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

Austria’s Ivica Vastic logged in European Championship record books

During the match played by Austria and Poland, Austria’s Ivica Vastic became the oldest goalscorer in the history of the European Championship when he converted from the spot in injury time. According to Infostrada Sports, at 38 years and 257 days, he is more than four years older than the previous record holder Nené (POR).

Austria and Poland tied 1-1 and next monday they must win to reach the quarterfinals.

Oldest goalscorers - European Championship history

Age (y-d)
38 years, 257 days Ivica Vastic (Austria) 12 Jun 2008 Austria - Poland 1-1
34-213 Nené (Portugal) 20 Jun 1984 Portugal - Romania 1-0
34-205 Laurent Blanc (France) 11 Jun 2000 France - Denmark 3-0
34-92 Ladislav Pavlovic (Czechoslovakia) 9 Jul 1960 France - Czechoslovakia 0-2
33-268 Ally McCoist (Scotland) 18 Jun 1996 Scotland - Switzerland 1-0

Lukas Podolski twice; Germany beats Poland

Due to Lukas Podolski goals; Germany beat Poland 2-0 at the Worthersee Stadion, Klagenfurt.

Polish-born Podolski put Germany 1-0 when he made good use of Miroslav Klose's pass after 20 minutes. 18 minutes before the end of the match and when Poland was trying to draw, Podolski scored again.

23 year-old Podolski has scored 29 goals with the Germany National Team t-shirt. It was the first German victory in the competition since 1996 final.

Yes, good victory... But when Germany was 2-0 we thought that it was Marko Marin time.

The Lineups:
Germany: Lehmann; Lahm, Mertesacker, Metzelder, Jansen; Fritz (55. Schweinsteiger), Ballack, Frings, Podolski; Klose (91. Kuranyi), Gomez (75. Hitzlsperger).

Poland: Boruc; Wasilewski, Zewlakow, Bak, Golanski (75. Saganowski); Lobodzinski (65. Piszczek), Lewandowski, Dudka, Krzynowek; Smolarek, Zurawski (46. Guerreiro).

The Goals: 20 and 72 min; Podolski.

Yellow Cards: Smolarek, Lewandowski (POL); Schweinsteiger (GER)

Poor results designed by Poland, Greece and Sweden

On Sunday, worrisome performances showed three of the teams that will be at EURO 2008. Beyond the comfortable victory of the Netherlands, they were not good news about Poland, Greece and Sweden, six days to begin the competition.

In Chorzov, Poland only could tie in a goal against Denmark. Martin Vingaard put in advantage the Danish whereas Jacek Krzynowek put the match 1-1. Maciej Zurawski had missed a penalty kick when Denmark still was winning.

Lineups:
Poland: Boruc, Wasilewski, Jop, Bąk, Wawrzyniak (Golanski 46), Zahorski (Lobodzinski 46), Dudka, Lewandowski, Krzynowek (Gargula 78), Smolarek (Saganowski 77), Żurawski (Guerreiro 46).

Denmark: Thomas Sorensen, Jacobsen, Christensen, Kroldrup, Jorgensen (Rasmusen 46), Rommedahl, Retov (Kristensen 64), Poulsen (Augustinussen 78), Nordstrand (Perez 46), Vingaard (Kvist 68), Bendtner (Dennis Sorensen 90).

Greece did not have a good night either. In Offenbach, Greeks only could tie with Armenia 0-0.

Greece: Nikopolidis, Seitaridis, Kyrgiakos, Dellas (Antzas 46), Spiropoulos (Torosidis 46), Basinas, Katsouranis, Karagounis (Patsatzoglou 46), Charisteas, Salpingidis (Gekas 46), Amanatidis (Samaras 46).

Armenia: Kasparov, Hovsepyan, Arzumanyan, Arakelyan, Voskanian, Hamlet Mkhitaryan (A Minasyan 65), Ghazaryan (Melkonyan 60), Piseli (Hakobyan 54), Pachajyan, Mkrtchyan, Tadevosyan.

But it was Sweden who worse experience realized. A goal of Sergiy Nazarenko lacking seven minutes gave the victory to the Ukraine that didn’t include Andriy Shevchenko in Stockholm.

Sweden: Isaksson (Shaaban 46), Nilsson, Hansson, Mellberg, Alexandersson (Stoor 72), Wilhelmsson, Linderoth (Svensson 56), Kallstrom, Sebastian Larsson (Ljungberg 46), Henrik Larsson, Ibrahimovic (Elmander 56 (Allbäck 76)).

Ukraine: Pyatov, Shevchuk, Rusol (Chygrynskiy 46), Kucher, Yarmash, Nazarenko, Levchenko (Mandzyuk 46), Kravchenko, Gai, Gomenyuk (Gladkiy 66), Seleznev.

Thus, just at the moment that the squads look for confidence, three of them had left a question mark few hours to begin EURO 2008.

Early goal of Maciej Zurawski allowed Poland victory

The last match played on Tuesday with at least a team that will be part of the EURO 2008, happened in Reutlingen, Germany between Poland and Albania. Maciej Zurawski scored the single goal in the third minute of the match.

Poland coach Leo Bennhacker tested vs. Albania (76th in FIFA Ranking) the habitual team contrasting the match played against Macedonia the night before.

Lineups:
Poland: Lukasz Fabianski, Marcin Wasilewski, Jacek Bak, Michal Zewlakow (Adam Kokoszka, 9), Jakub Wawrzyniak, Wojciech Lobodzinski (Marek Saganowski, 81), Dariusz Dudka (Michal Pazdan, 81), Mariusz Lewandowski, Jacek Krzynowek (Rafal Murawski, 81), Roger Guerreiro (Euzebiusz Smolarek, 46), Maciej Zurawski (Tomasz Zahorski, 61).

Albania: Isli Hidi, Andi Lila (Endrit Vrapi, 46), Armend Dallku, Debatik Curri, Kristi Vangjeli, Klodian Duro (Edmond Kapllani, 46), Ervin Skela, Altin Lala (Ervin Bulku, 71), Lorik Cana, Hamdi Salihi (Dorian Bylykbashi, 80), Erijon Bogdani (Jahmir Hyka, 46).

Radoslaw Matusiak penalty kick saved Poland of an historical defeat... And Georgiev wasn’t there!

In Reutlingen, Germany, Poland only drew against Macedonia 1-1. Coached by Srecko Katanec, Macedonia put itself in advantage when Goran Maznov scored in the 45th minute. At the end, lacking seven minutes, Radoslaw Matusiak turned a penalty kick in a goal to finish the match even.

Macedonia FYR, all known as The Red Lions or The Red-Yellows, is 56th in FIFA ranking but they have defeated Croatia last year during EURO 2008 qualifying. In 2006 they drew in Manchester against England, two points that the British suffered when they were out of the main important tournament in the continent.

The new star, seventeen year-old Dragan Georgiev, pretended by Manchester City, wasn’t part of Macedonian Team.

Tomorrow the Polish players will have another opportunity to convince the coach Leo Beenhakker. They will play another match against Albania in Reutlingen and then will take on Denmark next sunday, before leaving for Euro 2008, where they will play Germany, co-host Austria and Croatia in Group B.

Lineups:
Poland: Tomasz Kuszczak, Pawel Golanski, Adam Kokoszka, Mariusz Jop, Grzegorz Bronowicki (Jakub Wawrzyniak, 46), Radoslaw Majewski (Marek Saganowski, 59), Rafal Murawski, Mariusz Lewandowski (Dariusz Dudka, 46), Tomasz Zahorski, Lukasz Gargula (Michal Pazdan, 87), Radoslaw Matusiak.

Macedonia: Petar Milosevski, Goce Sedloski, Igor Mitreski, Vlade Lazarevski (Aleksandar Vasoski, 46), Goran Popov (Robert Petrov, 61), Nikolce Noveski (Slavco Georgievski, 46), Vlatko Grozdanovski, Darko Tasevski (Artim Polozani, 46), Vanco Trajanov (Stevica Ristic, 69) Goran Maznov (Ilco Naumoski, 46), Goran Pandev (Aco Stojkov, 61).

Eduardo da Silva: Croatia miss you

Eduardo Alves da Silva has played single 22 international matches with the Croatia national team. Nevertheless that reached for score 13 goals, 10 goals during the EURO qualifying, which sanctified him in an idol of the Croatian fans.

Nevertheless, an historical kick of Birmingham’s Martin Taylor playing for the Arsenal - that has paid 24 million Euros for him-; ruled out Eduardo of the EURO. For that reason Croatia, which will debut versus Austria, will need to replace him to be fine in a Group B that complete Germany and Poland. Niko Kovac, Mladen Petric and Ivica Olic are some of the key players in the team coached by Slaven Bilis.

In 1996 The Blazers reached EURO quarterfinals with players who, then, was third in 1998 WORLD CUP, always with Davor Suker as the main star. Now, Croatia will go for the quarterfinals after be unsuccessful four years ago. They must demonstrate that the English elimination in Wembley wasn’t casual. In spite of Eduardo absense…

Ebi Smolarek: The Polish Joy

Euzebiusz Smolarek was born in the Polish winter of 1981 in Lodz. His father, Wlodzimierz Smolarek, called him Euzebiusz in honor of Eusebio da Silva. I don’t know if he will be like the Mozambican footballer but I am sure that the Polish want it.

In spite of to have undergone a sanction by doping, with Feyenoord Smolarek won the UEFA CUP which attracts it the Bundesliga. And with Borussia Dortmund he made 25 goals in two seasons and a half.

But the most important moment in his career was his campaign in the EURO 2008 Qualifying. Smolarek made the 37th hattrick in the Polish history and the Red Cross won The Group followed by Portugal. Nine of 28 polish goals were made by Ebi.

In his last Qualy match, Poland drawn 2-2 in Serbia, which gives the passport to the EURO at first time in the history. Smolarek was one of the top scorers only behind David Healy and, until today, he made 13 goals in only 28 matches with the national team (0.46 per game!).

Today his great moment reflects in Spain: last Sunday "The Hash Bomber" scored in La Liga against Recreativo allowing Racing de Santander to dream with the 2008-2009 Champions League.

Let’s see if the best polish player in the 21st century can make history in the EURO too.