Vicente del Bosque (left) coached Spain to international football history in 2012
Due to the Spanish national team's historic success at the 2012 UEFA European Championship, Stoppage Time's Coach of the Year award goes to Vicente del Bosque. Having won the FIFA World Cup in South Africa in 2010, del Bosque led his team to European success this year and has helped, more than anybody, to bury the ghost of past Spanish teams who went into major tournaments as favourites but were unable to justify the hype.
Stoppage Time's Team of the Year award could only really go to one team, namely the Spanish national team following their exploits in Poland and Ukraine in this year's UEFA European Championships. Having won back-to-back international tournaments, the 2008 European Championship and 2010 FIFA World Cup, Spain were hoping to become the first team ever to win three major tournaments in a row and certainly didn't disappoint.
Spain won its third UEFA European Championship with a 4-0 drubbing of Italy
The Spanish national football team did what so many people expected and won the 2012 UEFA
European Championship. Spain defended their European title with a 4-0 hammering of Italy with goals
from David Silva, Jordi Alba, Fernando Torres and Juan Mata and helped to create history in the
process.
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.
So the big kick off is imminent. The 2012 UEFA European Football Championships are upon us just
so soon after the domestic seasons in Europe's major leagues have come to a close. It only seems
like yesterday when Fernando Torres scored the winning goal in the final of the 2008 tournament to
secure Spain their second Euro triumph with a 1-0 over Germany.
The UEFA European Football Championship has enjoyed a rich variety of formats and winning teams
since its inauguration in 1960. The very first tournament saw seventeen nations enter at the start
of the competition with the semi-finals and final played in Paris over a four day period resulting
in the Soviet Union becoming the first ever winners.
In the final blog looking ahead to the 2012 UEFA European Championship, which begins on Friday
June 8th, we preview Group D which contains co-hosts Ukraine as well as two-time winners France,
England and Sweden.
ENGLAND: Best Performance = Semi-Finals 1968, 1996
Despite their status in the international game England still remains one of football's great
underachievers.
In the third installment of our Euro 2012 build-up, Stoppage Time International Football Blog
previews Group C which contains the defending European champions Spain as well as Italy, Croatia
and the Republic of Ireland.
GROUP C
CROATIA: Best Performance = Runner Up 1960, 1968 (as Yugoslavia);
Quarter-Finals 1996, 2008 (as Croatia)
Following the break-up of the former Yugoslavia in 1991 the Croatian national team has performed
by far the best out of the newly created independent states.
Stoppage Time International Football Blog continues its preview of the oncoming UEFA European
Championships which begin on Friday. In this blog we look at Group B which contains Germany, the
Netherlands, Portugal and Denmark.
GROUP B
DENMARK: Best Performance = Winners 1992
Most football fans will know of the legend that has built around the 1992 European Championship
winning team.
With the 2012 UEFA European Championships due to begin this coming Friday, Stoppage Time takes a
look at all four groups going into the tournament. First up is Group A which includes tournament
co-hosts Poland as well as the Czech Republic, Russia and Euro 2004 winners Greece.
CZECH REPUBLIC: Best Performance = Winners 1976 (as Czechoslovakia); Runner Up
1996 (as Czech Republic)
The Czechs have a distinguished record in the European Championships.
The draw for the 2012 UEFA European Championship, to be held in Poland and Ukraine from 8th June
– 1st July next year, has been made in the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv this evening. Sixteen
nations will contest this competition for the last time before the next tournament, to be held in
France in 2016, will see an increase in the number of finals entrants to 24.
Germany became the first nation, along with tournament hosts Ukraine and Poland, to qualify for
the 2012 UEFA European Championships last night. Their 6-2 victory over neighbours Austria gave the
Nationalmannschaft an unassailable nine point lead at the top of qualifying Group A.
Goals from Miroslav Klose, Mesut Özil (2) and Lukas Podolski along with additional strikes from
substitutes André Schürrle and Mario Götze put the cherry on top of the cake for Germany whose
defence was breached just twice by Marko Arnautovic and Martin Harnik, both of whom ply their trade
in the German Bundesliga with Werder Bremen and VfB Stuttgart respectively.
Robert Lewandowski of Borussia Dortmund (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
Manchester United have been pursuing Borussia Dortmund and Poland international striker, Robert Lewandowski since the beginning of the UEFA European Championship.
However, much fluff and the sale of Lewandowski's teammate, Shinji Kagawa later, the club are once again believed to be back on the trail of the player.
Well it was bound to happen - and it seems like it is going to happen. The UEFA is finally
concerned that players are getting paid too much money. With players getting some of the highest
paid sports contracts in the world only clubs with deep pockets are able to compete.
UEFA President Michel Platini voices concern over player pay inflation.
Paul Scholes may just have cost Manchester United's chance for the UEFA Super Cup. During the
decisive match against Zenit St.Petersburg, Scholes handled the ball, not once but twice! Thus
causing himself to get booted out of the game. In the image Scholes is clearly reaching for the
soccer ball. I mean you can't get [.
Paul Scholes may just have cost Manchester United's chance for the UEFA Super Cup. During the
decisive match against Zenit St.Petersburg, Scholes handled the ball, not once but twice! Thus
causing himself to get booted out of the game. In the image Scholes is clearly reaching for the
soccer ball. I mean you can't get [.
Zenit St. Petersburg destroyed Manchester United for the UEFA European Super Cup Trophy - August
29, 2008. The Super Cup is an annual match between the reigning UEFA Cup and Champions League
winners - this year it was at the St. Louis II Stadium in Monaco. The match came down to just one
point but [.
Zenit St. Petersburg destroyed Manchester United for the UEFA European Super Cup Trophy - August
29, 2008. The Super Cup is an annual match between the reigning UEFA Cup and Champions League
winners - this year it was at the St. Louis II Stadium in Monaco. The match came down to just one
point but [.
The race is off for the Women's Euro 2009 cup this summer. The championship began on August 23rd
with the Netherlands defeating Ukraine 2-0, Finland besting Denmark 1-0 and Germany upping Norway
4-0.
France will be playing tonight against Iceland and more games are scheduled for this week.
Image details: Euro 2008 - Public Viewing Germany v Spain served by picapp.com German fans are
finally accepting their loss today against Spain in the 2008 UEFA Euro Cup. No one expected Spain
to go as far as they had, and the Vegas odds were against they. Well I guess that's just how things
happen.
Image details: Germany v Spain - UEFA EURO 2008 Final served by picapp.com Spain has just clenched
a win against the German power-horse in the 2008 Euro Cup final 1-0! Torres made the first and only
goal in the game for Spain, but that's not's to say that Germany didn't have any scoring chances.
There were [.
Image details: UEFA EURO2008 Final Draw served by picapp.com There is no reason to miss the 2008
Euro Cup match between Spain and Germany. Here in Canada you can catch it on TSN at 2pm et/11am pt.
Or, if for some unfortunate reason you miss the match, you can watch the encore at 7pm et/4pm pt.
To [..
Image details: Euro 2008 - Public Viewing Spain v Russia served by picapp.com Tensions are mounting
in the run for the 2008 Euro Cup match this Sunday! June 29. Germany is seeing a record fourth
consecutive Euro Cup win, while Spain fights to stay alive. Spain might have been the underdogs
this year but they have [.
Russia defeated Belarus in the first round of the 2009 UEFA European Under-17 Championship
Qualifying Round soccer match at Eduard Streltsov Stadium in Minsk, Belarus. The final score was
4-0. In the action shot Georgia's Giorgi Navalovski dives for the ball to beat out Russia's Alan
Kasayev. Image courtesy of Newscom.
The matches for the 2008 European Under 21 Championship games are in full swing in London, England.
England U21 faced Russia but lost so they were matched today against Portugal U21 to try and redeem
themselves. The games are taking place at the Wembley Stadium. In this action shot England's Adam
Johnson tries [.
Russia beat Sweden in a decisive UEFA Euro 2008 Group D game 2-0 June 18, 2008. In this action shot
Sweden's Henrik Larsson takes on Denis Kolodin of Russia at the Tivoli-Neu Stadium, Austria. Read
more at BBC Sports. Image courtesy of newscom. Technorati Tags:
sweden_russia_euro_cup,euro_cup_news,uefa_euro_cup,euro_cup_2008 Share This
UEFA Euro Cup 2008: Croatia played Turkey in a exciting game that lasted for two overtimes and a
shootout. With only seconds remaining in the second overtime Croatia managed to score against
Turkey. But the celebration was short when Turkey scored a goal with mere seconds left forcing a
shootout. Turkey scored again for [.
Action shot of Turkish goalkeeper Demirel duking it out with the Swiss team during the 2008 Euro Cup, June 11, 2008. Switzerland and Turkey have been playing for a spot at the top of the Group A standings.
Despite the heavy rain Turkey managed to sneak in two goals to take the victory 2-1.
Image [.
Portugal battled Turkey on June 7th and won in a 2-0 battle in Geneva. Pepe scored in the 61st
minute and Meireles scored the second goal. Unfortunately, Cristiano Ronaldo was not exactly
playing his best yesterday. Cristiano Ronaldo was far from his best, but lucky for Portugal,
defender Pepe picked up the slack.
Swiss captain Alexander Frei injured (click to enlarge image) Switzerland's national soccer team
battled against the Czech Republic yesterday at the St Jakob-Park stadium in Basel, Switzerland.
The Czech Republic ended up winning the game 1-0 after Vaclav Sverkos scored for the team. Three
times Swiss captain, Alexander Frei, was close to scoring in the first [.
click to enlarge image The loyal fans of the national soccer team for Switzerland showed love for
their team prior to the 2008 European Football Championship Group A match against the Czech
Republic, which held place in Basel, Switzerland today. Soccer fans are the best when it comes to
going all out and getting behind [.
Above (from left to right): Marcell Jansen, Tim Borowski, Kevin Kuranyi, Miroslav Klose, Heiko
Westermann and Simon Rolfes The National German soccer team were photographed during their training
session in Klagenfurt, Austria today. The German team will be facing off against Poland in their
first Euro 2008 Group B match in Austria tomorrow.
Spain defeated Italy 4-2 in penalty kicks after a stale mate went into overtime. Both Spain and
Italy worked their best to clench the chance at being Euro 2008's Group D winner. In this action
shot Simone Perrotta of Italy finds his way through Marcos Senna of Spain. Read more at the
International Herald Tribune.
