EURO 2012
June 27, 2012
The first semifinal of EURO 2012 saw a match between Italy and Portugal before more than sixty-three thousand fans at NSC Olympiyskyi in Kiev.
Italy would be missing two key players, as both Claudio Marchisio and Mario Balotelli would miss the match through injury. Gli Azzurri would feature Giuseppe Rossi and Alberto Gilardino up front, while Chelsea’s Daniele De Rossi (although rumors surround his impending departure from the club) and AC Milan’s Andrea Pirlo would look to provide midfield support along with Italy’s best player in the tournament so far, Domenico Criscito. Defensively, they are probably the stronger side physically, with the imposing presence of Giorgio Chiellini organizing the defense in front of Gianluigi Buffon’s goal.
Portugal has been one of the stories of the tournament so far, scoring eight (second best in the tournament behind Russia) and allowing only one. The presence of Cristiano Ronaldo, as always, offers an interesting tactical challenge: how do you structure a team when your best player sits on the wing? In this game, Carlos Queiroz will look to Raúl Meireles and João Moutinho to provide the service for Ronaldo on one side and Simão on the other, with Werder Bremen’s Hugo Almeida serving as a physical force up front. Simão and Almeida have two goals each, with Danny also providing two in Portugal’s matches so far. Even Portugal’s defense—quite effective so far—is aimed at offense, with Miguel Veloso and José Boswinga on the wings looking to press forward.
The game itself was very, very tight: Buffon was the early star, turning away a long curling drive from Ronaldo and an awkward chip from Bruno Alves that looked destined for the far corner. But Italy came back into the match towards the end of the first half with Gilardino and Davide Santon both demanding smart saves from Rui Patrício.
The second half was an inverted image of the first: Italy dominant to start, with Portugal coming back into the game as the ninety minutes wound down.
Portugal had perhaps the best chance of the game when Ronaldo spun around Veloso and set Almeida free with a pinpoint pass, but the tall striker was unable to keep his shot down, blazing it well over Buffon’s bar.
When Massimo Busacca blew the whistle marking the end of regulation, both teams had already made their final substitutions, although not all twenty-two of them would see the end of the game.
Immediately after the restart, De Rossi let loose a thunderous drive from twenty-five yards that Patricio was just barely able to tip over the bar. It would prove De Rossi’s final meaningful touch on the ball: ten minutes later, he was shown a second yellow card for a shove in pursuit of Moutinho, putting his side down to ten men.
Five minutes on, Miereles slid a pass from the top of the box on a diagonal for Danny, who found space between Marco Motta and Chiellini and, as much of the Italian team screamed for offsides, slotted the ball home past Buffon at the near post.
The Italians may have had an argument, but the goal would stand. Portugal tried to give the game back or, at least, Alves did, picking up two silly yellow cards in three minutes to even the sides at ten men each. But Italy would be held at bay, and Portugal were through to the final!
EURO Championship Semifinal
Italy v Portugal, NSC Olympiyskyi
Italy 0 – Portugal 1 (Danny 116)
MoM: Raúl Meireles (7.8) Italy’s Best: Davide Santon (7.1)
Attendance: 63,647. Referee: Massimo Busacca.
June 28, 2012
Portugal’s opponent in the final would be determined today in Warsaw, where Russia and surprise side Turkey would meet in the other semifinal. The Russians would have to be considered the favorites, but Turkey had to date found a way to do just enough in each of their matches.
Russia has been paced by Andrey Arshavin, who had stumbled into one of his runs of form at just the right time. However, he tore his calf muscle in the last game, and is done for the next few months. Denis Kolodin and Vasily Berezutskiy have two goals each, but the keys to the game will be Roman Pavlyuchenko’s ability to pick up the slack up front and Everton’s Igor Akinfeev in goal.
Turkey—a surprising 1-0 winner over Germany in the quarters behind Mevlüt Erdinç’s strike from the edge of the area—has been led by a staunch defense, anchored by Volkan Demirel in goal and Hakan Balta and Eren Güngör on the back line. They tied all three games in the group round, and emerged victorious when Spain stumbled so badly.
Five minutes in, CSKA Moscow’s veteran defender Sergey Ignashevich, who won his eightieth cap on the day, is forced off with a hamstring injury, replaced by Rangers’ Alexey Berezutskiy. Russia’s defense wouldn’t suffer as a result, but losing the flexibility of a third substitute could limit Stanislav Cherchesov’s options later on.
Without Arshavin, however, Russia looks to lack creativity in their attack, with neither Pavel Mamaev or Dinijar Bilyaletdinov ale to break Turkey down. Still, Turkey was looking happy to play a defensive game, with neither Paris Saint-Germaine’s Erdinç nor Tuncay Sanli seeing much of the ball.
Combined, that led to a scoreless first half.
Just after the restart, Pavlyuchenko scored on a neatly taken header from just outside the six yard box, but was—quite correctly—flagged for offsides. On the resulting kick, Demirel launched a ball deep into the Russian box where Sanli was able to chest the ball down, position himself perfectly for the volley, and slam it home from nineteen yards past a stunned Akinfeev.
With that, the game turned on its head: a defensively minded Turkey had seized the lead, and Russia had to commit more men forward in search of an equalizer.
Twelve minutes later, Pavlyuchenko was again involved, this time spinning around Balta to score on a corner kick, tying the score.
It was a game that screamed of penalty kicks, especially when the surprisingly ineffective Arda Turan was withdrawn in favor of Gökdeniz Karadeniz.
Ten minutes from time, however, a horrid series of mistakes would prove decisive: a shot from distance from Georgy Schennikov was deflected of Balta’s head, spinning high in the air before heading down towards where Karadeniz waited to clear the ball. He misanticipated the spin and it turned away from him towards the endline. Pavlyuchenko was the first on the ball and, from what really should have been an impossible angle, was able to spin the ball along the line and into the net.
The final for EURO2012 was set: Russia would meet Portugal on the first of July.
EURO Championship Semifinal
Russia v Turkey, Stadion Narodowy
Russia 2 (Roman Pavlyuchenko 59 80) – Turkey 1 (Tuncay Sanli 49)
MoM: Pavlyuchenko (8.9) Turkish Best: Sanli (6.8)
Attendance: 55,106. Referee: Michael Kempter.
MKNN 