Russia
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A mildly successful soccer blog is passing along information found in an American-based sports publication that a leading Spanish newspaper is reporting that a Spanish judge has sent German prosecutors information suggesting Russian mobsters fixed last seasons UEFA Cup semifinal between Zenit St. Petersburg and Bayern Munich.
Okay, that’s borderline plagiarism, but we couldn’t resist piling on a couple of more parties given the opening paragraph of this report here in SI.com (a CNN Network Site).
The report is pretty thin on details but it mentions a taped conversation in which a “suspected” Russian mobster mentions a payout of 50 million of “an unspecified currency.” A) Really, the SI link is so thin on info that if I quote (or paraphrase) much more of it, it will be reprinted here in its entirety. B) Let’s hope for the sake of the fixee that the currency wasn’t Zimbabwe Dollars, as about the time of the fixing was trading around ZW 250 million to $1 US.
Although maybe 20 cents is about right for a UEFA Cup semi.
Written by Darkvader on October 1st, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Bayern Munich and FC Zenit Saint Petersburg and Russia and UEFA Cup.
These two teams met in their opening match of the tournament, with Spain convincing 4-1 winners. Since then, Russia had surprised everybody by not just recovering but improving enough to demolish the Netherlands in the quarter-finals, while Spain had been winning withut exactly bowling people over.
And yet this game finished with an almost identical three-goal victory for Spain. Russia apparently peaked in the previous round, while Spain have taken the confidence from their penalty win over Italy and are cruising into the final. (Not only have they vanquished their nemesis Italy, but now they’ve overcome the bad luck that was supposedly attached to their yellow away kits. Although those are still fugly. Whatever happened to the white away kits? I liked those. Especially in the rain. Um.)
The possession stats may show that it was pretty even, but they don’t tell even close to the whole story, because it seemed like Spain spend two-thirds of the game in the Russian half. Maybe the more important statistic is shots on goal — 11 for Spain versus just one for Russia. Iker Casillas had so little to do, he could’ve spent the game bedazzling the uneven hem of his self-tailored jersey and making fun of Sergio Ramos hair. Both of which are worthwhile ways to spend your time, really.
Spain were on top from the start, although Russia had a few good spells too. But Andrei Arshavin, who had supposedly become the player of the tournament over the past couple games, was a non-factor here, and because of that, Roman Pavlyuchenko was starved of service. It also helped Spain that, defensively, Sergio Ramos was having a much better game than their first match-up, winning the battle with Yuri Zhirkov on that wing.
Despite their dominance, Spain weren’t able to break down the Russians at first. And they suffered a blow when David Villa pulled a muscle in his calf and had to be substituted after just half an hour. Cesc Fabregas came on for Villa, to play in the whole behind Fernando Torres, somewhat surprisingly as it meant a change of formation. But ironically, replacing a midfielder with a striker enabled Spain to find holes in the Russian defence and open up the play.
They were rewarded for their excellent play early in the second half, as Xavi opened the scoring in the 50th minute after Andres Iniesta played him into the box. Iniesta and Xavi haven’t had the greatest of tournaments, in my opinion — not awful, but not always scintillating — but they were both pivotal in this game, not just in the buildup play but creating goals too.
Russia made a couple of substitutions almost immediately, bringing on first Diniyar Bilyaletdinov for Igor Semshov and then Dmitry Sychev for Ivan Saenko, as Guus Hiddink attempted to get his team back into the game. But it didn’t help them much, as Spain continued to attack. Fernando Torres, in particular, had a couple of good chances but failed to score. I don’t know if it was because of the wet pitch or what, but all game he seemed to keep slightly miscontrolling the ball as he turned to shoot.
Still, I was a bit surprised to see Torres taken off for Daniel Guiza in the 69th minute — along with Xabi Alonso in place of Xavi — because Guiza hasn’t impressed me so far. And I say that despite the fact that he scored his second goal of the tournament just a few minutes later. Fabregas dinked the ball over the defence to him, and he took it down well on his chest before putting it past Igor Akinfeev with ease.
That second goal gave Spain a bit of a cushion, and they were able to just play keep-ball and sit a bit deeper. Still, they added to their lead further in the 82nd minute, after yet another lovely passing move, Iniesta out to Fabregas on the left, who slotted it into the centre for a nice finish David Silva. That was nice to see, because Silva deserved a goal for his good play all tournament, while Cesc has certainly done enough to guarantee himself a starting spot in the final — unless, of course, Luis Aragones has another spell of insanity.
Russia’s heads were already down after Spain’s second goal and they were really out of it after the third, just waiting for the final whistle. I think they were worn down from 90 minutes of chasing Spain around trying to get the ball back. Still, they deserve credit for getting themselves this far, and with style — while Spain, for once, have lived up to their pre-tournament hype. But they do have one game left in which to choke.
Written by Jen on June 27th, 2008 with no comments.
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[Photo: MediaFax Photo]
So, it appears we may have not coordinated everything properly here at UF and we are without a liveblogger for the second semifinal match between Russia and Spain. We’ll give it a go with the open thread.
Russia has been certainly ascendant in this tournament. It was hard not to be after the opening match 4-1 thrashing it received from Spain. But, that was before Andrei Arshavin reappeared on the stage. Since he returned Russia has looked very dangerous and Guus Hiddink has his men attacking, attacking, attacking. Very exciting football.
Spain on the other hand started out the tourney in sterling fashion, but seems to have cooled a bit. Although, it still has not lost a match, advancing to this stage with a PK shootout victory over a negative Italian team.
Hopefully, this match can live up to the excitement of yesterday’s…and maybe, just maybe…a Russian player will get a couple of women for his efforts.
After the jump, the lineups.
Russia
Akinfeyev, Anyukov, Berezutsky, Ignashevich, Zhirkov, Zyryanov, Semak, Semshov, Saenko, Arshavin and Pavlyuchenko.
Spain
Casillas, Ramos, Puyol, Marchena, Capdevila, Senna, Iniesta, Xavi, Silva, Villa and Torres
Spain is wearing their unlucky yellows.
30 minutes in, we have a nice back and forth match. A Fabergas substitution allows me to stroke myself in Glee. Nice cross to…the Keeper.
40:45 Long runs by the Russians, but the Torres/Fabergas hookups are coming fast and free.
46 min: We’re wrapping up with Xavi’s free kick getting lost, my accountant walking into my office every 3 minutes, and I’m missing the action.
So far Arshavin has played “meh” but the style of play on both sides has been great. There is no Italy grind ‘em out match.
Written by Darkvader on June 26th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Euro 2008 and Open Thread and Russia and Semifinal and Spain.
Written by Sudip Kafle and Sujan Kafle on June 26th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Euro 2008 and Russia and Spain and euro-cup 2008.
Russia 3-1 Netherlands (aet)
Another semi-final, another surprise result. The Netherlands, who had been the team of the tournament up until now, are out, and Russia have been upgraded from dark horses to genuine contenders. Guus Hiddink has further enhanced his reputation as someone who can produce the improbable, but a lot of the credit also has to go to Andrei Arshavin, who was once again pulling the strings for Russia and befuddling their opponents.
It wasn’t all about Arshavin, though; the whole team has improved remarkably since the defeat against Spain in their opening game, picking up steam with a their comprehensive victory over Sweden. And they came out to win this one from the outset, forcing the Netherlands back by simply outplaying them. The Dutch team were supposed to be the favourites, but there was none of the caution from Russia that you might have expected. Although the Netherlands did manage to work themselves into the game more as the first half went on, they were still second best heading into half-time.
Marco van Basten attempted to invigorate his team by bringing on Robin van Persie for Dirk Kuyt, and the substitution did have an impact, as he created a couple of good chances. But it was Russia who scored in the 55th minute, as Sergei Semak’s cross was volleyed into the net by Roman Pavlyuchenko, giving Edwin van der Sar no time to react.
That meant that the Netherlands had to really go all out in the search for a goal, but I think they don’t react well to being allowed lots of possession rather than counter-attacking. They were mostly reduced to long-range shots as the Russian defence held firm, while it was Russia pulling them apart on the counter. Finally, in the 86th minute, Ruud van Nistelrooy found the equalizer, heading the ball in from Wesley Sneijder’s free kick to send the game into extra-time.
That extra-time could have gone much differently had it not been for an unusual refereeing decision: Denis Kolodin was initially shown a second yellow card for a foul on Sneijder, but the referee then consulted with the linesman and decided that the ball had gone out of play first — it hadn’t — and took the card back. Probably the wrong decision; but on the other hand, with the way Russia were playing, they might well have won even with only 10 men.
They were certainly the better team throughout extra time as it was. The Netherlands needed to build on the momentum of that late equalizer, but Russia just kept attacking, and the longer it went on, the more they were likely to win. And in the 112th minute, Dmitriy Torbinskiy popped up with the winning goal, a cross from — who else? — Arshavin that went over van der Sar and was tipped in at the far post. Arshavin killed the game off with a third goal a few minutes later, running onto a throw-in, getting behind the defenders and sending the ball through van der Sar’s legs. (I feel a bit bad for Van der Sar; he’d kept his team in the game up till then and his defenders were pretty much useless.)
Anyway, it’s nice to see an underdog team winning games like this — rather than, you know, pulling a Greece — but at the same time I’m a bit disappointed that the Netherlands are out. Partly because I’m wondering who will take up the mantle of wearing the tightest shirts at the tournament, now that both they and Portugal have been eliminated.
Bad hair of the day award: Another prize for man-of-the-match Andrei Arshavin. 27 years old and he still looks like his mother cuts his hair with a bowl and a pair of kitchen shears.
Written by Jen on June 23rd, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Euro 2008 and Netherlands and Russia and magical Guus Hiddink.
Alright kids, this is a tag-team effort (I’m Brutus the Barber Beefcake), as The Fan’s Attic might not be here until right before the beginning of the match. On tap today is the Netherlands (the Dutch; the Low Countries) versus the Russians. The most obvious match-up talk is about Guus Hiddink coaching the Russians against his own country. A better match-up to discuss? The models!
Dewi Diegen: She doesn’t look like a Double-D to me.
Natasha Poly: We salute you too!
Based on this highly scientific research method, one would presume that Russia will win this match. Join us after the jump for all of the details.
The starting XI for Guus Hiddink’s Russian squad:
GK - Akinfeev
DEF - Anyukov; Ignashevich; Kolodin; Zhirkov
MID - Semak (C); Zyryanov; Semshov; Saenko
ST - Pavlyuchenko; Arshavin
And the starting XI for Marco Van Basten’s Dutch side:
GK - Van der Sar (C)
DEF - Boulahrouz; van Bronckhorst; Mathijsen; Ooijer
MID - Engelaar; De Jong; Sneijder; Van der Vaart; Kuyt
ST - Van Nistelrooy
This match is being played at St. Jakob Park in Basel.
Centre official: Lubos Michel (SVK)
Assistant referees: Roman Slysko (SVK); Martin Balko (SVK)
4th official: Massimo Busacca (SUI)
2 important points for this match:
(1) to the relief of announcers and livebloggers everywhere, Saenko is in for the Russians in the starting line-up, replacing Bilyaletdinov; and
(2) if we are lucky, we will see the classy Ruud van Nistelrooy repeat these antics:
TFA here, just finished doing some wedding stuff. That’s right, some lucky broad bagged me. Gentlemen, let me tell, wedding stuff blows. It’s stressful and expensive.
So, babes, ballers and anthems right now. Russians singing. Dutch singing. I don’t understand a word of it.
Holland is wearing all orange and Russia in all white. Monochromosity at it’s finest. Although, I woudn’t mind seeing some baby blue accents on the Dutch kits.
I’m out of the prediction business today, as it seems each prediction I make goes horribly wrong immediately after I make it. That said, I am really looking forward to this match.
0:00 We’re off.
2:00 Boulahrouz Ooijer fouls a Russian like the guy was responsible for his daughter’s death Boulahrouz’s daughters death. Too soon?
4:00 Commenter/Contributor The NY Kid says HD soccer makes him happy in the pants. I couldn’t agree more. Well, not about him being happy in the pants, but HD soccer is a wet dream come true.
6:00 Wow! Incredible save by Van der Sar on a Zhirkov free kick right over the wall to the near post. VDS just got a hand on it to steer it around the post. Holland gives up a corner but nothing results.
8:00 Pavlyuchenko puts a header on the top of the net. Great opportunity for Russia and Holland’s defense looks like its back to its normal form. All Russia so far.
10:00 Guus Hiddink has learned from WWII. You don’t fight a two front war. He’s only focusing on the offense. Not the defense. Sound strategy if you ask me. Kinda like my strategy with women…I only focus on the looks, not the brains.
Written by Darkvader on June 21st, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Euro 2008 and Liveblogs and Netherlands and Russia and The Fan's Attic and The NY Kid.
Spain 2-1 Greece
Ok, I realize that this was an essentially meaningless game, with Greece already eliminated and Spain having won the group. But I still thought it was great, for one simple reason: Xabi Alonso wearing the captain’s armband for Spain. That is awesome. (Yes, I am easily pleased. Shut up.)
Anyway, Spain made a whopping 10 changes to the lineup from their last game, which could have been dangerous — remember the last World Cup, when Luis Aragones sent out the reserves to scrape a win against Saudi Arabia, draining all their momentum before meeting France in the round of 16. And it’s possible that something similar could happed when Spain go up against Italy this time, but I think they should be encouraged by the fact that they came back to win the game after going behind. Also, I am clinging blindly to optimism.
You could kind of see, though, why none of these guys (aside from Andres Iniesta) are in the starting lineup regularly. Xabi was the only one who really made a strong case for his inclusion; he bossed the game from a position deep in midfield, and nearly scored three or four times, including a shot from his own half that was just barely wide and had the Greek keeper slamming into the post as he scrambled to backtrack.
Although they weren’t as incisive as in their first two games — they really missed David Villa and/or Fernando Torres up front — Spain still dominated for most of the game, and Greece only took the lead against the run of play. It was a stereotypical Greek goal — a header from Angelos Charisteas — and some stereotypical Spanish defending, as they basically stood there and watched him. Oops.
Ruben de la Red equalized for Spain in the second half, from a knock-down by Dani Guiza, and Guiza scored himself with a header in the 87th minute to make it three wins in a row for Spain. And then he did some sort of stupid archer celebration — apparently he is the La Liga equivalent of Robbie Keane. Now that’s something to aspire to.
A final note: I have no idea why anybody would think that Gareth Barry is worth more money than Xabi Alonso. That makes less than zero sense to me. It’s just a shame that more people would have watched this game so they could see for themselves.
Russia 2-0 Sweden
Has the real Russia finally shown up? After a pitiful loss to Spain and a so-so win against Greece, Russia claimed the last quarter-final spot with an impressive performance that partially explains why they’re here instead of England. They got a huge boost from the return of Andrei Arshavin, who had been suspended for the first two games; he orchestrated most of Russia’s best moves and just seemed to make the whole team look better around him. Plus, of course, you can’t discount the Guus Hiddink factor. He has a great track record of getting his teams through to the knock-out rounds of international tournaments, and he’s done it again in what was a must-win game for Russia (Sweden could have settled for a draw).
Russia were in control right from the beginning of the game, and they took the lead after less than half an hour, as Aleksandr Anyukov set up Roman Pavlyuchenko to sweep the ball in at the far post. Sweden had a couple chances to equalize, but Arshavin made it 2-0 for Russia in the 50th minute, finishing off a great counter-attack from Yuri Zhirkov’s pass from the left wing (Zhirkov, incidentally, has looked pretty good in all three games so far). The Swedish defence, which had previously been so solid, fell apart under the whirlwind Russian attack.
Sweden briefly and half-heartedly attempted a comeback, but it was already too late. They never really looked like scoring one goal, let alone two. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was hobbling around despite painkilling injections in his dodgy knee at half-time — his best moment was probably the attempt at a back-heeled flick over his head in the first minute of the game. And Henrik Larsson was showing the effects of being approximately 136 years old and already having played almost the full 90 minutes in their first two games. I lost track of the number of times the commentators referred to how “experienced” the Swedish team was — which, as far as I can tell, just means “old.”
(I am pleased to point out that I picked Russia to go through from this group along with Spain. Go me.)
So, all of the quarter-final slots are now filled, and it looks very promishing for the remainder of the tournament, because all eight of the remaining teams are more focussed on attacking than defending — even Italy’s traditional catennaccio has kind of gone out the window, considering that they’re playing four fullbacks across the back line. I’m not even going to try to predict what will happen. But if I were to wish for anything, it would be for (1) Spain not to collapse for a change and (2) Cristiano Ronaldo to cry like a leetle baby. I live in hope.
Next up: Russia are rewarded by facing the Netherlands on Saturday, while Spain play Italy on Sunday.
Bad hair of the day award: Spain’s Sergio Garcia, who was sporting a silly razor-thin beard and a ponytail that was roughly as big as he is.
Written by Jen on June 19th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Euro 2008 and Greece and Russia and Spain and Sweden.
This post, my friends is going to be a mess. As long as you know that going in, we'll all be okay. Inside, we will break down each competing country's home and away jersey and file it into the categories Good, Bad and WTF. Pretty simple, huh?
For ease of my poorly HTMLing soul, I will only provide links to each shirt instead of trying to force them all into the Blogger template. Trust me, if you've seen how Blogger can
mangle posts by screwing up pictures, this is a good thing.
Onwards and upwards, my friends. Here we go.
Group A
Switzerland Home Away Switzerland wear Puma jerseys. In what will quickly become a theme in this post, Puma jerseys all look cookie-cutter. They have a template, switch colors where necessary, and affix the necessary badges. Boring. What I like about the Swiss shirt is the badge. That kind of artsy rendering of their national association where they also fit in the white cross. However, these are Puma jerseys, so the verdict is:
Home and Away: Bad
Czech Republic Home Away Plain. Boring. Go home. I do like the blue piping on the home shirt, and the Czech badge is one of the more interesting entries, full of history, for those into that. But it is simply not enough to overcome the crappiness of being a Puma shirt.
Home and Away: Bad
Portugal Home Away There is something wrong with the Portugal home shirt. We here at UF could not quite put our finger on it, but we hate it. It could be the wrong hue, or it could just be the too tight fit. We hated it all the same. On the other hand, we were much more sympathetic to the white shirt. It looks a lot better, but, in the end, we found it a little plain.
Home and Away: Bad
Turkey Home Away Now we're talking. It may still be a hangover from their unbelievable victory over the Czechs on Sunday, but these are both very nice shirts. The home shirt can look a little like a 'Boro effort, I'm sure, but it dazzles nonetheless. And that away shirt, my goodness. Two teams made solid use of baby blue accents this tournament, and Turkey is one of them.
Home and Away: Good
Group B
Austria Home Away A mixed bag. Once again, we are stuck with Puma templates, but Austria does something a little right here. It's not in the home shirt, really, though it should rate a "meh" instead of its final grade. The winner here is the away shirt. Menacingly black with a little flag flair thrown in at the collar.
Home: Bad; Away: Good
Croatia Home Away Did we even get to see the all-checkerboard shirt yet? I don't recall. You have to give them respect for sticking with such and irritating-to-the-eyes shirt for all of these years. As for the blue away shirt, man, I don't know. And for that, it perfectly fits the WTF category. Safe to say I would not want to sport either one of these walking around my town.
Home and Away: WTF?
Germany Home Away Poor Germany. Forever saddled with a white shirt that they are not entirely happy with, so they fuck around with it. This year's entry feels unbalanced. Too much black in the striping, not enough red or yellow. At least it keeps us away from the away shirt. Seriously, this is not a look for top tier international football. This is a training top. Even though I kind of like the gold stitching on the black background, I hope they never have to wear it.
Home: Bad; Away: WTF?
Poland Home Away Poland, the home of unattractive football. They never looked good playing in the Euros, and these shirts did not help. Blandest of them all.
Home and Away: Bad
Group C
Romania Home Away Romania's shirts this year felt like a throwback to USA '94. Sadly, the team did not perform in the same manner. The worst part of it all is that they totally rip off the New York Cosmos badge. Anyway, 14 years is too soon to do a throwback jersey. Well, I write that, but I can't hate on the home jersey. I like it.
Home: Good; Away: Bad
France Home Away I am not a fan of the extra crap going across the middle of the French home shirt. They do, however, get credit with me by having their flag pop up inside the adidas stripes on the arms. Throw in that nice, newish badge of the rooster and you have a winner. God help me, I like the garish red away shirt as well. Two winners.
Home and Away: Good
Netherlands Home Away The Dutch are always hard to figure out. They have to use that bright orange which pays homage to a royal family line that no one likes. Sometimes they pull it off, and sometimes it is painful. This tournament, they pulled it off, sometimes. The Dutch were the second team to tastefully use Nike's new baby blue accent by pairing the orange shirt with baby blue socks. And it totally worked. However, when they reverted to orange socks yesterday, it all looked horrible. Also, nice try, but you can't work in your flag on the collar without it looking like you won First Grade attendance medals. As for the away shirt, it divides us. But, I'm the one writing here, and I hate it. So, there you go. We do seem to be unified in liking the cyborg numbering though.
Home: Good, with qualifications; Away: WTF?
Italy Home Away Italy stick with the basics. Once again, this is a Puma top, but it's not quite as bad as the red and white ones. This gets a passing grade for the gold at the neck. The away jersey, though, is run of the mill and boring.
Home: Good; Away: Bad
Group D
Spain Home Away I think we were a bit undecided by these. The home jersey is nothing out of the ordinary, but it works well. That light gold away shirt, though, is rather atrocious. Hopefully, Spain will not be required to trot it out on their way to winning this year's tournament.
Home: Good; Away: WTF?
Russia Home Away These had potential, especially the away shirt, but the execution is off. I am all for integrating you nation's flag into the shirt. I don't like it when doing so means that I have to fill in the blanks for you. The white shirt loses the top stripe of the flag and the red shirt loses the bottom stripe of the flag. Why not go with a blue away shirt so that one can easily make out the flag running across the torso? Nike FAIL.
Home: Bad; Away: WTF?
Greece Home Away Thanks for coming and bringing the same kit from 2004. Did you think that would work? Okay, the sublimated flag print on the away shirt is nice, but no dice.
Home and Away: Bad
Sweden Home Away It's always tough to deal with the Swedish shirts. The combo of yellow and blue is a nice one, but they just use too much yellow sometimes. If only I could get a reason to really like a bunch of yellow Swedish shirts. Oh, here's one. The away shirt is a tough one. In some pictures, it looks black, which would be a bold move, but in others it looks navy, which is kind of boring. Still, since Swedish girls will wear them and get pictured in them, they are both winners.
Home and Away: Good
Written by Darkvader on June 18th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Austria and Croatia and Czech Republic and Euro 2008 and Germany and Greece and Netherlands and Poland and Romania and Russia and Spain and Sweden and Switzerland and The Good The Bad The WTF and Turkey and france and italy and portugal and ü75.
Spain 2-1 Sweden
I expected this to be a tougher game for Spain, because Sweden are more disciplined team and weren’t likely to push forward and leave space for them the way Russia did in the opening match. Although Spain had the vast majority of both the possession and shots on goal, it was more difficult for them to get in behind the defenders and create clear chances (plus, all the Swedish players were about a foot taller than the Spanish ones). But they took the lead after just 15 minutes — from a corner rather than open play — with Fernando Torres sticking a boot out to turn it into the net. Let’s hope nobody broke anything celebrating this time, although from the way they all piled on top of each other, you never know.
Sweden almost equalized immediately, but Johan Elmander’s shot went into the side netting; a few minutes later, Henrik Larsson attempted to chip the keeper but it went just over the crossbar. And then Carles Puyol went off with a thigh strain, which is a bit worrisome because he’s often the only Spanish player who remembers that he’s actually supposed to defend. Sweden took advantage of Spain’s defensive frailty to equalize after half an hour, as Zlatan Ibrahimovic held off Sergio Ramos in the box to turn and shoot low past Iker Casillas. (Saint Iker, for once, looked as if he maybe could have done better, but Ramos was certainly useless.)
Spain, I think, were a bit shocked by the goal, and Sweden looked like the stronger team as the first half wound down. Spain did have a good shout for a penalty ignored just before halftime, when David Silva was absolutely flattened in the box by Elmander, but really they were doing well just to have held out at 1-1. They could also count themselves fortunate that Ibrahimovic had to be substituted at halftime, presumably because his knee was playing up again.
Spain started the second half much better, although still not well enough. Luis Aragones gambled by using up his two remaining subs and sending on Cesc Fabregas and Santi Cazorla (dear commentator: NOT CAZOLRA) for Xavi and Andres Iniesta in an attempt to force a breakthrough. The changes did have an impact, as Spain had a series of chances, but they were all foiled through a combination of good defending by Sweden and Spanish players trying to take one touch too many. Learn from Arsenal, boys: Pretty passes are nice, but they’re no good if you don’t score. Just ask Cesc.
The longer the second half went on, the more opportunities Spain had and the more they got frustrated by their inability to score. (What they really should have been frustrated about was that they left themselves exposed at the back more than once.) But finally, in the second minute of stoppage time, David Villa scored the winner. He ran onto a rare long ball forward from Joan Capdevilla, beating two defenders to the ball, and sidefooted it past the keeper into the far corner with a great finish. Spain deserved the win, overall — they could have crumpled after Sweden scored — but I think there are still some question marks about their ability to beat the really tough teams in this tournament.
Russia 1-0 Greece
Time for those of us who aren’t fans of anti-football — or of excessive honking on the Danforth — to celebrate: Greece are out of Euro 2004. The only team to be eliminated without scoring a goal, although they could get themselves a consolation prize in their meaningless final game against Spain.
Actually, I should give the Greeks credit for their contribution to a game that I thought was going to be absolutely horrible but turned out to be pretty good. Not always the best quality football on display, but entertaining nonetheless. It probably helped that Russia took the lead after half an hour, as Antonis Nikopolidis ended his international career with a goalkeeping howler, charging out of his net and then just standing and watching as Sergei Semak hooked the ball back across the net for Konstantin Zyrianov to tap in.
That forced the Greeks to come out and attack more, although at the expense of their defensive solidity. Roman Pavlyuchenko had a series of chances to extend Russia’s lead, but wasted them all, mostly through wayward finishing plus the odd offside flag. Angelos Charisteas did manage to put the ball in the net for Greece in the 86th minute, but it was ruled out for offside — a very close call, I think.
Russia will have playmaker Andrei Arshavin back for their decisive final match against Sweden, which should help them up front. The question is whether their defence is as competent as it looked against Greece, or as hopeless as it was against Spain.
Next up in Group D: Spain v. Greece and Russia v. Sweden, both at 2:30 pm (ET) on Wednesday
Bad hair of the day award: I had a tough time choosing between Sotiris Kyrgiakos and Giannis Amanatidis for Greece, but I have to go with Amanitidis (he’s the one on the right) because it looks like he hasn’t been near a barber since Euro 2004, whereas Kyrgiakos may have actually shaved recently.
Written by Jen on June 15th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Euro 2008 and Greece and Russia and Spain and Sweden.
Euro 2008- match no. 16
June 14, 2008 - group D
The defending champion Greece even failed to qualify for the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 as it lost to Russia 1-0 after a goal from Konstantin in 32 nd minute. The match was on of the most entertaining matches of Euro 2008 particularly the second half where both sides created and wasted a lot of chances. Anyway, Russia played technically excellent
Written by Sudip Kafle and Sujan Kafle on June 15th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Euro 2008 and Greece and Russia and euro-cup 2008.
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