Euro 2016 - Group C - Spain vs Czech Rep., 2 pm, TV3 & ITV

Mr.Nice Guy

Spain vs Czech Republic

2:00pm Monday 13th June
Stadium Municipal, Toulouse

For most of us Monday will involve sweating over matters in our own Group E, but before that there is a potentially tasty appetizer in this second match of Group C: Spain vs the Czech Republic.

The Czechs never managed a clean sheet in qualifying and conceded the most goals of all the teams in the tournament. That suggests Petr Cech will be in for a busy afternoon.

What I'm wondering is what line-up Del Bosque goes with. Reports suggest De Gea will be getting the nod over Casillas despite the recent scandal talk surrounding De Gea. Another talking point is whether or not Nolito will start.

Edit: Confirmed teams below.

What are your predictions for the game? Spain have sometimes started these tournaments sluggishly, so do the Czechs have a chance? Or will the Spanish overwhelm them on the day?

My feeling is the latter and I'm saying a Spanish win by 3 goals.

eagle eye

Spain: De Gea, Juanfran, Pique, Ramos, Alba, Busquets, Sliva, Fabregas, Iniesta, Nolito, Morata

Czech Republic: Cech, Kaderabek, Sivok, Hubnik, Limbersky, Darida, Plasil, Haile, Rosicky, Krejci, Necid

BullBlackNova

I like the look of that Spanish side. Fancy them to win pretty comfortably - the Czechs aren't very good. Feel like Petr Cech is in for a busy afternoon.

Andre 3000

Delighted to see Bruno get the nod.

eagle eye

Andre 3000 wrote: »

Delighted to see Bruno get the nod.

Bruno is on the bench.

Andre 3000

eagle eye wrote: »

Bruno is on the bench.

Oh I thought the OP's teams were the actual ones, only saw the "possible" there.

Trey13

3-0 Spain.

Chardee MacDennis

Christ - Paul McShane :mad:. He's a better footballer than pundit, and that's saying a lot...

Mr.Nice Guy

I edited the OP to take out the possible teams seeing as we know the official line-ups now. Good to see De Gea get the nod and I'm looking forward to seeing how Nolito gets on as I know he is fancied as a golden boot option.

Mr.Crinklewood

The mascot is the most excited person in the world ever.

Xyzforsure

Chardee MacDennis wrote: »

Christ - Paul McShane :mad:. He's a better footballer than pundit, and that's saying a lot...

Hilarious I was thinking the exact same....
Christ he looks lost!!!!!

BoJack Horseman

With all the nice new stadia, you'd think they would do something with the old Stade Municipal.

SantryRed

Spain -1 was quite a large 13/10! Czechs came from a poor enough group and conceded a lot of goals. Fancy Spain with Morata there.

DarraghF197

I'm liking TV3 even more! They managed to get Gerry Armstrong as the co-commentator, possibly my favourite commentator out there

Cantona's Collars

DarraghF197 wrote: »

I'm liking TV3 even more! They managed to get Gerry Armstrong as the co-commentator, possibly my favourite commentator out there

What is this TV3 you speak of? Not in HD and watching football in Lego-vision is not a pleasant experience.

Chardee MacDennis

zerks wrote: »

What is this TV3 you speak of? Not in HD and watching football in Lego-vision is not a pleasant experience.

TV3 is HD these days

Thats disgracefull morata should be off....

Mr.Nice Guy

You know that linesman tumble is going in the end of tournament montage.

Cypher_sounds

Gerry''for me''Armstrong

Great start to this game. Czech causing Spain some problems.

Cantona's Collars

Chardee MacDennis wrote: »

TV3 is HD these days

If you pay for it.Could never take to listening to the analysis or commentary on TV3 anyway.

Mr.Nice Guy

This is plucky stuff from the Czechs.

Mr.Nice Guy

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

This is plucky stuff from the Czechs.

Ya they have come with a decent game plan have nearly caught spain 2 or 3 times...

DarraghF197

zerks wrote: »

What is this TV3 you speak of? Not in HD and watching football in Lego-vision is not a pleasant experience.

Yeah it is annoying finding it hard to see who's on the ball half the time, but I'm still happy to listen to Sky Sports commentators over George Hamilton and the shouty Ronnie Whelan for example.

MagicIRL

Anyone have a radio link that works for Ireland? BBC Radio 5 not broadcasting it to me here in work

shamrock55

Why did alonso retire? I'd still have him in this Spanish team

dublindublin26

SantryRed wrote: »

Spain -1 was quite a large 13/10! Czechs came from a poor enough group and conceded a lot of goals. Fancy Spain with Morata there.

Decent odds i went with this myself, fingers crossed!

Cypher_sounds

Spain coming into it now. Some lovely crisp interchanging passes.
Can't see Morata not scoring in this game.

Johner

I haven't seen loads of Morata but I'm struggling to see where all the hype comes from. He looks a decent player but his goal scoring record isn't great and the times I've seen him he hasn't been overly impressive. He looks lively today in fairness but he's being linked with Real, Chelsea and Arsenal?

Toobz

Spanish corners are woeful

Cantona's Collars

MagicIRL wrote: »

Anyone have a radio link that works for Ireland? BBC Radio 5 not broadcasting it to me here in work

https://www.siriusxm.com/siriusxmfc

https://player.siriusxm.com/#/login

They have an app also,5 live and Talksport are blocked in Ireland.

Chardee MacDennis

for some reason i always forget how tidy a player Silva is. Cesc has been poor so far.

dublindublin26

these wild 30 yard attempts need to stop

dfx-

Iniesta's changes of pace is the biggest threat.

Kirby

That was very good keeping from Cech.

Johner

Spain Vs Cech Republic

Mr.Nice Guy

Cech is keeping them in it. Great keeper.

DarraghF197

Chardee MacDennis wrote: »

for some reason i always forget how tidy a player Silva is. Cesc has been poor so far.

Can't see why he started ahead of Isco.

Chardee MacDennis

DarraghF197 wrote: »

Can't see why he started ahead of Isco.

or Pedro...

Cypher_sounds

Spain wih 75% possession.

Czech's are not offering much after a promising opening ten mins.

Peist2007

Will be genuinely sad when Iniesta hangs up his boots. A dream to watch. Probably my favourite player since Zidane.

eagle eye

Hard to beleive it's still 0-0, Spain have been so dominant. Cech a big part of the reason it's still scoreless. I just love watching David Silva play, best player on the pitch for me.

Peist2007

eagle eye wrote: »

Hard to beleive it's still 0-0, Spain have been so dominant. Cech a big part of the reason it's still scoreless. I just love watching David Silva play, best player on the pitch for me.

I was surprised given recent club and international history that Spain were not the most fancied team in the tournament and it seemed to stem from them not having an established top striker. Having seen the first half it may look like there is a bit of truth to that. Although if there was ever a team that can win without a striker, it's Spain

dfx-

the damage this side could do with Suarez

WinnyThePoo

Appalling by the left winger from the Czechs. Tonnes of time on the ball and gives it directly to Nolito.

edit: Is Lee Dixon watching the match. He just praised the Czech player for getting back to help his defender who he originally threw under the bus with the woeful pass.

Chardee MacDennis

morata off, hmmm not sure i agree...

Johner

Chardee MacDennis wrote: »

morata off, hmmm not sure i agree...

His movement was good and he played well, I think he lacks that killer instinct that top strikers have.

Toobz

Spain in general lack cutting edge...how many one on ones do they need before they take a shot?

WinnyThePoo

The guy who replaced Morata is good. He also is a more typical centre forward. Will be in around the 6 yard box.

Chardee MacDennis

yes but the problem is, by the time they work the ball into the box, there's also about 5 Czech players...

Yillan

What was the shouty nonsense there over the tannoy?

Isn't the ideal situation that the top two teams in all the groups end on 6 or more points, from an Irish point of view, so unless Czech and Spain are the bottom two teams in their group, a draw is a bad result.

Peist2007

Iniesta