Spain's road to Euro 2016, which is also serving as a "Let's forget what happened at the World Cup" tour, got off to a good start in September with a win over Macedonia. Despite recent struggles the Spanish are still favored to top Group C, but one of their challengers are their opponents on Thursday as they travel to face Slovakia.
Slovakia vs. Spain live stream: How to watch Euro 2016 qualifying online
Spain cruised in their first Euro 2016 qualifier, but Slovakia be a much tougher opponent.
David Ramos
Slovakia also won their opening match, defeating the Ukraine 1-0, and they should not be taken lightly by Spain. While La Furia Roja undoubtedly have more talent on the their roster, Slovakia do feature Napoli's Marek Hamsik, one of the more talented attacking players in the world, along with experienced defender Martin Skrtel of Liverpool.
Sergio Ramos will be out for Spain after injuring his calf muscle, so Gerard Piqué is the likely choice to take over in the central defense. Andrés Iniesta returns after missing the Macedonia match.
Key player - Diego Costa (Spain)
While there are plenty of players on the Spain squad perfectly capable of scoring goals, Vincente del Bosque needs Diego Costa to be more than just a guy to put the ball in the net. What makes Costa valuable is not just his goal scoring, but his disruptive physical style of play that creates all sorts of problems for opposing defenses. If they get too enamored with Costa, opening appear for other players. If they don’t mark him, he’ll beat you himself.
Key question - Are Spain back after a disappointing World Cup?
It's stlll way to early to say if Spain have recovered from their shockingly bad performance in Brazil over the summer. A few players have moved on allowing new faces into the squad, but the core remains in place. While it would be easy to say that their 5-1 win over Macedonia shows they're back, it's Macedonia. Slovakia will give Spain a far better test, and in turn we should know a lot more about the state of this Spanish side.
Match Date/Time: Friday, 8:45 p.m. local, 2:45 p.m. ET
Venue: Štadión pod Dubňom, Žilina, Slovakia
TV: ESPN2 (U.S. - English), ESPN Deportes (U.S. - Spanish), Sportsnet One (Canada), Sky Sports 5/HD (U.K.), TVE La 1 (Spain), STV2 Dvojka (Slovakia)
Online: Watch ESPN (U.S.), Sky Go (U.K.)
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