Euro Semifinals: England and Italy Look to Join Germany, Spain and Portugal
Spain beat France 2-0 in Saturday's quarter final to book their place in the Euro semifinals. Xabi Alonso, on his 100th appearance for his country, scored both goals in the victory, which has cemented their billing as favorites to retain their Euro crown.
France battled hard but could not contain the threat from the creative Spanish players, and France rarely troubled the Spanish goal. The match was a one-sided contest with Spain controlling the ball and possession comfortably, and at times it looked like a training match for their players.
The win sets up a meeting against Portugal, in a mouth-watering semifinal. Portugal, after a slow start to the tournament, have excelled in their past two games. They completely dominated one of the tournament favorites in the Netherlands in their third group game, before seeing off a dangerous and resilient Czech Republic side in their quarter final match.
Portugal will arguably be Spain's toughest game yet, with Ronaldo and Nani coming into form at the perfect time. If Ronaldo can get time on the ball and run at defenders then he could cause Spain some serious problems.
It will take someone with Ronaldo's creative skills to break down this Spanish team. Their 2-0 win over France extended their run of not conceding a goal in major tournament knock out soccer since the 2006 World Cup.
Germany have also taken a semifinal spot by confidently defeating Greece in their quarter final. After a scare mid-way through the second half when Greece managed to equalize and bring the game back to 1-1, Germany moved up a gear and scored three superb goals to take a 4-1 lead and book their semifinal spot.
Sunday will see the final semifinal spot confirmed when England and Italy compete in the last quarter final. However, whichever of those teams make it through, Germany will be firm favorites for that semifinal, and most right now will be predicting a mouth watering Spain vs. Germany final.
