Ok, it stayed 1-1.
Damn Greece is sharing the 1st place now with SPain, both 1 win and one draw.
Lets see what Portugal does today.
with Raul badly out of form, Spain is struggling....
Well done Greece, they got one foot in second round!
I can't believe he couldn't get the header in. I'm not to sure if he's out of form, or just out of luck. He will do something sooner or later.
How do you guys feel about the Russian goaltenders Red card? I think that was uncalled for, as he was resisting the hand, and the way he landed it made it look like he touched it. ITV did a zoom and it wasn't clear if he touched the ball.
^ The red card was a mistake. Referee showed a bit hurry in showing him the red card.
Re Raul, he is out of luck and out of form both. Otherwise a player of his calibre should not be missing such easy goals though headers were never his strong point.
btw Portugal have defeated Russians 2-0. It sets up a pre quarter final between Spain and Portugal on 20th as you would expect Greece to beat Russia after their performances against Spain and Portugal.
Portugal-Spain promises to be a nail biter.
PLD W D L GS GA PTS
GREECE 2 1 1 0 3 2 4
SPAIN 2 1 1 0 2 1 4
PORTUGAL 2 1 0 1 3 2 3
RUSSIA 2 0 0 2 0 3 0
Rusia scored in 1st minute. Leading 1-0
They are playing good when they have nothing to lose.
^ I hope Portugal and Russia win today so that Portugal and Spain both can go through!
And Russia leading 2-0 in 27th minute. If it stays like that here and Portugal and Spain draw, both Portugal and Spain will make it to the next round.
Go Russia!
EDITED: Actually Portugal needs a sure shot win becaue they cannot afford to finsih with same points as Greece because of their head-to-head result. So a Portugal win will give both Spain and Portugal a next round berth.
Greece have pulled one back just before the half time. Spain and Portufal are playing a free flowing but yet a goal-less match. At Half time:
Russia 2-1 Greece
Spain 0-0 Portugal
innnteresting!
Portugal scores through Nuno Gomez!
Spain might be on their way out. Probably deservingly because of the football they have played.
Russia needs to defeat Greece by two goal margin for Spain to qualify. Highly unlikely as 20 mins are left and Russia is leading 2-1
12 mins to go and Spain has to score at least one goal to go through to the quarter finals. If they fail to score it's Portugal and Greece going through!
:-/
Its final. Portugal have beaten Spain 1-0 and Russia have beaten Greece 2-1.
Portugal have won the group and are definately through.
Greece is also through on ‘number of goals scored’. Spain and Greece had same points, same goal difference and Greece are through on number of Goals scored in Group matches.
I m sad for Spain. They have the best league in the world and yet they continue to under-acheive at international level.
Portugal :k: Very well played and Greece?? oh well… Best of luck in their likely match with France.
Greece and Portugal through. The final positions were up for grabs throughout the match and that made the two clashes so exciting. In the end the over defensive attitude of the Spanish let them down.
Looking at how luck has favoured the french in the tournament so far Greece will need all the luck to be on their side if they want to progress any further in this tournament.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by ehsan: *
In the end the over defensive attitude of the Spanish let them down.
[/QUOTE]
You said it Ehsan bhai. In this tournament, the teams with defensive attitude have paid. Teams have decided to sit back and defend and almost every team has failed to do so. Germany, Italy, Netherlands in the late second half, Spain, England, Latvia all have paid for their sitback-and-defend attitude. In last few minutes, yes its fine to defend but whats use in defending the goal in last 45 minutes.
Spain has so much quality in attacking players. Morientes came in last 10 minutes, Valeron dint get a chance. Raul should have been replaced in the second half as he was struggling throughout the tournament.
My my, I don't think anyone predicted that Greece would go through. Spain didn't show much in the 3 matches they played. Still I felt really bad that they didn't go through.
It's funny how Russia beat Greece today :-)
Spot on. Spain did NOT disappoint 
[quote]
Originally posted by saby:
I m sad for Spain. They have the best league in the world and yet they continue to under-acheive at international level.
[/quote]
You read my mind - i ponder the same thing
Spain has the best club teams in european competitons - but such a weak national team? It's hard to understand for me that clubs like Real Madrid, FC Valenica, Deprtivo La Coruna played very successful Champions League seasons during the last two years - while the Spanish national team always struggles in big tournaments.