Articles tagged with: ukraine

10 Years since the 2002 World Cup Final

on Saturday, 30 June 2012. Posted in General

Today there are 10 years since the 2002 World Cup Final in Yokohama, Japan. The tournament has been hosted by South Koreea and Japan and i think it's one of the most spectacular final tournaments lately.

I still remember some of the games and these with EURO 2012 i almost forgot what a great tournament we had exactly 10 years ago. It's amazing how fast the time passed and how football (and games) evolved over time.

The final was disputed on this stadium:

World Cup 2002 Final Stadium Yokohama Japan

and you can see the brazilian fans cheering their team. Brazil won that final and also won their 5th World Cup title after two goals from the amazing Ronaldo. During that tournament many upcoming stars made their appearence in the big world of football, like Ronaldinho, scoring a fabolous goal against England. Teams like Turkey and South Koreea managed to finish the tournament on the third and the fourth place even though they didn't had big performances until that time.

A big upset was France which we can compare now with Netherlands at EURO 2012. France came after winning the 1998 World Cup which they hosted and EURO 2000. In the first match they lost 0-1 to Senegal.

They finished on the last place in the Group A with only 1 point.

Senegal reached the quarter final as well as the current World Cup champions and European champions Spain.

Spain grew a lot in the meanwhile. Xavi also scored one penalty against South Koreea in the quarter finals but other two team mates failed to do so and South Koreea reached the semi finals.

Very young footballers by then, Ronaldinho, Ballack, Xavi, Donovan they all confirmed after they amazed the whole world in Koreea and Japan.

Well that's it. With that my friends even though the website didn't existed in 2002 and the internet world was somehow just at the beggining we covered the World Cup 2002 tournament. As well the World Cup 2010 and EURO 2012. You can read more articles about these tournaments in our blog.

Tomorrow we will have another historical match. The EURO 2012 Final between Spain and Italy.

EURO 2012 - The Final Act

on Friday, 29 June 2012. Posted in General

Yes. Here we are again. The last round from another major football tournament. There was the group stage, quarter finals, semi finals and now there will be the final.

On July 1st there will be only one winner. After so many matches, so many preparations in Ukraine and Poland we will finally find out who will be the winner. Who will it be? Spain or Italy?

EURO 2012 FINAL Kyiv Stadium

Neither of them were in my mind as for the finalists but here they are, Spain with a little luck expecially in the semi final against Portugal where they won the penalty kick and Italy with a fenomenal tactic. Not many people were betting on Italy to reach the finals and they are very close now to win the trophy.

Last night Germany had in my opinion their worst match in the last few years. They were well over Italy exept those little errors when they allowed Balotelli to score twice. And since Italy has the best goalkeeper and the most expensive one in the history of football it is pretty hard to score at least twice to hope for the finals.

There will be only one match that will be played on the Olympic Stadium in Kyiv on July 1st. My bets are going on Italy. They showed amazing strategy and i'm sure they have a valuable team that is capable of winning the EURO 2012 final.

I hope for a big show and for the best team to win the tournament.

EURO 2012 - The Quarter-Finals

on Wednesday, 20 June 2012. Posted in General

So here we are. The group stage has finished and we know the countries that are going to play in the quarter-finals. We had an entertaining last group stage with amazing goals (that goal from Ibrahimovic last night was astonishing).

Some of the teams that have been eliminated in my opinion deserved to go through but this is football and that's how it's going on.

Ukraine last night also had a cancelled goal, if we can say so since the referee that has been right beside the net didn't even see it. England also had a dissaproved goal at the World Cup in 2010 against Germany but the one against them last night might have changed the way the game was going on.

EURO 2012 Logo

So tomorrow night we will have the Czech Republic playing against Portugal.

Germany vs Greece

England vs Italy

Spain vs France

The teams that i'm now thinking are Russia, Croatia and Ukraine. They all played great but didn't go through. In the quarter-finals the most balanced game i think will be England vs Italy but Spain vs France may be an interesting match as well. Now at a first look the final may be the same as the one at EURO 2008 - Germany vs Spain but until then there are two more stages and anything can happen. I hope for some entertaining matches and may the best teams play in the final on July 1st, 2012 in Kiev.

EURO 2012 - Very entertaining tournament

on Monday, 18 June 2012. Posted in General

Now that we are almost in the first knock out round we can say some conclusions on EURO 2012 and make some guessings on the future results. As i stated in my earlier article Germany seems to win everything as they are the only team at EURO to make the biggest number of points in a group where the big favourites where Holland.

I'm surprised that a team like Holland even though they had only one match lost in the qualifiers, they are the current vice champions of the world after they reached the finals in South Africa back in 2010.

EURO 2012 Kiev Stadium Final

This may be the biggest surprise in the latest final tournaments after the one in 2002 when France clashed with Senegal after they won EURO 2000 and World Cup 1998 which they organised.

Since we are talking about organisation the tournament was a good one. Maybe some fans cancelled their tickets to the tournament because they thought they won't find some good hotels to check in. That seems to be the biggest problem at the tournament.

Greece made another surprise after the one in 2004 and managed to eliminate Russia who was favourite even for winning the trophy after the first match against the Czech Republic finished 4-1.

I also liked Ukraine. They showed they have a good team and tomorrow they will play against England where Rooney is coming back after a suspension. Tonight Spain will play against one of the promising teams at this tournament, Croatia and Italy will play against Ireland.

We may see another surprise and see Italy going home only after the group stage.

In the future games i see Germany winning them all. The first two knock out stage games we already know:

Germany vs Greece

Czech Republich vs Portugal

With that being said we had a great tournament so far and i hope we will have even a better one until the final that will be played in Kiev on the stadium you can see in the picture above on July 1st, 2012.

EURO 2012: Just one week until the start of the competition

on Thursday, 31 May 2012. Posted in General

With just one week until the start of EURO 2012 i'd like to write a little analysis of this competition.

Such tournaments are a great thing for the whole world and not only for the football fans only. Besides the economical success this tournament also (always) gives us a great show.

The show also has surprises and now i'm thinking about EURO 2004 where Greece has managed to win the trophy with some well organised tactics. They won twice against the organising country, Portugal both in the opening match and in the final of course.

The winning of EURO 2004 by Greece is considered one of the biggest surprises in the football history. That's why football is great!

EURO 2008 also was a big event. No matter where you have been in Europe i am sure if you had your windows opened or you where somewhere in the city you heard fans celebrating the goals. It happened to me and for a few seconds i had the feeling that i was on a stadium.

Now EURO 2012 is almost here and i have set for myself to watch every single game. Even though i didn't got tickets for the games i am sure the show will be cool in front of the TV with a drink.

Poland and Ukraine the two organising countries didn't had too much chances to win the organising competition on the eyes of many specialists. But here we are in 2012 just one week until the start of the tournament and these two countries managed to build the stadiums, prepare the hotels and are waiting for the fans and the players to show up. I am sure the population is proud of what their countries managed to do.

I read somewhere that around one stadium in Poland there is still some work to do and there is only one way to go to the stadium. Even if there still will be something to work around the stadium, the stadium is finished and it's ready for some big games. I don't think the fans will be bothered about this if the games will be spectacular.

 

EURO 2012 FINAL Stadium

The EURO 2012 FINAL STADIUM

My bets are going on Germany. The great form they showed at the World Cup in South Africa and at EURO 2008 makes me think it is the time for a new trophy for them and they are one of the only national football teams to reach at least one knockout stage at the final tournaments. The Germany National Football Team is a strong one and i think they will win the competition. Even though many are betting on Spain i think their time is gone. I mean they've won the last two major competitions it's hard to believe that they will win this one as well.

The greatest Group will be the Group B where we will see games between Netherlands, Germany, Portugal and Denmark. The final may actually be played in the groups between Netherlands and Germany.

With that being said we are waiting for a big tournament and let the show begin!

EURO 2012 - Opening ceremony on june 8th

on Sunday, 13 May 2012. Posted in General

EURO 2012 LOGO

Two years ago we covered the FIFA World Cup 2010 Final Tournament in South Africa. The time gone fast so here we are talking about EURO 2012. A tournament that was very much awaited by the fans of this sport and by the two organising countries that created some wonderful stadiums for the tournament.

The pictures with the stadium in Kiev that will host the final of EURO 2012 have been released. The stadium looks gorgeous only there is too much distance between the field and the seats. Other than that EURO 2012 will be a great tournament and we shall have a great show.

EURO 2012 Final Kiev Stadium

My bets goes to Germany. After the fabolous road they had at FIFA World Cup 2010 where they won alot of games by scoring 4 goals and having one of the youngest teams at the tournament i predict a Germany win. These final tournaments are always great to watch and during the tournament there is this holiday spirit in the air. Unfortunately i didn't buy any tickets for any of the EURO 2012 games but i will watch it for sure on my big LCD TV with a glass of 'something' during those hot days of summer.

So the tournament will start on june 8th with the opening ceremony and the match between one of the hosting countries, Poland and the winner of EURO 2004, Greece. Even though there are many favourites on winning the trophy i wouldn't be surprised if another country like Greece will win EURO 2012.

The official website of EURO 2012 says there are 26 days to go. That's less than a month until the show. The final will be on the Kiev Stadium on june 1st. So we will have around 3 weeks of football to enjoy. Until then all the best and what country do you think will win EURO 2012?