Murray's Late Show

Andy Murray had to play past the witching hour to book his place into the second week of Wimbledon. His third round opponent was much respected Cypriot, Marcos Baghdatis. With centre court being held up by the previous matches, Murray and Baghdatis began their match a little later than build and that brought fears that the match wouldn't be able to finish until Monday.

The magic time was 11:00pm where only a couple of minutes of extra time would be allowed to finish a game. Before they got anywhere near that time, Murray took the first set 7-5 in just under an hour. Baghdatis responded with a 6-3 second victory before Murray made it 2-1 with another 7-5 victory. The question was begged as to whether play should continue with only 20-minutes until 11.

But the fourth set went ahead and Murray went 4-1 ahead with five minutes left. The Scot then broke Baghdatis' serve to make it 5-1 as the clock struck 11. The umpire gave the nod to allow Murray to attempt to serve out the match. Baghdatis didn't really offer much fight and Murray would win the game to love to win the match with the clock saying 11:02.

As expected, Murray will be the only Brit into the second week after Heather Watson crashed out at the third round. Watson took on third seed Agnieszka Radwanska and looked to be a little starstruck, losing the first set 6-0. The Pole continued to assert her authority and took the second 6-2 to ease into a fourth round match against Camila Giorgi.  

History was made at Wimbledon today during Yaroslava Shvedova's and Sara Errani's battle. The Kazakhstani became only the second player to win a golden set. Shvedova beat the tenth seed in the opening  set 6-0, without conceding a single point. Errani tried to restore some pride in the second set but still lost it 6-4, Shvedova will now face a tough task in Serena Williams in the fourth round. Williams beat China's Jie Zheng 6-7 6-2 9-7.

After Nadal's surprise defeat, the other top seeds must have been a little anxious to not follow suite. Novak Djokovic faced Radek Stepanek and lost the opening set 6-4. The Serb then regained his ominous form to take the other three sets 6-2 to book a fourth round match against fellow Serb, Viktor Troicki.

Roger Federer also wasn't immune to a potential shock. He took on France's Julien Benneteau and lost the first set 6-4 before finding himself two sets down, losing 7-3 in the second set tie-break. But Federer regained composure to win the third set 6-2 before finding himself in danger of losing in the fourth. But the world number three held out to take the fourth set 8-6 via the tie-break. That seemed to have broken the Frenchman's fight as Federer would take the final set 6-1 to set up a fourth round tie against Belgium's Xavier Malisse.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's passage into the fourth round was a lot easier against Slovakia's Lukas Lacko. The Frenchman won 6-4 6-3 6-3 to find himself up against a tougher test in tenth seed Mardy Fish in the next round.

Maria Sharapova is also safely into the fourth round after beating Su-Wei Hsieh. The world number one took the first set 6-1 before taking the second 6-4 to set up a last 16 tie against last year's semi-finalist Sabine Lisicki.

The world number two, Victoria Azarenka, will face former world number one, Ana Ivanovic, in a tasty sounding fourth round tie. Azarenka beat Jana Cepelova 6-3 6-3 with Ivanovic winning against Julia Georges  3-6 6-3 6-4.

Fourth seed, Petra Kvitova, is also into the fourth round and will face the 2010 French Open champion, Francesca Schiavone. Kvitova only dropped one game against Varvara Lepchenko while Schiavone dropped four games in the second set against Klara Zakopalova.

Mario Bracetelli

Germany line-up: Neuer, Lahm (c), Hummels, Badstuber, Boateng (Muller, 71'), Schweinsteiger, Kroos, Khedira, Podolski (Reus, 45'), Gomez (Klose, 45'), Ozil
Italy line-up: Buffon (c), Chiellini, Balzaretti, Barzagli, Bonucci, Pirlo, De Rossi, Marchisio, Montolivo (Motta, 64'), Cassano (Diamanti, 58'), Balotelli (Di Natale, 69') 

A brace from Mario Balotelli was enough to set up a final date against Spain. Italy took more chances than they did against England and it was enough to survive a late scare against a surprisingly inefficient German side.

Italy's long ball technique looked to bamboozle to the German centre-back pairing, meaning that Balotelli was always an outlet. At the other end, Gianluigi Buffon surprisingly looked nervy and this showed within the first five minutes when he failed to collect a corner. Mats Hummels belatedly swung a leg at it and the effort was cleared off the line by Andrea Pirlo.

Toni Kroos' first appearance of the tournament almost brought a goal, but his 13th minute effort was neatly saved by Italy's captain. Italy responded with Riccardo Montolivo firing a long shot that bounced just in front of Manuel Neuer and Antonio Cassano also tested the Munich keeper.

Italy then broke the deadlock on 20-minutes when Pirlo played Cassano down the wing. Cassano then sent in a superb cross which was headed home by Balotelli. Germany couldn't find a response and any chances they did create failed to find the target.

That was until Sami Khedira sent a curling shot that Buffon prevented going into the top corner. But Italy countered and Balotelli was found in acres of space in the German half. He made his way into the box before smashing the ball past Neuer.

Germany were shell shocked following the second goal and needed to change if they were going to get back into the game. Joachim Low decided to bring Thomas Muller and Marco Reus in place of Lukas Podolski and Mario Gomez.

Reus instantly showed spark, but his early efforts were easily stopped by Buffon. Philipp Lahm then had a great chance to pull a goal back when he played a one-two with Bastian Schweinsteiger, but the German captain placed his effort over the bar.

Italy's defence was largely solid throughout the game, keeping the Germans out. Balotelli burst through on the hour mark, but his shot from an acute angle went inches wide. Germany's next chance once again came from the young Reus, whose free-kick was agonisingly tipped over the bar by Buffon.

Italy could have killed the game off once again when Alessandro Diamanti put Claudio Marchisio through on goal, but his effort went inches wide of Neuer's post. Diamanti also had a chance of making it 3-0 when he forced himself into the box, but any chances of a shot were thwarted when the Italian slipped over.

Germany ultimately ran out of ideas but were given a late late lifeline when Federico Balzaretti handled in the box in injury time. Mesut Ozil stepped up and coolly converted the penalty but there wasn't enough time for Germany to equalise. They had a chance in the last kick of the game when they received a free-kick on the half-way line. But instead of launching into the box, they played it short and the referee blew the whistle to put Italy into the final.

England 0 Italy 3 (But Murray and Watson Through)

Sara Errani became the latest Italian to heap misery onto English shoulders. The tenth seed faced Anne Keothavong in the second round of Wimbledon and the French Open runner-up continued her good form to face Yaroslava Shvedova in the third round. There wasn't a lot the Brit could do against Errani who ran out 6-1 6-1, sending a message to her fellow competitors.

Elena Baltacha is also out after facing another seeded star, fourth seed Petra Kvitova. The Czech took the first game to love before Baltacha began showing what she can do. She took four games against Kvitova but it wasn't enough to prevent the fourth seed from going through. Kvitova will now face Varvara Lepchenko of America in the third round.


Britain are also down to just one man after Jamie Ward lost a five set thriller to Mardy Fish. The tenth seed looked extremely comfortable, taking the first set 6-3. Ward fought back to take the second set 7-5 but found himself behind again when Fish took the third 6-4. But Ward wasn't about to bow out and despite facing match point, he took Fish to a tie-break and subsequently won it 7-3. Unfortunately, Ward couldn't continue his fantastic resistance and the American took the final set 6-3 to stumble into the third round to take on David Goffin.


It's not all bad news for Britain though, Heather Watson became the first British woman into the third round for ten years. She took on American Jamie Lee Hampton and only needed two sets to set a date against third seed Agnieszka Radwanska. Watson took the first set with only conceding one game before winning the second set 6-4.


Andy Murray is also into the third round, squeezing past a tough test against Ivo Karlovic. The Scot took the first set 7-5 before the 6" 10' Croatian levelled the match via a 7-5 tie-break. Murray then responded with a 6-2 third set victory before taking the fourth set 7-4 on the tie-break. Murray will now face Marcos Baghditis in his tricky draw.


The news gets even better for Murray as Rafael Nadal has been knocked out by world 100 Lukas Rosol. The Czech's ambition was shown straight from the off, forcing a tie-break which Nadal eventually won 11-9.  Any thoughts that that would ultimately defeat Rosol mentally were diminished when he fought back to take the second and then the third set 6-4. The world number two levelled the match with a 6-2 fourth set victory and would have been the favourite to go on to win the match. But Rosol was again undeterred and won the set 6-4, finishing with an ace to create the biggest shock of the tournament so far.


World number five, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also suffered a set back, but he fought back to beat Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. The first set went into a tie-break which Lopez won 7-3. But Tsonga avoided any more scares, taking the second set 6-4, the third 6-1 and the fourth 6-3, setting up a third round match against Lukas Lacko.


It was a bit easier for Novak Djokovic who went through in straight sets against Ryan Harrison of America. The Serb won all three sets 6-4 to take on Radek Stepanek in the next round. Roger Federer also strolled into the next round after beating Fabio Fognini 6-1 6-3 6-2, he will take on Julien Benneteau. 


Maria Sharapova wasn't immune to the SW19 scares. The world number one faced Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in the second round and won the first set 7-3 on the tie-break. The match had to be finished today after bad light postponed the conclusion of the match. Pironkova came back and took the second set 7-3 on another tie-break. But the Russian then regained her composure to take the third set to love and will now face Su-Wei Hsieh from the Chinese Taipei. 


The world number two, Victoria Azarenka, strolled into the third round. She beat Switzerland's Romina Oprandi 6-2 6-0 to face either Anabel Medina Garrigues or Jana Cepelova. Serena Williams is also through after beating Melinda Czink 6-1 6-4 and will face China's Jie Zheng in the next round.         




    

Iberia Separated By Penalties

Portugal line-up: Rui Patricio, Pepe, Pereira, Alves, Coentrao, Meireles, Veloso (Custodio, 105'), Moutinho, Almeida (Oliveira, 81'), Ronaldo (c), Nani
Spain line-up: Casillas (c), Ramos, Pique, Alba, Arbeloa, Xavi (Pedro, 87'), Busquets, Silva (Navas, 61'), Alonso, Iniesta, Negredo (Fabregas, 54')    

Spain become only the second nation to progress into three consecutive major tournament finals. With the tournament no having a 0-0 draw until Sunday, and now we've had two in two games. With two nations whose attacking force is much better than their defending, the anticipated skill-fest didn't quite happen and we were treated to two hours of extremely cagey football.

By the end, it was no surprise to see the game roll into the penalty shoot-out which would be the most exciting part of the semi-final. With no goals throughout the game, perhaps it was no surprise to see Xabi Alonso and Joao Moutinho's initial efforts saved by the keepers. We finally got the first goal of the contest when Andres Iniesta and Pepe made it 1-1.

Gerard Pique then stepped up for Spain and made it 2-1. There was slight drama as Bruno Alves looked to be taking the third penalty but Nani jogged up to send the defender back. Nani smashed his effort into the top corner before Sergio Ramos did an Andrea Pirlo to make it 3-2. This time it was Alves to step up but nerves got the better of him and he hit the crossbar. Cesc Fabregas converted Spain's fifth and final effort to go through without Cristiano Ronaldo taking a penalty.

Not for the first time this tournament, question marks were raised over Vicente Del Bosque's team selection. With Fernando Torres and Fernando Llorente in good form, the Spanish coach decided to start with Alvaro Negredo. Unsurprisingly, Negredo provided very little and was substituted just nine minutes into the second half, but not for either the Fernandos but for Fabregas.

The first half saw Spain get extremely rattled by the pressure Portugal were putting on them. Spain did have more of the possession but it was mainly in their own half and around the half-way line. Portugal looked the more menacing with Fabio Coentrao, Ronaldo and Nani providing crosses that required Iker Casillas to collect.

At the other end, Pepe was in ominous form, clearing everything that came his way. This included the un-Spain like tactic of lumping the ball long. The best chance for Spain came just before the half hour mark when Iniesta was found via the long ball, he tried a curler which looked have beaten Rui Patricio, but it landed just on the roof of the net.

Ronaldo had Portugal's best chances of the first half, but Casillas wasn't called into action for either of the efforts as the sailed high or wide. The second half had even fewer chances but Hugo Almeida was guilty of wasting two opportunities, he decided to shoot from 25-yards from a counter attack when Ronaldo and Nani were either side of the striker. He then decided to shoot from impossible angles which again relieved Spain of any pressure.

Ronaldo then had the best chance of the half in injury time when Portugal broke four on two. Raul Meireles found the Madrid man who was now seemingly through on goal, but the Portugal captain fired horrendously over the bar and the game headed into extra time.

Spain suddenly found their rhythm in the extra half hour and if anyone was going to win it in extra time, it was them. The best chance came just before half-time when Iniesta tried placing a shot from eight yards but it was fantastically saved by Patricio. The other chance before half-time saw Ramos curl a free-kick just over the bar. The second half didn't see many more chances and the game was destined for penalties which Spain squeezed through.

England 0 Italy 2 (But Britain Still Going Strong)

After the heartbreak of losing to Italy on penalties, poor Laura Robson had the unenviable task of facing 2010 French Open champion, Francesca Schiavone. Just like the penalty shoot-out, England took the lead and there was strong hope of a victory. Robson performed some her best tennis on television and took the first set 6-2. Schiavone wasn't 100% and she required medical attention, there were slight hopes that the 24th seed would be unable to continue but she came back on court and started to perform.


The second began to go young Robson's way, the was 3-2 ahead and up 40-love verging on breaking serve. But Schiavone fought back to level the set before going onto win the set 6-4. With Schiavone looking the more dominant with Robson's inexperience beginning to show, it was no surprise to see the Italian take a 5-2 lead. But Robson showed her heart to hold serve and then break to make it 5-4. Unfortunately, Robson couldn't level the set and Schiavone would take the final 6-4 to set up a second round match against Czech Republic's Kristyna Pliskova.


But it's not all bad news for Britain's hopefuls at SW19. Andy Murray began his campaign against a tricky sounding, Nikolay Davydenko. However, Murray looked in fine form despite his poor results on grass. He took the first two sets 6-1 before winning the third set 6-4, setting up a second round tie against either Ivo Karlovic or Dudi Sela.  


Jamie Ward is also through to the second round after going the full five sets against Spain's Pablo Andujar. Andujar took the opening set 6-4 before Ward responded with a set to love. The Spaniard re-took the lead with a 6-3 win in the third before Ward won 6-3 in the following two sets to win the match.


Jamie Baker is the only other potential second round entrant for Britain, but he faces a tough first round match against Andy Roddick. This is because Josh Goodall lost in four sets to Slovakia's Grega Zemlja (4-6 6-3 6-7  4-5) and Oliver Golding lost against Russia's Igor Andreev despite taking the first set (6-1 6-7 6-7 5-7)


The women look a lot better though despite Robson's defeat along with Johanna Konta's loss to America's Christina McHale (7-6 2-6 8-10) and Naomi Broady's exit courtesy of Lourdes Dominguez Lino (4-6 6-7)  . Heather Watson did produce her best television performance on centre court against Iveta Benesova 6-2 6-1. She will face American, Jamie Lee Hampton, in the second round.


Anne Keothavong is also into the second round after beating Spain's Laura Pous-Tio 6-3 6-3. She will face either Coco Vandeweghe of America or tenth seed Sara Errani next. Elena Baltacha will face fourth seed Petra Kvitova after beating Karin Knapp 4-6 6-4 6-0. 


The biggest shock of the first round saw Venus Williams lose to Russia's Elena Vesnina. The Russian surprisingly took the first set 6-1 before winning the second 6-3. There was no such drama for Maria Sharapova who won her first round match against Anastasia Rodionova 6-2 6-3, she will face Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in round two.


Novak Djokovic won in straight sets against Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero. The Serb won 6-3 6-3 6-1 and will face America's Ryan Harrison in the second round. Roger Federer had an easier task against Spain's Albert Ramos, he won 6-1 6-1 6-1 to stroll into a second round match against Italy's Fabio Fognini. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat veteran Lleyton Hewitt 6-3 6-4 6-4 to take on Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in round two. Rafael Nadal is also comfortably through to the second round despite a poor start. The Spaniard took on Brazil's Tomaz Bellucci and found himself 4-1 down in the first set. But Nadal fought back to take the set with a 7-0 tie-break victory before winning the second set 6-2 and the third 6-3 to play Lukas Rosol in round two.            
  

Dream Débuts In Gorzow

Slovakian Martin Vaculik becomes the sixth different winner in this year's GP series with a fantastic debut win. Following him in third was fellow debutant, seventeen year-old Bartosz Zmarzlik. Chris Holder finished second on the night and moves up to joint second in the overall standings. Tomasz Gollob finished fourth in front of his home crowd when it was feared he wouldn't even make it into the semi-finals.

Zmarzlik won his semi-final ahead of Holder. Emil Sayfutdinov finished in third with defending champion and overall leader, Greg Hancock, packing up to finish fourth. Gollob would make it three wins a row in the second semi-final ahead of Vaculik. Freddie Lindgren finished third with Andreas Jonsson in fourth.

The meeting itself proved why this year's series is so open, 13 of the 16 riders won a heat with only Chris Harris, Bjarne Pedersen and Kenneth Bjerre failing to win a single heat. The night started with Peter Ljung winning the opening heat. The second heat saw wildcard Zmarzlik and Vaculik, who was only in the meeting due to Jaroslaw Hampel's injury, compete. Vaculik took it with Zmarzlik in second, Gollob came third with Bjerre languishing in fourth.

Jason Crump won the battle of the Aussies in the third heat. Hancock could only finish in third in his opening heat with Sayfutdinov in forth. The fourth heat ended in agonising fashion as Jonsson pushed Nicky Pedersen out of the way to win the heat on the final corner.

Hancock recovered from third place in his opening heat to take the fifth heat, Vaculik finished second. Gollob finished third for the second heat in a row while Freddie Lindgren won the sixth heat. Harris would pack up in the seventh with Nicky Pedersen winning it. The only incident of the night came in heat eight when Antonio Lindback and Crump came together. The referee adjudged it was Crump that caused the collision, despite the Aussie being the one to hit the deck, and was excluded. The restart saw Lindback take the chequered flag.

Gollob could only muster up another third place in heat nine, Hans Andersen finished victorious ahead of Sayfutdinov. Vaculik finished second again in heat ten with Lindgren taking his second race of the night, that was followed up by Hancock also taking his second heat. Lindback would false start in the 12th heat and ultimately finish fourth in the restart. Zmarzlik won his first ever GP heat ahead of Holder and Jonsson.

Ljung won his second heat on the night in the 13th, but it wasn't enough to see him get into the semi-finals. Sayfutdinov took heat 14 before Harris would once again pack up, this time at the start. Heat 15 continued without Harris with Holder winning and Vaculik second. Gollob began to turn his night around in heat 16 with his first heat victory over Hancock, Lindback and Nicky Pedersen.

Holder took his second consecutive heat to put himself through to the semi-finals. Nicky Pedersen could only manage third and it wasn't enough for him to progress. Hancock won his third heat of the night before Gollob made it two heats from two in the penultimate race. The Slovak, Vaculik, won his second heat of the night before rounding the meeting off with his debut victory.

Hancock now stretches his lead to nine points on 87. With Holder finishing second, that puts him on 78 points, level with Crump. Nicky Pedersen is now a further six points behind with Gollob still way back on 64 points.

Alonso Takes Dramatic Valencia

Fernando Alonso wins in Valencia for the first time to become the first driver to win two races this season. It wasn't as simple as that though as the 11th placed man saw Sebastian Vettel and Romain Grosjean suffer technical faults to put themselves out of the race. To help the Spaniard's case in the overall championship, Lewis Hamilton also didn't finish after crashing with Pastor Maldonado. All these incidents allowed Michael Schumacher to gain his first podium place since his return to F1.

Timo Glock was unable to take his slot on the grid so the race would commence with only 23 cars. From the start, Vettel charged into a comfortable lead. Grosjean managed to overtake Pastor Maldonado into third with Kamui Kobayashi in fourth and Raikkonen in sixth. Alonso had managed to get himself up to eighth with Jenson Button falling to 13th.

Grosjean then began his hunt to become the eighth different winner by overtaking Hamilton to move up to second on lap ten. Raikkonen was able to overtake Maldonado on lap-13 to gain fifth before then managed to get ahead of Kobayashi in the first pit stop stint. Alonso then did the same to get himself ahead of the Finn on lap-16.

The first piece of unusual drama on the Valencia track came on lap-20 when Bruno Senna and Kobayashi come together. The Williams suffered a puncture and was also adjudged to have caused the collision, therefore receiving a drive through penalty.

Eight laps later, it was Jean-Eric Vergne and Heikki Kovalainen to collide with both cars suffering punctures. For Vergne, who looked to have caused the collision, the damage was too bad to continue. The debris was also too substantial for normal racing to continue and the Safety Car was deployed. With the Safety Car out, many took this opportunity to pit. But it turned out to be a bad stop for Hamilton who found himself overtaken by Alonso. 


The Safety Car came in on lap-33 and the following lap was utter carnage. Alonso managed to overtake Grosjean to gain second place. Felipe Massa and Kobayashi then contacted, causing the Ferrari to sustain a puncture with the Sauber losing its front wing. Kobayashi couldn't continue and has been handed a five place grid penalty for the next race for causing a collision. Hamilton was then also able to overtake Grosjean to take third. But the biggest drama on lap-34 saw the comfortable Sebastian Vettel have his car stop on him, forcing the German out of the race when it looked like he was going to win it at a canter.


Narain Karthikeyan received a drive through penalty on lap-40 for speeding in the pit lane. A lap later, Grosjean suffered the same fate as Vettel as the Lotus' alternator failed, causing another retirement. This left Alonso firmly in the lead with Hamilton now in second and Raikkonen in third.


The next collision came on lap-48 when tenth place Vitaly Petrov lost his front wing courtesy of Daniel Ricciardo trying to overtake the Caterham. Fortunately, Petrov was able to continue but it ruined his chances of getting a surprising point from an impressive weekend.


Michael Schumacher and Mark Webber began a late charge in the final five laps, overtaking Sergio Perez and Paul Di Resta to gain sixth and seventh respectively. With two laps remaining, Hamilton made a mistake as his tyres started losing grip and it allowed Raikkonen to overtake the McLaren to gain second place.


Maldonado then tried his hand at overtaken the stricken McLaren. They went abreast on the penultimate lap and the Venezuelan had no choice but to collide into Hamilton while trying to come back onto the race track. The Williams lost his front wing while the McLaren was in the tyre wall. This collision allowed Schumacher and Webber to gain another two places with the German sealing the final podium spot. Race result:


1.Alonso (Ferrari), 2.Raikkonen (Lotus), 3.Schumacher (Mercedes), 4.Webber (Red Bull), 5.Hulkenberg (Force India), 6.Rosberg (Mercedes), 7.Di Resta (Force India), 8.Button (McLaren), 9.Perez (Sauber), 10.Maldonado (Williams) (suffers a ten second penalty so will drop further places) 11.Senna (Williams), 12.Ricciardo (Toro Ross), 13.Petrov (Caterham), 14.Kovalainen (Caterham), 15.Pic (Marussia), 16.Massa (Ferrari) DNF: Vettel (Red Bull), Hamilton (McLaren), Grosjean (Lotus), Kobayashi (Sauber), Vergne (Toro Rosso) DNS: Glock (Marussia)

England's Achilles Strikes Again

England line-up: Hart, Cole, Lescott, Terry, Johnson, Milner (Walcott, 61'), Gerrard (c), Parker (Henderson, 95') Young, Welbeck (Carroll, 61'), Rooney
Italy line-up: Buffon (c), Abate (Maggio, 90'), Balzaretti, Barzagli, Bonucci, Pirlo, Marchisio, Montolivo, De Rossi (Nocerino, 80'), Cassano (Diamanti, 78'), Balotelli  

England lose on penalties once again to exit another major tournament. Italy were the better team throughout and justice was served when Ashley Young and Ashley Cole both missed their spot-kick to send the boys home. It looked like it was going to go England's way when Riccardo Montolivo sent the second penalty wide of the mark. Wayne Rooney made it 2-1 England before Young hit the crossbar after Andrea Pirlo chipped his effort in, making it 2-2. Cole's penalty was then saved by Gianluigi Buffon before former West Ham man, Alessandro Diamanti, scored the fifth and final penalty home.

They match started in an attacking fashion with Daniele De Rossi smashing a curling shot against the post after just four minutes. England responded by going up the other end with Glen Johnson unable to get the ball out of his feet to send a meaningful shot either side of Buffon.

After the initial twenty minutes, the game quietened down as Italy began to dominate possession. Their main attacking threat was a long ball tactic towards Mario Balotelli who broke the offside trap on numerous occasions. The first real chance for the Manchester City striker came four minutes before the half hour mark but his effort was smartly blocked by John Terry.

England's next chance came after 33-minutes when Danny Welbeck and Rooney linked up well before Welbeck placed a shot just over the bar. From there, the half remained with Italy firmly in control of possession but not doing enough to penetrate the defence or troubling Joe Hart's goal.

The second half looked a lot more tired than the first but Pirlo was on hand to continue to dictate the game. But Italy should have scored within three minutes of kick-off when De Rossi found himself four yards out, but he scuffed his effort hopelessly wide. The next real chance of the half came on the hour mark when Balotelli brought down a cross before sending a clever over-head kick just over the bar.

That was followed up by the largely uninfluential Young firing a shot that was just deflected wide for a corner which came to nothing. The only other chance England had in the half was an over-head kick from Rooney that also went agonisingly over the bar in injury time.

With the game into extra time, if there was going to be a goal it was only going to come from Italy as England unusually looked like they were playing for penalties. They came close just inside the second half of extra time when an Diamanti cross come shot just brushed off the post. They then though they had scored when  Nocerino headed a Christian Maggio cross home, but the flag was up instantly and replays showed it was an extremely close call, but the right one.

From there, the game fizzled out into penalties with England breathing a huge sigh of relief. But it was a breath to be regretted as their old nemesis struck for the eighth time to knock England out.

Xabi Sets Up Iberian Derby

Spain line-up: Casillas (c), Ramos, Pique, Alba, Arbeloa, Xavi, Silva (Pedro, 65'), Alonso, Fabregas (Torres, 67'), Iniesta (Cazorla, 84'), Busquets

France line-up: Lloris (c), Reveillere, Clichy, Rami, Koscielny, Debuchy (Menez, 64'), Malouda (Nasri, 65'), Ribery, Cabaye, M'Vila (Giroud, 79'), Benzema   

A Xabi Alonso brace in his 100th appearance puts Spain through to face Portugal in the semi-finals. It may have arguably been the poorest quarter final so far but the defending champions did enough to see off a lacklustre French resistance. Eyebrows were once again raised when Vincent Del Bosque set up his starting eleven without an out in out striker. 

Just like against Italy, Spain were dominant in possession but France potentially carried the bigger attacking threat. Spain had an early penalty shout on six minutes when Cesc Fabregas fell under the challenge of a chasing Gael Clichy. The referee waved play on, to the disgust of Fabregas, it was one of those challenges that have been given but it would have been very soft.

The first real shot in anger came two minutes later when Alonso spotted Hugo Lloris off his line. The Madrid play maker tried an effort from near the halfway that was on target but easily caught by the French goalkeeper. 

The stranglehold finally paid off on 19-minutes when Jordi Alba tried a run down the wing. He managed to break free from two challenges as he entered the box. Alba then whipped a cross in that was met by Alonso and powerfully dispatched.

France's best chances came from set pieces as their ball retention wasn't fantastic. Yohan Cabaye's curling free-kick was smartly tipped over the bar by Iker Casillas, their best first half effort. Most of France's possession was in the middle of the park when it needed to be higher up the pitch, especially in the second half.

The game then began to fizzle out as Spain looked happy enough to take the 1-0 victory. The result was then finalised in injury time when substitute Pedro went over easily from a clumsy challenge by Anthony Reveillere. Alonso stepped up and dispatched the penalty neatly into the bottom corner. Spain have only beaten Portugal once in the last thirty years, but it was on the way to the trophy four years ago.

Vettel's Hat-Trick

Sebastian Vettel secures a hat-trick of Pole positions at Valencia in an extremely close qualifying session. The German did end up four tenths of a second faster than Lewis Hamilton, but Q2 saw places 1-13 separated by 0.22 seconds. This gives Vettel his 33rd Pole of his career, putting him third alongside Jim Clark and Alain Prost in the all-time Pole-sitters list.

Pastor Maldonado will start third ahead one of the likely drivers to become the eighth winner, if it is to happen, Romain Grosjean, who was fastest in Q2. His Lotus teammate and another potential eighth winner, Kimi Raikkonen, is in fifth alongside Mercedes' Nico Rosberg. Kamui Kobayashi made it to seventh alongside an impressive Nico Hulkenberg in eighth. Jenson Button had a very quiet session and will begin the race in ninth. Force India had an excellent session with Paul Di Resta also making it into Q3 and will start tenth.

With the gap so small at the end of Q2, there were quite a few disappointments. Most notable is probably Fernando Alonso who will start eleventh ahead of Michael Schumacher and teammate Felipe Massa, who was only eight hundredths behind the Spaniard. Bruno Senna will start 14th ahead of Sauber's Sergio Perez. Heikki Kovalainen squeezed into Q2 on the very last lap and managed to put himself ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in 16th.

The news before the session was that Timo Glock was taken ill and unable to participate, he will begin the race last if he is able to compete tomorrow. Jean-Eric Vergne was the driver to be knocked out by Kovalainen and will therefore start 18th. Mark Webber's Red Bull was suffering technical problems throughout practice and the mechanics couldn't solve the problem, meaning the Australian could only nurture the car to 19th.

Vitaly Petrov will start 20th with both HRT cars out-qualifying Charles Pic. Pedro De La Rosa will begin ahead of Narain Karthikeyan in that inter-team battle. Whether Glock is fit enough to compete or not, a Marussia will be brining up the rear tomorrow.

Not Even Klose

Germany line-up: Neuer, Lahm (c), Hummels, Badstuber, Boateng, Schweinsteiger, Khedira, Reus (Gotze, 79'), Klose (Gomez, 79'), Schurrle (Muller, 67'), Ozil
Greece line-up: Sifakis, Torosidis, Tzavelas (Fotakis, 45'), K.Papadopoulos, Papastathopoulos, Katsouranis, Maniatis, Makos (Liberopoulos, 71'), Salpingidis (c), Samaras, Ninis (Gekas, 45')

Germany put themselves into the final four in emphatic fashion, thrashing Greece 4-1. But it could well have been more as Germany's 'inexperienced' youngsters all performed in the same efficient fashion as we'd expect. Despite being completely overpowered, Greece made a few chances of their own but their lack of eagerness to flood the box meant most of the counter attacks went to waste.

The writing on the wall came after just four minutes, a shot by Sami Khedira was spilt by the underwhelming Michail Sifakis and slotted home by one of the new breed, Andre Schurrle, but was flagged offside. From there, the onslaught began and how Greece weren't a goal behind before they were is unbelievable.

The Greek defence played like their economy and were completely cut open by the creative Germans. The pick of the next generation was Marco Reus who missed the first of a hat full of chances. Reus and Ozil linked up well but the shot from the Madrid star was straight at Sifakis, Reus also had a further two chances wide of the mark.

All of that was within the first 25-minutes before Sotiris Ninis had Greece's first chance when they sprung their first counter-attack. It tested Manuel Neuer but it was always going wide. Khedira then had the latest chance to be stopped by Sifakis before the deadlock was finally broken. It came six minutes before half-time with captain Philipp Lahm smashed a long range effort that swerved past the flailing Sifakis. Schurrle almost made it 2-0 before half-time but his rasping effort hit the side netting.


But there was a shock in the second half when Greece levelled ten minutes into the second half. Temporary captain, Dimitris Salpingidis, played a beautiful low cross that was met Georgios Samaras to stun the European spectators.


Parity only lasted for six minutes though. Jerome Boateng sent in a cross that Khedira exquisitely volleyed home to put Germany firmly back in charge. Seven minutes later and it was 3-1; Miroslav Klose put himself just four goals away from Gerd Muller's all-time record. The veteran striker headed home an Ozil free-kick to well and truly Greece's campaign.


The cherry on top of the cake came for Marco Reus. His fantastic performance was rounded off when Klose's shot was once again parried by Sifakis. The Dortmund youngster then rifled the follow up home to make it 4-1. 


Greece did get a final hoorah to end the match; they were awarded a penalty when Boateng was judged to have handled a cross despite having his back to it. Salpingidis stepped up and atoned for his miss against Poland by slotting it into the bottom corner. 


Despite the second goal, it looked a very ominous performance from the Germans. This could be slightly unnerving for both Italy and England whichever generation gets picked to play.

Ronaldo Reigns Over Republic

Czech Republic line-up: Cech (c), Sivok, Kadlec, Selassie, Limbersky, Hubschman (Pekhart, 83'), Darida (Rezek, 60), Jiracek, Baros, Plasil, Pilar
Portugal line-up: Patricio, Pepe, Pereira, Alves, Coentrao, Meireles (Rolando, 86'), Veloso, Moutinho, Postiga (Almeida, 39'), Ronaldo (c), Nani (Custodio, 81') 

Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal of the first quarter final to send Portugal into the final four. Portugal were favourites from the outset and would always have a chance of winning by restricting Czech Republic to one shot on target.

This doesn't mean the Czechs were out-played, six corners and countless dangerous crosses highlighted their intent but they couldn't force a way to test Rui Patricio. But Portugal had 11 corners of their own and amassed 22 shots, eight on target, that kept Petr Cech the much busier of the two keepers.

Portugal never really turned the screw as such but their best chance in the first half fell to their captain. Ronaldo swivelled and got his shot away, beating Cech but was kept out by the post in injury time. The start of the second half mimicked the end of the first half, a free-kick by Ronaldo was touched by Cech onto the post to keep the score level.

13-minutes into the second period, Portugal though they had that vital breakthrough goal when substitute Hugo Almeida headed home a cross from Nani. But the flag went up straight away and it was the correct decision as the Czech Republic defensive line was cleverly constructed.

Czech Republic's best moments in the game from their wide men as both Vaclav Pilar and Petr Jiracek made themselves readily available to take on the Portuguese full backs. Jiracek created an opening by beating two defenders as he cut into the box. But, like many others, his cross couldn't find the one or two red shirts and Patricio easily collected.

The deadlock was finally broken 12-minutes from time when Joao Moutinho put in a hopeful cross. It missed  the first man but Ronaldo was breaking his neck to get to the ball before putting his diving header past Cech to give the Portuguese a huge sigh of relief. They will face either Spain or France who lock horns on Saturday.

England and France Squeeze Through

England and France become the final teams to make it into the quarter finals. England were able to beat the co-hosts, Ukraine, with a lot of help from the officials. Because of this, France were able to lose to Sweden yet still qualify, at the expense of facing Spain in the last eight.

At the start of play, both England and France only needed a point to secure their places into the knock-out phase. Ukraine had to win but their chances became slimmer when Andriy Shevchenko was only fit enough to make the bench.

That didn't deter the hosts who actually played a lot better than England without really working Joe Hart. The returning Wayne Rooney had England's best chance of the first half when James Milner found him with a cross, but the Manchester United striker's header from four yards out went wide.

England played better in the second half but still suffered a threat from the Ukraine. But the partisan crowd was hushed three minutes after the restart when Steven Gerrard smashed a ball across goal. It took a couple of nicks that forced Andriy Piatov to mis-judge the ball and it ended up going through him. Rooney was at the back post to make sure by nodding the bouncing ball home.

It got better for England when Sweden took the lead in Kiev. Zlatan Ibrahimovic hit a fantastic volley from the edge of the area past Hugo Lloris nine minutes into the second half. Whether Ukraine were aware or not, this gave them a opportunity to steal a place in last eight if they could get two against England. They should have had one on 62-minutes when an offside Marko Devic received the ball and made a march towards goal. His shot was blocked by Hart but the ball then looped over and John Terry cleared the ball on the line. But replays showed that the ball had clearly crossed the line and the Ukraine should feel very much aggrieved. This does bring into question what it is exactly the fifth and sixth officials standing on the goal line actually do, as they should have easily spotted the goal that wasn't given.

The poor French were finished off in injury time when substitute Samuel Holmen hit the post. Sunderland's Sebastian Larsson was on hand the smash the ball home to finish their disappointing tournament on a high. England will now face Italy in the last quarter-final with France taking on the defending champions. Full table:

England      7 +2
France        4  0
Ukraine       3  0
Sweden       3 -2

Three-Way Split Sees Croatia Lose Out

Spain and Italy become the latest teams through the quarter finals when another goal could have seen Croatia gate crash the party. With Ireland already out, it was always going to be two from three with Spain and Croatia on four points alongside Italy on two.

A winner in the Croatia/Spain game with an Italy win would provide an easy answer as to who would go through. With the Italian win already presumed, Croatia knew that, with this backward non-goal difference way of selecting the winner, a 0-0 and a 1-1 draw would not be enough to see them go through at Italy's expense. The only way a 1-1 draw may have been enough was if Italy won 2-0, which of course they did. 

Italy began to keep their end of the bargain nine minutes before half-time when Antonio Cassano headed them ahead. Meanwhile, Croatia arguably played better than Spain during the other match and had the better chances. Ivan Rakitic had a fantastic chance in the second half when Luka Modric's cross was met with his header four yard from goal. But the attempt was straight at Iker Casillas who was then equal to the second attempt.

The chances that did come Spain's way were either wasted by over-play or saved by Stipe Pletikosa. But that changed two minutes from the end when Cesc Fabregas played a delicious lofted pass to Andres Iniesta. Despite being through on goal, Iniesta then rolled the ball across to substitute Jesus Navas to smash the ball home.

Ireland's final farewell at Euro 2012 came in the final minute of normal time when Keith Andrews received a second yellow card for his reaction to conceding a free-kick. Mario Balotelli then made it 2-0 in injury time, hooking a corner kick behind him and past Shay Given. Full table:

Spain          7 +5

Italy            5 +2

Croatia       4 +1

Rep.Ireland 0 -8 

Ronaldo Dumps Dutch, Bender Dumps Danes

Germany and Portugal join Czech Republic and Greece into the quarter finals. Germany saw off Denmark to maintain their 100% record in the Euro 2012, including qualifying, while Ronaldo returned to form to finish off the sorry Netherlands.

At the start of play, Germany just needed a point to qualify, Denmark had to win to progress, Portugal had to better Denmark's result and Netherlands needed to win by two goals with Germany winning. All but Netherlands were going through at some point during the night, but it was Denmark who would ultimately miss out.

It looked like Netherlands were going to stake their claim on 11-minutes when Rafael Van der Vaart curled an effort past Rui Patricio from outside the box. Germany were then holding their end of the deal when a cross was turned in by Lukas Podolski on 19-minutes, a way to mark his 100th cap.

Then Denmark were going to go through on 25-minutes when Michael Krohn-Dehli headed them level. But their euphoria would only last for three minutes as Cristiano Ronaldo returned to his best, latching onto a through ball and slotting past Martin Stekelenberg.

The Portugal captain then made sure when a cross-field ball ended up at his feet. He moved inside before rolling the ball into the corner, the side he had just moved inside of, on 74-minutes. The group was then finalised ten minutes from time when Lars Bender was put through and the Bayer Leverkusen player slotted past Stephan Andersen. Group table:

Germany    9 +3

Portugal     6 +1

Denmark    3 -1

Netherlands 0 -3  

Queen's Comes to an Abrupt End

The Queen's Championships final finished earlier than prompted when David Nalbandian was disqualified for unsporting conduct. His opponent, Marin Cilic, was declared the winner midway through the second set despite being behind in the match.

Nalbandian took the first set 7-6 before Cilic took a 4-3 lead in the second. The game was heating up nicely at this point but the Argentine's emotions got the better of him. After losing the game to go 4-3 down, Nalbandian kicked an advertising board which was in front of a line judge. The board and Nalbandian's foot then went into the line judge's shin, opening up a wound.

The umpire had no choice but to reward the victory to Cilic via default as Nalbandian had broken the rules for violent conduct. The full house at Queen's responded badly to the decision and the wait for the impromptu presentation caused a chorus of boos to line the court.

After Cilic was given the trophy, Nalbandian was asked to give his post-match interview without collecting the runner-up medal. The Argentine did apologise for his action, but instead of saying sorry and leaving it at that, Nalbandian went onto blame the ATP. He believes that the rulebook gets interpreted in different ways in different occasions. It is this apparent inconsistency that frustrates the players, according to Nalbandian, and the final should have been allowed to continue.

As far as the comments are concerned, Nalbandian has made himself to look very foolish. Hype was building around his great form heading into Wimbledon but that has turned into disappointment with his manner. His attack on the ATP will fall on deaf ears as he still stands to lose his prize money for his efforts this week.

Fortunately, the line judge suffered no more than a painful gash that will no doubt bruise heavily. It is not the way anyone would have wanted the final to end. Hopefully, nothing like this happens for a long time, especially not at Wimbledon.

Czech Greece's Progression

The final group games began with a shock as group favourites Russia were knocked out of the competition by 2004 winners Greece. Co-hosts Poland have also been knocked out after losing to Czech Republic, seeing the Czechs win the group.

In any other competition, it would actually be Russia who went through as they had a better goal difference than Greece. But the Greeks go through because of the better head-to-head record since they beat them in tonight's match. A rule which may leave many Russians feeling aggrieved as they haven't been rewarded for scoring more and conceding less than their counterparts.

Before a ball was kicked tonight Russia looked comfortable knowing that just a point would be enough to put them through. They were also massive favourites to beat Greece, meaning that Russia would be joined by the winner of the other game.

It looked like it was a matter of time for Russia in the first half but out of their 23 shots throughout the game, they only had two on target. Greece only had three shots with the same amount on target. The sucker punch came in first half injury time when a throw was poorly defended by Yuri Zhirkov, allowing Giorgos Karagounis through on goal and the Greek captain atoned for his penalty miss against Poland by blasting the ball into the net.

Aleksandr Kerzhakov was once again picked by Dick Advocaat and again the striker was extremely wasteful, as were the rest of the team. But Russia would still go through via the head-to-head method ahead of Czech Republic as it stood at half-time.

Back in Wroclaw, Poland had much the better chances in the first half. Their three best attempts all hit the side netting as the hosts were unable to break through. The heart breaker came in the 72nd minute when Rafal Murawski placed a pass straight into the path of Tomas Hubschman. This sprung a counter attack with Hubschman playing the ball into Milan Baros. Baros then played the ball into Petr Jiracek who took a touch inside before rolling the ball into the bottom corner. After starting the tournament with a 4-1 defeat, the Czechs win group A and will face the runners-up from the group of death. It's not all good news for Greece though, Karagounis received a yellow card, possibly harshly, for simulation. This means he misses out on the quarter finals. Group table:

Czech Republic     6 -1
Greece                  4  0 (beat Russia 1-0)
Russia                   4 +2
Poland                  3  -1

The Boys Did Wel

Sweden Line-Up: Isaksson, Mellberg, J.Olsson, M.Olsson, Granqvist (Lustig, 65'), Svensson, Kallstrom, Elm (Wilhelmsson, 81'), Larsson, Ibrahimovic (c), Elmander (Rosenberg, 79')
England Line-Up: Hart, Terry, Cole, Lescott, G.Johnson, Parker, Gerrard (c), Milner (Walcott, 61'), Carroll, Welbeck (Oxlade-Chamberlain, 89'), Young  

England come from behind to oust Sweden out of Euro 2012. Andy Carroll gave England the lead before Olof Mellberg turned the game on its head. Roy Hodgson then proved all of his doubters wrong by tactically changing the game by bringing Theo Walcott on for James Milner. Walcott then scored one and set Danny Welbeck up to give England the win. Incidentally, proving FIFA 12's prediction of a 3-2 win correct.

After the delay to the French game, England's match was also delayed by 15-minutes but it was definitely worth the wait. The deadlock was broken on 23-minutes when Steven Gerrard sent a beautiful cross in for Carroll to head home.

Sweden looked dangerous during the first half despite having less possession. But they were level four minutes into the second half when Mellberg headed, unchallenged, from a corner to head towards goal. Glen Johnson tried to clear it off the line but his effort came back off of the post and into the net.

But England hadn't learnt their lesson and Sweden took the lead just before the hour mark. This time it was a free-kick from Sebastian Larsson that was met by the head of the once again unchallenged Mellberg. The towering defender headed past Joe Hart and it would seem that England's bogey team would strike again.

Two minutes later, Hodgson had a brain wave and sent Walcott on. Within three minutes of his appearance, the Arsenal man made it 2-2. Sweden failed to clear their lines and the ball fell to Walcott. He took a shot that curled through the air, completely bamboozling Isaksson and landing into the net.

England then showed their new found heart when Walcott was set free down the wing once more on 77-minutes. His cross was turned into the net by Welbeck who improvised magnificently to send the ball rolling into the bottom corner. The win sees Sweden out of the competition while England just need to avoid defeat to book their place into the quarter finals.

Gift of the Cab

Ukraine Line-Up: Piatov, Mikhalik, Selin, Khacheridi, Tymoshchuk, Nazarenko (Milevskiy, 59'), Gusev, Yarmolenko (Aliev, 67') , Konoplyanka, Shevchenko (c), Voronin (Devich, 45')
France Line-Up: Lloris, Mexes, Clichy, Rami, Debuchy, Diarra, Ribery (c), Cabaye, Benzema (Giroud, 74') , Menez (Martin, 72'), Nasri

Les Bleus put themselves at the top of Group D after both teams weathered a storm. During the French national anthem, the thunder storms began but play was allowed to start. By the four minute mark, lightning strikes were over the stadium and the referee had no option but to suspend the match.

After an hour, the rain simmered down and the players returned to the pitch to restart the match. The rain had affected the pitch and it had an adverse effect on the play. The first half was bogged down in the mid-field and any chances that did occur were either fired over or rolled into the keepers' hands.

The second half was much more attacking and France were under the cosh for part of it. This was after they had taken the lead just seven minutes into the half when Jeremy Menez was put through by Karim Benzema following a counter attack, Menez took a touch before rifling a shot into the bottom corner.

Ukraine were then caught by the sucker punch when Benzema once again played his part. The Madrid striker fed the ball through to Yohan Cabaye and the Newcastle mid-fielder smashed his shot home just three minutes after initially taking the lead.

The partisan crowd didn't give up hope, even when Cabaye almost made it 3-0. They began to dominate possession and Cabaye hit a shot that was kept out by the post. Lloris did have work to do, most notably dealing with numerous corners as Ukraine failed to get themselves back into the game.

Tor Blimey

Spain Line-Up: Casillas (c), Ramos, Pique, Alba, Arbeloa, Xavi, Silva, Alonso (Martinez, 65'), Busquets, Iniesta (Cazorla, 79'), Torres (Fabregas, 73')
Ireland Line-Up: Given, O'Shea, St.Ledger, Ward, Dunne, Duff (McClean, 76'), Andrews, Whelan (Green, 80'), Keane (c), Cox (Walters, 45'), McGeady     


Republic Ireland become the first team to exit Euro 2012 at the hands of a dominant Spain. Two goals from Fernando Torres was just half of the torment the World and Euro Champions inflicted onto the naive Ireland side.

The pain started after just four minutes when Torres took a touch into the box before smashing the ball home past Shay Given. If it wasn't for the Villa keeper, Ireland would have conceded a lot more as Given produced a handful of wonderful saves. He was arguably their best player despite conceding four.

Ireland did try to come back into it but with much less possession, they did extremely well to hold on until half-time with the score at just 1-0. But their bad starts came back to haunt them when a shot by Andres Iniesta was parried by Given into the feet of David Silva. The Manchester City mid-fielder twisted and turned before rolling the ball through a defender and into the bottom corner.

It would be 3-0 on 70-minutes when Torres was put through on goal. The Chelsea striker marauded forward before curling the ball around Given and into the corner.  Torres then got his hero's applause by being substituted for Cesc Fabregas.

Ireland were caught sleeping from a corner when Fabregas received the ball in the box from a short corner. The Barcelona man took a touch to settle himself before blasting the ball home from an acute angle. Ireland only have pride to play for against Giovanni Trapattoni's home side, Italy.

If the Italians beat Ireland they'll progress through with the winners between Croatia and Spain. If the game was to end in a draw, there would be a three way tie at the top if Italy won. Italy would have to win by at least two goals to go through on goal difference at Croatia's expense.

Mandzukic Strikes Again

Italy Line-Up: Buffon (c), Chiellini, Bonucci, Pirlo, Motta (Montolivo, 63') , Marchisio, Maggio, De Rossi, Cassano (Giovinco, 83'), Balotelli (Di Natale, 70'), Giaccherini
Croatia Line-Up: Pletikosa, Schildenfeld, Corluka, Strinic, Srna (c), Rakitic, Modric, Vukojevic, Jelavic (Eduardo, 83'), Mandzukic (Kranjcar, 90'), Perisic (Pranjic, 68')

Mario Mandzukic struck for the third time this tournament to give Croatia a point and succumbing Italy to their second draw of the competition. Andrea Pirlo gave Italy the lead in the first half but it wasn't enough to see off the Croats.

Pirlo looked to control game early on with his sublime passing game. Mario Balotelli had the first shot in anger just after the quarter of an hour mark, but his shot was parried away by Stipe Pletikosa. Croatia began to come into the game by the 20-minute mark, making the match more even. But Italy's miserly defence kept the attackers at bay, with Gianluigi Buffon collecting catches that did come his way.

The deadlock was then broken six minutes before half-time. Italy's assertiveness began to take hold before they were given a free-kick. Pirlo stepped over it and curled over the wall and into the bottom corner, Pletikosa couldn't do much about it and Italy would have the lead at half-time.

Croatia were a bit more attacking in the second half with Italy looking more and more tired as the game went on. Croatia's fans haven't covered themselves in glory so far this campaign and this trend unfortunately continued. A flare was thrown onto the pitch just ten minutes after the restart, forcing Howard Webb to temporarily stop play. The Croatian players were seemingly unhappy and told their fans to calm down.

It didn't affect the play too much and Croatia equalised on 72-minutes. A cross was mis-judged by Giorgio Chiellini and the ball fell to the feet of Mandzukic. After taking a touch, the striker smashed the ball off the post and into the net.

From there, the game seemed to fizzle out as tiredness looked to come into play. There was another stoppage as another flare was thrown onto the pitch by the Croatian fans. Hopefully, security will prevent more of this happening. As for the teams, Croatia move up to four points with Italy on two.

Super Mario Outshines Robin

Netherlands Line-Up: Stekelenberg, Mathijsen (c), Heitinga, Willems, Van Der Wiel, Van Bommel (Van der Vaart, 45'), De Jong, Afellay (Huntelaar, 45'), Robben (Kuyt, 83'), Van Persie, Sneijder

Germany Line-Up: Neuer, Lahm (c), Hummels, Badstuber, Boateng, Schweinsteiger, Khedira, Podolski, Gomez (Klose, 72'), Muller (Bender, 90'), Ozil (Kroos, 81') 

Mario Gomez moves up to three goals for the tournament while potentially eliminating Netherlands from the tournament. Two goals from the Bayern Munich striker were enough to see Germany come through as winners despite Robin Van Persie's efforts to fight back.

The outlook to the game looked set quite early with Netherlands' back line looking extremely frail once again. Maarten Stekelenberg was being extremely overworked and Germany's best early chance came from Mesut Ozil. His stinging shot required Stekelenberg and the post to keep the effort out.

But Stekelenberg's resistance was no match for Gomez and the deadlock was broken on 24-minutes when a ball from Bastian Schweinsteiger split the defence and the striker was through on goal. A decent turn followed by a shot was all that was required to put Germany ahead. 

It would then be 2-0 seven minutes before half-time. Schweinsteiger was once again the creator with another sublime pass to play Gomez in. Gomez took a touch before unleashing a venomous shot into the back of the night.

As the scoreline suggested, Netherlands weren't looking like a team. There were a few half-time clashes of views between the players and Arjen Robben would sulkily leave the pitch when he got substituted for Dirk Kuyt. 

The introduction of Klaas Huntelaar and Rafael Van Der Vaart at half-time did somewhat bring more of an attacking threat. But their frailties were still being tested with Stekelenberg managing to keep the score down. Manuel Neuer was tested a little more in the second half but not enough to see Netherlands getting back into the game.

Van Persie then gave Netherlands some hope with a pile driver from outside the box that Neuer could do nothing about. But the Dutch couldn't muster up another moment of genius and now only a two goal+ victory over Portugal and Germany beating Denmark can put them through to the quarter finals. With two wins out of two, Germany are virtually there. 

Vare Good Result

Denmark Line-Up: Andersen, Jacobsen, S.Poulsen, Kjaer, Agger (c), Zimling (J.Poulsen, 17'), Kvist, Bendtner, Rommedahl (Mikkelsen, 60'), Krohn-Dehli (Schone, 90'), Eriksen
Portugal Line-Up: Rui Patricio, Pepe, Pereira, Alves, Coentrao, Meireles (Varela, 85') , Veloso, Moutinho, Postiga (Oliveira, 64'), Ronaldo (c), Nani

Silvestre Varela came off the bench to give Portugal a much needed three points. Portugal saw their 2-0 lead diminished by Nicklas Bendtner who continues his fabulous record against the Iberian side, six goals in five games for the want away Arsenal striker.

Portugal took the lead on 25-minutes when Pepe headed home a corner at the front post. Denmark hadn't learnt from this and found themselves 2-0 down 11-minutes later when Helder Postiga also headed a corner past Stephan Andersen.

Denmark looked dead and buried with Bendtner failing to make an impact on the game. This was until four minutes before half-time when a slick attacking move saw Michael Krohn-Dehli head the ball back across the goal for Bendtner to just tap home.

Portugal looked to turn the screw in the second half, in pursuit of their two goal cushion. Cristiano Ronaldo once again had an underwhelming performance after missing a couple of chances to put his side 3-1 ahead. His first chance came five minutes into the second half when he was played through but his scuffed shot was straight at the keeper.

Ronaldo's next chance came ten minutes from time when once again he found himself one-on-one with Andersen. But instead of rounding or lobbing the keeper, the skipper placed his shot miles wide. It looked like Portugal would be made to rue those chances as Bendtner sent another header past Rui Patricio to make it 2-2.

Portugal's throw of the dice saw Varela come on for Raul Meireles who had wasted a few chances during the match. Within two minutes of coming on, the Porto striker swung and missed with his left foot from a cross before spinning and rifling the ball home with his right foot. Portugal keep their tournament hopes alive and go level on points with Denmark.

Point Blasz

Poland Line-Up: Tyton, Wasilewski, Perquis, Boenisch, Piszczek, Blaszczykowski, Obraniak (Brozek, 90'), Dudka (Mierzejewski, 74'), Murawski, Polanski (Matuszcyk, 85'), Lewandowski
Russia Line-Up: Malafeev, Ignashevich, A.Berezutski, Anyukov, Zhirkov, Zyryanov, Shirokov, Denisov, Kerzhakov (Pavlyuchenko, 70'), Arshavin, Dzagoev (Izmaylov, 80')

A blast from Jakub Blaszczykowski ensured Poland would gain their second draw from the group stage after trailing from Alan Dzagoev's third goal of the tournament. The hosts now sit third on two points with Russia on top with fourth. Group A will probably be settled when Poland and Czech Republic meet in the final game.


Once again Andrei Arshavin produced his Zenit form but his service went to waste with Alexsandr Kerzhakov producing another lacklustre performance in front of goal. But Arshavin's efforts would not go to waste when his 37th minute free-kick was headed home by the starlet, Dzagoev.


Blaszczykowski came closest to equalising straight after going behind but Russia remained in control until half-time. Poland came out a little better in the second half and the Borussia Dortmund winger cut inside and blasted the ball past Vyacheslav Malafeev 12-minutes after the restart to equalise magnificently. 


Russia looked to tire towards the end of the game and had better chances to win the game. But Malafeev wasn't really tested and the hosts also seemed tired as they played out the remainder of the 1-1 draw.    
 

Greeks Beaten by Bouncing Back Czechs

Greece Line-Up: Chalkias (Sifakis, 23'), Torosidis, Holebas, K.Papadopoulos, Karagounis (c), Katsouranis, Fortounis (Mitroglu, 71') , Maniatis, Salpingidis, Samaras, Fotakis (Gekas, 45')
Czech Republic Line-Up: Cech, Sivok, Kadlec, Selassie, Limbersky, Rosicky (Kolar, 45', Rajtoral, 90'), Hubschman, Jiracek, Baros (Pekhart, 64') , Plasil, Pilar

Czech Republic get their tournament back on track, taking full advantage of the slow starting Greeks. Greece are now desperately needing a victory over Russia in their final game if they are to stand any hope of progressing into the knock-out phase.

With Greece's centre-back pairing unavailable, the Czech Republic instantly opened the defence up with a through ball that Petr Jiracek slotted past Kostas Chalkias after just three minutes. It was then two goals in six minutes when Selassie found acres of space to provide a low cross that was fumbled over the line by Vaclav Pilar.

After that, the two didn't really trouble either keeper. That was until the 20th minute when Chalkias was forced off with a hamstring injury and had to be replaced by Michalis Sifakis. Greece's closest chance to get back into the game before half-time saw Georgios Fotakis head a cross into the net, which Petr Cech maybe should have done better with. But it didn't matter as the linesman had put his flag up for offside, replays showed it was extremely close.

Just like in the Poland game, Greece played better in the second half with Theofanis Gekas brought into the game. The substitution paid off within eight minutes when a loose ball was rolling into the path of Cech. But the Champions League winner had a slight mix-up with a defender and the ball rebounded to Gekas who put the ball home.

But Greece couldn't come back against an improved Czech Republic side. Cech's howler didn't cost his side but he will be hoping for a better game against Poland in the final group match.

Sheva Back From the Dead

Ukraine Line-Up: Pyatov, Mykhalyk, Selin, Khacheridi, Tymoshchuk, Nazarenko, Gusev, Yarmolenko, Konoplyanka (Devich, 90'), Shevchenko (c) (Milevsky, 82'), Voronin (Rotan, 85')
Sweden Line-Up: Isaksson, Mellberg, Granqvist, Olsson, Lustig, Kallstrom, Elm, Larsson (Wilhelmsson, 68'), Ibrahimovic (c), Toivonen (Svensson, 64') , Rosenberg (Elmander, 72')

Andriy Shevchenko has risen from his Chelsea torment to once again be hailed as one of the best strikers in Europe. It was Shevchenko versus Zlatan Ibrahimovic and both captains stood up to the plate as Ukraine came from a goal down to top Group D.

Shevchenko would have Ukraine's best chance in the first half when he was put through, but his short just missed the post. Andriy Voronin also tested Isaksson, but his stinging effort did cause the former Manchester City keeper to parry it.

Ibrahimovic would also have Sweden's best effort in the first period. But his header agonisingly glanced off the post and wide. The teams ended up going off at half-time goalless but that would all change when the players came back out.

Sweden put together a good move seven minutes into the second half and Kim Kallstrom's low cross was carefully turned in by Ibrahimovic to take the lead. But Sweden's lead only lasted for three minutes when Andriy Yarmolenko's cross was headed home by Ukraine's hero, Shevchenko.

It would then get even better for the hosts when Shevchenko lost Ibrahimovic at the front post to head a corner home on 62-minutes. Sweden had late chances to equalise with substitute Johan Elmander lobbing over the bar before Olof Mellberg's chance fell onto the roof of the net. But Ukraine ultimately held out to claim their first victory at a Euro Championships.
        
  

Point For England

England Line-Up: Hart, Johnson, Terry, Lescott, Cole, Milner, Gerrard (c), Parker (Defoe, 78'), Oxlade-Chamberlain (Henderson, 78'), Young, Rooney
France Line-Up: Lloris (c), Mexes, Evra, Rami, Debuchy, Malouda (Ben Arfa, 84'), Diarra, Cabaye (Martin, 84'), Ribery, Benzema, Nasri

England's campaign begins with a point against the hardest team in the group. England's new efficient regime almost paid off when Joleon Lescott took the lead, but the lead would only last for less than ten minutes when Samir Nasri equalised for Les Bleus.

Joe Hart had an edgy start to the game, coming and failing to collect two early corners. But, for the most part, England looked more threatening despite France passing the ball around quicker. England's best chance, early on, came when Ashley Young played the ball through to James Milner, the midfielder rounded Hugo Lloris but the placed his shot wide.

Hart was the keeper involved more often with Yohan Cabaye and Franck Ribery testing the Premier League champion. But England found the breakthrough on the half hour mark when a Steven Gerrard free-kick was met by Lescott who headed past Lloris, marking his first goal for his country.

France then responded with Alou Diarra meeting a free-kick that produced a wonderful save from Hart. But England's resilience was finally broke down nine minutes after taking the lead, a nice interchange saw the ball played to Nasri. England were slow to close the midfielder down and Nasri fired a shot that beat Hart at his near post from outside the area.

The second half went virtually the same way as the first, both team cancelling each other out as both defences dealt with the pressure. Hart was again worked more then Lloris but not enough to alter the 1-1 scoreline.

Seventh Heaven For Nadal

Rafael Nadal wins his record seventh French Open title after winning a postponed final against Novak Djokovic. The win, in four sets, puts him ahead of Bjorn Borg in the most amount of titles won at Roland Garros.

Before the final, Djokovic hadn't taken a set against Nadal on clay and it was beginning to look ominous at the start of play on Sunday. The first set finished 6-4 to the Spaniard and Nadal was leading 5-2 in the second before Djokovic's complaints of rain was heard and the players went off court.

Just before that, Djokovic's frustration got the better of him when he put his racket through the advertising board on his chair. The Serb got a warning shortly before the rain delayed the action. The players returned around 15-minutes later and the damp court severely changed the momentum of the game.

The players both held serve to give Nadal a 6-3 second set victory. But the heavier balls meant Nadal's dominance on clay was diminishing. With the court hardening, Djokovic knew he had Nadal's number and roared into a 6-2 third set success.

Djokovic then lead 2-1 in the fourth before the heavens opened once again to force play to be stopped. The decision was to postpone the final until today which played straight into Nadal's hands. With a drier, softer court, Nadal could once again play his match winning shots, but the slight dampness in the air meant that Djokovic did still have a chance. The fourth set went all the way until the Serb double faulted to give Nadal a 7-5 fourth set victory and the record breaking seventh French Open title.

Crump Captures Copenhagen

Jason Crump won a dramatic Danish GP which puts him two points behind Greg Hancock in the overall standings. Crump overcame Freddie Lindgren, Hancock and Britain's Chris Harris to win the final.

Both semi-finals were full of drama, following in the same vain as the whole meeting. Semi-final one saw Hancock and Lindgren take on Nicky Pedersen and Chris Holder. The initial race saw Holder and Pedersen come together for the majority of the race before the Aussie finally put the Dane onto the floor. Holder was subsequently excluded but it didn't end there; the restart saw Pedersen trying to squeeze Lindgren out and the Swede had no option but to once again cause Pedersen to hit the deck. But this time it was Pedersen who was excluded for ultimately causing the collision. Hancock and Lindgren rode out the second restart with the American gaining the three points.

The second semi-final also had its drama. Crump and Harris met Bjarne Pedersen and Emil Sayfutdinov and it was the Russian who caused an incident. After a good start, Sayfutdinov lost control of the bike and just about managed to put both wheels back on the track, but this caused Bjarne Pedersen to crash into the Russian, causing Sayfutdinov and Harris to hit the floor. Sayfutdinov was excluded for causing the incident and Crump would win the restart.

The meeting started in just a dramatic fashion. Kenneth Bjerre and Jaroslaw Hampel collided going into the first corner and the Pole unfortunately suffered a dislocated ankle. With Hampel not able to continue, the restart would feature reserve driver, Peter Kildemand. But the Dane's anticipation got the better of him and he would false start, taking the tapes with him. This again forced an exclusion and the second restart had the second reserve driver, teenager Mikkel B Jensen. Holder eventually won it ahead of Anderson, Bjerre and Jensen.

Hancock took the second heat with Peter Ljung picking up a surprising victory in the heat three. Andreas Jonsson's night didn't start well as he packed up in heat four as Nicky Pedersen took it ahead of Antonio Lindback and wildcard Michael Jepsen Jensen.

Nicky Pedersen made it two heats in two rides in front of his home crowd in heat five. Heat six was delayed due to the pit gate not being shut properly. Once that had been sorted, Thomasz Gollob won his only heat of the night with Jepsen Jensen finishing second. Harris took heat seven ahead of Hancock with Sayfutdinov winning heat eight.

Jonsson returned to take heat nine ahead of Harris, Holder and Gollob. Bjarne Pedersen took heat ten in front of his home supporters. Sayfutdinov made it two heats in a row with Crump back in third and the teenager Mikkel Jensen would go onto win heat 12, ahead of Hancock and Nicky Pedersen.

Drama returned in heat 13 when Holder caused Bjarne Pedersen to hit the deck. Holder was excluded and Hancock would win his second heat in the restart. Sayfutdinov made it three heats in a row after forcing Nicky Pedersen out wide. The Dane had done the same to Holder in heat five, but. because it had happened to him, Pedersen was unhappy and he squared up to Sayfutdinov until security had to separate the riders.

Bjerre packed up in heat 15 which Freddie Lindgren went onto win. Crump took his first heat in the 16th before Holder and Crump took the next two heats, both recording two wins for meeting. Nicky Pedersen was on the floor once again in the penultimate heat, a bunch up going into the first corner forced Bjarne Pedersen to clip his fellow Dane who also took Gollob down with him. All four riders restarted and it was Bjarne Pedersen who took his second heat of the night. Wildcard Jepsen Jensen rounded his night off with a win in the final heat.

The result means Hancock now leads the standings on 75 points but is only two points ahead of Crump. Nicky Pedersen is now further behind on 65 points with Holder climbing up on 61. Gollob and Lindgren are even further behind on 52 points.