Monday, June 30, 2008

Looking back at Euros

As another major footballing tournament unfolded, we look back to this year's fantastic European Championships, which delivered one of the most exciting football of the year. The winner was of course, the mighty Spaniards, a deserving and comfortable winner of this year's tournament. No surprises right from the start. Now, let's have a look at the notable events in this year's European Championships. Shall we?

...........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.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Flag of Portugal Portugal 3 2 0 1 5 3 +2 6
Flag of Turkey Turkey 3 2 0 1 5 5 0 6
Flag of the Czech Republic Czech Republic 3 1 0 2 4 6 −2 3
Flag of Switzerland Switzerland 3 1 0 2 3 3 0 3

2008-06-07
Switzerland Flag of Switzerland 0 – 1 Flag of the Czech Republic Czech Republic
Portugal Flag of Portugal 2 – 0 Flag of Turkey Turkey
2008-06-11
Czech Republic Flag of the Czech Republic 1 – 3 Flag of Portugal Portugal
Switzerland Flag of Switzerland 1 – 2 Flag of Turkey Turkey
2008-06-15
Switzerland Flag of Switzerland 2 – 0 Flag of Portugal Portugal
Turkey Flag of Turkey 3 – 2 Flag of the Czech Republic Czech Republic

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Flag of Croatia Croatia 3 3 0 0 4 1 +3 9
Flag of Germany Germany 3 2 0 1 4 2 +2 6
Flag of Austria Austria 3 0 1 2 1 3 −2 1
Flag of Poland Poland 3 0 1 2 1 4 −3 1

2008-06-08
Austria Flag of Austria 0 – 1 Flag of Croatia Croatia
Germany Flag of Germany 2 – 0 Flag of Poland Poland
2008-06-12
Croatia Flag of Croatia 2 – 1 Flag of Germany Germany
Austria Flag of Austria 1 – 1 Flag of Poland Poland
2008-06-16
Poland Flag of Poland 0 – 1 Flag of Croatia Croatia
Austria Flag of Austria 0 – 1 Flag of Germany Germany

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Flag of the Netherlands Netherlands 3 3 0 0 9 1 +8 9
Flag of Italy Italy 3 1 1 1 3 4 −1 4
Flag of Romania Romania 3 0 2 1 1 3 −2 2
Flag of France France 3 0 1 2 1 6 −5 1

2008-06-09
Romania Flag of Romania 0 – 0 Flag of France France
Netherlands Flag of the Netherlands 3 – 0 Flag of Italy Italy
2008-06-13
Italy Flag of Italy 1 – 1 Flag of Romania Romania
Netherlands Flag of the Netherlands 4 – 1 Flag of France France
2008-06-17
Netherlands Flag of the Netherlands 2 – 0 Flag of Romania Romania
France Flag of France 0 – 2 Flag of Italy Italy

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Flag of Spain Spain 3 3 0 0 8 3 +5 9
Flag of Russia Russia 3 2 0 1 4 4 0 6
Flag of Sweden Sweden 3 1 0 2 3 4 −1 3
Flag of Greece Greece 3 0 0 3 1 5 −4 0

2008-06-10
Spain Flag of Spain 4 – 1 Flag of Russia Russia
Greece Flag of Greece 0 – 2 Flag of Sweden Sweden
2008-06-14
Sweden Flag of Sweden 1 – 2 Flag of Spain Spain
Greece Flag of Greece 0 – 1 Flag of Russia Russia
2008-06-18
Greece Flag of Greece 1 – 2 Flag of Spain Spain
Russia Flag of Russia 2 – 0 Flag of Sweden 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 Flag of Portugal 2 – 3 Flag of Germany Germany
Croatia Flag of Croatia 1 – 1 (a.e.t.) Flag of Turkey Turkey
Netherlands Flag of the Netherlands 1 – 3 (a.e.t.) Flag of Russia Russia
Spain Flag of Spain 0 – 0 (a.e.t.) Flag of Italy 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 Flag of Germany 3 – 2 Flag of Turkey Turkey
Russia Flag of Russia 0 – 3 Flag of Spain 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 Flag of Germany 0 – 1 Flag of Spain 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! ;)






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