June 08, 2008

A LATE, opportunist goal by striker Vaclav Sverkos enabled the Czech Republic to kick off their Euro 2008 campaign with a scarcely-deserved 1-0 over co-hosts Switzerland.

A match overshadowed by what appeared to be a serious injury to Switzerland's captain and leading goalscorer, Alexander Frei, was settled in the 70th minute.

Having cleared their lines from a corner, the advancing Swiss back four was caught out when the ball was knocked back over their heads, enabling substitute Sverkos to sprint clear before beating goalkeeper Diego Benaglio with the outside of his right boot from 12 yards.

It was a fine piece of finishing but a cruel blow for a Swiss side that was repeatedly frustrated by their opponents' outstanding goalkeeper, Petr Cech.

Further agony followed when substitute Johan Venlanthen's close-range shot came back off the bar with Cech finally beaten.

Swiss coach Jakob Kuhn, who fears Frei will be ruled out of the rest of the tournament once the results of a scan on his knee are known, said he was proud of his players' display.

“I told them they can leave the stadium with their heads held high,'' Kuhn said.

“Now we have to forget about this game and concentrate on the next match, against Turkey.

“Our chances of going through have certainly not increased but we still believe. Everything is still possible and we are not going to give up. We must build on what we did here today.''

Czech captain Tomas Ujfalusi admitted it had been a shaky display from his side.

“The most important thing is that we got the win,'' he said.

“We made some errors but overall our defence held out.

“We waited for our chance and when it came we took it. We have to continue like that.''

Manager Karel Bruckner added: “We did a good job. The first match is always very important and three points represents an excellent start. We were not at our best but we can play better and we will play better.''

The fact that Kuhn's squad had not played a competitive match in nearly two years was belied by a high-tempo start which might have yielded a goal after barely two minutes, when Frei's shot slid narrowly wide of Cech's right-hand post with the goalkeeper struggling to cover.

That set the tone for a first-half in which a combination of energetic pressing by the Swiss and the penetration of Lazio's Valon Behrami down the right flank restricted the Czechs to a handful of counter-attacks, their only moment of menace coming from David Jarolim's deflected cross which almost caught out Benaglio in the 13th minute.

The co-hosts, in contrast, might easily have been ahead by the break but for Cech.

Having blocked goalbound shots from Behrami and Gokhan Inler, the Chelsea goalkeeper came swiftly off his line to deny Frei at close range after the Swiss captain had been allowed to run on to Benaglio's box-to-box punt.

Frei gave one more demonstration of why he has plundered 35 goals in 60 appearances for his country - a swerving drive from 30 yards that Cech could only beat away -before tragedy struck three minutes from the break.

As he contested a 50-50 ball with Czech right-back Zdenek Grygera, the Swiss captain's left knee appeared to lock against his opponent's leg and he slumped to the turf in agony.

Minutes later he was limping from the pitch in tears, the hush that had descended on the St-Jakob Park stadium telling its own story.

Frei's replacement, the veteran Hakan Yakin, made his presence felt within a minute of the restart, drawing Tomas Galasek into a trip on the edge of the area and then curling the resulting free-kick inches over.

Nearly an hour had elapsed before the Czechs finally generated their first clear chance, Libor Sionko glancing Marek Jankulovski's free-kick wide after the inswinging delivery had found him unmarked six yards out.

Switzerland responded by carving out an equally gilt-edged opportunity of their own, Hakan planting his header wide from eight yards after a fine cross from overlapping right-back Stephan Lichsteiner.

The cost of that miss was to become apparent minutes later when Sverkos, a second-half substitute for the ineffective Jan Koller, fired the Czechs into the lead.

Switzerland battled to the end but a bitterly frustrating evening was to be summed up when Vonlanthen's follow-up crashed against the woodwork after Cech had parried Tranquillo Barnetta's low shot from the edge of the area.

June 09, 2008

CROATIA got their Euro 2008 campaign off to a winning start when a fourth-minute Luka Modric penalty proved enough to beat co-hosts Austria 1-0 in the opening game of Group B.

Croatia were well worth their win against a team placed 92nd in FIFA's world rankings and set the pace before group rivals Germany and Poland met in Klagenfurt later on Sunday (1845 GMT).

Austria have been widely tipped to lose all three games in their first appearance at a European Championship. Though they were keen enough, their disjointed efforts betrayed a lack of competitive action and they only came alive in the last 20 minutes.

Croatia, noisily backed by around 20,000 of their fans in the team's red and white chequered shirts, arrived at the tournament full of confidence after seeing off England from their qualifying group.

The decisive moment came minutes after their supporters had taken their seats after the anthems.

Ivica Olic was chasing a hopeful ball towards the byline when he was clumsily brought down by Rene Aufhauser and Modric converted the spot kick straight down the middle.

Croatia coach Slaven Bilic said: "We are happy to collect three points from the opening match which is always tough.

"I am not entirely happy with the performance in the second half, but we were very good in the opening period and should have led by a bigger margin at half-time.

"Although we were on the back foot after the interval, we had several promising breaks."

Summing up, he said: "We are delighted because we got the start we wanted and it will give us a lot of confidence. I have to congratulate my players for the effort."

Austria defender Martin Stranzl said: "It's not really that bitter of a defeat. We played very well after the first 25 minutes. Unfortunately we weren't able to score.

"They got the penalty early and then there were two situations later where there could have been a handball called against them. But the referee didn't make the call. That's football."

Modric's goal immediately settled the Croatians, whose neat-passing midfielders began coolly knocking the ball around.

Olic and Mladen Petric both went close to touching in a second after a dangerous low Darijo Srna free kick, before Petric, unmarked in the area, blasted wide after a deep cross from Vedran Corluka.

Austria looked shell-shocked by the early setback and only late in the half did they build any sort of attacking pressure, their best effort coming when Joachim Standfest steered a header just over the bar.

The home side were more positive after the break, pinning Croatia back for long periods and swinging in some dangerous crosses. But a poor final ball too often let them down.

The introduction of Umit Korkmaz for the last 20 minutes added some bite to the Austrian attack as they built to a rousing finale, but Croatia held out.

June 09, 2008

POLISH-born forward Lukas Podolski ended Germany's 12-year wait for a European Championship win on Sunday with two goals as his side's Euro 2008 campaign began with a 2-0 win over Poland.

Having turned 23 last Wednesday, Podolski combined with Germany's other Polish-born forward Miroslav Klose for his first goal on 20 minutes and followed up with an unstoppable volley on 72 minutes.

After Group B rivals Croatia had earlier got off to a winning start with a 1-0 victory over co-hosts Austria in Vienna, the result puts Germany on top of their group.

The last time Germany had won a European Championship game was way back in June 30 1996, when they beat the Czech Republic to win Euro 1996 at London's Wembley Stadium.

There had been some controversy last Wednesday when Polish tabloid Super Express printed a mocked up picture of Poland coach Leo Beenhakker holding the severed heads of opposite number Joachim Loew and Germany captain Michael Ballack.

Both sides had played down any problem, but 140 German fans were arrested in the city centre, although well-behaved fans in the stadium lent their passionate support.

Ballack said the Germans had been their traditional efficient selves in sealing the points.

"I think we played well. It's always difficult - you never know where you are before the first game of a tournament. I think we deserved victory. From the start we were aggressive," the Chelsea star told the BBC.

The Poles were making their European Championship debut, but are still yet to beat Germany in 16 meetings between the sides since 1933, with the Germans now claiming 12 wins with four draws between the neighbours.

Beenhakker had opted for five in midfield, with Euzebiusz Smolarek as the lone striker up front for Poland.

Loew had gone for a traditional 4-4-2 formation, keeping midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger - a star of the 2006 World Cup - on the bench until half-time, playing Podolski behind the two German strikers.

The move paid off as Podolski gave Germany an extra attacking option supporting front men Miroslav Klose, the top scorer at the last World Cup, who was partnering VfB Stuttgart hot-shot Mario Gomez up front.

After both sides squandered early chances, the trio combined to give Germany the break through they craved on 20 minutes.

Gomez flicked the ball over the defence for Klose to draw the goalkeeper before giving his Bayern Munich team-mate Podolski a simple tap in on 20 minutes past Poland's Celtic goalkeeper Artur Boruc.

Poland's best chance of the first half - and ultimately the game - came when midfielder Wojciech Lobodzinski put in a superb pass, but Maciej Zurawski pulled his shot wide.

Polish striker Smolarek picked up the first booking on 40 minutes when he tripped Per Mertsacker.

During the half-time break, Beenhakker swapped his captain Maciej Zurawski for Brazilian-born Roger Guerreiro, but he made little impact and Lobodzinski earned Poland's second yellow card on 64 minutes for tripping Podolski.

Germany were dominating by this stage and when the ball fell to Podolski on 72 minutes, he drove his shot into the top corner of the net to give his side some breathing space.

German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann produced a string of saves as Poland applied some late pressure, but his defence held.

The result means Group B's two unbeaten sides will meet Thursday when Germany return here to face Croatia.

Ballack said he was looking forward to playing Croatia but cautioned: "I think it's an open game - both teams are very strong."

Spain is the suspect this year.

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Terrance

June 21, 2008

TURKEY lived up to their billing as comeback kings with a 3-1 penalty shootout win over Croatia to put them into the Euro 2008 semi-finals.

The spot-kick lottery was called for after the side's were inseparable at 1-1 after additional time, both of those goals coming in the dying minutes of what up to then had been a forgettable affair.

Ivan Klasnic put Croatia into a 119th-minute lead - for his second in successive matches - only for Turkey to level in the first minute of time added on thanks to substitute Semih Senturk.

Croatia then fell apart, with Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic shooting wide and Mladen Petric having his spot kick saved by Turkey keeper Rustu Recber, who turned from villain to hero having made a terrible mistake to gift the Croats their goal.

Turkey, making their first appearance in the semi-finals, face Germany in Basel on Thursday (EST).

But the win came at a price for Turkey, who will be missing Tuncay Sanli, Arda Turan and Emre Asik due to suspension after this trio picked up their second yellow cards of the competition while Nihat went off during extra-time clutching his groin.

Turkey coach Fatih Terim, who was in charge when Turkey lost 1-0 to Croatia in Euro 96 in the group stages, was ecstatic.

"What has happened to us is unique in our history,'' said Terim, who was not in charge when Turkey made the 2002 World Cup semi-finals.

"We have become one of the great footballing nations. Our people can rejoice. And if our people are proud of us then we are proud of them."

His Croatia counterpart Slaven Bilic insisted his young side would return stronger in time for the upcoming 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

"This is not the sort of match you play on a regular basis, this is something we'll never forget - it will haunt us for the rest of our lives," he said.

"We'll probably weep for a few days but such is life - things like this happen.

"We have to go on, I've got a young team, qualification for the World Cup is imminent.

"Tomorrow is a new day, the sun will rise, and my players have a strong character and will be back even stronger.''

After Germany's drama-laden first quarter-final win over Portugal the night before, this second quarter-final was a big letdown, with chances as rare as empty seats in the Ernst Happel stadium.

Croatia coach Slaven Bilic fielded the same team that defeated Germany in the group stages, with only two players - Danijel Panijec and Rakitic - surviving from the side that lined up against Poland.

Turkey turned up at the Ernst Happel stadium with half a dozen of their first team missing from injury or suspension.

Veteran keeper Rustu came in for Volkan Demirel, sent off against the Czech Republic, and manager Fatih Terim also handed a start to London-born Kazim Kazim, who led the attack with Nihat Kahveci.

Croatia will never know how they didn't go into the lead in the 18th minute, Ivica Olic being guilty of a criminal miss.

Darijo Srna set up the move, laying the ball on to Modric who raced down the right of the box to cross for Olic only for the Hamburg striker's shot to hit the crossbar from only a couple of metres directly in front of goal.

To compound their woes, Niko Kranjcar missed with his header from the rebound.

Tottenham Hotspur signing Modric summed up the mood of frustration, banging the Austrian turf repeatedly with his fist in frustration.

The game then meandered its way, slowly, to the break, with both sides unable to mount anything much resembling a serious challenge, a 35th-minute long-range effort from Mehmet Topal aside.

More of the same in the second half and penalties were in the offing.

Croatia looked more dangerous in the rare moments they were able to break the Turkey defence, with Rustu quick to deal with a Kranjcar effort in the 58th minute.

The match had a goal from Olic shortly after but it was disallowed for offside.

Terim then made his first substitution, taking off the ineffective Kazim Kazim for Ugur Boral, and Bilic followed, bringing off Kranjcar for Petric.

Minutes later Rakitic squandered Croatia's second gilt-edged chance, his close range shot after being set up by Olic flying high over Rustu's bar.

With quarter of an hour left of normal time, Terim switched midfielder Mehmet Topal for Fenerbahce striker Senturk in search of that elusive goal.

On 84 minutes, as Croatia maintained their almost constant pressure, Rustu earned his wages and some when only his outstretched hands edged out Srna's finely struck 20-metre free kick.

Extra time produced the badly needed fireworks, but only in the dying minutes.

Croatia thought they'd grabbed the winner when Klasnic struck but unbelievably after such a turgid affair Turkey struck back with Senturk equalising with a great shot into the top left hand corner to force the spot kicks.

June 22, 2008

RUSSIA coach Guus Hiddink became a traitor in his native Holland after his team's 3-1 quarter-final win after extra-time dumped the Dutch out of Euro 2008.

The 61-year-old former Netherlands coach had said he would be happy to be a traitor if his Russia team beat his countrymen, and he got his wish as two goals in extra-time broke Dutch hearts.

Roman Pavlyuchenko opened the scoring for Russia on 56 minutes before Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy headed home an 86th-minute equaliser to give the Dutch a lifeline - and take him alongside Johan Cruyff on 33 goals for the national side.

However, super sub Dmitri Torbinsky grabbed a second in the 112th minute, before Andrei Arshavin settled it with a third on 116 minutes.

"I don't know how far we have come since our preparation for the first match (a 4-1 defeat by Spain) but usually the Dutch are a team who one cannot outdo tactically, technically or physically, but we did on all three counts,'' said Hiddink.

"Of course we realised we couldn't give away too many free kicks to them but as you get tired you tend to commit more fouls.

"However, my players responded really well and instead of relying on the counter-attack they pressed for the winning goal.''

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, this is the first time Russia have made the knockout stages of a major tournament and will contest Friday's (EST) semi-final in Vienna.

But it was heart-break for Holland as the defeat signalled the last game in charge for coach Marco van Basten - who joins Ajax next season on a four-year deal - making his swansong at Euro 2008 after four years in charge.

The former AC Milan striker failed in his bid to bow out out on a high by giving the Netherlands a second European crown to the one he helped win in 1988.

His team had come into the Basel quarter-final with a 100 percent record from Group C having handed out comprehensive defeats to 2006 World Cup finalists France (4-1) and Italy (3-0) en route.

"The Russians played a lot better than we did and deserved their victory,'' said van Basten.

"I can live with the indisputable fact that they were better than us. We delivered some remarkable performances in the first round, but today we were not able to repeat those.''

After Holland defender Khalid Boulahrouz and his wife suffered the tragedy of losing their prematurely born daughter last week, the team wore black armbands, but the result only served to cap a dark week for the Dutch.

Meanwhile, Hiddink has continued his habit of helping international teams punch well above the weight.

The former Netherlands boss guided South Korea to the semi-finals at the 2002 World Cup and Australia to the knockout phase in 2006 just before signing on to coach Russia.

His side opened their Euro 2008 campaign with a 4-1 hammering at the hands of Spain as David Villa hit a hat-trick, but Russia hit back with a 1-0 win over Greece and were impressive in their 2-0 win over Sweden.

Both sides had plenty of chances in the first half.

Russia made a bright start and kept Manchester United goalkeeper Edin van der Sar busy in the first half with Dynamo Moscow defender Denis Kolodin and Pavylyuchenko going close early on.

But the Dutch also threatened on attack with Real Madrid's Wesley Sneijder testing the Russia defence and fellow midfielder Rafael van der Vaart also squandered several chances as it remained 0-0 at the break.

Van Basten brought Arsenal forward Robin van Persie into the fray at the start of the half but the Dutch went behind for the first time in the tournament soon after.

After Arshavin terrorised Sweden in Russia's 2-0 win last week, he blasted in a free kick which forced van der Sar into a diving save, but the shot just carried wide.

Russia opened the scoring when Pavlyuchenko slipped his marker and stabbed home Ivan Saenko's cross on 56 minutes for his third goal of the tournament.

But with time running out, the Dutch made their experience count as striker Nistelrooy headed an 86th-minute equaliser from Sneijder's superb cross to put his side back in the game and take the match to extra-time.

Russia looked down to 10 men when Denis Kolodin was shown the red card, but Slovakian referee Lubos Michel rescinded a second booking for the defender in stoppage time of normal time after a linesman told the official the ball had gone out of play before Kolodin tangled with Wesley Sneijder.

And the goal which ended Dutch hopes came after a pinpoint accurate cross along over the goalmouth from Arshavin was poked home by Torbinsky in the 112th minute.

And Arshavin scored a third just four minutes later as his side will now face Italy or Spain in the semi-final.

It was a great win for the Russia who are the under dogs of the competition.

Id like to see them go all the way and win it.

Cant beleive what Hiddink can do for a team he is a wonder coach.

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Great coach Guus Hiddink. It's a shame he is not coaching australia anymore, but Pim Verbeek is going okay.

so far all 3 favs in the q/finals have been beat

June 23, 2008

SPAIN beat Italy 4-2 on penalties to reach the Euro 2008 semi-finals and in so doing break a number of painful hoodoos.

Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas saved penalties from Daniele De Rossi and Antonio Di Natale before Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas buried the winning spot-kick after the match had ended 0-0 after extra-time.

Spain will play Russia in Friday's (EST) semi-final in Vienna, having already beaten them 4-1 in their opening Group D match.

The Iberians had never before beaten Italy at either the World Cup or European Championships and on three previous occasions over the last 22 years had lost a quarter-final at a major tournament on penalties on this exact date: June 22.

"This is wonderful, it is impossible to find the words to express such an emotion," gasped Fabregas.

"We are just simply delighted. This is an important victory for this young side. We have been waiting for this for a long time."

For Spain coach Luis Aragones it was a case of being vindicated for not stepping down after they went out in the second round of the 2006 World Cup finals.

"I would like to congratulate first of all my players for their remarkable behaviour and maintaining their morale during the match," said the 69-year-old.

"It was very difficult because the Italians closed down all the spaces, which made it difficult to play our natural game."

The match took on a predictable pattern in the first half with Italy defending resolutely and Spain overplaying the passes and underplaying the urgency.

Italy had the first shot on target when Massimo Ambrosini crossed for Simone Perrotta but his header lacked power.

David Villa had a shot blocked by De Rossi before Gianluigi Buffon got down quickly to save his free-kick.

Fernando Torres then beat two men on Spain's left but De Rossi, again, was there to block before David Silva sent the follow-up just wide.

Just after the restart a ricochet in the box presented Silva with an opportunity but having created space onto his right foot he tried to bring the ball back onto his favoured left and the chance went begging.

On 56 minutes Spain finally took a more direct route and Torres muscled Christian Panucci off the ball only to have his cross aimed at Villa cut out by Giorgio Chiellini.

The Juventus stopper was proving majestic in defence and cut out a cross from Joan Capdevila that looked destined for Torres's head.

Italy came within a whisker of taking the lead after a scramble in Spain's box with goalkeeper Casillas kicking away a shot from substitute Mauro Camoranesi.

Italy were starting to have more of the game and Luca Toni headed wide from a great cross by Gianluca Zambrotta.

Ten minutes from time Marcos Senna forced Buffon to punch clear his fierce free-kick and moments later Buffon spilled a shot from the same player before clutching on gratefully after the ball came back off the post.

Extra-time was immediately more exciting than what had come before as Silva flashed a shot wide just after the restart.

Up the other end Casillas tipped over a header from Di Natale and Toni flicked another header just over the top.

But the match quickly settled back down into its frustrating stalemate.

Spain had the last chance of the match but Santi Cazorla dragged a shot wide instead of squaring for the unmarked Villa.