Football
ESPN staff 8y

Turkey mistakes costly in loss to deserved winners Spain - Terim

Turkey manager Fatih Terim congratulated Spain for their 3-0 defeat of his team and admitted they made it too easy for La Roja as they slumped to a second loss in two tries at Euro 2016.

Alvaro Morata scored twice and Celta Vigo striker Nolito added a third as Vicente del Bosque's team made short work of the Turks, booking a spot in the round of 16 along the way.

It took Spain until the 34th minute to finally break down the Turkish defense, with Morata heading home a pinpoint cross from Nolito, who would add his team's second just minutes later.

"I congratulate Spain. They're a very important team, a special team," Terim said. "The first 30 minutes were OK, but afterwards we didn't play well.

"We conceded two goals by making individual mistakes, one of them [on Nolito's goal] was unbelievable. When you get a chance against Spain you must score, otherwise there's no way of resisting them.

"After the third goal we fell apart. You shouldn't be pessimistic after conceding one goal against Spain, but the second made it very difficult for us."

Midfielder Nuri Sahin hailed his team's start against the two-time defending champions, but admitted once they fell behind, Spain's one-sided possession in the match made it hard for Turkey to fight their way back into the game.

"We didn't start badly today," Sahin said. "In the first 20-25 minutes, we neutralised the contest but later on they dominated and we conceded the goals through our mistakes.

"And it's difficult to change the score against Spain because they keep hold of the ball for so long. Everybody should know that we are the ones who feel terrible about this.

Surprisingly, Turkey are not out of contention for passage to the knockout rounds, but they'll need a win against the Czech Republic and some favourable results in the other group stage finales to sneak through with a third-placed finish.

"It's not finished," added Sahin. "Yes, it is true that it will be difficult for us now, but we still have the chance to finish third. It will be tough but we will try our best. If we have the chance, we will take it for sure."

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