Netherlands – Russia… or Holland vs Hiddink

The Netherlands take on Russia in the quarterfinals of Euro 2008. Russia is coached by Dutchman recordman Guus Hiddink.

This will be the seventh time that the Netherlands have faced a country coached by a Dutch trainer; and pay attention: The Netherlands have never lost in those encounters, compiling a 5-1-0 record.

According to Infostrada Sports, the only draw was in 2006 against Australia, who were then coached by Hiddink. In February 2007, Hiddink’s Russia lost 4-1 in a friendly against the Netherlands.

Netherlands against countries coached by Dutch trainers

Friendly 2 Jun 2007 South Korea (Pim Verbeek) – Netherlands 0-2
Friendly 7 Feb 2007 Netherlands - Russia 4-1 (Guus Hiddink)
Friendly 4 Jun 2006 Netherlands - Australia 1-1 (Guus Hiddink)
FIFA World Cup qualifier 3 Sep 2005 Armenia (Henk Wisman) - Netherlands 0-1
FIFA World Cup qualifier 5 Sep 2001 Netherlands (Arno Pijpers) - Estonia 5-0
FIFA World Cup qualifier 2 Jun 2001 Estonia (Arno Pijpers) - Netherlands 2-4

Nuno Gomes goals are part of the books

Nuno Gomes scored Portugal’s first goal in the quarterfinal against Germany (2-3), making him the fourth player to score in three different European Championships, equalling French Thierry Henry, German Jürgen Klinsmann and Czech Vladimir Šmicer.

Scoring in most European Championship tournaments

3 Thierry Henry FRA 2000 (3), 2004 (2), 2008 (1)

3 Nuno Gomes POR 2000 (4), 2004 (1), 2008 (1)

3 Jürgen Klinsmann GER 1988 (1), 1992 (1), 1996 (3)

3 Vladimir Šmicer CZE 1996 (1), 2000 (2), 2004 (1)

The Portuguese forward has now scored six European Championship goals. Only English Alan Shearer and French Michel Platini have scored more.

Top scorer European Championship – all-time

9 Michel Platini FRA

7 Alan Shearer ENG

6 Patrick Kluivert NED

6 Thierry Henry FRA

6 Nuno Gomes POR

5 Jürgen Klinsmann GER

5 Marco van Basten NED

5 Milan Baroš CZE

5 Ruud van Nistelrooy NED

5 Savo Milosevic YUG

5 Zinédine Zidane FRA

Nuno Gomes has scored 29 goals in 72 matches with the Portuguese National Team. He will be 32 years old on July 5 and would be part of the 2010 FIFA World Cup European Qualifiers.

Top Scorers in Portugal National Team

47 Pauleta (Paris St. Germain) 88 matches
41 Eusébio (Retired) 64 matches
32 Figo (Inter Milan FC) 127 matches
29 Nuno Gomes (SL Benfica) 72 matches
26 Rui Costa (Retired) 94 matches
23 João Vieira Pinto (SC Braga) 81 matches
22 Nené (Retired) 66 matches
21 Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United FC) 58 matches
15 Jordão (Retired) 43 matches
15 Peyroteo (Retired) 20 matches
15 Simão Sabrosa (Atletico Madrid) 64 matches
14 José Torres (Retired) 20 matches

Matches played in Portugal National Team

127 Figo (Inter Milan FC)
110 Fernando Couto (Parma FC)
94 Rui Costa (Retired)
88 Pauleta (Paris St. Germain)
81 João Vieira Pinto (SC Braga)
80 Vitor Baía (Retired)
79 Ricardo (Betis Sevilla)
72 Nuno Gomes (SL Benfica)
70 João Pinto (Retired)
66 Nené (Retired)

Cristiano Ronaldo will be operated and is sad; Bastian Schweinsteiger laughs

Two faces summarize the night at EURO 2008. Cristiano Ronaldo was playing a satisfactory EURO 2008 and Portugal was shining.

Bastian Schweinsteiger was suspended and Germany qualified at quarterfinals without playing well football.

Nevertheless, on Thursday everything has changed. Germany beat 3-2 Portugal. Schweinsteiger scored the first goal, and assisted in the second one.

While Deco was alone in the midfield, Cristiano Ronaldo almost never was part of the game. He confirmed that will be operated in a foot.

Here we have pictures from BILD and ABOLA newspapers that summarize the transcendental match.

Croatia - Turkey, Turkey - Croatia: have you got a favourite?

For the second quarterfinal match, Croatia seems to be the favourite. They won all matches at Group B, included the second one against Germany, the first semifinalist... All the previous stats between this teams are saying that Croatia is the favourite.

But Turkey won two matches, both when they were down in the scoring. Just remember Czech Republic… Can be the first win for the Turkish team vs. Croatia in this history that has started 12 years ago?

Turkey vs Croatia head to head :

Euro 11.6.1996 Nottingham: Turkey - Croatia 0:1
Kirin Cup 12.6.1997 Sendai: Croatia - Turkey 1:1
Friendly 31.3.2004 Zagreb: Croatia - Turkey 2:2

Germany vs Portugal: could the history be so important?

Cristiano Ronaldo and his partners are part of one of the best teams at EURO 2008. The Mannschaft is not playing very well and beat Austria only 1-0 to reach quarterfinals. But the stats say that Germany and Portugal have played 15 matches. Germany won seven games, while Portugal only won three. They drew five times.

Here we have all the official matches:

World Cup 08.07.2006 Stuttgart: Germany - Portugal 3:1
Euro 20.06.2000 Rotterdam: Portugal - Germany 3:0
WC Q 06.09.1997 Berlin: Germany - Portugal 1:1
WC Q 14.12.1996 Lisbon: Portugal - Germany 0:0
21.02.1996 Porto: Portugal - Germany 1:2
29.08.1990 Lisbon: Portugal - Germany 1:1
WC Q 16.10.1985 Stuttgart: Germany - Portugal 0:1
WC Q 24.02.1985 Lisbon: Portugal - Germany 1:2
Euro 14.06.1984 Strassburgo Germany - Portugal 0:0
23.02.1983 Lisbon Portugal - Germany 1:0
17.02.1982 Hannover Germany - Portugal 3:1
27.04.1960 Ludwigshafen Germany - Portugal 2:1
19.12.1954 Lisbon Portugal - Germany 0:3
24.04.1938 Frankfurt Germany - Portugal 1:1
27.02.1936 Lisbon Portugal - Germany 1:3

Russia vs Netherlands: last quarterfinal confirmed

At Stadion Tivoli NEU, Innsbruck, Russia beat Sweden 2-0 and it is the last team that qualified at quarterfinals. Spartak Moscow´s Roman Pavlyuchenko in the 24th minute scored the first goal, while Zenit forward Andrei Arshavin closed the match scoring during the fifth minute of the second half.

The match left some tips:
* Guus Hiddick will face his country team at quarterfinals: Netherlands.
* It is the first time that Russia advances from the first round in a mayor tournament.
* It is the first time in last four important tournaments that Sweden can´t advance. They could reach playoffs during the World Cups 2002 and 2006 and EURO 2004.

In another meeting, Spain defeated Greece 2-1. De la Red and Guiza scored Spanish goals, while Charisteas had opened the match scoring. Greece campaign was the worst performance for a last EURO Champion.

Netherlands doesn´t have problems: they beat Romania 2-0

At Stade de Suisse Wankdorf, Berne; Holland defeated Romania 2-0. Klaas Han Huntelaar opened the game scoring while Robin van Persie scored the second and last goal of the match.

During the game Romania never was dangerous and Netherland demonstrated that it is one of the best teams at the EURO 2008.

Lineups:
Netherlands: Stekelenburg, Boulahrouz (Melchiot 58), Heitinga, Bouma, De Cler, De Zeeuw, Engelaar, Afellay, van Persie, Robben (Kuyt 62), Huntelaar (V of Hesselink 82).

Romania: Lobont, Contra, Tamas, Ghionea, Rat, Cocis, Codrea (Dica 72), Chivu, Nicolita (Nicolita 82), M Niculae (D Niculae 59), Mutu.

Goals: 54min. Klaas Han Huntelaar, 87 min. Robin van Persie.

Italy vs Spain: The Azzurri defeat France 2-0

With Roger Federer and Tony Parker presence at Letzigrund, Zurich, Italy beat France 2-0 and they qualified at quarterfinals. They will play against Spain next Sunday because Romania lost against Netherlands 2-0 too.

In the 23th minute Andrea Pirlo converted a penalty kick in a goal while french saw the red card. In the 62th minute, Daniele De Rossi scored the second goal.

In spite of Mutu missed a penalty kick against Italy, I think that The Azzurri was better team than Romania and France during this EURO.

Lineups:

Italy: Buffon, Zambrotta, Panucci, Chiellini, Grosso, Pirlo (Ambrossini 55), De Rossi, Gattuso (Aquilani 81), Toni, Perrotta (Camoranesi 64), Cassano.

France: Coupet, Clerc, Gallas, Abidal, Evra, Govou (Anelka 66), Toulalan, Makelele, Ribery (Nasri 10) (Boumsong 26), Benzema, Henry.

Goals: 25 min. Andrea Pirlo (penalty kick), 62 min. Daniele De Rossi.

Luca Toni vs Franck Ribery: the revenge

France and Italy will play an important meeting. Maybe the most important one at EURO 2008. They must win and wait a Netherlands victory or draw. If not, Romania will be the team who will be part of the quarterfinals, representing the “death group” in the final stage.

But before this match Ribery and Toni had been in front each other, in spite of they are Bayern Munich partners. Let´s see what happened in this You Tube video...

Michael Ballack goal confirmed Germany vs Portugal in quarterfinals

At Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Vienna, Ballack shot in the 4th minute of the second half gave the German victory 1-0 against Austria.

The match was rubbed, without many important attacks. It was a poor match, especially because Germany is not playing well at this EURO, although they have many important players in the squad.

In the other hand, at Worthersee Stadion, Klagenfurt, Croatia beat Poland 1-0 and it is the first team to earn nine points. Only Netherlands and Spain could reach it.

Austria vs. Germany; Poland vs. Croatia: debutants will decide their future

Euro 2008’s Group B will come to a conclusion with the Austria – Germany match outcome proving crucial to decide which nation will take on Portugal in the quarterfinals. An Austria victory will see the host nation or Poland progress at the expense of Germany, meaning that debutants will survive the Group phase for the first time since 1996. It is not imposible, but it is difficult.

Germany themselves were the last to lift the trophy on their debut (1972).

Progress by debutants at European Championship, according to Infostrada Sports

2004 Latvia 4th (of 4) in group
2000 Norway 3rd (of 4) in group
2000 Slovenia 4th (of 4) in group
1996 Croatia Quarterfinals
1996 Bulgaria 3rd (of 4) in group
1996 Turkey 4th (of 4) in group
1996 Switzerland 4th (of 4) in group
1992 Sweden Semifinals
1992 Scotland 3rd (of 4) in group
1988 Republic of Ireland 3rd (of 4) in group
1984 Portugal Semifinals
1984 Romania 4th (of 4) in group
1980 Greece 4th (of 4) in group
1976 Netherlands Third place
1972 Germany Winners
1972 Belgium Third place
1968 Italy Winners
1968 England Third place
1964 Spain Winners
1964 Hungary Third place
1964 Denmark Fourth place
1960 Russia Winners
1960 Yugoslavia Runners-up
1960 Czech Republic Third place
1960 France Fourth place

Turkey vs Croatia: Turkish surprised Czech Republic in an historical match of Nihat Kahveci

At Stade de Geneve, Geneva, Turkey defeated Czech Republic 3-2 in a really futbolistic feat and qualified at EURO 2008 quarterfinals.

Jan Koller scored in the 34th minute. Before this goal, Sionko was the most dangerous player, while Turkey never could attack.

In the second half Turkey must attack with more players, but Plasil scored and the match was a Czech party. By the way, Arda Turan and Nihat Kahveci, twice, provocated the Turkish glory.

Lineups:
Turkey: Demirel, Altintop, Gungor (Asik 65),Cetin, Balta, Topal (Kazim-Richards 57), Aurelio, Turan, Sanli, Nihat, Senturk (Sarioglu 46).

Czech Republic: Cech, Grygera, Ujfalusi, Rozehnal, Jankulovski, Sionko (Kadlec 80), Matejovsky (Jarolim 39), Galasek, Polak, Plasil (Vlcek 84), Koller.

Goals: 34 min. Koller, 62 min. Plasil (CZE) 75 min. Turan, 87 and 89 min. Nihat (TUR)

Turkey vs. Czech Republic. What a match!

Turkish and Czechs will decide who will be in quartefinals.

Take a look at the match preview to know if the players are thinking about the penalty kicks.