Monday June 27, 2016 sees the Italian squad take on Spain in this knock out round of 16. Spain is the favorite in this match-up, the Spaniards won the Euro Cup Championship back in 2012.
FIFA Ranking
Italy: 12 Spain: 6 Past Head to Head match ups:
- 3/24/2016 Friendlies 2016 Italy 1 – 1 Spain
- 3/5/2014 Friendlies 2014 Spain 1 – 0 Italy
- 6/27/2013 Confederations Cup 2013 Spain 0 – 0 Italy
- 7/1/2012 European Championship 2012 Spain 4 – 0 Italy
- 6/10/2012 European Championship 2012 Spain 1 – 1 Italy
- 8/10/2011 Friendlies 2011 Italy 2 – 1 Spain
Last Three Matches: Italy
- 6/13/2016 Italy 2 Belgium 0 European Championship
- 6/17/2016 Italy 1 Sweden 0 European Championship
- 6/22/2016 Italy 0 Republic of Ireland 1 European Championship
Belgium
- 6/13/2016 Spain 1 Czech Republic 0 European Championship
- 6/17/2016 Spain 3 Turkey 0 European Championship
- 6/21/2016 Spain 1 Croatia 2 European Championship
Match Analysis
This is a rematch of the 2012 European Championship final where Spain throttled Italy winning 4-0.
Which Italy team will show up in this knockout stage match? The one that looked very impressive in their tournament opener taking down FIFA’s 2nd ranked team in Belgium 2-0 or the one that lost their last group match 1-0 facing Republic of Ireland?
Italy is led by their defense that had four straight clean sheets before giving up a goal to Republic of Ireland in their last match. Look for them to play a three-center back defensive scheme to thwart the Spanish attack.
Italy does not have a great attack and play in the midfield will be key for them setting up scoring chances. They may want to take a page from Croatia’s playbook and attack from that side of the pitch and really push forward, which gave Spain problems in their shocking 2-1 loss to the Croats.
Italy rested some of their key players in the last match, but they will be full strength in this one. They have three draws and two losses in their last five matches facing Spain.
Spain does not look like the dominant team they have been in the last several years, but they still are very strong, especially in the midfield with the likes of David Silva, Andrés Iniesta, and Francesc Fàbregas. They won the possession battle facing Croatia (62% to 38%), but still lost. They allowed the Croats to go on deep runs, but that is not a strength of the Italians.