It’s hard to predict the result of Spain’s first game – they could easily get things off to a lovely start here and produce a convincing win, but they were expected to do this at the last three tournaments but failed to get a good start and indeed failed to win their opening game. On top of this, their last friendly against Georgia doesn’t exactly paint Del Bosque’s men in a good light. But they’re still a good team, one with a plethora of talent, and they are of course the holders on this trophy. It is going to be a tough challenge for the Czech’s.
The way to go here is corners. Spain are one of the best sides when it comes to dominating matches in terms of corner stats. During qualifying they took the second highest amount of corners, averaging a total of seven corners per game, most of them coming in the opening 45 minutes. This often happens because Spain dominate the ball and teams sit off, often at the expense of conceding numerous set pieces. I think that Czech Republic will leave the ball to Spain and focus on taking their chances on the counter, so Del Bosque’s attack must fight on the flanks. This is likely to cause a lot of corners, so the bet to be on is Spain on a – 1.5 corner handicap.
In addition to this, a secondary bet of Alvaro Morata to score anytime looks another good shout. He now finds himself as the main striker in this team and is coming off the back of a good season with Juventus. And against a side who looked very weak defensively in qualifying, Morata can get his tournament off to a good start.