European champions Spain head into Friday’s Euro 2016 game against Turkey with the chance to seal their spot in the knockout stages.
Vicente del Bosque’s team dominated their opening group game against Czech Republic, but needed an 87th minute winner from Gerard Pique to win the game. Spain created chances, but even with the likes of David Silva, Cesc Fabregas, Andres Iniesta and Nolito in their team they struggled to look convincing in going forward.
The main issue Spain had going into this tournament was the lack of prolific forward in the squad. The likes of Alvaro Morata, Aritz Aduriz, Lucas Vasquez and Nolito do not have a lot of international caps or goals between them.
Morata started the Czech Republic and was ineffective. Maybe he was trying too hard to impress against the Czech’s, as he came short for the ball. With Spain’s midfielders the forward does not need to come short.
La Roja need their lone forward to stay in the area, so that they can be a focal point for the attack and link-up with those highly-rated midfielders. Athletic Bilbao striker Aduriz came on to replace Morata against the Czechs, but failed to make an impact.
Spain are likely to stick with highly-rated Juventus striker Alvaro Morata from the start against Turkey and will hope that he can have a big impact. Spain have a plethora of top players in their squad, but the one they do not have is a truly prolific striker and that could well hinder Del Bosque’s teams chance of retaining the trophy they won four years.