Well, either that or he's showing off his new 'clutch your face' goal celebration. Khedira
inadvertently found the net for Real Madrid in their match against Santos Laguna when the keeper
palmed the ball straight into his face and it deflected into the net. Come the Champions League
knockout stages, the Germany international would probably [.
It was by no means a classic performance by Stuart Pearce's hotchpotch side, but Daniel
Sturridge's fist-half strike was enough to secure the victory for the hosts against a rather
disappointing Uruguay outfit, with Edinson Cavani failing in particular to live up to the hype.
Yep, you read that right, a 1-1 win. Let's be honest, any result in Honduras other than a loss
was going to be a tremendous positive. Falling down a goal early, losing Nathan Sturgis to a red
card and still pulling off a draw...well that's just epic.
The Dynamo are now in the drivers seat for qualification in to the knockout stages of the
tournament.
With a break in action for the Sounders (they had a real weekend off, well most of them) and
recent updates to www.SoundersFC.com and their stats pages here's an update on the Points Per 90
(or Offensive Productivity) for the team in 2012. At Sounder at Heart we include the knockout
stages of the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions league in this year rather than last as the Sounders
do.
In what could be a seminal moment for women's football in the UK, a crowd of over 70,000 saw
Team GB take on and beat the mighty Brazil by a 1-0 scoreline, a result that sees Hope Powell's
side top Group E (with three wins out of three) and face Canada in the knockout stages.
England boss Roy Hodgson called all the right shots against Sweden on Friday as England came
from 2-1 down to beat Sweden 3-2 in a thrilling match. England control their own destiny now in
tournament. A win or a draw and England will advance to the knockout stages of the Euros next
week.
Some thoughts on the game:
In changing his side from the team that drew 1-1 with France, Hodgson brought in Andy Carroll
due to the fact that Sweden has conceded a lot of goals from headers.
England boss Roy Hodgson called all the right shots against Sweden on Friday as England came
from 2-1 down to beat Sweden 3-2 in a thrilling match. England control their own destiny now in
tournament. A win or a draw and England will advance to the knockout stages of the Euros next
week.
Some thoughts on the game:
In changing his side from the team that drew 1-1 with France, Hodgson brought in Andy Carroll
due to the fact that Sweden has conceded a lot of goals from headers.
Ducky's Note: On of our readers' thoughts on how England fared at the
Euros. It all seems so long ago now...
Looking back on England's performance at Euro 2012, there were plenty of reasons to be cheerful.
Prior to the tournament, England had not been considered by the pundits or the bookmakers as
serious contenders for the trophy, given the number of injuries sustained by key players, the
suspension of star striker Wayne Rooney, and the fact that Roy Hodgson had only a few weeks in the
job to prepare the players.
Italy Exceed Expectations in Run to the Euro 2012 Final is a post from: Serie A Weekly Italy Exceed
Expectations in Run to the Euro 2012 Final is a post from: Serie A Weekly Before the start of the
European Championships this summer, many in Italy were feeling pessemistic about the Azzurri's
chances, not only with regards to the knockout stages, but towards getting out of the group
itself,.
Dynamo, the magician that we've seen successfully reduce Nemanja Vidic (among
several other footballers) to a bubbling puddle of bamboozle juice, has won a
10,000/1 bet by correctly predicting Spain's run from the Euro 2012 quarter-finals through to the
winners' podium.
The 30 (24+4+2)Â matches of Euro 2012 over the past 23 days have led to the finale, later today
in the Ukrainian capital's Olympic Stadium:
Euro 2012 Final : 1 July 2012 More » Spain 20.45 Italy Referee: Pedro Proença (POR) – Stadium:
Olympic Stadium, Kyiv (UKR)
We'll be gathering to watch at CultFootball HQ West, which should make for a good viewing
atmosphere not least because of one us is partial to Spain (arising from a longtime affinity for
Dutch total football, through to Barcelona starting in the '90s and to the technical brilliance to
today's tiki-taka), while the other has a rooting roots for Gli Azzurri (Italian
ancestors plus childhood Saturdays spent watching the Serie A match of the week on the broadcast
Italian channel, not to mention years spent as a defender).
Euro 2012 Group Stage Review - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
With all 24 group stage games in Euro 2012 completed, eight teams are preparing for
quarter-finals, whilst the other eight have been eliminated and will head home. Ahead of the first
knockout game between Czech Republic and Portugal on Thursday night, here is
Soccerlens' review of the tournament so far.
Mario Gomez scores for Germany in their 1-0 win over Portugal and help his team to a 100% group
stage record
Euro 2012 has been a fantastic tournament so far with 61 goals scored in 24 group matches and
with the culmination of the group stages last night comes a quarter-final line-up which promises
plenty of action in the knockout stages.
It's getting to the stage of Euro 2012 where people are starting to tire and conserving energy
becomes vital. But not for Italy boss Cesare Prandelli. He celebrated his side's qualification to
the knockout stages by taking a 3am hike to a monastery. Prandelli was eager to visit the
Camaldolese monks, originally from Italy but [.
Playing for the first time in the tournament, Wayne Rooney's goal in the 48th minute lifted
England to a 1-0 victory over Ukraine and a spot in the European Championship quarterfinals.
Sweden shocked France 2-0 in the other Group D game and as a result England, as group winners,
will play Italy in Kiev on Sunday, while France, as runners-up will now meet Spain on Saturday.
Bob Dylan has won Grammys, Oscars, and Golden Globes, but he's never led his country to a third
place finish in the World Cup has he? 1998 was perhaps Bilic's most glorious summer, but Croatia's
three matches at Euro 2012 were certainly nothing to be ashamed of.
Before Euro 2012 began, the common consensus was that Spain and Italy would progress to the
knockout stages from Group C, with Spain winning the group and Italy finishing second.
That is what happened, but neither Spain or Italy were convincing in their third group match and
Croatia has to consider itself really unlucky to be heading home today.
Hard to believe that group play's on its final day and we're almost ready to move on to the
knockout stages, with only two matches left before we turn to the quarterfinals. Monday promised
the potential for some surprises in the top three, but in the end it was the two teams most had
picked moving on, and Croatia joining Ireland on the way out.
England+Rooney confident of beating Ukraine - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
England are looking to beat Ukraine, qualify for the knockout stages for Euro 2012 and give his
side the momentum to kick on and go far in this year's Euros.
England v Ukraine (7.45pm KO, Live on ITV1)
A nation will wait with bated breath as England bid to book their place in the quarter-finals,
and they go into the game knowing that a draw will be good enough to see them progress.
Italy Euro 2012 Puma Away Shirt - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
The Italian National Team have overcome injuries and pre-tournament scandals to
qualify from the Euro 2012 knockout stages, where they now wait to face their Group D quarter-final
opponents. The Azzuri last tasted success at the 2006 World Cup and are always one of the main
contenders for every major tournament.
Greece caused an almighty upset in 2004 when they went all the way and won the European
Championships and they are again playing the role of over-achievers, having defied derision to make
it into the knockout stages at Euro 2012.
Fernando Santos' side was written off before a ball was kicked and they did nothing to promote
any real optimism with their opening draw against Poland and subsequent loss to the Czech
Republic.
Yesterday the Group of Death of Euro 2012 wrapped up and it was full of drama. Ronaldo, answered
his detractors, and shot Portugal into the knockout stages while the Dutch flamed out. The German
cruised and won the group, while former European Champion Denmark was sent home. Here is how
newspapers in each country covered the events
Greece pulled off a genuine shock in Warsaw on Saturday night, defeating group favourites Russia
1-0, a result which put the unfancied Galanolefki through to the last eight at the
expense of both Russia and hosts Poland.
Russia came into the game knowing that a draw would be enough to see them through, but despite
the prompting of Andrei Arshavin and Alan Dzagoev, they couldn't get that vital goal.
Just five minutes into Ukraine's clash with France, a mother of all storms hit Donetsk, forcing
referee Bjorn Kuipers to suspend the game for almost an hour. However, once the game was
re-started, Les Bleus produced an impressive display which culminated in a 2-0 scoreline.
The Republic of Ireland's Euro 2012 dreams came to an end last night as they were soundly beaten
4-0 by Spain, while Italy's progression to the knockout stages is in doubt after drawing 1-1 with
Croatia.
Spain coach Vicente del Bosque went with a more orthodox line-up against the Irish, inserting
Fernando Torres into his starting line-up and Torres repaid his coach by scoring two goals, and
giving the type of performance that made Chelsea spend all that money on him 18 months ago.
Thursday continued what's been a fantastic tournament overall, with a tightly-contested first
match and a fairly easy romp for the defending champions in the nightcap. Nearly every match to
this point has been eminently entertaining those that have lacked for goals have made up for it
with a mostly watchable pace of play, even from the sides that you wouldn't normally expect to
provide entertainment.
Carroll in line for start as England look to attack - originally posted on Soccerlens.com
Republic of Ireland's dreams of qualifying from Euro 2012 Group C were dashed in clinical
fashion on Thursday night as world champions Spain got back into their groove with a 4-0 win.
Meanwhile, Italy and Croatia played out a 1-1 draw in the first game of the day to ensure that the
pool will go down to the last day to decide the quarter-finalists.
In Gdansk against Spain, Ireland's fans were superb once again, but alas, the 11 men on the
pitch failed to perform to the level that had got them to Poland in the first place.
The 4-0 scoreline didn't flatter the Spanish at all, with Fernando Torres opening the scoring
after just four minutes, courtesy of some dreadful Irish defending.
This article titled "Euro 2012 paper review: Holland despair over black night for Oranje" was
written by Sachin Nakrani, for guardian.co.uk on Thursday 14th June 2012 08.25 UTC
Sometimes you do not need a love of foreign languages, or a co-operative translator on hand, to
understand a message from overseas.
After losing their opening game against Denmark, the Netherlands needed to get some points on
the board, albeit against an in-form German side. However, once again, a failure to put away their
chances cost the Dutch dear as Germany registered a deserved victory.
This article titled "Euro 2012: Denmark v Portugal – as it happened" was written by Barry
Glendenning, for guardian.co.uk on Wednesday 13th June 2012 17.57 UTC
Good afternoon everybody. If only there was some over-used, catchy but not
entirely accurate phrase to describe the one group in a major football tournament in which four
apparently strong teams with no obvious whipping boys were drawn together, then it could almost
certainly be applied to Group B in Euro 2012.
Wolfsburg duo Petr Jiracek and Vaclav Pilar weere the goal heroes for the Czech Republic on
Monday afternoon, as Michal Bilek's side bounced back from their 4-1 mauling by Russia to kickstart
their quest for the knockout stages.
Jiracek opened the scoring after just three minutes before gifted winger Pilar made it 2-0 with
just six minutes gone.
It's down to the knockout stages- meaning everything is on the line. In the first of this rounds
games Portugal ousted the Czech Republic via a narrow 1-0 victory. Cristiano Ronaldo was the
recipient of the goal after some neat ...
This is a content summary. Visit http://www.epltalk.com to read the entire article
The most disappointing aspect of Russia's, difficult to comprehend, elimination from the
tournament is that we won't see any more of Alan Dzagoev. Dzagoev's three goals in the opening two
fixtures seemed to have set Russia on a comfortable course for the knockout stages and placed him
as a contender for top goalscorer, but a limp performance in the final game saw them miss out.
The most disappointing aspect of Russia's, difficult to comprehend, elimination from the
tournament is that we won't see any more of Alan Dzagoev. Dzagoev's three goals in the opening two
fixtures seemed to have set Russia on a comfortable course for the knockout stages and placed him
as a contender for top goalscorer, but a limp performance in the final game saw them miss out.
Liverpool Football Club advance to the knockout rounds of the Europa League with victory over Udinese after Jordan Henderson fired his first goal of the season in the 23 minute mark. It was Henderson's third strike for the club after he joined for £16m in the summer of 2011 and his first since May 8.
It's the question STILL on every Arsenal fan's lips as the summer drags on: Will Robin Van
Persie stay with the Gunners? I have always thought he will commit to a new deal at the Emirates
and I feel slightly more confident in that belief having perused Arsene Wenger's latest assessment
of the Dutchman and his contribution to Holland's failed Euro2012 challenge.
