Group C Matchday Three

Croatia lost the match but opened a door. Croatia did not manage to score against Spain despite having some excellent chances but Slaven Bilic showed others how Spain can be beaten. All the coaches of the teams which can potentially face Spain should watch the tactics, which destroyed the irritating short-pass game Spain plays. Italy through, brave Ireland out.

Group C Matchday Three. 47357.jpeg

Group C Matchday 3

Croatia 0 Spain 1

                 Navas, 88

Croatia: Pletikosa, Strinić, Ćorluka, Schildenfeld, Vida, Pranjić, Rakitić, Vukojević, Modrić, Srna, Mandžukić SUBS: Kelava, Subašić, Šimunić, Buljat, Vrsaljko, Badelj, Dujmović, Kranjčar, Perišić, Jelavić, Kalinić, Eduardo.

Spain: Casillas, Piqué, Ramos, Arbeloa, Alba, Iniesta, Xavi, Alonso, Busquets, Silva, Torres SUBS: Valdés, Reina, Albiol, Martínez, Juanfran, Fàbregas, Cazorla, Navas, Rodríguez, Negredo, Mata, Llorente.

Bilic showed how it is done, well almost. He certainly stopped Spain playing that irritating short-passing game, when sometimes the same two players pass the ball eight times between themselves. Another option for future coaches would be to mass the defence (6 or 7 players) in a WM formation, then have three or four players upfield to receive a ball lobbed over Spain's midfield, rendering their irritating short-passing game useless.

As we saw today, Spain is a mediocre team when forced to play football. Rakitić and Perišić created panic in the Spanish defence on 59', 69' and 79' but it was Navas on 88' who broke the deadlock. Spain was very lucky... thank you Slaven Bilic.

Italy 2 Rep. Ireland 0

Cassano, 35'

Balotelli, 90'

Italy: Buffon, Chiellini, Balzaretti, Abate, Barzagli, Motta, Marchisio, De Rossi, Pirlo, Cassano, Di Natale SUBS: Sirigu, De Sanctis, Maggio, Ogbonna, Bonucci, Giaccherini, Montolivo, Diamanti, Nocerino, Balotelli, Borini, Giovinco.

Ireland: Given, St Ledger, Ward, O'Shea, Dunne, Whelan, McGeady, Andrews, Duff, Doyle, Keane SUBS: Westwood, Forde, Kelly, McShane, O'Dea, Gibson, Hunt, Green, McClean, Walters, Long, Cox.

 Possession 60-40, 19 shots to 6, 12 shots on target against 2, 8 corners against 5, 31 attacks against 18...Italy deserved to pass na Ireland that played brave football but lost all three games. Ireland's victory was to arrive at the finals stage, full marks to Trap. Let's hope the Irish FA will keep him on. Who cares how old he is?

Group C (FIFA ranking pre-tournament)

                                   W        D         L          GF       GA      P

Spain (1)                     2          1          0          6          1          7

Italy (12)                     1          2          0          4          2          5

Croatia (8)                   1          1          1          4          3          4

Rep. Ireland (18)         0          0          3          1          9          0

Games

Italy 1               Spain 1

Di Natale     Fabregas

Croatia 3              Republic of Ireland 1

Mandzukic (2)       St. Ledger

Jelavic

Croatia 1      Italy 1

Mandzukic  Pirlo

Rep. Ireland 0 Spain 4

                        Torres (2); David Silva; Fabregas

Croatia 0 Spain 1

                Navas

Italy 2Rep. Ireland 0

Cassano

Balotelli

Group B (FIFA ranking pre-tournament)

                                   W        D         L          GF       GA      P

Germany (2)              3          0          0          5          2          9

Portugal (5)                2          0          1          5          4          6

Denmark (10)              1          0          2          4          5          3

Netherlands (3)            0          0          3          2          5          0

Games

Germany 1 Portugal 0

Gomez

Denmark 1            Netherlands 0

Krohn-Dehli

Denmark 2    Portugal 3

Bendtner (2)  Pepe, Postiga, Varela

Germany 2 Netherlands 1

Gomez (2)  Van Persie

Denmark 1    Germany 2

Krohn-Dehli  Podolski, Bender

Netherlands 1 Portugal 2

Van der Vaart Ronaldo (2)

Group A (FIFA ranking pre-tournament) After 3 games

                                   W        D         L          GF       GA      P

Czech Republic (26)  2          0          1          4          5          6

Greece (14)                1          1          1          3          3          4

Russia (11)                  1          1          1          5          3          4

Poland (65)                 0          2          1          2          3          2

Games

Russia 4             Czech Republic 1

Dzagoev (2)       Pilar

Shirokov

Pavlyuchenko

Poland 1              Greece 1

Lewandowski      Salpingidis

Czech Republic 2 Greece 1

Jiracek                  Gekas

Pilar

Poland 1                             Russia 1

Błaszczykowski                  Dzagoev

Czech Republic 1 Poland 0

Jiracek

Greece 1 Russia 0

Karagounis

Group D (FIFA ranking pre-tournament)

                                   W        D         L          GF       GA      P

France (16)                 1          1          0          3          1          4

England (7)                  1          1          0          4          3          4

Ukraine (50)                1          0          1          2          3          3

Sweden (17)                0          0          2          3          5          0

Games

Ukraine 2                    Sweden 1

Shevchenko (2)            Ibrahimovic

England 1        France 1

Lescott         Nasri

´

Ukraine 0   France 2

                   Ménez; Cabaye

England 3   Sweden 2

Carroll,       o.g. Johnson

Walcott      Melberg

Welbeck

Fixtures (Times GMT)

Tuesday June 19 England v. Ukraine 19.45

Sweden v. France 19.45

Scenarios

Sweden is eliminated

Ukraine passes with a victory over England

A win or a draw is enough for England and France

England loses, France draws: England eliminated

France loses by 3 goals; Ukraine draws 2-2: France eliminated

Final group rankings
To avoid doubt, and in order to ensure that the criteria related to the direct confrontation between the teams remaining equal in points after the group phase are reapplied, the UEFA Executive Committee decided at its meeting in Istanbul on 20 March 2012 to amend paragraph 8.07 of the Regulations of the UEFA European Football Championship 2010-12 as follows - in particular the new clause d) shown in bold:

"If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings:
a) Higher number of points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question;
b) Superior goal difference resulting from the matches played between the teams in question;
c) Higher number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question;
d) If, after having applied criteria a) to c), two teams still have an equal ranking, criteria a) to c) are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the two teams in question to determine the final rankings of the two teams. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria e) to i) apply in the order given;
e) superior goal difference in all group matches;
f) higher number of goals scored in all group matches;
g) position in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system (see annex I, paragraph 1.2.2);
h) fair play conduct of the teams (final tournament);
i) drawing of lots"

Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey

Pravda.Ru