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Tuesday June 25, 2008
Dutch Roller Coaster Stopped Cold By Arshavin's Red Army
Germany 3 Portugal 2
Germany booked a place in the Euro 2008 semi-finals with an impressive 3-2 win over Portugal.
Bastian Schweinsteiger opened the scoring in the 22nd minute and the Portuguese were stunned when the Bayern Munich midfielder laid on a second for Miroslav Klose just four minutes later.
Portugal gave themselves hope four minutes before the break through Nuno Gomes. But Michael Ballack restored Germany's two-goal lead in the 61st minute from another Schweinsteiger free-kick, and although Portugal sub Helder Postiga pulled another one back for Portugal with three minutes left, Germany held on.
Croatia 1 Turkey 1
Turkey won 3-1 on penalties
Turkey set up a meeting with Germany after beating Croatia on penalties after a great finish in Vienna.
Croatia should have taken the lead in the first half when Ivica Olic hit the crossbar from close range and there were few other chances as the game finished 0-0 after 90 minutes.
With a minute to go in extra time, Modric beat Rustu to a loose ball and clipped in a cross which substitute Ivan Klasnic headed home as the Turkish keeper scrambled back.
But in stoppage-time, Rustu's huge punt downfield fell at the feet of Semih Senturk and he smashed into the top corner via a deflection.
Tottenham-bound Luka Modric missed the first penalty and, after Turkey converted all three of theirs, Mladen Petric's attempt was parried away by Rustu to book the semi-final date with Germany.
Russia's Dmitri Torbinskiy gets a foot to Arshavin's cross and scores his team's second goal of the game (INPHO)
Holland 1 Russia 3
Russia secured a 3-1 victory over Holland but it took extra-time to get there as Dmitri Torbinski and Andrei Arshavin netted after Roman Pavlyuchenko's opener had been cancelled out by Ruud van Nistelrooy's late diving header.
Guus Hiddink's side peppered Edwin van der Sar's goal with long-range efforts throughout the first half, while Van Nistelrooy missed a couple of chances at the opposite end of the field.
On 56 minutes, Russia went in front as Sergei Semak crossed from the left and Pavlyuchenko crashed home a volley. But Van Nistelrooy's 86 minute header forced extra-time.
Torbinski bundled home an Arshavin cross with just eight minutes left on the clock and four minutes later Arshavin squeezed a shot through Van der Sar's legs, with the aid of a deflection from Johnny Heitinga.
Spain 0 Italy 0
Spain won 4-2 on penalties
Cesc Fabregas scored the winning penalty to send Spain into the semi-finals after a 4-2 shoot-out victory over Italy.
The Arsenal star beat Gianluigi Buffon and set up a semi-final meeting with Russia on Thursday after Antonio Di Natale and Daniele De Rossi both missed from the spot for Italy as Spain reached their first semi-final since 1984.
The game ended goalless after extra-time following a hard-fought battle in Vienna with chances few and far between. The Spaniards went closest to scoring in the 81st minute when Buffon fumbled a shot from Marcos Senna on to the post, while Mauro Camoranesi saw his shot blocked by the legs of Iker Casillas.
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