At the European Championships it is also the day of Spain's debut, on the pitch at 15 pm against the Czech Republic at the Stadium Municipal in Toulouse, in the second match of group D, after Croatia's 1-0 victory over Turkey yesterday. The Red Furies are reigning double champions (2008 in Austria and Switzerland and 2012 in Poland and Ukraine), the goal is to make history even further with the third triumph in a row and detach Germany in the general roll of honor (both in command with 3 victories, the first title of the Iberians had arrived in 1964 in the only edition played at home), but the last image of the Spanish national team in a final phase is the one at the end of the useless victory against Australia at the World Cup Brazilians from two years ago, with Iniesta and his companions already sensationally eliminated in the initial round. Spain which therefore wants to immediately redeem that unexpected and incredible flop and start over where it left off four years ago, with the round 4-0 over Italy in the final in Kiev, the apex of a domination that began in 2008 and which saw half also the conquest of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Once again this time they appear as one of the big favourites, but in a less clear-cut way than in the last few editions, given that on paper hosts France and Germany are on the same level as them, with England, Belgium and Croatia immediately behind. The quality remains enormous in all departments, despite some illustrious names not called up, from Diego Costa to Isco, from Callejon to Santi Cazorla, to whom players like Soriano, Aduriz or Nolito have been preferred somewhat surprisingly, and with on the field, together with captain Iniesta and Fabregas, once again untouchable Busquets, perhaps the least talented of all those available. He will be in the field, starting this afternoon, to decide if all of Del Bosque's choices (in any case not easy when you have to fish in the midst of so many options) will have proved to be spot on, meanwhile the veterans of the victories of 2008, 2010 and 2012 are 5 : Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Fabregas, Iniesta and David Silva, while of the 11 who experienced the triple triumph in 6 are no longer present, namely Xavi, Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres, Reina, Albiol and Arbeloa. Of the magnificent 5 still protagonists, the four outfield players are still the backbone of La Roja and will be starting from today's debut (in a formation that should see Alvaro Morata as the only finisher, who appeared in brilliant form and has so far scored 3 goals in 9 appearances for the national team) while the former Real goalkeeper has collected more ducks than great saves in recent seasons and has rightly been overtaken by the twenty-five-year-old Manchester United goalkeeper, David De Gea (at the center, however, of too many controversies in the last few hours due to non-football events).
It is the tenth participation for the Red Furies in the final phase of a European Championship, in the event the Spaniards are unbeaten in 12 games (W9, D3), their longest streak ever, and their last defeat dates back to June 2004, 0-1 against Portugal, moreover in the last 9 matches they have conceded only one goal (conceded to our Di Natale in the 1-1 draw in the debut match of the last edition) and have kept a clean sheet for 510 minutes, another record. Spain which is one of the last big names yet to be seen at work in this start of the competition, with Belgium engaged tonight against Italy and Cristiano Ronaldo who will make his debut tomorrow against Iceland. So far, the favorites have all won, apart from England who let Russia join them in timed out, but all have achieved the result with great effort and with a little luck, from France in the opening match against Romania to Germany , which last night at times was put down by Ukraine, demonstrating the great balance of this European Championship, apart from some teams that were frankly not up to par, such as Northern Ireland seen last night in the match against Milik's Poland and Lewandowski.
For the moment perhaps the formation that has impressed the most while maintaining expectations has been Croatia inserted in the same group as Spain, which thanks to Modric's goal has overcome a solid Turkey and shown its great qualities (and a Perisic once again devastating in the national team, more than with the Nerazzurri shirt). Croatia that can do really well in this tournament, while Turkey lacks something, but has already shown off, even if only for a few minutes, the XNUMX-year-old Emre Mor, an offensive talent that Borussia Dortmund secured by taking him to Denmark in Nordsjelland . Group D is certainly the most insidious one in which one of the big names could have happened and Spain will therefore do well to start immediately with their foot on the accelerator to avoid any kind of danger, having then the second match scheduled against Turkey, with the goal of reaching the big match against Croatia with only first place in the group at stake.
Meanwhile, today's opponent is the Czech Republic, a formation with more experience than freshness and very few prominent individuals, the striker is Necid (11 goals in the last Turkish championship with Bursaspor) with Lafata (20 goals plus 5 in Europe League with Sparta Pay) as an alternative, while in midfield the game should still pass from the 36-year-old and national legend Rosicky, supported by Darida, back from an excellent season with Hertha Berlin and Dockal, who plays at home in Sparta Prague. The Czech Republic, however, performed very well in the qualifiers, obtaining the pass with two rounds to spare (in a group with Turkey and the Netherlands) and is in its sixth European Championship in a row since it was established in 1993, following the division of Czechoslovakia and the consequent disappearance of the national one (and the birth also of the other half, Slovakia).
Czechs who therefore have never missed the appointment with the final phase and who have the 1996 final in England as their best result, when that team of Nedved and Poborsky, after having also eliminated Italy in the initial group, surrendered only in final against Germany, with the historic (and only) golden goal by Bierhoff (who previously had also signed the equalizer in regular time, after Berger's goal). Also considering Czechoslovakia, the participations become 9, with the conquest of the trophy in 1976, but this is history by now, while a more recent curious fact reveals that the Czechs have not drawn any of the last 16 matches played in the final stages (8 victories and 8 defeats) and the last time it happened was in the semi-final of the 1996 edition, when they eliminated France on penalties after a 0-0 draw even after extra time. A statistic that will hardly stop today, given that in the previous four, between European and World Cup qualifiers (this will be the first time in a final phase), Spain won three times (the only draw came in the first match in 1996) and the Spaniards will enter the field with all the favors of the forecast, which the bookmakers translate into an odd of 1,42.
