Republic of Ireland striker Jonathan Walters believes that counter-attacks will provide his side with their best chance of victory over Spain.

The Irish meet the defending European champions in Group C on Thursday and need to get a result to have a hope of progressing to the knockout stages after a 3-1 defeat to Croatia in their opening match.

The Stoke City striker could be in line to start ahead of Kevin Doyle for the game, and knows that the task of beating the World champions is tough but not impossible.

"Our group contains three very strong teams and we've seen in the last few tournaments just how good Italy and Spain are," said Walters.

"Spain in particular are not European and world champions for nothing. They have a fantastic balance to their team. Their midfield, again, is so strong.

"When you have the combination of Xavi, [Xabi] Alonso and [Andres] Iniesta in the middle, the other team are not going to see much of the ball.

"So it's going to be a big focus for us to retain possession and try to hit them on the break."

Ireland currently sit bottom of Group C and face Spain in their second group match on Thursday.