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Spain vs. Poland: 2019 U21 EURO Live Stream, Schedule and Prediction
June 21, 2019
Spain face a must-win game against Poland in Group A of the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Italy on Saturday if they want to make the semi-finals.
A last-minute winner from Pablo Fornals against Belgium on Wednesday kept Spain in the hunt for a last-four spot. The 2-1 victory followed their opening 3-1 defeat to hosts Italy.
But they are still third in their group, three points behind leaders Poland, who have won two from two against Belgium and Italy.
Given only the group winners and the best runner-up from the three pools advance to the last four, the margins are tight, and Saturday's clash at Bologna's Stadio Renato Dall'Ara is sure to be a tense occasion.
Date: Saturday, June 22
Time: 9 p.m. local, 8 p.m. BST, 3 p.m. ET
Live Stream: UEFA TV, Sky Go (UK), WatchESPN (U.S only)
Prediction: Spain 1-1 Poland
The 12-team format of the tournament means there are no makeweights in Italy. Each team will have gone into the tournament knowing a run of good performances could see them go deep.
However, in a stacked Group A with Belgium, Spain and Italy, Poland have been a surprise.
They came from behind to beat Belgium in a thrilling opener, and then put in a stellar defensive performance against Italy to come away with a 1-0 win thanks to Krystian Bielik's left-footed strike in the 40th minute.
Poland were largely able to restrict Italy to shots from distance, and they picked up an invaluable three points to put themselves on the cusp of the semi-finals.
All they need to do against Spain is earn a point to guarantee finishing top of Group A.
As such, they will likely deploy a similar approach to that against Italy, setting up in a 4-5-1 system and looking to frustrate La Rojita.
Given Spain have to go for victory to have the best chance of making it out of the group, they could leave themselves open at the back and vulnerable to counter attacks.
Luis de la Fuente's side have attacking quality throughout their squad, but it took a superb goal from Fornals to get them all three points against Belgium late on:
They could well need their best performance of the tournament in order to beat Poland, and the likes of Dani Ceballos and Borja Mayoral will need to come to the fore.
But Poland have enough in their squad to frustrate the Spanish and get the point they need to top the group.