Italy beat 10-man Ireland Republic 2-0 to enter Euro quarterfinals

Italy beat 10-man Ireland 2-0 to enter Euro quarterfinals

Italy beat 10-man Ireland Republic 2-0 at the Municipal Stadium on Monday to reach the Euro Cup 2012 quarterfinals.

Antonio Cassano and Mario Balotelli scored the goals for Italy, they placed second behind Spain in Group C to enter Euro quqrterfinals C and will play the Group D winners in the last eight while Ireland finish bottom with three defeats.

Giovanni Trapattoni's Ireland produced their best performance of the tournament, but were still well beaten and exit the tournament with three defeats from as many games. Keith Andrews was sent off late on, picking up a second yellow card for dissent.

But Italy coach Cesare Prandelli will also have been concerned by his side's dip in physical condition in the final 20 minutes, just as it did in their previous two games.

Having had their gameplan thrown into disarray by conceding early goals in their previous two matches, Ireland at least seemed fired up from the off.

Several times Ireland broke at pace and had the Italian defence back-pedalling but they spurned their own chances through either a wayward pass, poor decision-making or running down a blind alley.

Italy soon took command although Daniele De Rossi's left-foot volley from outside the box was a touch over-ambitious.

Italy won a cheap corner in 35^th min after Shay Given spilled a Cassano shot, and the Azzurri duly took the lead. Cassano glanced Pirlo's delivery goalwards, Given made half a save and Duff hooked it away from his position on the far post.
The second half followed the same pattern as the first, as Cassano and Di Natale were denied by some heroic Irish blocks. Di Natale went off on 75 minutes having racked up seven shots, six on target.

Ireland threatened to break Italian hearts as the second half went on and the Azzurri became nervous. Countless set piece chances came and went, while Andrews tested Gianluigi Buffon with a long shot.

It took the substitute Balotelli to put the result beyond doubt. He met a corner from the Italian right with a sweetly-struck volley on the turn, and Given had no chance.

Spain enters quarterfinals beat Croatia 1-0 in Group C Croatia v Spain Euro Cup match

Spain beat Croatia 1-0 to enter Euro Cup 2012 quarterfinals

Spain enters the Euro 2012 quarter-finals after a 1-0 win against Croatia at the PGE Arena Gdansk on Monday.

Neither side seemed in any hurry to snatch the initiative throughout, with La Roja's famed tiki-taka football failing to break down a determined defensive barrier set up by Slaven Bilic's men.

The match seemed destined to end in a stalemate, but with two minutes remaining, substitute Jesus Navas walked the ball into the net to confirm Croatia's exit from the tournament.

With Croatia attempting to find the goal they needed to stay in the tournament, Cesc Fabregas - on for David Silva - picked out Andres Iniesta, who played the ball across the face of goal for Navas to seal the three points.

Defending Champions Spain progress as Group C winners on seven points while Italy join them as runners-up on five points after their 2-0 win over Republic of Ireland, who lost their three games at the finals. Croatia concluded on four points in third place. Now Spain and Italy will face one of France, England or Ukraine.

Vicente del Bosque named an unchanged line-up from the 4-0 win over Ireland, with two-goal hero Fernando Torres continuing as the lone presence in attack.

Bilic, meanwhile, made two alterations to his XI from the 1-1 draw with Italy, with Domagoj Vida and Danijel Pranjic coming in as replacements for Nikica Jelavic and Ivan Perisic.

The first half resembled a training session with Spain seeming to lack urgency and incision as Croatia’s decision to flood the midfield and operate with only Mario Mandzukic up front kept them in the game until the dying moments

Spain’s players and certainly their fans looked highly uncomfortable the longer the night staggered on as Casillas produced an excellent save to claw out an Ivan Rakitic header from Luka Modric’s cross on 59 minutes.

Pletikosa made saves from Iniesta and Navas in the closing eight minutes, but Croatia were suddenly proving to be a real threat as outgoing coach Slaven Bilic threw on Nikica Jelavic and Eduardo in the closing minutes to try to save the day.

However in the 88th minute, a swift attack saw Iniesta break free, where he squared to Navas for the simplest of goals.

Croatia rushed to respond, but with news of Italy's late second against Ireland rippling throughout the stadium, Bilic's men simply ran out of time.

Portugal reaches quarterfinals by Ronaldo double goals, Portugal beat Netherlands 2-1 in euro cup 2012 match

Ronaldo double sends Portugal into Euro 2012 quarterfinals

Portugal beat the Netherlands 2-1 on Sunday to set up a Euro 2012 quarterfinal with the Czech Republic and condemn the Dutch to a first group-stage European Championship exit since 1980.

The 2012 World Cup finalists Netherlands were seen as one of the pre-tournament favourites but failed spectacularly to live up to the billing and now return home on the back of three successive defeats.

Netherlands needing to win by two clear goals to stand any hope of progressing to the Euro Cup 2012 quarterfinals, and Rafeal Van der Vaart looked to have set his side up for an unlikely quarter-final spot when he put them ahead with a fine early strike in the 11^th minute of the match, but Portugal fought back through two Cristiano Ronaldo goals to leave the Dutch bottom of Group B.

The Portuguese captain defied criticism of his performances with a magnificent display to secure second place in Group B to compete for a semi-final place against the Czech Republic in Warsaw on Thursday.

Rafeal van der Vaart, who replaced Captain Mark van Bommel and inherited the captain's armband from him needed less than 11 minutes to vindicate his manager's decision, collecting a pass from Arjen Robben and shaping a delightful 25-yard shot inside the left-hand post to put Holland ahead.

On 28 minutes sloppy play from the Jetro Willems gave Joao Pereira possession, and the Portugal right-back slid Ronaldo through with one of the passes of the tournament - and the Portugal captain found the net at last.

Portugal continued to dominate in the second half of the match, in 74^th min Ronaldo teed up Nani, whose close range shot brought a brilliant save from Stekelenburg - but a more precise finish would have given the goalkeeper no chance.