Posted on June 27th, 2008 by JJ Duque
The Russia vs Spain match was scoreless at half-time, but it was only a matter of time until
Spain found a rhythm and relentlessly attacked the goal of Russia, resulting in three 2nd-half goals.
Xavi Hernandez scored the first for Spain from a wonderful cross by Andres Iniesta in the 50th minute. Then, David Guiza tucked in a wonderful pass from Cesc Fabregas in the 73rd minute to double the lead while David Silva added a third goal from yet another Cesc Fabregas pass to make the final scoreline 3-0 in favor of Spain, who advance to the 2008 Euro Championship to face Germany.
Spain will be relying on its superb precision passing to defeat Germany, who are considered underdogs in the match against Spain in the Euro 2008 Championship.
Spain will be looking on its stellar cast of football players like Sergio Ramos, Cesc Fabregas, Fernando Torres and David Villa to provide the Euro 2008 Championship for Spain. Meanwhile, Germany will be relying on its solid team of Michael Ballack, Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski to win the Euro 2008 Championship for Germany.
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Posted on June 26th, 2008 by JJ Duque
Turkey were used to being dubbed as the comeback kings of the Euro 2008 tournament, having come from behind in their wins against Czech Republic to advance to the Euro 2008 quarterfinals, and then also coming from behind to beat Croatia in order to face Germany in the Euro 2008 semifinals.
Turkey looked to come from behind again to beat Germany when Semih Sentruk of Turkey scored in the 86th minute to level the game at 2-2.
Turkey took the lead in the 22nd minute with a goal from Ugur Boral, but Germany responded within 5 minutes with a goal from Bastian Schweinsteiger. Germany finally got the lead in the 79th minute with Miroslav Klose recovering the scrap and firing past goalkeeper Rustu Recber of Turkey. Semih Sentruk then equalised in the 86th minute, but then it was Philipp Lahm of Germany who broke the deadlock with a goal in the final minute of play to make the final scoreline 3-2 in favor of Germany, and have them advance to the Euro 2008 Finals.
Germany will be waiting for the outcome of the Spain vs Russia Euro 2008 semifinals to find out who will face them in the Euro 2008 Finals to be played in Vienna, Austria.
Turkey coach Fatih Terim said he was very proud of his players, and not at all disappointed for not making it to the Euro 2008 finals. Of course, there is some disappointment, but it won’t take away the fact that when people had written Turkey out, they showed up to play and performed even better than others had expected them to.
Meanwhile, football experts are predicting Spain to defeat Russia in the Euro 2008 Semifinals, and that it would most probably be Germany vs Spain in the Euro 2008 Finals.
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Posted on June 25th, 2008 by JJ Duque
Germany are heavy favorites in their Euro 2008 Semifinal match against Turkey, who will not have its strongest roster to field against Germany, considering that some of its key players will be suspended due to multiple yellow cards throughout the tournament. While Turkey may be 0n a Cinderella-like run for the tournament, getting past the likes of Czech Republic and heavy favorite Croatia, they will certainly have difficulties against the likes of Germany, who defeated a very popular Portugal that included key players like Nuno Gomez and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Germany will be relying on key players like Bastian Schweinsteiger, Miroslav Klose, Lukas Podolski and Michael Ballack - all of whom had delivered goals for Germany at some point in the Euro 2008 finals tournament held in Switzerland and Austria.
Meanwhile, on the other Euro 2008 semifinal match featuring Spain vs Russia, it is Spain who are the heavy favorites to win against Russia, having beaten Russia 4-1 during their Group D match earlier in the tournament. Of course, since then, Russia hasn’t lost a match, defeating the likes of heavy favorites Sweden and Netherlands to earn a spot in the Euro 2008 semifinals. Russia will be relying on their star strikerAndrei Arshavin to provide the goals that could earn Russia a win over Spain.
Of course, Spain will be in full force with the likes of Andres Iniesta, Sergio Ramos, Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso and David Villa to make sure they earn a spot in the Euro 2008 Finals to be held in Austria.
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Posted on June 21st, 2008 by JJ Duque
Turkey are through to the semi-finals of the Euro 2008 Championship for the first time at the expense of heavy favorites Croatia after a thrilling match in Vienna was decided on penalties.
Croatia looked to walk away with the win when Ivan Klasnić headed in Luka Modrić’s cross with a minute of the overtime period to play. Croatia looked to have booked their place in Wednesday’s Euro 2008 semifinal against Germany, but somehow Turkey sensationally hit back at the final minute when Semih Şentürk drove in a goal to tie the game at 1-1 and send the match into a penalty shootout.
In the penalty shootout, Turkey went on to win 3-1 on penalties after Rüştü Reçber of Turkey saved the attempt Mladen Petrić, following earlier misses from Luka Modrić and Ivan Rakitić.
Turkey coach Fatih Terim, though, will struggle to get a team together to play Germany with Emre Aşık, Tuncay Şanlı and Arda Turan all suspended along with Volkan Demirel after being booked in the Euro 2008 quartefinal match against Croatia.
Germany will be heavy favorites against Turkey, but then Turkey seems to like the role of the underdog, and will hope again to rise to the occasion in order to come away with an unlikely win.
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Posted on June 20th, 2008 by JJ Duque
Germany earned a well-deserved 3-2 victory over Portugal in the Euro 2008 quartefinals, and now advance to the Euro 2008 Semifinals, awaiting their next opponent, which could either be Turkey or Croatia.
Goals from Bastian Schweinsteiger and Miroslav Klose put Germany up 2-0 early in the first half, but Nuno Gomez of Portugal was able to put one back to put the score at 2-1 at halftime with Portugal, looking like they could still bounce back. The second half saw a more aggressive Portugal, but the goal eventually landed on the favor of Germany through a magnificent header by Michael Ballack which put the score at 3-1. Towards the end of regulation, Portugal substitute Helder Postiga was able to fire in a goal to make it 3-2, but eventually Germany were able to steer clear from the driving pressure from Portugal until the final whistle.
Cristiano Ronaldo had his moments for Portugal, but he wasn’t as effective as he would’ve liked to be.
Germany are now awaiting the winners of Turkey vs Croatia to be their opponents in the Euro 2008 Semifinals.
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Posted on June 19th, 2008 by JJ Duque
Spain vs Italy
2006 World Cup Champions Italy looked like they were on the brink of elimination, but a 2-0 win over World Cup 2006 rivals France earned them enough points to qualify for the final qualification slot of Group C in order to advance to the Euro 2008 Quarterfinals.
Spain, on the other hand, have been impressive throughout the tournament, collecting a perfect 3 wins and 9 points in Group D to win the group.
While Spain may be the favorites to win against Italy, it’s difficult not to discount the talents of the 2006 World Cup Champions. Spain may be on a roll, but they face a mighty opposition with Italy, who are considered to be one of the world’s best national football teams.
Italy will be relying on the likes of Luca Toni, Andrea Pirlo, Christian Pannuci, Gianluca Zambrotta, Alessandro Del Piero and Antonio Cassano to book the win against Spain.
Spain’s squad consists of superstar talent, such as Euro 2008 finals top scorer David Villa, Fernando Torres, Sergio Ramos, Carles Puyol, Andres Iniesta, Xabi Alonso and Cesc Fabregas.
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Posted on June 19th, 2008 by JJ Duque
Netherlands swept all their games during the group stages of the Euro 2008 in order to come out on first place of the very competitive Group C, which included the likes of 2006 World Cup Champions Italy and 2006 World Cup finalists France. However, it was Netherlands who remain the strongest of Group C and came out without a loss.
Meanwhile, Russia seemed shaky to begin their Euro 2008 campaign, losing 4-1 against Spain in Group D. However, Russia were able to recover by beating out defending Euro Cup champions Greece 1-0, and then defeating the heavily favored Sweden 2-0 in order to advance to the Euro 2008 Quarterfinals against Netherlands.
The Netherlands are the favorites to win against Russia, but then Russia is a strong side, and they even eliminated an all-star England from the tournament.
Russia will be relying on the likes of Andrei Arshavin, Roman Pavlyuchenko, Konstantin Zyryanov and Sergei Semak to bring the win for Russia over Netherlands.
Meanwhile, Netherlands will have a strong force composed of Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Dirk Kuyt, Robin van Persie, Klass Jan Huntelaar and Ruud van Nistelrooy, who definitely have the talent to advance to the Euro 2008 Semifinals.
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