As all squad rosters for Euro 2012 have been made official to UEFA, so have Italy’s Group C adversaries: SPAIN, IRELAND, and CROATIA. If you want to find out who Del Bosque, Trapattoni, and Bilic have selected to feature in this Summer’s tournament, look no further!
With one month and a half to go before Euro 2012 officially begins this Summer, the design of the match tickets was revealed at Kiev’s Olympic Stadium (the venue for the final) and Warsaw’s National Stadium (where the tournament will get underway on June 8th) this week.
The ticket, beautifully colored, is horizontal with a large flower on the front, the leaves of which depict the stadium hosting a match and the flags of the two countries involved. The front also features the number of the match (in a top-right flower bud), along with seat details. Instructions on how to reach the stadium can be found on the reverse, along with a security strip.
Fabio Cannavaro, Carlos Tevez, Michael Ballack, Michael Owen, Mark Van Bommel, Fred… these are but a few of the players whose contract is set to expire at the end of the season. And with the january transfer window practically at our doorstep, it is time to give these “old timers” a chance to prove they still are champion material. Time to make that zero-cost buy to win you that elusive trophy, cup, or championship title (or in the worst cases, save you from relegation).
In other words: it’s “Bosman Bonanza” time, with some real bargains to be made…
For the fourth time in FIFA Futsal World Cup history, Brazil conquered the gold medal on home turf Sunday morning. It was a match which all pundits anticipated to be a clash of the titans, with reigning World & European champions Spain providing a very worthy opponent for the Auriverde.
It the end, only a penalty shootout could settle a tied 2-2 score after extra time, during which substitute goalkeeper Franklin (stepping on precisely for that purpose) made two key saves on the Spanish shooters. After their gold in the Netherlands (1989), Hong Kong (1992), and Spain (1996), Brazil can chalk up a fourth title on the big Futsal chalkboard.
As far as Spain vs. Italy goes, sure isn’t a good year for Italian fans. First, there was the UEFA Futsal Euro 2007 final (lost 3-1)… then this Summer’s Euro 2008 quarter-finals story we all know. Now, for the FIFA Futsal World Cup 2008 Semi-Finals and for the third time in less than a year, a Furia Roja team got the upper hand on the Azzurri.
This time however the slap in the face couldn’t have been bigger, because Italy lost 3-2 in overtime: a match which the Azzurri deserved to win, and by the looks of Spain’s last goal, really did not deserve to lose.
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