UEFA Final Match Spain vs. Italy

Spain and Italy will contest the 2012 edition of the European Championships Final after they won their respective semifinals against Portugal and Germany.

While Spain needed a penalty shootout after a 0-0 draw to progress to the final in Kyiv on Sunday, Italy made for impressive viewing as they dismantled Germany, taking a 2-0 lead before a late penalty halved the deficit.

The last two winners of the FIFA World Cup should put on an entertaining spectacle, as Spain bid to become the first team to retain the Euros and also win three major tournaments on the spin.

Here are five key battles which could shape the result of the match, and ultimately decide the winner.

Having already crossed paths in the group stage, Vicente del Bosque of Spain and Cesari Prandelli of Italy will be plotting their tactical routes to glory between now and Sunday.

The group stage match finished 1-1, offering little insight as to who might be the stronger outfit now.

Del Bosque has switched between playing a central striker and playing a false nine and must decide on who to start in that position for the final, with the only other possible change being to replace David Silva with either Pedro Rodriguez or Jesus Navas.

Italy have more decisions to make, with the right-back issue to be decided upon and, by association, whether to partner Chiellini with Barzagli, or leave Bonucci in there with the latter.

Timing and tactical changes with substitutions will also play a big part no doubt, with a possibly cagey affair in the final meaning that one mistake or piece of inspiration could be the difference between failure and glory.

It should be a thoroughly intriguing final which awaits us.

ITALY AND GERMANY KICK OFF IN SECOND EURO SEMIFINAL

Germany enters the match as the only team in the tournament to have maintained a perfect record throughout the group and knockout stages. The team has not trailed for a single minute of the tournament and entered the competition as the favourite according to many analysts.

 Italy, meanwhile, is riding an emotional high after knocking out England in its thrilling quarter-final match-up.

The Italians looked to be the better side through much of the 120 scoreless minutes before capitalizing on a pair of England misses to take the penalty shootout.
A lot of the intrigue surrounding the Italian team at the tournament has been over whether the team will start striker Mario Balotelli from match to match.
 
The two teams last met in the 2006 World Cup semifinals with Italy prevailing 2-0 thanks to two goals scored in extra-time after the teams played nearly 120 minutes of scoreless football.

Germany has finished no worse than third in its previous three international tournaments. However, the Germans have never beaten Italy in a major tournament in seven attempts to do so.

Italy, meanwhile, has had its all three of its knockout-round matches decided by penalty kicks (going 2-1 in those matches) since it last defeated the Germans.

Can Anyone Beats Spain?

Can anyone stop Spain? After winning the UEFA Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup, Spain looks poised to win their third straight major international tournament and cement the place in history as the greatest national team of all-time.
Spain has been playing in their typical Spanish style; steady as a rock. Aside from a 4-0 thrashing they dished out to a weak Irish squad, Spain has muddied along with a 1-1 tie against Italy and a 1-0 win against Croatia before defeating France 2-0 in the quarterfinals.
Meeting Spain in the semifinals is Portugal. After slipping 0-1 to Germany in their opening match; Portugal has been a runaway freight train. The Portuguese squad has won three straight, including wins over Denmark (3-2) and Netherlands (2-1) in the group stage and Czech Republic (1-0) in the quarterfinals.
Spain will be the clear cut favorite in the semifinals. As defending Euro and World Cup champs, they have earned the right to be called "world's best" until they can be defeated. But one can't help but think that perhaps now is Portugal's time. After many disappointing performances in recent major tournaments, this might be their time to breakthrough and make their mark on the world stage.
Here is the information you need to know for the first semifinal match between Spain and Portugal:

Event: UEFA Euro 2012 Semifinals
Stadium: Donbass Arena - Donetsk, Ukraine
Date: Wednesday, June 28
Time: 2:45 AM GMT(+8:00)
Teams: Spanish National Team vs. Portuguese National Team
Winner: Advances to the finals to face the winner of the Germany-Italy semifinal match




Semifinal 2 - Germany vs. Italy
Germany is on a roll. After dominating the group stage with impressive wins over Portugal (1-0), Netherlands (2-1) and Denmark (2-1), the Germans took their play to a whole other level by crushing a feisty Greece squad 4-2 in the quarterfinal round.
Waiting Germany in the semifinal round is Italy. The Italians have had a tougher time making it this far in the tournament. Italy tied both Spain and Croatia with 1-1 scores and beat a hapless Irish team 2-0 to advance to the knockout stage. In their quarterfinal against England, Italy played well but needed to come from behind in PKs to advance onward.
Germany will be the clear favorite in this match, but Italy will be tricky. Expect the Italians to sit back and play a ball-controlling style to counter the impressive team speed of Germany. Even if Italy plays well, it is hard to imagine anything but a Germany - Spain final.
Here is the information you need to know for the second semifinal match between Germany and Italy:
Event: UEFA Euro 2012 Semifinals
Stadium: National Stadium - Warsaw, Poland
Date: Thursday, June 29
Time: 2:45 AM GMT(+8:00)
Teams: German National Team vs. Italian National Team
Winner: Advances to the finals to face the winner of the Spain-Portugal semifinal match

UEFA EURO 2012 Updates

The UEFA European Football Championship together with Euro 2012 consists of three stages --  the qualifying group stage, the play-off and the 16-team final tournament (Poland and Ukraine from 8^th of June to 1^st of July 2012.

Fist Match will be Czech Republic vs. Portugal.

Date: June 22, 2012 

Time: 2:45 AM GMT + 8:00

Place: National Stadium Warsaw, Warsaw (POL)

Referee: Howard Webb

Below is the Fixture for Euro 2012 Quarter – finals Schedule (GMT + 8:00), provided with match date and also the stadium and city name.

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Injured Rosicky doubtful for Portugal clash

Tomas Rosicky is in doubt for the Czech Republic’s Euro 2012 quarter-final match against Portugal.

The Czech captain missed the last group game against Poland with an inflamed Achilles tendon, and it looks as though he will be on the sidelines again for Thursday’s encounter.

“Will he be able to play from the start? I don’t think so,” team manager Vladmir Smicer told the CTK agency.

“He hasn’t trained for eight days, he’s only been able to do some work on the bike.

“In order for him to play in such a tough match, he should at the very least have had three full training sessions in order to be 100 percent ready.”

The Arsenal playmaker has suffered with injuries throughout his career and was initially doubtful to play in the tournament at all after picking up a calf problem in the Gunners’ final Premier League game of the season.

But he is determined to recover in time for the clash with Portugal, and has been back in Prague seeing a specialist to try to overcome the problem.

He has now returned to Poland to join up with the rest of the squad and will be given the chance to prove his fitness in training.

“The decision as to whether he plays in the quarter-final will be taken after the official training session on Wednesday evening,” said Czech spokesman Jaroslav Kolar.

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UEFA 2012 | Ukraine vs. England

 This match is going to be intense, and neither of these teams are averse to physical play. That's terribly convenient, considering that the referee for the match isn't averse to yellow cards. Viktor Kassai of Hungary previously officiated the match between Italy and Spain in this tournament, during which he handed out seven bookings. In the Euro 2012 playoff match between Estonia and Ireland, which the Irish won 4-0, he handed out six bookings, including two red cards. Milner, Young, Tymoshchuk and Yevhen Selin are facing a suspension if they pick up a yellow.

Glen Johnson says former team-mate Shevchenko is still one of the best around. “He didn’t have the best part of his career when he was at Chelsea, but you don’t lose your quality overnight," says England defender. Right-back Johnson played with Shevchenko at Stamford Bridge, where the striker scored just nine goals after signing from AC Milan for £30.8million.

Shevchenko left Chelsea after three unhappy years, but has rediscovered some of his old form at Dynamo Kiev and scored twice in Ukraine’s Group D opening victory over Sweden.

England face Ukraine in their final Group D game in Donetsk on Tuesday needing to avoid defeat to qualify for the quarter-finals, with the co-hosts chasing a win to be sure of staying in the tournament after defeat to France.

“Sheva’s a fantastic guy,” said right-back Johnson, who quit Chelsea in 2007 and is now at Liverpool. “He didn’t have the best part of his career when he was at Chelsea, but you don’t lose your quality overnight. He’s still one of the best strikers around. I rate him very highly.

“He was very genuine, although I don’t think he was too confident with his English – but he tried to join in with everything.

“Every player at the European Championship wants to be at his highest level, so I am sure he’ll be up for it against us.“Everyone has ups and downs during their career, but, arguably, Sheva’s one of the best strikers around.

Teams’ Information:

England Squad Possible Lineups

Goalkeepers: Butland, Green, Heart

Strikers: Carroll, Defoe, Rooney, Welbeck

Midfield: Downing, Gerrard, Lampard, Oxlade,-Chamberlain, Milner, Parker, Walcott, Yound

Defense: Baines, Cahill, Cole, Jagielka, Johnson, Jones, Lescott, Terry

Coach: Roy Hodgson

Ukraine Squad Possible Lineups

Goalkeepers: Goryainov, Koval, Pyatov

Strikers: Devic, Milevskiy, Seleznyov, Voronin, Shevchenko

Midfield: Aliyev, Garmash, Gusev, Konoplanka, Nazarenko, Rotan, Tymoschchuk, Yamolenko

Defense: Butko, Khacheridi, Kucher, Mikhalik, Rakitskiy, Delin, Shevchuk

Coach: Oleh Blokhin

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Sweden vs. France, UEFA 2012: Sweden with High Hopes to Win

3:01 PM  Faye   0

France and Sweden are set to meet in their Group D finale in a match that involves two teams going in complete opposite directions at the 2012 European Championship.

Erik Hamren's side has disappointed in the competition so far, losing both of its matches against Ukraine and England by one-goal margins. The Swedes have been eliminated from the tournament, but will be looking to salvage any inkling of pride that they can.

Jun 18, 2012 - Sweden came into Group D with high hopes, considering their seemingly average competition. They started the tournament against a Ukraine team that had home field advantage, but inferior talent. Their second game was against England before Wayne Rooney returned from suspension. If they could take four points from their first two games, they might not even need a win against France on the last day to go through.

They lost both of those games, and they've already been eliminated from the tournament. They didn't look like they had a lot of fight against Ukraine, and their only form of attack to speak of in their match against England was Olaf Mellberg headers on set pieces. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was pegged for a dominant tournament, has gone missing for long periods of games. His teammates deserve just as much blame as he has -- all of the forwards around him have been basically useless -- but he's still going to get the brunt of the criticism because he is Zlatan.

No matter what kind of team Sweden fields, they're going to have a tough time with France. Bringing in Jeremy Menez and Gael Clichy for Florent Malouda and Patrice Evra was a stroke of genius from Laurent Blanc, and he'll probably stick with the same front four and left back against Sweden. If he does make a change, it will probably come in the center of midfield. Yann M'Vila came on as a substitute and could be fit enough to start on Tuesday. He'll replace Alou Diarra if he does come in.

Teams’ Information:

Sweden Squad Possible Lineups

Goalkeepers: Hansson, Isaksson, Wiland

Strikers: Elmander, Hysen, Ibrahimovic, Rosenberg, toivonen

Midfield: Bajrami, Elm, Holmen, Kallstrom, Larsson, Svensson, Wembloo, Wilhemsson

Defense: Antonsson, Grangvist, Lustig, Melberg, J. Olsson, M. Olsson safari

Coach: Roy Hodgson

France Squad Possible Lineups

Goalkeepers: carrasso, Lioris, Mahanda

Strikers: Ben Arfa, Benzema, Ribery, giroud, Menez, Valbuena

Midfield: Cabaye, Diarra, Malouda, Martin, Matuidi, M’vila, Nasiri

Defense: Clichy, Debuchy, Evra, Koscieiny, Mexes, Reveillere

Coach: Laurent Blanc

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UEFA EURO 2012 Matches | SPAIN VS CROATIA

UEFA EURO 2012 Matches | SPAIN VS CROATIA Time: 2:45 AM GMT +8:00. UEFA has given German referee Wolfgang Stark his second top assignment at the European Championship, working the Spain vs. Croatia match on Tuesday. Some Italian commentators have suggested Spain and Croatia could orchestrate a 2-2 draw in Gdansk to ensure both advance to the quarterfinals and eliminate Italy.

Stark previously won praise for refereeing the tense 1-1 draw between co-host Poland and Russia.
UEFA has picked Cuneyt Cakir of Turkey to referee Italy's match against Ireland in Poznan on Monday.
Viktor Kassai of Hungary will referee England vs. Ukraine in Donetsk on Tuesday when the final group-stage matches are played.
Pedro Proenca of Portugal will handle France vs. Sweden in Kiev.

POSSIBLE LINEUPS

CROTIA	SPAIN
Pletikosa	Casillas
Srna, Corluka, Schildenfeld, Strinic	Arbeloa, Ramos, Pique, Alba
Vukojevic, Rakitic	Busquets, Alonso
Mandzukic, Modric, Perisic	Silva, Xavi, Iniesta
Jelavic	Torres

FACTS ABOUT THE TEAMS:

• Croatia and Del Bosque's side can both guarantee their place in the quarter-finals with a draw of 2-2 or higher.

• Bilic's have never faced Spain in a competitive match. All four of the meetings between the two sides have been friendlies, with their only victory coming via a 2-0 triumph back in 1994. Croatia's overall record against Spain is W1, D1, L2.

• Striker Mario Mandzukic has been clinical at Euro 2012, scoring three times from four attempts on goal.

• Croatia have not lost any of their last six matches at the European Championship, being ousted only via a penalty shootout by Turkey in 2008.

• Spain set a new record with 860 passes at the tournament during their 4-0 win over Ireland, beating the previous landmark of 778.

• Xavi (pictured right) set a new individual record himself in the competition by attempting 136 passes against the Boys in Green, beating Ronald Koeman's total of 117 from a Euro 1992 clash versus Denmark.

• The champions have only conceded one goal in their last six matches at major international tournaments.

• Fernando Torres' double in the victory over Ireland took him to 30 international goals, making him the country's third all-time top scorer behind only Raul and David Villa.

SPORTS STATISTICS INFORMATION CENTRE

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UKRAINE AIMS TO IMPRESS HOME CROWD VERSUS FRANCE

UKRAINE	Tournament Statistics (as of June 15, 2012)		FRANCE
2	Goals Scored		1
5	Attempts On Target		15
8	Attempts Off Target		4
3	Corners		11
12	Fouls Committed		9
0	Yellow Cards		0
0	Red Cards		0
PREDICTED STARTING LINEUPS
Ukraine (3-5-2)		Pyatov; Selin, Khacheridi, Mykhalyk; Tymoschuk, Gusev, Yarmolenko, Nazarenko, Konoplyanka; Shevchenko, Voronin
France (4-2-3-1)		Lloris; Evra, Méxes, Rami, Debuchy; Diarra, M’Vila; Ribéry, Nasri, Valbuena; Benzema

Date: June 16, 2012

Time: 12:00 AM (GMT +8:00)

DONETSK: Group D is expected to undergo a tremendous turn of events as France returns to Donbass to face host Ukraine on home advantage. France is stuck in a 1-1 draw versus England, a record that calls for better winning resolve from Les Bleus. Ukraine, on the other hand, currently tops Group D after they trounced Sweden before an energetic home crowd at 2-1.

Ukraine must repeat their feat against Sweden in order to get past through France – an international favorite to win Group D. If not, their chances of winning the group stage can be ruined, especially when they face England in their final group match.

Previous Matches

France and Ukraine met for 6 times. Ukraine never won against Les Bleus, with a lackluster record of 3 losses and 3 draws.

The teams recently met at a friendly in Donetsk last 2011. France shattered Ukraine at 4-1, with 2 goals coming from midfielder Marvin Martin.

Throughout those 6 meetings, France evidently grew stronger, particularly in terms of offense. In contrast, Ukraine has yet to be consistent in their winning form, particularly in improving their shaky defense.

Pre-Match Developments

Significant changes are not likely for both teams. No players from both sides are injured. France’s starting lineup might change a little if Laurent Blanc decides to put midfielder Yann M’Vila in place of Yohan Cabaye.

Oleh Blokhin will likely retain Ukraine’s current starting squad, given their impressive performance last Tuesday.

Ukraine-France Predictions

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A crucial factor in this match is the frail defense of both teams. The absence of injured defender Dmytro Chygrynskiy in Ukraine’s lineup can further cripple their efforts to defend the goal. France’s defense must learn not to rely too much on their team’s attacking power. Otherwise, they might be damaged by Ukraine’s desire to score before their home crowd. Ukraine’s legendary striker Andriy Shevchenko is one player Les Bleus have to watch out.

A repeat of France’s 2011 friendly victory against Ukraine is highly possible in this game. Their offensive stride powered by Karim Benzema, Franck Ribéry, Mathieu Valbuena and Samir Nasri (who scored France’s goal during its match versus England) can make Ukraine’s weak defense useless. The international pedigree of French players reflects more experience. That gives Les Bleus an obvious victory in their second Group D fixture, despite playing against Ukraine in their home field.

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