Euro 2016 group D preview

Group D is easily the strongest group at Euro 2016, given that every country in it has a decent knowledge of the European Championship.
Despite losing to Georgia in a pre-tournament friendly, defending champions Spain are the big favourites to progress from Group D, although they can expect a stern challenge from Croatia, Czech Republic and Turkey in the group stage.
Croatia could be dark horses, in that they’ll make a quick start to the competition, trip in the second round and be put down humanely in the quarters. Vatreni advanced to the France spectacle as Group H runners-up in qualifying, behind Italy. Ante Cacic’s side suffered just one defeat (2-0 away to Norway) in their 10 qualifiers, and scored the most goals in the group (20), conceding just five.
Turkey made it to Euro 2016 despite losing every one of their qualification games, taking advantage of the fact every country in Europe but Holland made it to the finals. There are 16 Turkish-based players in Fatih Terim’s squad, more Turkish-based players than any other side.
The Czechs are very well organised, so one can expect them to get to every game with plenty of time to spare. The Central European nation has been a regular feature in the Euros since their eye-catching debut in 1996, where they went on to reach the final before losing 2-1 to Germany. They made it to the semi-finals in 2004, their run halted by eventual champions Greece. Another good showing in Euro 2012 saw them reach the quarter-finals, although the current team will be hard-pressed to make it out of the group stages this year.
Players to watch
Tomas Rosicky will look forward to one last chance to be injury free on the biggest stage for the Czech Republic while Petr Cech will retire from international football after the tournament, leaving his nation simply called the Republic.
Turkish striker Burak Yilmaz is a threat, but his level may have dropped since he moved to Chinese side Beijing Guoan to realise his lifelong dream of having loads of money.
Spain’s lineup will be familiar to all football fans and head coach Vicente del Bosque has been applauded for leaving Diego Costa out for the greater good of humanity. With an inexperienced strike-force, Spain will be relying on the old heads of Andres Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas to provide the spark from midfield. The duo are vastly experienced, with Iniesta capped 107 times by his country and Fabregas 103.