UEFA EURO 2016: Group D betting preview

Although Spain have been among the favourites for every major tournament in the last 8-10 years, following their poor showing at the 2014 World Cup, this group is very well matched so the first game will be absolutely vital when it comes to establishing the hierarchy.

Croatia

The team in the famous checked shirt have yet to reach the levels achieved in the 1998 World Cup, where they finished third, but are always seen as a dark horse going into any tournament. They have a very solid base at the back, as shown by the fact they only conceded five goals in qualifying, and have the likes of Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic who sprinkle that bit of stardust onto the Balkan side. Rising stars such as Ante Coric, Alen Halilovic and Tin Jedvaj certainly add to the attacking threat too. The most notable absence from the side is Liverpool defender Dejan Lovren who has fallen out with manager Ante Cacic. The Croats face a difficult first opponent in Spain but any positive result from that will give them confidence going into the other two matches. Overall I would expect a better showing than their group elimination in Brazil and they are expected to make it out of this group without too much fuss.

Full team preview here.

Czech Republic

The Czechs managed to top Group A in qualifying, which included fellow Euro Group D participants Turkey, in what was one of the more competitive groups in the qualifying stages. Their international pedigree has taken a bit of a shot in recent years, their third place finish in 2004 should have been the catalyst for further success but since then they have disappointed. Manager Pavel Vrba has named a 28 man provisional squad from which five names will need to be cut. Whilst there are not many household names on the list (Petr Cech probably the only exception) they have a number of good options and seem a good unit. The Czechs will be hopeful that Sparta Prague’s (similarly lacking household names) excellent Europa League campaign can inspire the national team to a good performance in France.

Full team preview here.

Spain

The European Championship holders have suffered a wobble in recent years (the 2014 World Cup in particular) as they have had to come to terms with the transition from one generation of players to another. However, Vincente del Bosque’s team are still formidable opponents and qualified for Euro 2016 in good style losing just one game in their Group C campaign (although it must be said that the group was not incredibly competitive). Their provisional squad of 25 still contains the recognised superstars of Andres Iniesta, David De Gea and Sergio Busquests et al but also contains exciting new talents such as Saul Niguez. The Spaniards are favourites to top this group, and on both what we saw in qualifying and the quality in depth of their squad they should go very close to doing just that.

Full team preview here.

Turkey

In 2002 Turkey lit up the world with an astonishing display at the World Cup in South Korea and Japan and achieved a third place finish, defeating Guus Hiddink’s South Korea in the third place playoff. It seemed that this achievement would put Turkish football on the map and the country would go on to produce talent to carry on this success for the next decade. However, as so often is the case when so-called ‘smaller nations’ do well at international tournaments, this idea fell by the wayside and Turkey have since had a dreadful spell in international football. The last major tournament they qualified for was the Euros back in 2008 where again they did well in reaching the semi-finals.

These days there is a bit of optimism springing around Fatih Terim’s team with the likes of Arda Turan and Mehmet Topal finally getting a chance to shine on the international stage. They’ve also got some talented younger players like Bayer Leverkusen’s Hakan Calhanoglu, who comes into this tournament off the back of an impressive season domestically. Although they only qualified for the Euros through being the best third placed team in qualifying, the Turks will be confident of a good tournament. The pattern seems to be that when Turkey manage to qualify for an international tournament, they do well. A dark horse perhaps?

Full team preview here.

Verdict

As always when you have a big team like Spain in the group, there is no value in backing them. That second qualification spot will be hotly contested in Group D and I see it as a fight between Croatia and Turkey with this group possibly even having a ‘best third place’ qualifier in the knockout rounds. Unfortunately for the Czech Republic, I am not sure they have the quality to get through the group and I think a bottom placed finish looks on the cards. At 6/4 this looks a good bet. It is all very well taking confidence from Sparta’s good Europa League campaign but to step it up into a top international tournament requires strength in depth which I’m really not sure Pavel Vrba has in his side.