Quarter-final countdown

20Jun 2012

EURO2012

The group stages have now been completed at Euro 2012 and the quarter-final line up is known. Germany play Greece and the winner of that tie will play the winner of England vs Italy. In the other half of the draw we have Spain vs France with the winner playing either the Czech Republic or Portugal in the semi-final. England have been pleasantly surprising their fans both in Ukraine and back home with performances that have led to them topping Group D.

England fans came into this tournament with low expectations based on the last World Cup and losing their manager Fabio Capello so close to the tournament. But England have slowly grown in belief and their defensive qualities are what has taken them to the last eight rather than their attacking ability. A 1-1 draw with France was followed by a determined 3-2 victory against Sweden.

They had to dig deep again last night with another tough 1-0 win against the co-hosts Ukraine. England were lucky at one stage not to concede when the ball clearly crossed the line but wasn't allowed by the official. So England are riding their luck in this event but you do need luck to win a tournament like this. Sweden beating France 2-0 paved the way for England to avoid Spain in the quarter-finals and that dubious honour now goes to France.