Independent.ie - Euro 2008 RSS Feed

Aragones leadership key for Spain

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Those who say Spain is not a country but a state of various minds and a series of dramatic gestures must now admit there is nothing intangible about their football team -- or the glorious way they have made themselves champions of Europe these last few weeks.

Euro 08: So, how was it for you?

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

After two weeks in the heart of Europe Daniel McDonnell examines the good, the bad, and the downright insane in Switzerland and Austria

Torres ends famine

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

This wonderful festival of football finished in style last night, settled by that stylish finisher Fernando Torres. In ending 44 years of hurt, Spain possessed too much heart, too much invention, and too much Torres for Germany.

Flair triumphs over German fortitude as Aragones' men banish their demons in style

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

FROM zeroes to heroes. Twenty one months ago, in the away dressing room at Linfield's Windsor Park home, nine of last night's European Championship winning side sat reflecting on the humiliation of a 3-2 defeat to Northern Ireland.

Sizzling Spanish rout Russia

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

LIGHTNING does strike twice. Echoing the three-goal margin with which they defeated Russia as Euro 2008 opened, Spain last night glided to the tournament's climax with some memorable second-half moves as thunder and lightning crackled around the Ernst Happel Stadium.

Agony for Turkey as last-gasp Lahm strike seals thrilling 3-2 triumph

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

German football as we know it -- the team that endures, the team that comes through, the team that wins-- was born in Switzerland, 60 miles from the stadium where they fought their way desperately through to another final.

Fabregas finds the nerve to end Italy's reign over the Spanish

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 07:14:14 +0100

It took what the Spanish call cojones for Cesc Fabregas to score Spain's win-ning penalty last night and lift of one of the oldest curses on their national team.

Arshavin scintillates in Russia's march to semis

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The European Championships now belong to Andrei Arshavin. Russia knocked favourites Holland out of the tournament in Basle last night, driven by the complete performance from Arshavin, who scored the final goal in their 3-1 victory after extra-time.

Casillas hails his greatest triumph

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Some club managers, and especially Sir Alex Ferguson, will tell you that as a pure football contest, winning the Champions League is the ultimate test. And yet to the Spanish players who paraded the Henri Delaunay Trophy around the Ernst Happel Stadium on Sunday night, it did not quite feel like it.

Euro 2008's 10 most wanted players

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The football may not have been cautious at Euro 2008 - but the transfer market has been.

Flair triumphs over German fortitude as Aragones' men banish their demons in style

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Spanish can defy history because they have more passion and more talent

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

A fter about 25 minutes of Germany's semi-final against Turkey in Basle last Wednesday, Michael Ballack was among several German players who went to the German dug-out for a drink of water.

Big guns a draw for Euro punters

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Major sporting events are always welcomed with open arms by layers and punters alike, but there was a degree of pessimism within the betting industry surrounding the Euro 2008 Championships.

Fabregas ready to take step into Spanish history

Sat, 28 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Cesc Fabregas is the diplomatic type, polite in two different languages.

Aragones displays ultimate 'cojones'

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Aragones showed some ultimate football 'cojones' when he brought off two of the most gifted players in Europe, Cesc Fabregas and Fernando Torres, just when Germany, the team you cannot easily put away, were shaping up for one last attempt to fight back against a wave of Spanish attacks.

Spanish can defy history because they have more passion and more talent

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

A fter about 25 minutes of Germany's semi-final against Turkey in Basle last Wednesday, Michael Ballack was among several German players who went to the German dug-out for a drink of water.

Big guns a draw for Euro punters

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Major sporting events are always welcomed with open arms by layers and punters alike, but there was a degree of pessimism within the betting industry surrounding the Euro 2008 Championships.

Choc tactics required to avoid feeling pain of Vienna's daily grind

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I am allergic to chocolate. In Vienna, they are not. If I eat chocolate, I get migraines so I haven't eaten it in more than 20 years and I'm happy enough with that. In Vienna, they are not.

England's sporting 'ambassadors' are put to shame by Europe's finest footballers

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 14:56:58 +0100

Though the usual post-game desire to dance over the cobbles of St Stephen's Square in Vienna was less overwhelming today after the reminder from Italy and Spain of what we were not missing, Euro 2008 continues to enjoy vast and surely legitimate credit, both on and off the field.

Big salary, big transfer war chest and big players with big egos but can Big Phil cope in the Chelsea madhouse

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Who can resist the sight of a wild but infinitely funded poker player relentlessly raising the stakes? It may not be good poker, indeed not even what the game is supposed to be about, but when you see a man drunk on something other than alcohol, and especially if it is his own power, you are bound to take a look.