Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
The Czech Republic go into their final Group D game knowing that nothing but a win will give them hope of qualifying for the Round of 16 but even that may not be enough. They will have to hope that Spain can dish out defeat to Croatia while they themselves can beat Turkey, but with the way Turkey have been playing in their first two matches they will certainly fancy their chances.
They will also be boosted by their comeback against Croatia last Friday. After being 2-0 down it looked all but game over but a Milan Skoda header, some Croatian flares being set off and a late Tomas Necid penalty all somehow conspired to give what at one point seemed a very unlikely point. They could even have stolen all three points, with Croatian heads in the clouds they laid siege on their goal but couldn’t break them down for a dramatic winner
Their opponents Turkey have been one of the lesser sides of the tournament so far, it’s been an incredibly depressing tournament for Arda Turan who has been subjected to boos from his own fans. The Barcelona Midfielder is seemingly short on fitness and short on friends at it currently stands
It hasn’t been much better for Bayer Leverkusen’s Hakan Calhanoglu as he was also a target for the vociferous boos that were given out by their own Turkish fans during their 3-0 defeat to Spain on Friday night, that win saw them become the first side to concede 3 goals in a single game during Euro 2016
But even after two relatively abject performances they still have an outside chance of qualifying for the Round of 16. They will have to beat the Czech Republic and hope that they are one of the 4 best 3rd place sides but even if they were to win I think it’s quite unlikely they will get in through the backdoor of 3rd place.
These two teams met in qualifying for this tournament in a group that also included Iceland and Holland. They won one game each in qualifying but I think the Czech’s will win the dead rubber. A win for the Czech Republic and they will then hope that Spain do them a favour as well.
