Euro 2012 - News & Predictions

[Abbas85]

[forza_esteghlal]

Final

italia vs spain

forza italia

[I LOVE IRAN!]

^ ew italy wont do anything lol germany will take it this year

[KC McElroy]

The England fan who exposed himself in a vain bid to distract Italy's Alessandro Diamanti as he took the decisive penalty in Sunday's Euro 2012 quarter-final penalty shootout said on Wednesday he had no regrets.

Tim O'Leary, a 35-year-old multi-millionaire who has a trading company in the City of London, told the Sun he would do anything to see England win - however Diamanti coolly slotted the penalty home for a 4-2 win on penalties.

"I was just trying to do my bit,' he told the Sun.

"It was a spur of the moment thing. I'd do anything to see England win, but sadly it didn't work."

O'Leary, who was standing behind the goal where the penalties were being taken and decided to lower his trousers as Diamanti stepped up, said he had paid for the effort physically having run from one end of the stadium in Kiev to the other to be in the perfect position.

"I ran because I knew we were going to lose and I wanted to try and put the guy off," said O'Leary.

"I did it wearing shin pads, football boots, you name it. The blisters on my feet are absolutely killing."

O'Leary got the stamp of approval from his wife Klara, who watched the game on TV as she is eight months pregnant with twins.

"She found it very, very funny."

[masoud nekounam]

Let's go Portugal!
I am so sick of Spain and their BS. Portugal at least plays exciting football.

[KeonKish]

I like portugal too, but portugal is going to get torn to pieces.

[soniq]

Neur vs. Balotelli

Portugese tactics:

[soniq]

Today's game:

EURO 2012 - SEMIFINALS - Portugal vs Spain
Kick-off: 20:45 CET (21:45 EET / 19:45 WET / 18:45 UTC / 14:45 EDT / 13:45 EST / 08:45 HST)
Venue: Donbass Arena
Capacity: 50,000
Location: Donetsk, Ukraine
Weather forecast:

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Referee: (Turkey)
Sideline assistants: Bahattin Duran, Tarık Ongun

4th official: Damir Skomina (SVN)

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Broadcasts: footballitarin.com

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Worldwide TV/Radio/Streaming Schedule
Internet Streams:
LiveTV.ru
Firstrowsports
WiZiWiG
Livescorehunter

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Portugal
Coach: Paulo Bento
Starting XI
4-3-3
Bench
Suspensions and Injuries

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Spain
Coach: Vicente del Bosque
Starting XI
4-2-3-1
Bench

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Minute by minute:
BBC
Guardian
Head-to-head

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• Spain has a positive all-time record against Portugal over 34 games (W16 D12 L6). However, La Roja have only won two of their last 12 against the Seleccao. Note: These stats are taken from goal.com; uefa.com has it asW15 D12 L7. I'm not nearly bored enough to go through 34 results.
• This will be the 35th meeting of the sides. Portugal failed to win the first 15 encounters, eventually breaking their duck in 1948. Spain lead the overall head-to-head by 16 wins to six.
• All six of Portugal's victories came on home soil.
• The last time the sides met Portugal was the 4-0 victor in a November 2010 friendly, just a few months after Spain eliminated it from the World Cup by a 1-0 scoreline.

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Match facts / Trivia

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Portugal

• Cristiano Ronaldo has six European Championship goals in total. Only Alan Shearer (seven) and Michel Platini (nine) have scored more in the history of the tournament.
• The Portuguese have lost four of their five previous semi-finals at major tournaments, and have never won at this stage overseas. Their only win was 2-1 victory against the Netherlands on home soil at Euro 2004.
• They have hit the woodwork six times at Euro 2012 - including four efforts from Ronaldo.
• Portugal has put out the same starting for all four of its matches at the tournament so far.

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Spain

• Spain will set a new record of 11 European Championship finals matches unbeaten if they avoid defeat. Their last loss in the competition was the 1-0 reverse to Portugal at Euro 2004.
• The Spanish have kept eight consecutive clean sheets in knock-out games at major tournaments. Goalkeeper Iker Casillas is unbeaten in 780 minutes (13 hours) at this stage since Zinedine Zidane's 90th-minute goal for France at the 2006 World Cup.
• According to Opta, Spain have completed 2,623 passes at Euro 2012, more than twice as many as Portugal (1,159).
• Xabi Alonso's two goals against France in the quarterfinal came on his 100th cap for his country.
• Spain has the best defense at Euro 2012 so far, shipping just one goal, and not conceding for the last 299 minutes.
• Vicente del Bosque's squad seems to enjoy late drama. Five of its eight goals at Euro 2012 have come during the final 30 minutes of matches.

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Injuries / Suspensions

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PortugalSpain

• none

[masoud nekounam]

Line-ups announced.

Portugal:

Patricio
Pereira - Pepe - Alves - Coentrao
Veloso
Meireles - Moutinho
Nani - - - - - - - - - - - - - Ronaldo
Almeida

Spain:

Casillas
Arbeloa - Pique - Ramos - Alba
Busquets
Silva - Xavi - Xabi - Iniesta
Negredo

[rugs]

Nekounam on Ch 3. now during the pregame show talking about his future in La Liga I think.

I was half paying attention

[KC McElroy]

Hopefully Portugal will eliminate Spain and their anti soccer tactics.

[Masoud_A]

Spain still refuses to play with a striker The most exciting beautiful football yea right!

[Masoud_A]

Spain floppin masterfully though

[K. Nader]

Alba with the flop of the tournament.

[Keano]

Spain playing real disappointing. Portugal in full possession so far. I am baffled by sloppy performance of Spain