22.06.2008:Abhishek Bhattacharyya:Luis Aragones’s Spain edged out World Champion Italy in a nerve wracking penalty shoot out to advance into the semis last night in Ernst Happel Stadion,Vienna. Both the teams operated cautiously from the beginning.In 17th minute of the game Torres dribbled past the Italian defence but shot it well over the bar.In 19th minute Italia’s Simone Perotta’s header went over the bar.Then in 24th Minute David Villa fired a free kick which was well saved by Italian Captain and Goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.Spain’s David Silva played well in the first half .In 31st minute David Silva’s powerful left-footer was again saved by Gianluigi Buffon.Luca Toni was having a bad time in this year’s competition and last night’s match was no exception.He failed to convert Cassano’s cross.The Spanish defence also did a good job with Sergio Ramos clearing a danger in 39th minute. In the next half the Valencia forward David Silva again started well but was not able to find the net for his team.Italy missed their twin pillars:Gattusso and Pirlo as they were suspended after being booked twice in the last two matches. The next half surely belonged to the goalie’s as both Casillas and Buffon pulled out some great saves to keep their team in hunt. The match ended 0-0 after extra-time and was forced into a penalty shoot out. Spain was the better side as Captain and Goalkeeper Iker Casillas did well by preventing Danielle De Rossi and Di Natale from scoring.On the other hand Daniel Guiza missed the chance of scoring courtesy a superb save by Buffon.But in the end when it came down to the decisive penalty Spain’s Cesc Fabregas kept his cranium cool and fired the ball perfectly inside the Italia net ensuring his team a semi-final spot in this year’s Competition. Spain will now take on Russia in their Semi-final match on 26th July in Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna.

Spain: Iker Casillas, Carlos Marchena, Carles Puyol, David Villa, Xavi Hernández (Cesc Fàbregas, 60), Fernando Torres (Daniel Güiza, 85), Joan Capdevila, Andrés Iniesta (Santi Cazorla, 60), Sergio Ramos, Marcos Senna, David Silva. Italy: Gianluigi Buffon, Gianluca Zambrotta, Christian Panucci, Fabio Grosso, Giorgio Chiellini, Daniele De Rossi, Massimo Ambrosini, Antonio Cassano (Antonio Di Natale, 75), Luca Toni, Simone Perrotta (Mauro Camoranesi, 58), Alberto Aquilani.

Hiddink Hoodwinks Holland

21.06.2008:Sudipta Sur :Guus Hiddink is known as the man with the “midas” touch in footballing circles. On Saturday night, at Basel’s St. Jakob-Park, Hiddink proved yet again why he fits the bill perfectly! Netherlands were favourites going into the 3rd Quarter Final against Russia. Impressive displays in all their group league matches and some attacking football dished out by Marco Van Basten’s men had the Dutch supporters singing at the top of their voices. The Russians, on the other hand, had narrowly made it to the Quarter Finals, inspired in large by Andrei Arshavin. So the stage was set for battle royale to commence at St. Jakob-Park. Netherlands coach, Van Basten, reverted back to his tried and tested first 11 which was on display for the first two games. Khalid Boulahrouz, who had tragically lost his premature baby, shook off the tragedy and was named in the starting lineup. Hiddink brought in Ivan Saenko to give more bite for his attackers. The Russians dominated possession from the kick-off, with Netherlands unable to create due to strong defending by the Russians. In the opening exchanges, a free kick was awarded to Hiddink’s men. Yuri Zhirkov’s wonderful effort was denied only by the brilliance of Edwin van der Sar. The Dutch had to rely on Van der Sar time and again as the Manchester United goalkeeper saved long range efforts from Denis Kolodin. The Dutch had a great opportunity to take the lead when Rafael van der Vaart crossed from the right but the outstretched legs of Ruud van Nistelrooy failed to make contact. In the second half, Van Basten replaced Dirk Kuyt with Robin van Persie and the Arsenal forward almost made an immediate impact, only to see his shot go wide off the mark. In the 56th minute, Russia took the deserved lead. A lightning move from the left flank found the feet of Roman Pavlyuchenko who coolly slotted home past a helpless Van der Sar. Denis Kolodin, who was a real rock in the Russian defence, received a booking in the 71st minute thus ruling him out for the Semi Final. The Dutch equalized in the 86th minute when Wesley Sneijder’s free kick from the right side was headed home by Van Nistelrooy. So it finished 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes. During Extra Time, Russia continued pressing and were duly rewarded in the 112th minute when Dmitri Torbinskiy was at hand to toe poke the ball into the net. The Dutch pushed forward in search of an equalizer leaving spaces behind and Russia’s magician, Arshavin, scored the third goal in the 116th minute. There was no way back for Netherlands and as referee Lubos Michel sounded the final whistle, Hiddink was ecstatic in carrying out a Dutch “coupe de grace!” Andrei Arshavin of Russia has been awarded Man of The Match

Holland:1 Edwin van der Sar, 2 André Ooijer, 4 Joris Mathijsen ,5 Giovanni van Bronckhorst, 8 Orlando Engelaar(20 Ibrahim Afellay 62' ), 9 Ruud van Nistelrooy , 10 Wesley Sneijder,17 Nigel de Jong 18 Dirk Kuyt(7 Robin van Persie46 ), 21 Khalid Boulahrouz(3 John Heitinga54 ), 23 Rafael van der Vaart . Russia:1 Igor Akinfeev ,4 Sergei Ignashevich, 8 Denis Kolodin,Ivan Saenko(7 Dmitri Torbinski 81' ), 10 Andrei Arshavin, 11 Sergei Semak, 17 Konstantin Zyryanov, 18 Yuri Zhirkov, 19 Roman Pavlyuchenko(21 Dmitri Sychev 25' Ex.), 20 Igor Semshov (15 Diniyar Bilyaletdinov 69' ), 22 Aleksandr Anyukov

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Turks snatch Victory from the jaws of Defeat

20.06.2008:Sudipta Sur :Fatih Terim’s Turkey has made it a habit of staging comebacks in UEFA EURO 2008. Coming back from one goal deficit against Switzerland and two goals deficit against Czech Rep, the fans were entitled to believe that was all Turkey could muster up. But on Friday (20th June, 2008), at the Ernst Happel Stadion in Vienna, fans bore witness to the mother of all comebacks! The 2nd Quarter Final of EURO 2008 got off to a cagey start with both Croatia and Turkey adopting a cautious approach. It was Croatia who had the best chances early on when Luka Modric’s wonderful cross found the head of Ivica Olic but his powerful header hit the bar. Action on the other side of the pitch saw Turkish midfielder, Mehmet Topal, taking a crack at goal, only to see his shot miss the mark narrowly. In the second half, Turkish coach, Terim, made a tactical switch by moving Hamit Altintop from right-back to midfield. The move paid rich dividends as a compact Turkish midfield stifled out the Croatian creativity. Turkey have picked up the most cards by any team in this tournament and that trend continued on Friday night when Tuncay Sanli, Arda Turan, Ugur Boral and Emre Asik all received yellow cards. Sanli, Turan and Asik would be suspended for the Semi Final against Germany. With 90 minutes ending goalless, the match went into Extra Time. Croatia coach, Slaven Bilic, brought on Ivan Klasnic and it seemed to be a masterstroke when the Werder Bremen striker scored in the 119th minute. Just when it seemed that the Croats would advance to the Semis, thunder struck in the form of Semih Senturk. The man from Fenerbache, who had come on as a substitute, drilled home the equalizer past Stipe Pletikosa to force the issue into Tie Breaker (120 + 2 mins). In the Penalty shootout, it was Turkey who kept their nerves. For them, Arda Turan, Semih Senturk and Hamit Altintop all scored. However, the shootout was a nightmare for the Croats, for whom only Dario Srna managed to score. Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic shot wide, while Rustu Recber saved Mladen Petric’s shot. Turkey prevailed 3-1 in the penalty shootout and now advance to a Semi Final meeting with the Germans.

Croatia: Stipe Pletikosa, Josip Simunic, Robert Kovac, Vedran Corluka, Ivan Rakitic, Niko Kovac (c), Darijo Srna, Luka Modric, Ivica Olic (Ivan Klasnic, ex + 7), Niko Kranjcar (Mladen Petric, 65), Daniel Pranjic. . Turkey: Recber Rustu (c), Hakan Balta, Gökhan Zan, Mehmet Topal (76), Nihat Kahveci, Arda Turan, Kazým Richards (Uður Boral, 61), Hamit Altintop, Sabri Sarioðlu, Emre Asik, Tuncay Sanli.

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Schweinsteiger swings Germany into Semis

19.06.2008:Abhishek Bhattacharyya:A touchline ban for their manager Jaochim LOW,playmaker Torsten Frings out with a injury,a out of form defence and a menacing Cristiano Ronaldo as their opponent.These were the odds that Germany had to overcome when they faced Portugal in Quarter Final last night in Basel, St.Jakob Park.Germany made some changes in their team bringing Simon Rolfes in central midfield and Thomas Hizlsperger & Bastian Schwqeinsteiger in the first team and dropping out Mario Gomez. Germany was managed by LOW’s deputy Hans-Dieter Flick.Both the teams looked in good shape when the match started.Germany seems to be a different team with a tighter defence and the players with never say die attitude.The first moment of match came in the 10th minute when Jose Boswinga’s cross found Potugal captain Nuno Gomes who missed it.Then in 18th minute Ballack’s header went over the bar and in 19th minute Friedrich intercepted Cristiano Ronaldo in the German box.In 20th minute Jaoa Moutinho ticks the ball over the bar which looked a sure shot goal.Then Germany’s moment of glory came in 22nd minute when Lukas Podolski continued with a long run through the left wing and his cross found Bastian Schweinstieger in the Portuguese box who slided the ball in Potuguese net(1-0). Just four minutes later Miroslav Klose opened his account in this year’s competition by putting Schweinsteiger’s free kick into the net and giving Germany a 2 - 0 lead.Portugal kept on pressing and in 40th minute of the game Portugal’s man-in-form Cristiano Ronaldo came charging in with the ball but his shot was saved by Jens Lehmann but Nuno Gomes found it in follow-up and placed it inside the net and pulling one back for Portugal. In the next half Portugal was desperate find another goal but Germany kept their defence intact and when Luiz Felipe Scolari thought his team can come back into the match another Schweinsteiger free kick broke the backbone of Portuguese hope when Ballack headed the ball insaide the net(3-1).Goalkeeper Ricardo has to take the blame for it as he came in front to stop Ballack rather than looking for the ball.After Nani & Helder Postiga came as a substitute for Portugal things againstarted looking good. There were times when Cristiano Ronaldo & Deco looked dangerous but they were not able to do anything super natural for their team as defeat looked inevitable against the dominating German side.Nani’s pace was superb but the German’s are not ready to give their adversaries any room but in 87th minute Potugal got another one courtesy Nani whose flying cross found Helder Postiga who converted it for them(2-3).Potugal again seemed to have a glimmer of hope but just time was not with them.Germany played a brilliant game and credit must be given to Bastian Schweinsteiger coming from a match ban,the FC Hollywood man was in top form as Germany won 3 - 2. Germany will now face winners of Crotia vs Turkey match in semi-final.

Portugal: Ricardo, Paulo Ferreira, Jose Bosingwa, Cristiano Ronaldo, Petit (Helder Postiga, 73), Joao Moutinho (Raul Meireles, 31), Simao, Pepe, Ricardo Carvalho, Deco, Nuno Gomes (c) (Nani, 67). Germany : Jens Lehmann, Arne Friedrich, Simon Rolfes, Bastian Scweinsteiger, (Clemens Fritz, 83), Miroslav Klose (Marcell Jansen, 89), Michael Ballack (c), Philipp Lahm, Thomas Hitzlsperger (Tim Borowski, 73), Per Mertesacker, Lukas Podolski, Christoph Metzelder.

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Spanish Armada cruises into last eight

18.06.2008:Abhishek Bhattacharyya:Luis Aragones’s Espanyol cruises into the Quarter finals stage by beating the holders. 2-0.Otto Rehaggel’s side have already sealed their fate by losing to Sweden and Russia.Spain added insult to injury when they edged them out at Tivoli Neu last night. Grecce was the first to take lead of the match when Angelo Charisteas headed the ball into the Spanish net(1-0).But late goals from Espanyol personnel Ruben De La Red in 61st minute and Daniel Guiza in the 88th minute helped Spanish Armada to end their Group league campaign unbeaten. Spain will now take on Italy in their Quarter Final match.

Greece: Antonis Nikopolidis, Nikos Spiropoulos, Traianos Dellas, Angelos Basinas, Angelos Charisteas, Giorgos Karagounis (Alexandros Tziolis 74), Loukas Vintra, Dimitris Salpingidis (Stelios Giannakopoulos 87), Sotiris Kyrgiakos (Paraskevas Antzas 63), Giannis Amanatidis, Kostas Katsouranis. Spain : Pepe Reina, Raúl Albiol, Fernando Navarro, Andrés Iniesta (Santi Cazorla 58), Cesc Fabregas, Xabi Alonso, Sergio García, Daniel Güiza, Álvaro Arbeloa, Juanito, Ruben de la Red.

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Arshavin shines as Sweden falters

18.06.2008:Abhishek Bhattacharyya:Guus Hiddink’s Russia are through to the last eight of UEFA EURO 2008 courtesy Andrei Arshavin.The FC Zenit.St Petersburg forward was in top form as Russia knocks Sweden out of the competition 2-0. Russia scored their first goal in 24th minute when Arshavin found Zyryanov who passed it to Anyukov and the latter crossed it to Pavlyuichenko to complete the unfinished business(1-0). Sweden also had their moments but they could’nt convert them.In the 50th minute of the game Sweden’s hope of qualifying was done and dusted when Andrei Arshavin found the net making it 2-0 for Russian army.Russia will take on Netherlands in their quater final match.

Russia : Igor Akinfeev, Sergei Ignashevich, Denis Kolodin, Andrei Arshavin, Sergei Semak (captain), Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (Ivan Saenko, 66), Konstantin Zyryanov, Yuri Zhirkov, Roman Pavlyuchenko (Vladimir Bystrov, 90), Igor Semshov, Aleksandr Anyukov. Sweden: Andreas Isaksson, Mikael Nilsson (Markus Allback,79), Olof Mellberg, Petter Hansson, Fredrik Stoor, Anders Svensson, Freddie Ljungberg (c) Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Johan Elmander, Henrik Larsson, Daniel Andersson (Kim Kallstrom, 56). Pirlo & De Rossi magic knocks out Le Blues. 17.06.2008:Abhishek Bhattacharyya:It was another big match day in UEFA EURO 2008 when Italy and France was pitted against each other in Letzigrund. Both the teams needed to win this crucial encounter in order to qualify for the next round and the World Champions Italy delivered when they needed it the most beating France 2-0.France are now knocked out of this year's competition. Roberto Donodini had to re-design his strategy.France suffered a injury blow in 10th minute when Franck Ribery injured and was substituted by Lyon’s Samir Nasri.Italy came close of scoring but Claude Makelele saved Christian Pannuci’s header from the goal line.Luca Toni also had many chances of scoring but he was not able to placed the ball into the net. Italy scored their first goal in 25th minute when Abidal brought down Toni in the French box that resulted in a red card for Abidal and a penalty for Italy. Andrea Pirlo made no mistake of converting it into a goal. Danielle De Rossi scored the 2nd for the Azzuris in 62nd minute from a free-kick. France Captain Thierry Henry had a chance of scoring from a free-kick on 34th minute but he placed it wide. France : Gregory Coupet, William Gallas, Eric Abidal (sent-off – 24), Claude Makelele, Karim Benzema, Sidney Govou (Nicolas Anelka, 66), Thierry Henry (c), Patrice Evra, Francois Clerc, Jeremy Toulalan, Franck Ribery (Samir Nasri, 10 (Jean-Alain Boumsong, 26)). Italy: Gianluigi Buffon, Gianluca Zambrotta Christian Panucci, Fabio Grosso, Giorgio Chiellini, Gennaro Gattuso (Alberto Aquilani, 82), Andrea Pirlo (Massimo Ambrosini, 55), Daniele De Rossi, Antonio Cassano, Luca Toni, Simone Perrotta (Mauro Camoranesi, 64). A Romanian Tragedy 17.06.2008:Abhishek Bhattacharyya:Romania missed the chance of advancing to the next round of UEFA EURO 2008 when they lost to Netherlands 2-0. Much was expected from Victor Piturca’s army but sadly they coudnt deliver when they needed it the most.Goals from Ajax Striker Klas-Jan Huntelaar in 54th minute and Robin Van Persie in 87 th minute for Marco Van Bastem’s army sealed Romania’s fate. Holland Coach Marco Van Basten gave his first-choice players rest and had made 9 changes to his side.On the other hand, Romania, who needed a win to qualify for the quarter final , lacked in penetration. Holland is now the Group Champion with 9 points.Italy also made it to the next round from Group of Death. Holland: Stekelenburg, Heitinga (capt), De Zeeuw, Van Persie, Engelaar, Robben (Kuyt 62), Bouma, De Cler, Huntelaar (Vennegoor 82), Afellay, Boulahrouz (Melchiot 58). Romania: Lobont, Contra, Rat, Tamas, Chivu (capt), Codrea (Dica 72), Mutu, Cocis, Ghionea, Nicolita (Petre 82), M Niculae (D Niculae 60). Ballack ensures last eight for Germany 16.06.2008:Abhishek Bhattacharyya:Germany needed just a single point to qualify for the next round of UEFA EURO 2008 and they did more than that when they defeated Co-Host Austria 1-0 last night at Ernst Happel Stadion. As the match started the German defence was tested by the Austrians with players like Hoffer,Aufhauser and Ivanschitz did a commendable job for their team. In the early minutes of the game Klose came charging down into the Austiran box and passed it to Mario Gomez but the VFB Stuttgart striker was unable to find glory as the Austrians cleared away the danger from the goal line. In the 19th minute of the game Lehmann saved a shot coming out from the goal line and then in the following minute Aufhauser blasted a shot wide of Lehmann. In the 23rd minute of the game Podolski’s shot was parried away by Austrian Goalkeeper Juergen Macho.Manager Jaochim LOW and Austrian manager Hickersberger was sent to the stand by the refree for dissent. In the 49th minute of the game Ivanschitz impeded Lahm and Germany was awarded a free kick and Germany’s Mr.Dependable-Micheal Ballack scored a screamer from 25 metre.It was Micheal Ballack’s 37th Goal for Germany. In the last part of the game Germany defended well and Austria’s young sensation Kienast also did a good job. Austria: Macho, Stranzl, Pogatetz, Fuchs, Aufhauser (J Samuel, 63) Ivanschitz (captain), Korkmaz, Garics, Hiden (Leitgeb, 65), Harnik (Kienast, 67), Hoffer. Germany: Lehmann, Friedrich, Fritz (Borowski, 90+3), Frings, Gomez (Hitzlsperger, 60), Klose, Ballack (captain), Lahm, Mertesacker, Podolski (Neuville, 83), Metzelder. Klasnic’s heroics slayed Polska 16.06.2008:Abhishek Bhattacharyya:Croatia won their 3rd game in a row by knocking out Leo Beenhakker’s Poland 1-0. Ivan Klasnic who had a kidney transplant prior to the start of the tournament came out with the winner in the 53rd minute of the game. Slavan Bilic must be given credit for managing this team in this year’s competition. He played a very important role as a player in his country’s World cup campaign in Fifa World Cup 1998 and now as a manager of this team he is a super hero. When Croatia qualified for Euro 2008 by beating England we all thought it was a fluke but the mighty Croatians have proved us wrong and we hope their dream run continues. Poland: Boruc, Wawrzyniak, Dudka, Krzynowek, Saganowski (Zahorski 68), Wasilewski, Zeklakow, Lewandowski (Kokoszka 46), Lobodzinski (Smolarek 55), Murawski, Roger Guerreiro. Croatia : Runje, Simic, Vejic, Vukojevic, Rakitic, Pokrivac, Knezevic (Corluka 26), Leko, Klasnic (Kalinic 75), Petric (Kranjcar 75), Pranjic. Turkish Tsunami destroys Ceska’s dream 15.06.2008 :Abhishek Bhattacharyya:Turkey are through to the quarter- finals of UEFA EURO 2008 by beating Czech Republic 3-2 last night in Stade De Geneve.Czech Republic dominated the proceedings in the first half and their wingers and sidebacks did a great job and successfully supplied their passes to their target men Jan Kollar. Jan Koller headed the ball in 34th minute of the game to send the Czech fans into raptures.Jan Koller is the star of the first half not only did he scored the goal but also proved his critics wrong who were not so happy with him when the tournament started.Turkey’s Cervet Setin did a pretty good job resisting the Czech attack and even Czech’s Marek Matejovsky was also playing well until he got injured and was replaced by Jarosik Jarolim. In the second half Turkey came out with all its arsenal.They started attacking from the very first minute but somehow Petr Cech the best in the business was there to save them.Turkey’s hopes seemed to be dashed out when Libor Sionko’s fiery cross found Jarosik Plasil who slided the ball into the Turkish net giving Czech a 2-0 lead in the 62nd minute.But it was just the half of the script that was completed as we moved onto the Climax part of the match Arda Turan the man who scored the winner against Switzerland in the dying minutes pulled one back for Turkey in 75th minute. With 5 minutes remaining for the injury time a tsunami followed and the Turkish Captain Nihat Kahveci who was trying to create hurly burly in the Czech box capitalized from a Petr Cech’s mistake as he equalized for his team in the 87th minute of the game.In the next minute Nihat picked up a pass from Bayern Munich’s Hamit Altintop and blasted a scorcher inside the Czech goalpost.Even the last two minutes were full of incidents as Volkan Demirel was redcarded after he slapped Jarosik Plasil and Tuncay Sanli had to pick up the goalkeeping gloves to guard their hopes for couple of minutes. Fatih Terim’s tactical tinkering paid-off as the Turkish team knocked out Czech Republic and their dream of qualifying for the next round. . Turkey : Volkan Demirel, Servet Çetin, Hakan Balta, Mehmet Topal (Kazim Richards, 57), Mehmet Aurelio, Nihat Kahveci (c), Semih Senturk (Sabri Sarioglu, 46), Emre Gungor, Arda Turan, Czech Rep: Petr Cech, Zdenek Grygera, Jan Polak, Tomas Galasek, Marek Jankulovski, Libor Sionko (Stanislav Vlcek, 84), Jan Koller, Marek Matejovsky (David Jarolim,39), Jaroslav Plasil (Michal Kadlec, 80), Tomas Ujfalusi (c), David Rozehnal. Yakin’s double stuns Portugal 15.06.2008 :Abhishek Bhattacharyya:Kobi Kuhn’s Switzerland have beaten Luiz Felipe Scolari’s Portugal 2-0 last night. Going into this match both the teams had nothing to play for as Portugal have already qualified for the next round and Switzerland are knocked out of the competition. The Co-Host were playing for their pride.Scolari fielded his reserve team and they started pretty well but Switzerland who were determined to prove their mettle dominated Scolari’s mens . Hakan Yakin scored a late goal for the Co-Host in the 71st minute followed by another goal scored in the 83rd minute from a penalty when Fernanado Meira disrupted Barnetta’s run in the box. Switzerland ensured their victory and restored their pride by notching up three points. In Group A Portugal is now in the top position with 6 points and +3 Goal Average. On the otherhand, co-hosts of Euro - 2008 Switzerland, who had already failed to reach the knockout stages, but register their first points . Switzerland: Pascal Zuberbuhler, Ludovic Magnin, Philippe Senderos, Stephan Lichtsteiner (Grichting 85), Gokhan Inler, Hakan Yakin (Cabanas 86), Eren Derdiyok, Gelson Fernandes, Valon Behrami, Patrick Müller, Johan Vonlanthon (Barnetta 61). Portugal: Ricardo, Paulo Ferreira (Riberio 41), Bruno Alves, Fernando Meira (c), Raul Meireles, Miguel Veloso (Moutinho 70), Pepe Quaresma, Nani, Helder Postiga (Almeida 74). Zyryanov ensures Greek Tragedy 14.06.2008:Sudipta Sur :The Greek odyssey, which four years ago, drove the nation into entire delirium, was turned into a Greek tragedy on Saturday (14th June, 2008) night. The Russians ensured that there would be no repeat of Greece’s triumph four years ago. At the EM Stadion Wals Siezenheim in Salzburg, Konstantin Zyryanov’s 33rd minute strike ensured a 1-0 victory for Guus Hiddink’s men. The goal came about due to some sloppy goalkeeping by Antonios Nikopolidis, who left his area thinking that the ball might go out of play, only to find it hacked back onto the feet of Zyryanov who coolly slotted it home. After the break, Greece coach, Otto Rehaggel, in a desperate bid to stay alive, threw on his charges forward. But they were repelled time and again by resolute Russian defenders. Greece left behind spaces at the back and had the Russian forwards capitalized on the chances the scoreline could have been more authoritative in their favour. Greece Nikopolidis, Seitaridis (Karagounis, 40), Patsatzoglou, Dellas, Basinas (captain), Charisteas, Torosidis, Kyrgiakos, Amanatidis (Giannakopoulos, 80), Katsouranis, Liberopoulos (Gekas, 61). Russia: Akinfeev, Ignashevich, Torbinski, Kolodin, Semak (captain), Bilyaletdinov (Saenko, 72), Zyryanov, Zhirkov (V Berezutski, 87), Pavlyuchenko, Semshov, Anyukov. Torres, Villa serve up Spanish Tango 14.06.2008:Sudipta Sur :The Tivoli Neu in Innsbruck witnessed a perfect Spanish Tango by the Spanish players on Saturday (14th June, 2008) evening. The Group D clash between Sweden and Spain got off to a whirlwind start when Liverpool striker, Fernando Torres, with the help of his lower portion of boots placed the ball perfectly into the net in the 15th minute( 1- 0). The goal shook the Swedes and in the 34th minute, Zlatan Ibrahimovic drew parity. The striker from Intenazionale received the ball inside the Spanish penalty area and shook off the close attention of defender Sergio Ramos, before placing the ball past Iker Casillas (1 - 1). Ibrahimovic was taken off at halftime by coach, Lars Lagerback as a precautionary measure. The second half was a real treat in football terms as both teams looked to up the ante. Just when it seemed that the spoils would be shared, Joan Capdevilla’s long ball from inside his own half created mayhem among the Swedish defenders. David Villa needed no further invitation and drilled his shot into the net (90+2 mins). Luis Aragones’ Armada now rolls on into the Quarter Finals while Lagerback’s wards will now have to win their last game against the Russians.Spain is now top in Group D with 6 points, ahead of Sweden on 3 points. Sweden: Isaksson, Nilsson, Mellberg, Hansson, Stoor, Svensson, Ljungberg (c) Ibrahimovic (Rosenburg, 46), Elmander (S. Larsson, 79), H. Larsson (Kallstrom, 87), Andersson. Spain: Casillas, Marchena, Puyol (Albiol, 14), Iniesta (Santi Cazorla, 59), David Villa, Xavi Hernandez (Cesc Fabregas, 59), Fernando Torres, Capdevila, Sergio Ramos, Senna, David Silva. Dutch Delight in Berne 13.06.2008:Sudipta Sur :The Stade de Suisse in Berne witnessed “Total Football” at its very best on Friday night (13th June, 2008). Netherlands versus France was always going to be a match which would whet the appetite of football lovers and it proved just that. The Dutch started off from where they left against Italy. Marco Van Basten’s men took the lead in the 9th minute when Durk Kuyt headed in a corner from the right. After the interval, it was total attack from the “Oranje” with Arjen Robben and Robin Van Persie proving to be the “flying Dutchmen”. The dancing feet of Ruud Van Nistelrooy released Robben down the left in the 59th minute and the Real Madrid winger raced on to cut the ball back to Van Persie, who coolly slotted it home (2-0). Thierry Henry pulled a goal back for “Les Bleus” in the 71st minute with a clever finish. But Netherlands hit back again when Robben defied geometric conventions to rifle a shot past Gregory Coupet from an acute angle to make the score 3-1 in the 72nd minute. Dutch maestro, Johan Cryuff, was watching from the stands and he surely would have appreciated when Wesley Sneijder put the icing on the Dutch victory cake with a superb shot in the 92nd minute. Wesley Sneijder of Netherlands has been awared Man of the Match Holland : Edwin van der Sar, Andre Ooijer, Joris Mathijsen, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Orlando Engelaar (Arjen Robben, 46), Ruud van Nistelrooy, Wesley Sneijder, Nigel de Jong, Dirk Kuyt (Robin van Persie, 55), Khalid Boulahrouz, Rafael van der Vaart (Wilfred Bouma, 78). France: Gregory Coupet, William Gallas, Claude Makelele, Florent Malouda (Bafetimbi Gomis, 60), Sidney Govou (Nicolas Anelka, 75), Thierry Henry, Patrice Evra, Lillian Thuram, Willie Sagnol, Jeremy Toulalan, Franck Ribery. Buffon Brilliance keeps Italy in hunt 13.06.2008:Sudipta Sur:It was Friday the 13th, the 13th match of UEFA EURO 2008, the 13th European Championship. The stage was set for a “Black Friday” and when the match got underway at Letzigrund, Zurich, it seemed as if Romania were on course to deliver a killer blow. But when has common sense prevailed in football? A riveting game of football saw both Italy and Romania attacking each other’s goals with gusto. Roberto Donadoni, the coach of the “Azzurris” put up a lineup full of attacking flair knowing that a win is a must. But the Italian strike force were confronted by Bogdan Lobont, the Romanian goalie. The man from Dinamo Bucharest was at his best, saving time and again, the shots of Luca Toni, Alessandro Del Piero, Daniele de Rossi and company. His opposite number, Gianlugi Buffon, again proved why he’s regarded one of the best in business, if not the best! In the 55th minute, a mistake by Gianluca Zambrotta allowed Adrian Mutu to rifle a shot past Buffon to stun the Italians. Hardly had the Romanians started celebrating when Italy hit back, Cristian Panucci, being at the right place at the right time to tap in the equalizer (56th minute). Ten minutes before the end, Norwegian referee, Tom Henning Ovrebo, awarded a dubious penalty to Romania. Mutu stepped up but Buffon brilliantly saved his shot. Mutu was crestfallen while Buffon gave the Italians a lifeline. For his outstanding playing Andera Pirlo of Italy adjudjed Man of the Match . Italy : Buffon, Panucci, Grosso, Chiellini, Del Piero (Quagliarella 77), Toni, De Rossi, Camoranesi (Ambrosini 85), Zambrotta, Perrotta (Cassano 57), Pirlo. Romania: Labont, Contra, Rat, Tamas, Chivu (capt), Radoi (Dica 25), Petre (Nicolita 59), Codrea, Mutu (Cocis 88), Goian, D Nuculae. Croatia stuns Germany 12.06.2008:Abhishek Bhattacharyya: Croatia have beaten Germany 2 - 1.Dario Srna and Ivica Olic confirming the win for Slaven Bilic's Croatia side.While Lukas podolski scoring a consolation for Germany. Germany beat Poland 2-0 in the opening Group B match.The first chance of the match came for Germany in the 10th minute of first half, Mario Gomez passed to Lucas Podolski whose shot from the edge of the penalty area hit a Croatian defender. Dario Srna broke the deadlock in the 24th minute scoring throgh a lovely sliding left-footed strike, shooting past Jens Lehmann in the Germany goal to make it 1-0. Germany captain Michael Ballack almost would have to equalised at the half-hour mark, with a superb free-kick that forced Croatia Goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa into a fine save to deny the Chelsea midfielder.The game went into half-time 1-0 to Croatia The second-half started at the same pace. Germany had a great chance to level with Ballack, but his shot went high of the bar.Croatia took a 2 - 0 lead in the 62nd minute, with Ivica Olic the scorer of the second goal for Croatia. In 79th minute, Lukas Podolski scored the only goal for German side and also scored his 3rd in the Tournament getting the ball off a low header of Michael Ballack in Croatia penalty area which slamming the ball past Pletikosa to make it 2 - 1.Bastian Schweinsteiger was shown a straight-red card in injury-time for a foul. Luka Modric of Croatia has been declared "Curlsberg Man of the Match". Croatia : Pletikosa, Simunic, R. Kovac, Corluka, Rakitic, N. Kovac, Srna (Leko, 80), Modric, Olic (Petric, 72), Kranjcar (Knezevic, 85), Pranjic. Germany: Lehmann, Jansen (Odonkor, 46), Fritz (Kuranyi, 82), Frings, Gomez (Scweinsteiger, 65), Klose, Ballack (c), Lahm, Mertesacker, Podolski, Metzelder. Austria-Poland match drawn as Group-B is wide open 12.06.2008: Abhishek Bhattacharyya :The match between Austria & Poland ended in 1-1 draw last night.Poland took the lead courtesy Roger Guirrero in 30th minute of the game(1-0). One must give credit to Polish Goalkeeper Artur Boruc for pulling out some brilliant saves.But Ivica Vastic was the superman for the Austrian as he equalized in 90+3 minutes of the game from a penalty ending the match on level terms. Group-B is wide open as a single match is left to be played by all the teams and Croatia already being qualified for the Quarter-finals.Its crunch time for Poland, Austria and Germany as they need to deliver in order to qualify for the last eight Switzerland knocked out from EURO 2008 11.06.2008:Abhishek Bhattacharyya:Host nation Switzerland were knocked out of UEFA EURO 2008 after losing to Fatih Terim’s Turkey 2-1 last night. Switzerland went ahead with Hakan Yakin scoring for them in 32nd minute.Turkey goalkeeper Volakan Demirel had to make a lot of saves as Switzerland kept on attacking. Demirel pulled out a brilliant save from Barnetta’s free kick. Turkey levelled the match with Senturk in 57th minute of the game and in the injury time Arda Turan,who was denied a goal before broke Swiss heart as Turkey won (2-1). Portugal already being qualified from Group-A now it will go down the wire as the Czech will have to battle it out with the mighty Turks for a last eight place. If the clash between these two teams ends in a draw this coming Sunday then it will go down to the Penalties to pick the second team from Group-A for the Quater finals Switzerland : Diego Begnalio, Ludovic Magnin, Philippe Senderos, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Gokhan Inler, Hakan Yakin, (Daniel Gygax, 85), Eren Derdiyok, Gelson Fernandes (Ricardo Cabanas, 76), Valon Behrami, Tranquillo Barnetta (Johan Vonlanthon, 66), Patrick Muller. Turkey: Volkan Demirel, Servet Çetin, Hakan Balta, Aurelio, Nihat Kahveci (c) (Kazim Richards, 85), Gokdeniz Karedeniz (Semih Senturk, 46), Tumer Metin (Mehmet Topal, 46), Arda Turan, Emre Asik, Tunçay Sanli, Hamit Altintop. Portugal ensure them a last eight place 11.06.2008 : Abhishek Bhattacharyya: Portugal ensured their place in last eight by beating Czech Republic 3-1 in Stade de Geneve.Portugal took an early lead when Cristiano Ronaldo bursted into the Czech territory playing one-touch with Nuno Gomes. Petr Cech came into rescue and succeded in deflecting the ball on the other side of the pitch but Barcelona striker Deco found the ball and placed it perfectly inside the Czech goalpost(1-0). Czech Republic was a playing well in the first half as they were responding pretty well against the Portuguese attack.Libor Sionko dribbled past Pepe in Portuguese half in 16th minute of the game but the danger was cleared. In the next minute Libor Sionko equalized for the Czechs from Jarosik Plasil’s corner kick.Both the teams was equally matched in the first half and credit must be given to FC Copehagen midfielder Libor Sionko for playing his heart out. In the second half of the game the match was evenly poised and Czech Goalkeeper Petr Cech pulled out some monster of a saves from Simao and co. Cech made a great save in the first half when Cristiano Ronaldo blasted one straight into the Czech post.But the Czech defence was bursted wide open and Portugal went ahead in 63rd minute when Deco assisted Cristiano Ronaldo,who posted a thunder inside the post(2-1). Sionko & Co. tried to fight back and came close of scoring but Potuguese goalkeeper did well of parrying them outside. Portugal added insult to Czech’s injury when the star of the show Cristiano Ronaldo assisted substitute Ricardo Quaresma,who made it 3-1 for Portugal. Cristiano Ronaldo again proved why he is the best of the rest as Portugal booked their place in Quarter Final. Czech Republic: Cech, Grygera, Polak, Galasek (Koller 73), Jankulovski, Sionko, Baros, Matejovsky (Vlcek 68), Plasil (Jarolim 86), Ujfalusi, Rozehnal. Portugal: Ricardo, Ferreira, Bosingwa, Cristiano Ronaldo, Petit, Joao Moutinho (Fernando Meira 75), Simao (Quaresma 80), Pepe, Carvalho, Deco, Nuno Gomes (Hugo Almeida 79). Sweden hampers Greek Odyssey 10.06.2008 : Abhishek Bhattacharyya:Sweden got off to flying start by defeating defending champions Grecce in their opening encounter (2-0).Inter Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored their first goal in 67th minute of the game(1-0) followed by Petter Hansson in 72nd minute(2-0). First half of the match was goal less but the second half started in a bright manner with Christian Wilhelmsson shooting over the bar in the 48th minute for Sweden. Ibrahimovic scored a superb goal in the 67th minute with a stunning strike from the edge of the penalty area. Sweden scored the second goal just 5 minutes later with Hansson latching on to a deflected shot from Freddie Ljungberg and turning the ball in from close range . Greece : Nikopolidis, Seitaridis, Dellas (Amanatidis, 70), Kyrgiakos, Katsouranis, Torosidis, Basinas (c), Karagounis, Charisteas, Antzas, Gekas (Samaras, 46). Sweden: Isaksson, Nilsson, Mellberg, Hansson, Alexandersson (Stoor, 74), Svensson, Ljungberg (c) Ibrahimovic (Elmander, 71), H. Larsson, Andersson, Wilhelmsson (Rosenburg, 78). Spain Crushes Russian Dream 10.06.2008 : Abhishek Bhattacharyya:Spain started their European Campaign with a bang. The Spanish Armada slaughtered Guss Hiddink’s Russian side 4 -1 in Tivoli Neu. Both the teams played their heart out but at the end of the day Spain was the better team.In 16th minute of the game Semshov came close of scoring a goal but sends it wide of Casillas.In 24th minute of the game Joan Capedevilla’s 30 metre pass was collected by Fernando Torres,who assisted David Villa to put it inside the Russian net(1-0). Russia again came close of scoring when Zyryanov’s shot hits the left framework of the post.David Villa made it (2-0) for Spain in the 44th minute of the first half.In second half spain maintained their momentum and the Valencia Striker David Villa scored a hattrick in the 75th minute of the game(3-0). Russia scored their consolation goal courtesy Pavlyuchenko.Cesc Fabragas scored the fourth goal for Spain in 1st minute of injury time making it 4 -1 for Spain. Spain: 1 Casillas (capt), 4 Marchena, 5 Puyol, 6 Iniesta (Santi Cazorla 63), 7 Villa, 8 Xavi Hernandez, 9 Torres (Fabregas 54), 11 Capdevila, 15 Sergio Ramos, 19 Senna, 21 Silva (Xabi Alonso 78). Russia: 1 Akinfeev, 8 Kolodin, 11 Semak (capt), 14 Shirokov, 15 Bilyaletdinov, 17 Zyryanov, 18 Zhirkov, 19 Pavlyuchenko, 20 Semshov (Torbinski 57), 21 Sychev (Bystrov 46) (Adamov 70), 22 Anyukov. Dutch magic for the Italians 09.06.2008:Abhishek Bhattacharyya :Netherlands beats the World Champions Italy by 3-0 in Stade de Suisse,Berne last night. It can’t get better than this.Group C is the most exciting group in this year’s Competiton and last night’s match bear testimony to the fact.The Italian defence was “split wide open” by the Oranges and they scored their first goal courtesy Sneijder’s powerful drive which was tucked in by Van Nistelrooy(1-0).The goal was scored from a clearly off-side position.In 31st minute of the game Van Bronckhorst cleared the ball from Oranges goal line and it was followed by a superb goal in counter attack by Wesley Sneijder (2-0). In 79th minute Kuyt assisted Van Bronckhorst,who headed the ball in the Italian net(3-0).Italy also had their chances but they were not able to convert them.Luca Toni missed a chance of scoring in 12th minute and then in 76th minute he missed another.Credit must be given to players like Van Der Vaart,Bronckhorst for superb display of football.But Oranjes Wesley Sneijder was the cream of the crop.Dutch Captain Van Der Sar was superb as he pulled out some great saves. In 78th minute he denied Pirlo a goal from free kick and it was one of the best of the save I have ever seen in European football.Italy’s sweetheart Alessandro Del Piero also made a short impact in the game but it didn’t change Italy’s fortune as they ended up on the losing side.Roberto Donodini have to come up with fresh ideas if they want to qualify for the Quarter final round. Holland :Edwin van der Sar, Andre Ooijer, Joris Mathijsen, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Orlando Engelaar, Ruud van Nistelrooy (Robin Van Persie, 70), Wesley Sneijder, Nigel de Jong, Dirk Kuyt (Ibrahim Afellay, 81), Khalid Boulahrouz (John Heitinga, 77), Rafael van der Vaart. Italy: Gianluigi Buffon, Christian Panucci, Andrea Barzagli, Gennaro Gattuso, Luca Toni, Alberto Di Natale (Del Piero, 64) , Massimo Ambrosini, Mauro Camoranesi( Cassano, 75), Gianluca Zambrotta, Andrea Pirlo, Marco Materazzi (F.Grosso, 54). Romania holds France 09.06.2008 : Abhishek Bhattacharyya :The opening Group C encounter between Romania and Francer ended in a 0-0 draw.Prior to the commencement of the tournament the critics have said that Romania is the weakest team in Group C-“The Group of Death”.But the Romanians have proved them wrong by holding the world cup runners-up France in their very first game of the tournament. The Romanian defence was well organized and they gave France a tough time during the match.We expected France to have a cakewalk through this match but the likes of Mutu,Radoi, Chivu and Contra had other plans.Both the teams played equally well in both the half and there was not much of a difference between them. In 33rd minute of the game Niclos Anelka came close of scoring a goal from a corner kick but he headed it over the bar.In 56th minute of the game Franck Ribery’s cross found Benzema in the Romanian box but he punched it straight into the hands of Romanian Goalkeeper Bogdan Lobont.It’s a good performance by Victor Piturca’s army and we hope that they keep up this momentum. Romania: 1 Bogdan Lobont, 5 Cristian Chivu (Capt), 2 Cosmin Contra, 3 Razvan Dinca Rat, 4 Gabriel Sebastian Tamas, 15 Dorin Goian, 6 Mirel Matei Radoi, 16 Banel Nicolita, 11 Razvan Cocis, 10 Adrian Mutu, 21 Daniel George Niculae. France: 23 Gregory Coupet, 5 William Gallas, 3 Eric Abidal, 19 Willy Sagnol, 15 Lilian Thuram (Capt), 7 Florent Malouda, 6 Claude Makelele, 20 Jeremy Toulalan, 22 Franck Ribery, 8 Nicolas Anelka, Karim Benzema. Podolski polishes Polska with a double 08.06.2008 :Abhishek Bhattacharyya:Jaochim LOW’s Germany kick started their UEFA EURO 2008 campaign in style beating Poland 2-0 in their opening group league match.Germany dominated the proceedings from the very first minute of the game and could have scored an early goal if Mario Gomez have converted Klose’s pass in the polish territory. Germany scored their first goal in the 20th minute of the game when Klose picked up Gomez’s pass and placed it right in front of Lukas Podolski’s feet in the penalty box. Leo Beenhakker’s army spearheaded by Zurawski and Krzynowek did created a few chances and in 35th minute of the game Zurawski aimed for glory but it went wide. The second half had nothing new in store as the Germans were still dominating the game.In 54th minute of the game Clemens Fritz was substituted by Bastian Schweinsteiger.Bastian’s mobility strengthened the German attack and in 69th minute Bastian assisted Ballack. As Ballack tried to put it inside,Polish Goalkeeper Artur Boruc pulled out a great save.In 72nd minute of the game Bastian’s pass which was missed by Klose was converted by Poland born Lukas Podolski scoring his second goal of the game and 11th of this year’s European Championship Campaign. Polish Substitute Roger Guerreiro was impressive but didn’t do enough for his team.Marcell Jansen and Philip Lahm did a great job as sidebacks and was superb while overlapping the wingers and even Jens Lehmann did a commendable job. Austria pays penalty 08.06.2008 : Abhishek Bhattacharyya:Croatia beats host nation Austria in their opening match.Croatia took an early lead when Rene Aufhauser brought down Ivica Olic in the penalty box. Croatia was awarded a penalty which was ably scored by Luka Modric in 4th minute of the game.We didn’t had much of incidents to talk about in this game. That penalty costed Austria the match as Slavan Bilic’s side won the game 1-0. Portugal Two Good Score:PORTUGAL (PEPE 61’, RAUL MEIRELES 90+3’) 2 - 0 TURKEY 07.06.2008: Sudipta Sur:Portugal, one of the hot favourites for UEFA EURO 2008, started their campaign on an impressive note on Saturday night (7th June, 2008). In a Group A encounter at the Stade de Geneve, Geneva, the Portuguese overcame Turkish resilience to win 2-0. The game started at a brisk pace with both sides trying to impose their authority. Portugal looked the more likely side to score, while Turkey were content with counter attacking football. Portugal could have gone into the interval with a more than one goal lead, but were thwarted by some excellent keeping by Volkan Demirel. The Turkish goalkeeper, who plies his trade with Fenerbache, was at hand to deflect Cristiano Ronaldo’s wicked swerving freekick into the post. Simao, Joao Moutinho and Nuno Gomes all had cracks at the Turkish goal, but they either missed the mark or found Demirel in their way. Emre Belozoglu, Tuncay Sanli and Nihat Kahveci looked to be the most likely men for Turkey as far as creating opportunities were concerned. In the second half, Portugal took the lead through Pepe. The Real Madrid centre back picked up a loose ball in the opposition half and played a neat little one-two with Nuno Gomes. Pepe barged his way through the heart of the Turkish defence and his shot, which deflected off Emre Asik, sailed past Demirel and into the net (61st minute). As Turkey moved forward they left spaces at the back to be exploited and Portuguese substitute, Raul Meireles, did just that in injury time (90+3 mins) to make the final scoreline 2-0 in favour of Portugal. Sverkos Czech mates Swiss Score: SWITZERLAND 0 - 1 CZECH REP (VACLAV SVERKOS 71’) 07.06.2008 : Sudipta Sur :The festival of European Football, that is, UEFA EURO 2008, got underway at Basel’s St. Jakob-Park on Saturday evening (7th June, 2008). Group A action saw co-host, Switzerland take on Czech Rep in the opening game. The Swiss started the brighter of the two sides, moving the ball around with purpose and thereby creating few openings. Alexander Frei was at the thick of things, with two impressive long range efforts, which stung the palms of Czech goalie, Petr Cech. The Czechs, who were playing with only Jan Koller upfront, sat back and absorbed the Swiss pressure, looking to hit back via counter attacks. Just before halftime, Switzerland were dealt a cruel blow when captain, Frei, injured himself while going for a tackle. The Borussia Dortmund man had to be carried off limping with tears in his eyes. Frei was replaced by crowd favourite, Hakan Yakin, and the Swiss continued to dominate possession in the second half. But for all their domination the Swiss couldn’t breach the Czech defence. Infact, it was the Czechs who scored the all important goal against the run of play. A Czech Rep corner was partially cleared by the Swiss defence. The ball fell to Tomas Galasek who headed in hopefully into the opposition penalty area. The Swiss defenders, who were clearing their lines, were caught napping for a split second. Vaclav Sverkos, who had come on as a substitute for Koller, beat the offside trap, and the forward from Banik Ostrava placed the ball perfectly with the outside of his right foot to beat Swiss goalie, Diego Benaglio (71st minute). Switzerland threw caution to the wind and coach, Jakob Kobi Kuhn, had as many as four players in the forward zone, in a desperate bid to find the equalizer. They created chances, with Johan Vonlanthen hitting the woodwork. But in the end it was Sverkos’ 71st minute strike that made all the difference. GO TO MAIN PAGE