Ship & Anchor Euro Cup 2016 Spain


EURO CUP 2016
SPAIN	vs	TURKEY
FIFA RANKING 6		FIFA RANKING 18


TEAM PROFILES
SPAIN After decades of underachievement following a UEFA European Championship triumph on home soil in 1964, Spain suddenly became world football's dominant force. UEFA EURO 2008, which they won with a 1-0 final victory over Germany, was followed by a first FIFA World Cup win two years later, in South Africa, Vicente del Bosque's side becoming the first European nation to lift the trophy outside their own continent. Further history was made at UEFA EURO 2012 as Spain became the first team to retain the European title after overwhelming Italy 4-0 in Kyiv, although their World Cup defence ended in the group stage two years later. They are back to defend the Henri Delaunay Cup in France after topping their UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying group with 27 points out of a possible 30. TURKEY Having not managed a win in their previous two qualifying campaigns, Turkey eventually reached a first finals at EURO '96, but Terim's men could not muster a point in England. They bettered that in 2000, battling through the group stage before a 2-0 quarter-final loss to Portugal. A play-off defeat by Latvia meant Güneş' Turkey missed UEFA EURO 2004 but with Terim back at the helm they starred at UEFA EURO 2008. Last-gasp victories over Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Croatia took them through to the semi-finals, where they finally met their match in Germany. Despite making a bright start to a tough Group A in qualifying for UEFA EURO 2012, losses in Germany and, more surprisingly, Azerbaijan put Guus Hiddink's side on the back foot. Turkey recovered to finish second ahead of Belgium but Croatia were too strong in the play-offs, a 3-0 first-leg win in Istanbul proving decisive.

BEST RESULT
SPAIN		TURKEY
winners 1964, 2008, 2012		semi-finals 2008

KEY PLAYERS
SPAIN Andres Iniesta, the world’s finest midfielder, has wonderful control, balance and technique. It’s difficult to find fresh praise for his intelligence and ability to master time and space. Del Bosque sums his contribution up best: “He is the complete footballer. He can attack and defend, he creates and scores." Andres Iniesta has stated that "Technically he is perfect and he plays so naturally, almost without effort. It’s like when Roger Federer plays tennis, he barely sweats.” Mario, the right-back who scored that beautiful, acrobatic ‘flying Platt’ volley against England is 25 and third-choice right back so we will focus instead on the 22-year-old Valencia striker Paco Alcacer who has scored six goals in 11 appearances. He had a sensational youth career with the U17s and U19s and has continued in the Valencia first team and with Spain. He’s a finisher, first and foremost, at his best getting beyond defenders but is wiry and resilient enough to be very good at holding up play and works very well exploiting space down the right.
TURKEY Arda Turan spent the last seven months of 2015 playing only non-competitive matches for his club and captaining Turkey following his move to Barcelona from Atlético Madrid before the end of the European champions’ transfer ban. Used as wide playmaker by Diego Simeone at Atlético, he has wonderful technique and vision and though he will not be able to dislodge Andres Iniesta from his central attacking midfield role at Barca for a couple of years, that is precisely the one he is built for and the one he plays best for his national side.

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