My Sports India: Match Previews, TV Channel timings, and important sports news stories

Word is that DD National will be broadcasting the remainder of the Euro 2008 games for the entire Indian population to see. DD hasn’t put out any official time table so you will have to rely on the ESPN timetable for the matches. 

Note that we haven’t confirmed this yet. We will let you know as soon as we do. Note that we haven’t confirmed this yet. We will let you know as soon as we do. In the meantime, here’s the fixtures for the semi-finals of Euro 2008. 

Semi-finals

Final

Dmitri Torbinski and Andrei Arshavin scored in the second period of extra time as Russia beat the Netherlands 3-1 last night to reach the semifinals of soccer’s European Championship. Roman Pavlyuchenko had put the Russians ahead after 56 minutes in Basel, Switzerland, before Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy tied the game with four minutes of regulation play remaining. Russia coached by Dutchman Guus Hiddink will now make its first appearance in the last four of a major tournament since competing as an independent nation. It previously played as part of the Soviet Union, winner of the inaugural title in 1960.

The Netherlands, the European champion in 1988, had won every group-stage match by outscoring its opponents 9-1. Defender Khalid Boulahrouz was included in the Dutch starting lineup, two days after deciding to stay with the squad following the death of his prematurely born baby daughter. His teammates wore black armbands as a mark of respect. It was Russia that created the game’s first opportunity, with Yuri Zhirkov forcing a save from goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar in the seventh minute with a free-kick. Pavlyuchenko then headed an Igor Semshov cross over from 10 yards out. Russia goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev saved a 37th-minute shot from Van Nistelrooy and punched out a powerful drive from Van der Vaart after 44 minutes. The Dutch struggled to create clear chances until Van Nistelrooy tied the game. The Real Madrid striker dived to head in a freekick by Wesley Sneijder at the far post.

Both teams attacked from the start of extra time, with Van der Sar and Akinfeev both having to make saves in the first three minutes. In the 97th minute, Pavlyuchenko was denied his second goal by the crossbar after cutting inside and striking a right-foot shot from 20 yards. The Russians then wasted several opportunities as Torbinski couldn’t put the ball in from six yards and Kolodin sent a freekick wide. The teams remained tied at the end of the first 15-minute period. Torbinski, who will miss the semifinal after collecting his second yellow card of the tournament, put Russia ahead again with eight minutes remaining. He put a looping Arshavin cross into the net from close range for his second international goal. Arshavin then scored with a low shot, which went through the legs of Van der Sar, to end hopes of a Dutch comeback.

Russia will next face the winner of today’s quarterfinal between world champion Italy or Spain on June 26. Record three- time winner Germany faces Turkey on June 25 in the other semifinal.

Turkey, which entered the European championships with 40-1 odds to win the tournament, scored a 3-1 penalty kicks victory over Croatia to set up a semifinal match with record three-time champion Germany. After scoring decisive goals late in its last two matches against Switzerland and the Czech Republic, Turkey stunned Croatia when substitute Semih Senturk crashed in a shot with the last kick of the 120-minute match at the Ernst Happel stadium in Vienna to force the shootout. Ivan Klasnic’s header a minute earlier appeared to have sent Turkey out. The Turks now move to Switzerland for its game against Germany on June 25 in Basle. Turkey beat the Swiss 2-1 in its second game and then managed to come from 2-0 down to edge the Czechs 3-2, with Nihat Kahveci netting twice in the final three minutes. It lost the opener 3-0 to Portugal. Croatia manager Slaven Bilic said Turkey’s win owed to “something special” that has surrounded them in this tournament and that his team was stronger in open play. He said the timing of Senturk’s goal destroyed his players’ confidence.

Midfielder Luca Modric, praised by Bilic for his play in the tournament, missed Croatia’s first penalty. He slid the ball wide to the right and Arda Turan scored for Turkey. After Darijo Srna and Senturk made their teams’ second kicks, Croatia’s Ivan Rakitic fired his attempt wide. Altintop converted to give Turkey a 3-1 lead and goalkeeper Rustu Recber, playing only because first choice Volkan Demiral was suspended, then dived to stop a shot from Mladen Petric. His save ended the shootout, sending Turkish fans and players into celebration and the Croatian players down on their knees in the center circle. Minutes earlier, it was the Croatians who danced wildly, having scored the game’s first goal in the 30th minute of extra time. The team’s entire bench, led by gray-suited coach Bilic, stormed onto the field to celebrate Klasnic’s header.

Terim said he will have to asses the damage of last night’s victory at the team hotel today. Frontline striker Nihat Kahveci limped out with a thigh problem and Tuncay Sanli, Turan and Emre Asik will all miss the Germany game through suspension after receiving yellow cards. Turkey’s best previous European finish came when it reached the quarterfinals in 2000. It then went on to finish in third place at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.

Germany overpowered Portugal 3-2 to reach the semifinals of soccer’s European Championship for the first time since 1996. Bastian Schweinsteiger returned from suspension last night to score one goal and set up two in the first quarterfinal in Basel, Switzerland. Germany will face either Croatia or Turkey in its first semifinal since winning a record third European title 12 years ago. Schweinsteiger missed Germany’s last game after getting a red card against Croatia. He returned to open the scoring in the 22nd minute, then provided free kicks which Miroslav Klose and Michael Ballack headed in for goals. Nuno Gomes and Helder Postiga scored for Portugal, which was attempting to reach its third straight semifinal. The loss ended the five-year reign of Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who will take over English Premier League club Chelsea on July 1. Scolari’s counterpart Low was serving a one-game suspension after being sent to the stands during the win over Austria in Germany’s last match.

Portugal had the first scoring chance yesterday in the 15th minute as Deco sent a pass to Simao, whose shot was saved by Germany goalkeeper Jens Lehmann. Joao Moutinho was then undecided whether to head or kick a cross from Jose Bosingwa and the ball went off his thigh and over the crossbar. Germany took the lead in the 22nd minute when Lukas Podolski took Ballack’s return pass down the left side before centering a ball that Schweinsteiger slid inside the near post. Less than five minutes later, Schweinsteiger lofted a freekick into the area which an unmarked Klose headed in for his first goal of the tournament. Portugal made it 2-1 five minutes before halftime after Lehmann came out to block Cristiano Ronaldo’s shot. The rebound went to Gomes, whose left-foot effort evaded defender Christoph Metzelder on the goal line.

The Germans increased their lead 13 minutes into the second half as Schweinsteiger sent another freekick into the area and Ballack appeared to push off a defender before heading it in. Scolari said Ballack, his future player at Chelsea, should have been called for a foul. Postiga, who entered the game in the 73rd minute, headed in Nani’s cross with three minutes left make it 3-2. The Portuguese, runners-up to Greece at Euro 2004, pushed on during four minutes of injury time though couldn’t get a clear shot on goal.

Germany coach Joachim Loew is suspended for his side’s Euro 2008 quarter-final match against Portugal, Europe’s governing body UEFA said on Tuesday. The disciplinary code of the tournament states that any player or officials sent off is automatically suspended for one game (Article 9 of Disciplinary Regulations), in this case Thursday’s knockout match in Basle, Switzerland.

UEFA director of communications William Gaillard told a press briefing in Vienna that the organization’s disciplinary committee will be looking into the sending off of Loew on Wednesday. Loew and his Austrian counterpart Josef Hickersberger were sent off during the first half of Monday’s Group B game between Germany and Austria, which the three-time champions won 1-0 to advance to the quarter-finals, while Austria were knocked out. Loew protested his innocence and rather attacked the fourth match official for interefering all the time.

If Loew’s suspension stands, he would have no access to the players after they arrive at the stadium for their quarter-final against Portugal. He will not be allowed to communicate with the players at all in the stadium. He could though, participate in the pre- and post-match news conference. Loew said he had no explanation for the sending off and for his part issued sharp criticism on the fourth official Damir Skomina of Slovenia.

Germany take on Portugal in the first quarter final of Euro 2008 on the 20th of June. Match will be shown live on ESPN from 00.05 IST onwards.

Ballack gets Germany into the Quarter finals

Michael Ballack booked Germany’s place in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 after his thunderbolt free-kick earned a 1-0 victory in a hot-tempered clash against co-hosts Austria.

The Chelsea midfielder has been unhappy with his performances in the tournament so far but returned to the form of the last six months of the domestic season, lashing into the top corner just after the break at Vienna’s Ernst Happel Stadium.

It sets up a last-eight clash against his new club boss Luiz Felipe Scolari, who will fulfil his Portugal duties before being unveiled at Stamford Bridge later this summer.

Croatia chucks out Poland from the Euro Championship

Ivan Klasnic’s second-half goal made it three wins out of three for Group B winners Croatia and in the process ensured an early tournament exit for Poland.

Klasnic struck in the 52nd minute with the only goal of the game to earn a much-changed Croatia a deserved victory and continue their impressive start to the tournament - which has also included triumphs over Austria and Germany and will next see them take on Turkey in the last eight.

For Poland the unlikely task of claiming a quarter-final spot proved mission impossible.

Needing a win and a favourable result from the Austria-Germany game to continue their adventure in their first European Championship finals, they could find no way through against an impressive Croatia.

Turkey’s last minute goals get them a spot at the quarter final

Nihat Kahveci scored twice in a dramatic final four minutes to earn Turkey second spot in Group A and a quarter-final clash with Croatia after thrilling 3-2 defeat of Czech Rpeublic in Geneva.

The Czechs looked home and dry in the 61st minute when Jaroslav Plasil added to Jan Koller’s first-half opener to put his team 2-0 ahead.

But in an amazing end to the winner-takes-all match, Arda Turan halved the deficit in the 75th minute before Nihat came to the party.

The Turkey captain drew the sides level in the 86th minute when he took advantage of a ghastly error by Czech goalkeeper Petr Cech to poke home into an empty net.

And the Villarreal striker sparked delirium among the Turkish fans when he curled home an unstoppable winner with two minutes remaining.

There was still time for Turkey goalkeeper Volkan Demirel to receive his marching orders for an off-the-ball incident involving Koller, but his team held on to record their first win over the Czechs in 12 attempts.

The Croatian Group B winners now lie in wait for the Turks in Vienna on Friday.

Switzerland defeat Portugal 2-0 in an unimportant match. Nonetheless, well done Switzerland!

Hakan Yakin’s slick second-half double gave Switzerland coach Kobi Kuhn a victorious send-off as the co-hosts bowed out of Euro 2008 with three points and a 2-0 win from their final match against a much-changed Portugal side.

The Young Boys midfielder, who also netted his team’s only other goal of the tournament in Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat to Turkey, struck 19 minutes from time and then again from the penalty spot 11 minutes later to secure the triumph.

The Portuguese may count themselves a little unfortunate, having hit the woodwork through both Pepe and Nani, although Gokhan Inler was also denied by the frame of the goal for the Swiss.

With Portugal already guaranteed top spot in Group A and Switzerland knowing they could not climb off the bottom no matter what the result, there was on the face of it little to play for on Sunday.

But both teams played their part in an entertaining affair, with the crowd certainly enjoying themselves and creating a party atmosphere inside Basle’s St Jakob-Park with a Mexican wave in the early stages.

I missed out on reporting yesterdays’ matches due to some network issues. Sweden defeated Spain 2-1 while Russia got the better of Greece in a narrow 1-0 victory.

Buffon saves the last minute penalty, giving Italy one more chance to qualify.

Italy live to fight another day at the European Championships thanks to a late penalty save from goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon in their 1-1 draw against Romania.

Fiorentina striker Adrian Mutu had put the Romanians in front in the 57th minute only for Christian Panucci to equalise straightaway for the world champions, who suffered a 3-0 humiliation to Holland in their opening Group C game.

Panucci then brought Daniel Niculae down five minutes from time to concede the penalty, but Mutu’s effort from the spot was saved by Buffon.

The result means that Italy must now win their last game against France on Tuesday to stand any realistic chance of progressing.

Holland’s amazing gameplay buried France 4-1 to seal their ticket for the quarter-finals

Rampant Holland produced an attacking masterclass for the second time in four days to bury France 4-1 in Bern and seal qualification for the quarter-finals of Euro 2008.

Dirk Kuyt opened the scoring and Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder added others after the break as Marco van Basten’s in-form team sank the French in the same way they did world champions Italy at the same stadium on Monday.

Les Bleus’ consolation came through Thierry Henry on his return to the team, but even their revered defence could not handle the pace and brio of their opponents’ attacks.

France meet Italy on Tuesday but they both may be eliminated if Romania, who are second in the group, defeat Holland on the same night following their 1-1 draw with the Italians earlier, although this is highly doubtful considering the strong team Holland has put forth.

The Dutch, meanwhile, will now have to cope with the tag of tournament favourites after disposing of the two World Cup finalists of 2006 in sensational style, scoring seven goals in the process. They were bound to feel at home given the army of Oranje fans who had invaded Bern city centre during the day and then the Stade de Suisse Wankdorf in the evening.

Looking at the current standings, Holland is definitely a strong contender for the finals. With 7 goals scored in total, and definitely some more to come against Romania, the Dutch are finally proving themselves.

Darkhorses Croatia defeat Germany only for the second time. Qualify for the quarters.

Croatia brought hope back into their game by defeating Germany 2-1 in a ultra-tense match today. Darijo Srna and Ivica Olic struck their side’s goals as Croatia, who had only ever beaten Germany once before, produced arguably the first major upset of Euro 2008 in an entertaining encounter in Klagenfurt.

A frantic start to the match promised much but for all their huffing and puffing, neither side were able to create anything resembling a chance in the opening 20 minutes as defences held firm.

The ball did find its way into the back of the net in the 22nd minute when Germany striker Mario Gomez slotted past Stipe Pletikosa but the offside flag had already gone up against the Stuttgart man well beforehand.

The deadlock was broken for real just two minutes after that incident though, when Croatia went ahead through Srna.

The Croats doubled their advantage when Olic had the easy task of slotting one for the team in the 62nd minute. 

Low’s side earned themselves a lifeline with 12 minutes to go though when Podolski lashed home a shot on the half-volley after the ball had fallen kindly to him in the box.

Germany could not build on that goal, though, and their final hopes of getting anything out of the match all but disappeared when Schweinsteiger was given a straight red card for shoving an opponent.

Austria levels score with Poland, with just two minutes left into the game.

Austria veteran Ivica Vastic levelled three minutes into injury time to earn a 1-1 draw against Poland after English referee Howard Webb awarded a controversial penalty.

Roger Guerreiro’s first goal for his country looked to have given Poland a win against the Euro 2008 co-hosts Austria in Vienna. However, Guerreiro, the Brazil-born playmaker, looked offside when he tapped in his first for his adopted country.

Austria, then frantically looking for a chance to score finally got their break in the 92nd minute, way into the injury time.

The worst kept secret in football is now official. Luiz Felipe Scholari has succeeded Avram Grant as the manager of Chelsea. The Brazilian was the favourite to succeed Grant, though this is surprising news considering that no formal announcement was to be made until after Portugal’s Euro 2008 campaign came to an end.

Chelsea said in a statement: “Chelsea Football Club is delighted to confirm that Luiz Felipe Scolari will be the club’s new manager from July 1, 2008.”

“Felipe has great qualities. He is one of the world’s top coaches with a record of success at country and club level, he gets the best out of a talented squad of players and his ambitions and expectations match ours.”

However, what is the fate of Portugal amidst all these announcements? “Portugal will stay focussed”, says the coach. Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has warned Switzerland his team do not intend to take their foot off the gas in their final Group A match on Sunday despite having already guaranteed a last-eight berth at Euro 2008.

Chelsea’s Ricardo Carvalho has backed new manager Luiz Felipe Scolari to improve the team when he takes over after Euro 2008.

Will Scholari make all the difference for Chelsea? Or is Manchester United still going to be the league champions? Let us know what you think of this change. 

Portugal ready for quarter-final after defeating Czech Republic 3-1.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s sweet second-half strike all but booked Portugal’s place in the Euro 2008 quarter-finals on Wednesday as Luiz Felipe Scolari’s team beat Czech Republic 3-1 at Stade de Geneve.

Man of the match Cristiano Ronaldo declared himself “very happy” after putting Portugal on the brink of a Euro 2008 quarter-final place. The Portuguese overcame Czech Republic 3-1 at the Stade Geneve on Wednesday to move onto six points from two games in Group A.

Ronaldo and substitute Ricardo Quaresma struck second-half goals - the latter in stoppage time - to earn the victory after Libor Sionko had cancelled out Deco’s opener.

“Our main aim was to get to next phase. I’m very happy to have helped my team-mates to win,” said the Manchester United star.

Will getting to the Quarter finals be enough for Portugal? I sure hope they got a little more than that, although, judging by their performance, they sure look like the strongest team on at the tournament. 

Turks knock the co-hosts Switzerland out of the tournament

Turkey’s Arda Turan stunned Switzerland with an injury-time goal at a rain-soaked St Jakob-Park Stadium on Wednesday to knock the Euro 2008 co-hosts out of the tournament.

Hakan Yakin opened the scoring for Switzerland in the 32nd minute but substitute Semih Senturk’s equaliser shortly before the hour mark left both teams searching for their first win in Group A and in the bottom two places of the group.

Just as the game looked to be headed for a draw, Arda struck from the edge of the area. His right-footed effort deflected off a Swiss defender and into the goal to silence the home crowd.

The Swiss wasted the chance to move in front late in the game when Turkey goalkeeper Volkan Demirel made a stunning save to deny Yakin’s close-range effort. Turkey take on the Czech Republic in the last group game on Sunday while the Swiss face unbeaten Portugal. I’m sure Portugal is just going to increase their points.

David Villa strikes a hat-trick netting a 4-1 victory for Spain over Russia. 

David Villa struck a hat-trick as classy Spain got their Euro 2008 challenge off to a flying start with a 4-1 win against Russia at a rain-swept Stadion Tivoli Neu in Innsbruck.

Villa scored twice in the first half before netting his third 15 minutes from time, earning himself the match ball, the man of the match award and making him an early front-runner for the tournament’s leading scorer.

Roman Pavluchenko pulled a late goal back for Russia, but there was still time for Spain to net a fourth through Cesc Fabregas to wrap up a deserved win that will add weight to the belief that this could well be the Iberian nation’s year.

Spain, who extended their unbeaten run to 17 matches with the win, will be wary about reading too much into this result, though. At Euro 2004 they also beat Russia in their opening match only for both sides to fail to make it through to the quarter-finals.

Goal drought ends for Ibrahimovic as Sweden gets a 2-0 defeat over former champions Greece. 

Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic ended his international goal drought in style as Greece’s defence of their European Championship title started with a 2-0 defeat in Salzburg.

Ibrahimovic had not scored for his country since October 2005 but smashed into the top corner in the 67th minute at Stadion Wals-Siezenheim. Receiving a throw from the right flank he fed Henrik Larsson, who returned the ball to the edge of the area to allow Ibrahimovic to unleash his effort without breaking stride.

When Petter Hansson bundled in a second five minutes later, the resistance of the Greeks was crushed. No team has successfully defended this competition and Greece have been given little chance to make history.