Denmark stuns the Netherlands 1-0

By Money Mike


In the third match of EURO 2012, it was Netherlands and Denmark kicking off group play in Group B and most people would expect the Netherlands to pick up an easy win. Instead, the Oranje failed to finish their chances and they end up losing. On Saturday, Denmark pulled off an upset win as they held on and defeated the Netherlands 1-0. The Dutch, who were one of the favorites of making it out of the group of death, now find themselves on the brink of elimination with Germany on Wednesday and Portugal on Sunday.

The first opportunity of the match came from Denmark just a minute into the match off a set play. Simon Poulsen came up from his left back position to take the free kick and curled it in toward the near post for a header by Daniel Agger, but there wasn't enough pace on it and Maarten Stekelenburg got down on pounced on the ball for the first save of the match.

In the seventh minute, the Dutch had a chance that they probably should've converted. Arjen Robben, who remember was the man who missed a penalty kick in Extra Time for Bayern Munich in the Champions League final, made a great run around Lars Jacobsen toward the endline and looked to slide the ball across and the ball bounced off the heel of Simon Kjaer right to Robin van Persie from point blank range, but he missed wide and rarely do we see that from him, especially after a year in which he scored 30 goals for Arsenal and won the Premier League golden boot.

The Dutch continued to wear down the backline, but it wasn't enough for them to find the net and in the 24th minute the Dutch failed to clear the ball out of their own area which lead to an opening goal by Denmark. Simon Poulsen made a good run before trying to get the cross in which was blocked by Gregory van der Wiel, but Michael Krohn-Dehli stepped in after a defensive miscue. Krohn-Dehli stepped passed John Heitinga and fired his shot low through the legs of Maarten Stekelenburg and into the net to give Denmark a 1-0 lead.

In the 29th minute, the Dutch had a chance to pull level off the corner kick. Arjen Robben curled the ball in toward the near post and it looked like Ron Vlaar was going to get to it, but it was just out of his reach. Vlaar actually ended up colliding with his teammate Ibrahim Afellay and it was Afellay who got the worst of that as he was the one who stayed down on the ground.

In the 39th minute, Nigel de Jong fed the ball to Ibrahim Afellay who had room to run. Afellay turned away from Daniel Agger with some trickery and ripped a shot to the far post, but it was over the bar.

In the second half, the Dutch looked to spark their attack by bringing on Rafael van der Vaart and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, but still there was nothing to show for. In the 72nd minute, van der Vaart looked to level the match at one from long distance, but he skied his shot well over the top. Two minutes later, Wesley Sneijder threaded the ball through to Klaas-Jan Huntelaar who had only the keeper to beat but he shot it right at Stephan Andersen. The last opportunity came in stoppage time from Robin van Persie to flicked the ball over the bar. That summed it up for the Netherlands as they finished with 28 shots and out of the 28, none of them found the back of the net and Denmark to only had eight attempts were able to hang on and upset the Netherlands 1-0.


Scoring summary:

Denmark - Michael Krohn-Dehli 1 (unassisted) 24'


Misconduct summary:

Netherlands - Mark van Bommel (caution; foul) 67'

Denmark - Simon Paulsen (caution; time wasting) 78'

Denmark - William Kvist (caution; dissent) 81'


Lineups:

Denmark - Stephan Andersen; Lars Jacobsen, Simon Kjaer, Daniel Agger, Simon Poulsen; William Kvist, Christian Eriksen (Lasse Schone 74'), Niki Zimling; Dennis Rommedahl (Tobias Mikkelsen 84'), Nicklas Bendtner, Michael Krohn-Dehli

Netherlands - Maarten Stekelenburg; Gregory van der Wiel (Dirk Kuyt 85'), John Heitinga, Ron Vlaar, Jetro Willems; Mark van Bommel, Wesley Sneijder, Nigel de Jong (Rafael van der Vaart 71'); Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie, Ibrahim Afellay (Klaas-Jan Huntelaar 71')

Russia gets past Czech Republic

By Money Mike


The Czech Republic's first match of EURO 2012 didn't go the way they would've wanted. On Friday the Czechs ended up on the bottom end of their match against Russia, losing 4-1. After finding themselves 2-0, it looked like the momentum shifted their way when they pulled a goal back in the 52nd minute, but late in the match, the Russians answered with two late goals to put this match out of reach.

Not much action early on in the first 10 minutes of the match, but in the 15th minute, it's Russia who strike first. Alen Dzagoev found Konstantin Zyryanov streaking down the right side. Zyryanov chipped the ball to the far post for a wide open Alexandr Kerzhakov who looked to direct his header across and the ball bounced off the post, but Dzagoev was there to slam home the rebound and Russia took a 1-0 lead a quarter of an hour into the match.

Four minutes later, Dzagoev had a chance to double Russia's lead. Dzagoev was found by Kerzhakov streaking down the right with loads of space, however he tried to take the shot first time and the ball drifted away from goal.

In the 24th minute, Russia would double their lead. Andrei Arshavin threaded the ball through and just out of the reach of Alexandr Kerzhakav, but Roman Shirokov was right there to chip the ball over Petr Cech and into the back of the net to give the Russian's a 2-0 lead and so far, all the momentum was in their favor.

In the 51st minute, Czech Republic would pull one back and cut the lead to 2-1. Jaroslav Plasil played the ball through to Vaclav Pilar who dribbled around Vyacheslav Malafeev and slotted the ball into and empty net. It looked like at that moment the tide began to turn and the Czechs were playing a little more aggressive for the next few minutes.

In the 79th however, the Russians added a third goal. Six minutes after coming on, Roman Pavyuchenko played the ball through to Alan Dzagoev who powered his shot past Petr Cech for his second goal of the match to extend Russia's lead to 3-1. Three minutes later, Pavyuchenko would add to their lead as he cut to his right foot, dribbled around Theodor Gebre Selassie and smashed it past Petr Cech to put the icing on the cake as Russia walked away with a 4-1 win to kick of their European tournament campaign.

Scoring summary:

Russia - Alan Dzagoev 1 (unassisted) 15'

Russia - Roman Shirokov 1 (Andrei Arshavin 1) 24'

Czech Republic - Vaclav Pilar 1 (Jaroslav Plasil 1) 52'

Russia - Alan Dzagoev 2 (Roman Pavlyuchenko 1) 79'

Russie - Roman Pavlyuchenko 1 (Andrei Arshavin 2) 82'


Misconduct summary:

NONE


Lineups:

Czech Republic - Petr Cech; Theodor Gebre Selassie, Roman Hubnik, Tomas Sivok, Michal Kadlec; Jaroslav Plasil, Tomas Rosicky, Petr Jiracek (Milan Petrzela 76'); Jan Rezek (Tomas Hubschman 46'), Milan Baros (David Lafata 85'), Vaclav Pilar

Russia - Vyacheslav Malafeev; Alexander Anyukov, Alexei Berezutsky, Sergei Ignashevich, Yuri Zhirkov; Roman Shirokov, Igor Denisov, Konstantin Zyryanov; Alan Dzagoev (Aleksandr Kokorin 84'), Aleksandr Kerzhakov (Roman Pavlyuchenko 73'), Andrei Arshavin

EURO 2012 kicks off with co-hosts Poland finishing all square with Greece, 1-1

By Money Mike


Well EURO 2012 kicked off today, but not the way anybody would've thought or hoped. The first match of the tournament was full of drama. Two red cards were handed out, a missed penalty and a lot of controversy in the first half for Greece. In the end co-hosts Poland and Greece each walked away with a point after a 1-1 draw in front of a crowd of 56,070 at the new National Stadium in Warsaw, Poland. As of right now both teams will be happy that they came away with a point, but at the same time this draw could come back to haunt both teams. Too me, the first group stage match is always important.

In the 5th minute, Poland had a couple of big opportunities. Lukasz Piszczek made an overlapping run and was fed by Eugen Polanski. Piszczek than made a cut around Jose Holebas and slid the ball across toward the near post for Robert Lewandowski who poked it back to his teammate for a shot that was blocked. The ball bounced to Rafal Murawski who tried a dipping shot over the keeper from just outside the box, but goalkeeper Kostas Chalkias did enough to tip the ball over the bar. I don't know who took the initial shot that was blocked. I couldn't get the number, but I think it may have been Maciej Rybus.

Poland continued to pour pressure on the Greek defense and in the 12th minute, they put together another opportunity. Except for the fact that this one didn't have much of a chance of going in. Jakub Blaszczykowski fed Rafal Murawski as he pulled wide around Holebas who had his work cut out for him early in this match. Murawski slid the ball across toward the near post and this is where the chance went begging. Blaszczykowski looked to hit it first time and from his angle, I don't think it had a chance of going in. I think he had plenty of time to settle and hit one low into the far post, instead he opened himself up for a first time shot and the ball sailed well over the top.

In the 17th minute, Poland found the breakthrough and drew first blood in EURO 2012. After the Greeks failed to clear the ball out of their area, Poland were on the break and they would capitalize as Ludovic Obraniak fed the ball out wide to Blaszczykowski who whipped in a very good cross to the far post for Robert Lewandowski who opens the scoring with a snap down header to give Poland a well deserved 1-0 lead in the opening match of EURO 2012. Poland were the better side in the first half and they showed that right there with a goal from the 23-year old Lewandowski, who could be on his way to Manchester United this summer.

In the 35th minute, there was some controversy here. Sokratis Papastathopoulos apparently got up well and won the header cleanly over Robert Lewandowski, but the referee ruled that to be illegal and he gave the yellow card to Papastathopoulos. Comeon, we had enough crappy referees in the last World Cup and we have crappy referees in Major League Soccer and so far I've tracked down one crappy ref so far in EURO 2012.

Another bad decision in the 44th minute proves my point. Rafal Murawski turned on Papastathopoulos before losing his footing, but the referee called it a foul and he issued a second yellow to Papastathopoulos which means he's sent off. I gotta tell you, that was a flat out absolute disgrace because one, Murawski was already going down and two, there was hardly any contact. Bad call. And here's a fun fact, this referee officiated 19 Spanish La Liga matches last season and shown 16 red cards. That's right, 16.

Six minutes into the second half, despite being down a man the Greek's fought back and tied it up at one. Fanis Gekas got on the end of a cross to the near post, but his header was blocked. However, getting on the end of the loose ball was the substitude Dimitris Salpingidis to slot into the empty net to put 10 men Greece back on level terms.

The equalizer from Greece in the 51st minute really took a lot of steam out of Poland and in the 69th minute, they would be reduced to 10 men and this decision was obviously correct. Just seconds after coming on, 19 year old Kostas Fortounis chipped the ball into the box for Salpingidis who had only the keeper to beat and just as he was about to make a cut around the keeper, Wojciech Szczesny tripped him up in the area and the referee wasted no time giving the penalty and a red card to the Arsenal goalkeeper and Szczesny knew it as he tripped Salpingidis. Probably one of few decisions the referee got right. It was a clear breakaway opportunity for Greece, the goalkeeper commited a foul, red card. Easy decision. In order for Poland to bring on their backup goalkeeper Przemyslaw Tyton, they had to surrender one of their outfield players and they decided to take out Maciej Rybus.

So at this stage, you thought the backup didn't stand a chance at stopping this penalty. EH EH!! WRONG!! Tyton is very good in these situations and he read perfectly where Giorgos Karagounis was going and he denied him from converting the penalty and he kept the match level at a goal a piece. There wasn't much action since then and both teams finished level at 1-1. I mean, this was only the first match of EURO 2012 and already there's was a lot of drama in this match. The bottomline is, you never know what you're going to get in the European tournament. There's been a lot of surprises over the years.


Scoring summary:

Poland - Robert Lewandowski 1 (Jakub Blaszczykowski 1) 17'

Greece - Dimitris Salpingidis 1 (unassisted) 51'


Misconduct summary:

Greece - Sokratis Papastathopoulos (caution; foul) 35'

Greece - Sokratis Papastathopoulos (caution; foul) 44'

Greece - Sokratis Papastathopoulos (ejection; second yellow) 44'

Greece - Jose Holebas (caution; dissent) 47'+

Greece - Giorgos Karagounis (caution; handball) 54'

Poland - Wojciech Szczesny (ejection; denied clear goalscoring opportunity (foul)) 69'


Lineups:

Greece - Kostas Chalkias; Vassilis Torossidis, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Avraam Papadopoulos (Kyriakos Papadopoulos 37'), Jose Holebas; Giannis Maniatis, Kostas Katsouranis, Giorgos Karagounis; Sotiris Ninis (Dimitris Salpingidis 46'), Fanis Gekas (Kostas Fortounis 68'), Giorgos Samaras

Poland - Wojciech Szczesny; Lukasz Piszczek, Marcin Wasilewski, Damien Perquis, Sebastian Boenisch; Jakub Blaszczykowski, Rafal Murawski, Eugen Polanski, Maciej Rybus (Przemyslaw Tyton 70'); Ludovic Obraniak, Robert Lewandowski