...........The Start
Opening
Venues of the Euros.............Group Stages
Van the Man finishes World Champions Italy in a 3-1 rout in the opening group match of the Group of Death
No such problems for favourite Portugal. A certain Ronnie made sure of that against the Czechs to march on into the quarters
Another favourite, Germany, though, suffered a defeat from the Croats with captain Michael Ballack in the picture. The men in blue pull through with this victory though
Giants Holland look to show another World Cup finalist the door as well, beating them 4-1 with Dirk Kuyt here, scoring the first of the 4 thunderous goals. Holland pull through and France have to now face Italy to decide their future in the Euros, that is, if Romania fail to produce a result against Holland
Germany have their say in their last group match, defeating hosts Austria 1-0, to advance to the quarter finals, also in the very last day, joining Croatia.
Villareal hitman, Kahveci Nihat, finishes off what was an amazing comeback, to bring the Turks 3-2 ahead on the very last minute, thus securing their places alongside Portugal. Wonderful!
World Champions Italy join the rest of the pack at the very last minute, defeating France and marching on into the Quarter Finals, with hope glowing brighter than ever. They join Holland
Russian star, Andrei Arshavin in action during the last game of their group stage as well. Though, the difference was, they beat Sweden in the last game, advancing ahead of Sweden to join high-fliers Spain.So after, 2 weeks, the group stages comes to an extraordinary end. Here are the final group standings and results of the group stages, just to round things up.
Yeah yeah, I got it off wiki. Was a little bit lazy as the fixture list was so long.
It soon came to the next rounds, the Quarterfinals and all the way to the finals
And the penalties decided that Spain should be the one to go through soon after!
And from then on, it was more than decided after this happened...
Who was the victor? Well, let's see. Germany the clear favourites? Nawh. Take another look!
Yep, you guessed it. It was the ever dominant Espanyol! Though I already mentioned it anyway =P. Finally, a team who plays entertaining football! Fantastic win, though, since they had been underachievers all the while. Finally, they proof that their football is not just for looks!
The winning goal by Fernando Torres, as usual..... As much as I don't like him cause I'm not exactly a fan of Liverpool, he's pretty good you know. Let's just say he's a natural talent which I feel should be in another team XD.
Anyhow, it was a great Euro outing again for all of us football fans. Hope the next one would be as good! Till the next time! ;)
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Portugal | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 6 |
 Turkey | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 6 |
 Czech Republic | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 3 |
 Switzerland | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2008-06-07 | ||
| Switzerland | 0 – 1 | Czech Republic |
| Portugal | 2 – 0 | Turkey |
| 2008-06-11 | ||
| Czech Republic | 1 – 3 | Portugal |
| Switzerland | 1 – 2 | Turkey |
| 2008-06-15 | ||
| Switzerland | 2 – 0 | Portugal |
| Turkey | 3 – 2 | Czech Republic |
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Croatia | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 9 |
 Germany | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 6 |
 Austria | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 1 |
 Poland | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 1 |
| 2008-06-08 | ||
| Austria | 0 – 1 | Croatia |
| Germany | 2 – 0 | Poland |
| 2008-06-12 | ||
| Croatia | 2 – 1 | Germany |
| Austria | 1 – 1 | Poland |
| 2008-06-16 | ||
| Poland | 0 – 1 | Croatia |
| Austria | 0 – 1 | Germany |
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Netherlands | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | +8 | 9 |
 Italy | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 4 |
 Romania | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 2 |
 France | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 1 |
| 2008-06-09 | ||
| Romania | 0 – 0 | France |
| Netherlands | 3 – 0 | Italy |
| 2008-06-13 | ||
| Italy | 1 – 1 | Romania |
| Netherlands | 4 – 1 | France |
| 2008-06-17 | ||
| Netherlands | 2 – 0 | Romania |
| France | 0 – 2 | Italy |
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Spain | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 9 |
 Russia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 6 |
 Sweden | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 3 |
 Greece | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | −4 | 0 |
| 2008-06-10 | ||
| Spain | 4 – 1 | Russia |
| Greece | 0 – 2 | Sweden |
| 2008-06-14 | ||
| Sweden | 1 – 2 | Spain |
| Greece | 0 – 1 | Russia |
| 2008-06-18 | ||
| Greece | 1 – 2 | Spain |
| Russia | 2 – 0 | Sweden |
Yeah yeah, I got it off wiki. Was a little bit lazy as the fixture list was so long.
It soon came to the next rounds, the Quarterfinals and all the way to the finals
| Portugal | 2 – 3 | Germany |
| Croatia | 1 – 1 (a.e.t.) | Turkey |
| Netherlands | 1 – 3 (a.e.t.) | Russia |
| Spain | 0 – 0 (a.e.t.) | Italy |
And the penalties decided that Spain should be the one to go through soon after!
And from then on, it was more than decided after this happened...
| Germany | 3 – 2 | Turkey |
| Russia | 0 – 3 | Spain |
Who was the victor? Well, let's see. Germany the clear favourites? Nawh. Take another look!
Yep, you guessed it. It was the ever dominant Espanyol! Though I already mentioned it anyway =P. Finally, a team who plays entertaining football! Fantastic win, though, since they had been underachievers all the while. Finally, they proof that their football is not just for looks!
| 2008-06-29 | Germany | 0 – 1 | Spain | Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna Attendance: 51,428 |
The winning goal by Fernando Torres, as usual..... As much as I don't like him cause I'm not exactly a fan of Liverpool, he's pretty good you know. Let's just say he's a natural talent which I feel should be in another team XD.
Anyhow, it was a great Euro outing again for all of us football fans. Hope the next one would be as good! Till the next time! ;)
