Category Archives: Liveblog

Euro 2012 All Iberian Semifinal Liveblog: Portugal v. Spain

This could be a really great game.

I decided on this photo. But Google “portugal fans”. You won’t be disappointed.

Or it could be business as usual as Spain continue to pass their way toward their third consecutive final in a major tournament.

Spain have moved through Euro 2012 in fairly straightforward fashion, using their patented tiki-taka to emerge comfortably from Group C and stifle France in the quarterfinals.

Portugal had a more dynamic road, overcoming a loss to fellow semifinalists Germany in their first group match to book a quarterfinal date with a stubborn but ultimately toothless Czech Republic.

So now these neighbors face off, with many believing the title-holders will do to the smaller member of their peninsula what they have done to every other squad for the past 4 years.

But Portugal have something those other squads don’t. They have Cristiano Ronaldo.

The Portuguese handed Spain their biggest defeat in recent memory with a 4-0 drubbing in a friendly way back in 2010.

The stakes are much different, and Spain’s power much more consolidated today, but history may be the only advantage Bento’s men carry into this match.

It will all be settled on the pitch starting at 2:45 ET. Join me then for lineups and commentary, after the jump!

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Euro 2012 EUROZONE SMACKDOWN!!! Quarterfinal Edition- Germany vs. Greece

Confucious will NOT be refereeing this time. . . but will Sokritis head home the winner?

Today’s going to be a fun day, that’s for sure. Eurozone jokes will abound. Germany, the prohibitive favorites in the tournament, and Greece, surprisingly one of the most entertaining teams at the tourney this year, will challenge for the right to face the winner of Sunday’s England-Italy tilt.

The Germans have played well, if not spectacularly, throughout their group matches, gliding to nine points with pretty minimal fuss in the Group of Death. The Greeks have usurped their traditionally defensive attitude, going out to attack in every one of their matches in the erroneously dubbed “Group of Meh.” They suffered an ignominious defeat at the hands of the now-ousted Czech Republic, but that was with defensive linchpin Sokritis Popastathopolis serving a suspension for two very dubious fouls in the opening draw with Poland, before shocking the world and dumping Russia out.

Pre-match smack talk has indeed referenced the Germans’ inexorable hold over the Greek economy, with Bild’s front page reading “Bye, Greeks. We can’t save you today!”

Hopefully, incoming Greek finance minister Vassilis Rapanos can make it through this game in better stead than he made it through the Greek balance sheet.

Lineups and jokes about the Greeks being “bankrupt of ideas, too” to be found after the jump!

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Euro 2012 Liveblog: Group B Final Day

So here we are. Germany sit atop the group on six points, Portugal and Denmark sit joint-second on three, and Holland sits last having been beaten by both Germany and Denmark. But! Should the Dutch win by two and Denmark lose, the Oranje will go through. For Denmark, it’s quite simple. Win with Portugal drawing, or draw with Portugal losing, and they’re through. Portugal goes through on a win or a draw and a German win. And the Germans would have to suddenly turn into England to not go through.

I’m coming to you live from the Queen Vic in scenic Northeast DC, to give you the events from Metallist Stadium (Portugal-Holland) and Arena Lviv (Germany-Denmark)

The Lineups and the rest of the liveblog are after the jump.   Continue reading →

Euro 2012 Liveblog: Group A Day 3

The mantra is pretty simple for the teams of group A. Win and you’re in, except Russia can also draw. There are a bunch of other

God help us if we have to look at that all day

scenarios, but there is no excuse for teams to sit back today. The Poland – Czech Republic match is the big one with one of those 2 certain to go through most of my time will be spent there. I’ll make sure to provide updates from the Fur Hats vs. Olive Oil as well

Czech Republic XI: Cech; Gebre Selassie, Sivok, Kadlec, Limbersky; Hubschman, Plasil; Jiracek, Kolar, Pilar; Baros.

CR Bench: Lastuvka, Suchy, Hubnik, Necid, Rezek, Rosicky, Petrzela, Rajtoral, Pekhart, Lafata, Darida, Drobny.

Poland XI: Tyton; Piszczek, Wasilewski, Perquis, Boenisch; Dudka, Polanski; Blaszczykowski, Murawski, Obraniak; Lewandowski.

Poland Bench: Szczesny, Wojtkowiak, Kaminski, Matuszczyk, Rybus, Wawrzyniak, Sobiech, Mierzejewski, Wolski, Grosicki, Brozek, Sandomierski.

Russia XI: Malafeev; Anyukov, Ignashevich, A. Berezutski, Zhirkov; Shirokov, Denisov, Glushakov; Dzagoev, Kerzhakov; Arshavin.

Russia bench: Akinfeev, Sharonov, Izmailov, Pavlyuchenko, Kombarov, Granat, Pogrebnyak, Nababkin, Semshov, Shunin.

Greece XI: Sifakis; Torosidis, Papastathopoulos, K.Papadopoulos, Tzavelas; Katsouranis, Maniatis; Salpingidis, Karagounis Samaras; Gekas.

Greece Bench: Chalkias, Malezas, Makos, Liberopoulos, Mitroglou, Fotakis, Ninis,
Holebas, Fortounis, Fetfatzidis, Tzorvas.

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Euro 2012 Liveblog: Sweden v. England

Aaaaaa-aaaa-aaaaaaaaahhhhh! Welcome to our liveblog coverage of Euro 2012, Group D, Round 2. England versus Sweden. Zlatan vs. England’s Brave Racist John Terry. Andy Carroll versus Olof Mellberg. One of those matchups is not like the other. But I digress.

So yes, talk is that Roy Hodgson will attempt a Welbeck/Carroll partnership today in an effort to pump more balls into the box and go for the headed goals that sunk the Swedes in their first round clash with hosts Ukraine. Carroll replaces Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, with Ashley Young shifting out left.

Sweden will start Johan Elmander over Markus Rosenberg, as the former created more chances in 20 minutes than the latter in 70. Erik Hamren will also likely be showing his team the coaching photos that Swedish supporters pulled together following Mikael Lustig’s post-defending on Sheva’s second goal. Lustig and Ola Toivonen have also been dropped from the Swedish lineup, with Jonas Olsson and Anders Svensson replacing them.

I’m once again coming to you from the Queen Vic in Northeast DC. If you’re there and you see someone sitting at the bar typing away, come up and say hi!

Lineups, commentary and other folderol after the jump!

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Euro 2012 Liveblog: Denmark v. Portugal

The Group of Death continues today — for Denmark, finding itself atop Group B’s standings after a surprise 1-0 knocking-off of the Netherlands, a win would get them in pretty position for advancing, though they’ll still face a German team who might also have six points after today. For Portugal, winning would clearly help them take advantage of the Holland slip-up — they’ll finish Group B going against them head-to-head.

Lineups after the jump –

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Euro 2012 Liveblog: France v. England

Good morning, and welcome to Group D action! While the nation of Ukraine braces for its yellow-and-blue-off with Sweden later today, we’ve got the pomp and pageantry of France and England — two nations which have obvious history (l’histoire, if you’re French) with one another. Will the French make you forget the epic Waterloo meltdown that was World Cup 2010? Will Welbeck + Young really be as good as having Rooney, as Alexi Lalas was explaining on ESPN’s fancy 3-D hologram soccer table yesterday? Let’s go to Donetsk, where it’s apparently warm. Because it’s warm, the French might, according to ESPN, break out their ice vests at halftime. Mmmmm, ice vests.

Your lineups and liveblog after the jump:

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