The popular legend is that a light-hearted bet between Iker Casillas, Pepe Reina and Andrés Palop, with stakes no higher than a couple of beers and some tapas, was one of the biggest influences on Spain winning UEFA EURO 2008. Football folk can let superstition gnaw away at reason even at the best of times. […]
Joachim Löw’s side came into the semifinal full of confidence having swept all before them in Poland and Ukraine, but perhaps lingering at the back of their minds was the fact that Germany had not beaten the Azzurri in seven competitive meetings. That tally is now eight after Italy produced a wonderfully measured performance with […]
Following Italy’s dramatic penalty shoot-out win against England, just four teams remain in the running to hoist the Henri Delaunay Cup aloft at Kyiv’s Olympic Stadium on Sunday 1 July. Holders Spain are aiming to become the first team to win three consecutive major tournaments but will have to get past Portugal in the first […]
Alessandro Diamanti struck the decisive penalty as Italy edged past England 4-2 on penalties to set up a UEFA EURO 2012 semi-final meeting with Germany in Warsaw on Thursday. After an electrifying opening in Kyiv, the imperious Andrea Pirlo took the baton and much of the game took place at his sumptuous tempo. Yet Italy […]
Xabi Alonso celebrated his 100th cap with a goal in either half as Spain beat France in a competitive game for the first time to book a UEFA EURO 2012 semifinal against neighbours Portugal on Wednesday. Les Bleus may have been the last team to eliminate Spain from a major tournament – in the 2006 […]
Greece’s hopes of repeating the miracle of 2004 vanished with a 4-2 defeat against Germany, who marched on to the UEFA EURO 2012 semifinals on the back of a fourth straight victory at these finals. Germany took a deserved 39th-minute lead through Philipp Lahm and although Giorgos Samaras’s equaliser 10 minutes after the restart hinted […]
Cristiano Ronaldo finally ended the Czech Republic’s stubborn resistance as he headed the only goal of the first UEFA EURO 2012 quarterfinal to take Portugal into the last four. It had promised to be a trying night for Portugal, who found the Czechs in resolute mood at the National Stadium Warsaw. Profoundly but not quite […]
Who else? In a tale of two strikers, Wayne Rooney headed England into a quarterfinal meeting with Italy on Sunday as his winning goal spelled the end for Ukraine. Rooney’s return to England’s lineup following a two-game suspension was no surprise, but the absence of Andriy Shevchenko due to a knee injury caught the eye […]
Eight years after lifting the Henri Delaunay Cup with victory over Portugal in Lisbon, Greece finally won another game on the UEFA European Championship stage, resurrecting that famous 1-0 scoreline to take their place in the last eight of UEFA EURO 2012 at Russia’s expense. Russia had started the night in Warsaw as Group A […]
The Czech Republic musthave been few people’s favourites to emerge as Group A winners after their heavy opening loss to Russia, but Petr Jiráček’s second-half goal won them the section as they left the co-hosts heartbroken. Jiráček had struck the joint third fastest goal in UEFA European Championship history in the defeat of Greece on […]