Spain Hoping for Third Successive Major Final While Ronaldo Looks To Leave His Mark

By Richard Scott;

http://redcardreco.blogspot.co.uk/

Tonight sees the first semi-final of the European Championship as group B runners up Portugal take on group C winners Spain.

Portugal's hopes rest on Cristiano Ronaldo who is one the leading scorers so far in the tournament with three goals. The Real Madrid star man will be up against many of his team-mates in the Spain team.

One of his Real team-mates is Spain number one Iker Casillas who will win his 136th cap should he play and will become the first player to win 100 games for his country should they progress to the final. The Spain goalkeeper made his debut 12 years ago against Sweden at the age of 19.

Spain, defending European champions and World Cup winners, are favourites to make Sunday's final with their attacking style of play having already brought 8 goals from Fabregas, Alonso, Torres (2 each) Silva and Navas (1 each).

Former Liverpool star Xabi Alonso said during the pre match press conference that it will be a team effort in stopping Ronaldo from taking his team through.

The Dombass Arena will not be full of fans as not many have made the trip to the semi final due to the distance from Spain and Portugal.

The game kicks off at 7:45pm (BST time) and will be shown on BBC One.

France Hoping to Beat Spain at Their Own Game

12 years ago France beat Spain in a thrilling Euro 2000 quarter-final with goals from Youri Djorkaeff and legendary figure Zinedine Zidane. Raul then blazed a last minute penalty over the bar for Spain as France marched on to take a classic Euro 2000 final against Italy 2-1 with a golden goal from David Trezeguet after Sylvain Wiltord had equalised in injury time. Zidane was named player of that tournament and was acclaimed as one the best players ever. He went on to guide France to another final, this time in the 2006 World Cup where they again met Italy but lost on penalties after Zidane scored and then was sent off. A lot has changed in French football since that day in Berlin. At both Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010 all they could manage was one point and bottom spot in their group.

After World Cup 2010 France embarked on a programme to try to restore themselves as one of Europe's footballing powerhouses in the wake of player unrest and revolt. Much-maligned manager Raymond Domenech was replaced by former defender Laurent Blanc and the French started to try to replicate the possession football of the 'golden generation' a few years before. Now much has changed since 2006 and on Zidane's 40th birthday the French will attempt to play as they did in 2006 when they beat Spain 3-1 in the last 16; a win courtesy of the style of play that Spain are now famous for. Spain the reigning European and World champions will have plenty to say about that as they endeavour to continue to become the first nation to win three major tournaments in a row.

Spain play with seven Barcelona players and may play without a recognised striker in the team; as they did in the opening match against Italy. Cesc Fabregas may play as the furthest man forward with the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Silva and Xabi Alonso behind him. However Fernando Torres has shown signs of a return to form and he will be hoping to lead the attack in the absence of the injured David Villa. France have started to play very good passing football with Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema the focal point of their forward line. Newcastle United midfielder Yohan Cabaye has continued on from a good season in England with good performances in the centre so far this tournament while France look relatively settled at the back. France's win over Ukraine was their first win in a major finals since 2006 and were unbeaten in 23 matches before their defeat to Sweden.

Spain will rightly go into this match as favourites but have not hit top form yet in Poland and Ukraine and France will fancy their chances of setting up a semi-final with Portugal. This quarter-final should be another great game in the latest episode in France and Spain's long footballing series.

Italy Hoping for No Match-Fixing Today as They Look to Quieten Their Critics

Going into World Cup 2006 there was a cloud surrounding Italy amidst match-fixing allegations that ended with Juventus being stripped of two Serie A titles and being relegated. The scandal also saw AC Milan, Lazio, Fiorentina and Reggina deducted points. Many supporters and pundits alike thought that this would hamper their World Cup campaign and that they would struggle in Germany. However this did not come to pass as the Rossoneri won their fourth World Cup with a penalty shoot-out win over France.

This summer they entered Euro 2012 with similar accusations surrounding the squad with seven Italian suffering points deductions. Similarly to 2006 people have been quick to write of Italy's chances saying that the scandal will affect the players; while some say the Italian squad is too old and that they will not score enough goals. True, there are are a few older players in the 23 but they bring great experience to the side, especially players like Andrea Pirlo and Gianluigi Buffon who won the World Cup in 2006. The attack is not too shabby either with the enigmatic Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli their main goal threat with Antonio di Natale and Antonio Cassano perfectly capable of hitting the back of the net. 

If Spain and Croatia draw 2-2 that would automatically eliminate Italy who have suffered a similar fate before. Ironically, considering Italy's bad match-fixing reputation, back in 2004 Denmark and Sweden played out a 2-2 draw to ensure the Italians exited the competition. Goalkeeper Buffon quashed fears of that happening again suggesting that Spain would not stoop that low: "It would be a joke all across Europe and I don't think it will happen. I do not think that Spain, a world champion with players like Xavi or Iniesta, would sully their prestige with a pact. It's different to the Sweden-Denmark case, because Spain are better than Croatia, not at the same level."

Despite this the facts remain the same: If Croatia can upset Spain then they will finish as group winners and Italy will definitely drop out of the tournament if they fail to beat Ireland. The 1968 winners will be expected to comfortably get past the Irish green army after they were comfortably brushed aside in their opening two games. The Italian fans do not seem to be holding high hopes of winning the championship this time around, akin to the England fans' expectations. However a convincing win today will probably give them a place in the knock-out rounds and they will be quietly confident of proving the non-believers wrong.

Is Fernando Torres Spain's Key Man Once More?

When 'El Nino' ended Spain's 2010 World Cup campaign without a goal he was well below top scorer David Villa in the pecking order and was shot of confidence. What followed was just as bad for Torres as he  left Liverpool that January for Chelsea in a £50m move in search for trophies. Nothing much good happened for him however, as he scored just once in his first 18 appearances. At Liverpool and Atletico Madrid before he had always been the focal point of his side's attack and as a result struggled to fit into Chelsea's preferred 4-3-3 formation. 

As the 2011-12 season progressed it started to seem as though there was no way back for Torres as he went on a 24-game goal drought and was dropped from the Spain squad for the first time since 2005. Chelsea were also performing badly as a team and there seemed no hope of winning the trophies that he joined the club for. When manager Andre Villas-Boas was sacked with Chelsea 3-1 down in their Last 16 Champions League tie with Napoli there looked to be no way back. 

However Torres has been gradually improving game in, game out and new Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo must receive credit for helping rejuvenate him. Two goals against Leicester City in an FA Cup tie ended his goalless run and his late game-sealing goal against Barcelona vastly improved his self-belief. A first Chelsea hat-trick against Queens Park Rangers showed that he was starting to hit top form again. After the high of winning the FA Cup and Champions League double with Chelsea Torres was named in Vincent Del Bosque's 23-man squad for the 2012 European Championships. 

Today Spain's number nine showed what he is made of with an excellent man-of-the-match display against the Republic of Ireland. His runs behind the Irish defence were like the player of old and added to his two clinical finishes this was arguably his best performance since 2010. With David Villa injured and Del Bosque opting to leave Cesc Fabregas on the bench this was the 28-year-old's time to shine; and he took the opportunity with both hands. 

Torres will now be expected to start Spain's final group game against Croatia on Monday and if he continues where he left off this evening he will be hard to stop. The Irish team he faced are no mugs and on a 14-match unbeaten run going into these finals but he made their defence look like a non-league outfit. If Torres carries on playing like this for the rest of the tournament then it will be an even harder task than it already was for anyone to stop Spain lifting a third consecutive major title.