anders Iniesta is just starting to get a little space to work some magic and his through ball, cutting out two defenders to put Jordi Alba in an acre in the left corner was exceptional.
The cross was not.
Decent free kick from Çalhanoğlu, a dipping shot from 30 yards just didn’t dip far enough to trouble De Gea.
Spain threaten again, Juanfran raiding down the right and cutting his cross back to Nolito. Just behind the penalty spot, he tries to divert his finish into the left corner, a difficult skill first time on the right foot, and there is just enough pressure to put him off his stride so that the ball bounces off his shin and well wide.
GOAL! Spain 1 Turkey 0 (Morata ’34)
Terrific header from the Juve striker. A towering leap to meet Nolito’s inswinging cross and he diverted the ball beautifully with a glancing header into the right hand corner.
GOAL! Spain 2 Turkey 0 (Nolito ’37)
Double tap.
No sooner had I finished describing the opener and Spain are two to the good. Cesc Fabregas attempted a chipped pass through the defence to Nolito.
It doesn’t quite make it first time, but the defender’s intervention is absolutely pitiful as the ball bounces straight up off his head and Nolito scrambles to slide and finish into the bottom left corner.
Turkey are staring down the barrel of a hiding here. Iniesta manages to ghost past Tufan – our friend with the hair – and he picks up a booking for dragging him back.
We watched a 2 – 0 lead flittered away earlier today, but this will not be a repeat.
Ah here. Big Gerry Pique is taking the piss a bit, unleashing a shot from about 40 yards.
He is not a very good striker of long shots, it turns out, and the ball spins about 40 yards left of the posts.
HALF-TIME: Spain 2 Turkey 0
Here’s some nice shots of how Spain’s goals looked, Morata’s glancing header undoubtedly the best of the two.
And here’s Nolito bashing in number two.
Here we go then, the players are emerging from the tunnel (some more eager than others) for the second half.
You’d fear the Turkey fans might be moved to sing the Fields of Athenry at some point.
Turkey make a change as Nuri Sahin comes in for Calhanoglu.
But much more importantly, we have more confirmation that Iniesta is a witch.
The Barca midfielder was under pressure on the left with a tackle coming in and the ball bouncing. His solution was simple, to chip the ball up over his attacker and back under control on the deck.
GOAL! Spain 3 Turkey 0 (Morata ’48)
Morata is hungry for a hat-trick, but there was more than a hint of offside to that goal.
Iniesta threaded a beaut of a ball to Jordi Alba who was in a good yard ahead of the defenders and he then squared to Morata who helped himself to an easy tap-in.
Yilmaz has looked bright (against that considerable tide) since coming on. He created a chance for himself, running at the defender left of the area, cutting inside only to fail to put any curl on his shot and it sailed a mile wide.
Turkey making a decent dent in the territory stats since going three down. But they’ve yet to put a shot on target and Spain are only too happy to let them huff and puff while they wait their turn for the ball.
Aha. Now the party tricks can come out. Morata is pinned near the touchline, so he lifts the ball above the defender and Alba is in the air when he back-heels it on.
Spain can bore me to tears sometimes, but against weak opposition they can be a joy to watch.
That’s the end of David Silva’s day then. 63 minutes in and Bruno Soriano is unleashed on Turkey.
A quick check of the tournament outright betting (for research purposes, not financial gain of course) tells me Spain have moved up to joint favourites since this game started.
Ireland’s opponents tomorrow Belgium are still clinging to 16/1 – it’d be a brave and foolish man who bet on that rabble.
The subs are rolling. Koke is in for Fabregas and Turkey have completed their trio of changes with Maili coming in for Selcuk.
Turkey captain Arda Turan has been having a bit of a Wayne Rooney style tiff with his fans, giving them a thumbs up after they boo and jeer his spells on the ball.
Harsh.
Azpilicueta comes in for the final 10 minutes to leave Jordi Alba off to get some rest. I guess the ingenious Iniesta will get a full 90 minutes off when Spain have a go at Croatia.
BIg chance for Turkey as Sahan ghosts through the middle of the Spain defence and looks set to finish, but he takes an extra touch or two and Azpil comes across to block.
Right, it’s long passed the time when both teams would like this to be over. Spain are just filling time and have no particular interest in rubbing Turkish noses in the fact that they are utterly dominant in second gear.
FULL-TIME: Spain 3 Turkey 0
So Turkey stay pointless and goalless and thoroughly demolished in confidence as Spain walked all over them on their way into the knockout stages.
Incredibly impressive stuff from the champions.
Thanks for spending a few minutes of your Friday night checking in on Spain’s progress with us. Go and get a good night’s sleep now, big day tomorrow!
The42 Football / SoundCloud
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