Goal! Weekly Article 21: EURO 2008

LATE DRAMA CONTINUES IN EUROS
By Julius Ross

The early morning starts continued for many Australians around the country, but those who sacrificed sleep were thoroughly rewarded by scintillating performances in the second week of European Championship action.

The week commenced in sensational style, with an historic late comeback from Turkey who dumped the Czech Republic out of the tournament after trailing 2-0 in the early hours of Monday morning.

Two dramatic goals from Nihat Kahveci secured a 3-2 victory and brought Turkish delight to Fatih Terim’s side whilst the Czechs were bundled out of the competition in remarkable fashion.

In the other Group A fixture, Hakin Yakin finally gave the co-hosts something to cheer about as his two goals gave Switzerland victory over an already qualified, second-string Portuguese side.

Although the victory was not enough to lift the side off the bottom of the Group A table, it enabled Switzerland to re-gain some pride and finish on a high note as the curtain came down on their campaign.

Tuesday witnessed an equally courageous effort from the other tournament co-host Austria in Vienna, but the home side were unable to overcome the powerful force of Germany, who progressed in a hard-fought 1-0 victory, courtesy of captain Michael Ballack’s thunderbolt free-kick.

Pre-match hype revolved around Austria’s slim chances of overcoming their neighbours to capture the remaining qualifying position in Group B, but there was no repeat of their 1986 defeat of West Germany as the home side lacked the cutting edge up front.

Group B winners Croatia rested players for their imminent quarter-final appearance, but still proved too strong for a disappointing Polish side which failed to impose itself in the tournament.

The Croats finished on maximum points thanks to an Ivan Klasnic goal which secured the 1-0 victory over the Polish to send Slaven Bilics side into the quarter-finals.

Marco Van Basten’s Netherlands had taken Group C by storm after convincing wins over world champions Italy and European heavyweights France, and finished their group stage in similar fashion on Wednesday morning with a 2-0 victory over a plucky Romania.

Robin van Persie and Klass-Jan Huntelaar grabbed the vital goals, to send the Oranje into the quarters in sensational form.

Italy secured the remaining qualifying spot in Group C, taking advantage of Romania’s loss to the Dutch and did the job against France, dispatching Raymond Domenech’s men 2-0 with a penalty from Andrea Pirlo and a deflected Daniele De Rossi free-kick.

The current world champions have struggled to impose themselves on the tournament thus far, but Roberto Donadoni’s side inflicted another painful defeat on France, the side they defeated to lift the 2006 World Cup.

Italy will miss key players Pirlo and Gennaro Gattuso who picked up their second yellow card of the tournament, leaving the Italian midfield weakened for their difficult encounter with the Spanish on Monday morning.

Spain meanwhile rested a host of players in readiness for the knock-out encounter with Italy, but their second-string stars managed to condemn Championship holders Greece, who ended their tournament on a bitterly disappointing note.

Ruben de la Red and Daniel Guiza scored their first international goals in the absence of Spanish spearheads Fernando Torres and David Villa, whilst Greece’s first goal of the tournament by Angelos Charisteas was not enough to revive Grecian glory.

In final Group D action, ex-Socceroos manager Guus Hiddink worked his magic for newly adopted Russia as he guided his side to a first ever quarter-final appearance.

A clinical display by the Russians was topped by a sensational performance by man-of-the-match Andrei Arshavin, who was a stand-out in his nation’s 2-0 defeat of Sweden.

After a slow start to the tournament, Russia turned on the style in their final Group D match with two classy, well-worked and clinically finished goals

After the conclusion of the group stage, there was no rest period for either the players or the early-birds catching the action on their television screens in Australia, with the quarter-finals commencing in the early hours of Friday morning.

The first quarter-final saw Germany pitted against Portugal in an intriguing encounter.

With all eyes on Cristiano Ronaldo, Germany’s Bastian Schweinsteiger emerged as the match-winner, scoring one and setting up two more, as the 2006 World Cup hosts progressed to a first semi-final appearance in the European Championships since 1996.

Characteristically, well executed set pieces were Germany’s potent weapon, and Portugal’s weakness; Luiz Felipe Scolari’s men unlocked by two clinical headers by Michael Ballack and Miroslav Klose.

Portugal refused to lay down and die as they twice cut a two-goal deficit in half, but the 3-2 score line signalled the end to their title hopes.

The drama continued in the second quarter final, with Turkey building on their dramatic comeback against the Czech Republic earlier in the week to record a similar and equally dramatic come-from-behind victory against Croatia.

With both sides locked at 0-0, extra time failed to produce a winner, but produced an extraordinary display of last-gasp high-drama.

Croatia took the lead with a minute to spare in extra-time, but Turkey managed to grab a late, late equalizer to send the game to penalties, where Rustu Recber was the saviour, the Turks winning 3-1 in the shoot-out to set up a semi-final with Germany.

Guus Hiddink continued Russia’s underdog tilt at the European Championship title as the knocked out tournament favourites Holland 3-1 after extra time.

Player of the week Andrei Arshavin was again the man of the match, and he, along with Dmitri Torbinski struck the vital goals in the last eight minutes of extra time to eliminate Hiddink’s nation of birth.

As we head into the final week of European Championship action, tired Australians will be hoping for more dramatic action to fulfil their early morning starts, as the tournament heads toward its climax.