Supreme Spain sinks Italy 4-0 for Euro title

July 2, 2012

italy

Kiev, July 2: Spain rediscovered their magic on Sunday to beat ailing Italy 4-0 in the Euro 2012 final and with it became the first nation to win three big football titles in a row.

David Silva (14th), Jordi Alba (41st), Fernando Torres (84th) and Juan Mata (88th) were on target as Barcelona midfielders Xavi and Andres Iniesta pulled the strings in midfield in their usual commanding style after some slightly below-par performances earlier in the tournament.

Spain became the first team to get a big event hat-trick following titles at Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup with the biggest winning margin in a final, are the first to win back-to-back Euro titles and matched Germany’s record three continental titles, the first being in 1964.

Italy, who had held Spain 1-1 in their opening group match and made a surprise run to the final with a 2-1 victory over Germany in the semis, failed to end a 44-year drought since their only Euro trophy in 1968.

The Azzurri were down to 10 men for the final half hour as Thiago Motta was stretchered off injured four minutes after coming on and coach Cesare Prandelli had already made all three substitutions.

Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque fielded a line-up without a recognised striker, with Barcelona’s Cesc Fabregas in a strengthened midfield just as in the group game with Italy on June 10.

Italy saw Ignazio Abate back from injury at right-back in place of Federico Balzaretti for the final, which started after a short closing ceremony in front of 64,000 fans in Kiev — with Spain’s crown prince Felipe in attendance along with the Prime Ministers from both finalist countries, Mariano Rajoy and Mario Monti, and President Bronislaw Komorowski from Euro co-hosts Poland.

Spain’s famed passing game swiftly shaped up, and they took the lead in the 14th minute after Sergio Ramos and Xavi had aimed high.

Iniesta sent a surgical pass into the back of the Italian defence into the path of Fabregas, who shook off Giorgio Chiellini and crossed shortly before the touchline for Silva to send a thumping header into the roof of the net.


italy2Italy responded with a series of corner kicks to their first deficit of the tournament but their mood didn’t get better when Chiellini had to limp out injured in the 20th and was replaced by Balzaretti.

Spain sat back a little bit and Iker Casillas just got his hand on a cross with Mario Balotelli lurking right behind him. The keeper was also on his guard against two shots from Antonio Cassano as Italy forced their way back into the game.

But just as Italy and their playmaker Andrea Pirlo semed to have found their rhythm Spain struck again in the 41st. The left-back Alba fed Xaxi in midfield, raced down the pitch and got a perfect pass back to beat Gianluigi Buffon with a deft left-footer. Prandelli brought Antonio di Natale for Cassano in the second-half and the Udinese captain headed inches high less than a minute after the restart.

Fabregas came close twice on the other end and Spain appealed in vain to Portuguese referee Pedro Proenca for a penalty in the 48th when replays showed that Leonardo Bonucci clearly handled the ball off Ramos’ header.

Prandelli tried to contain Spain with Thiago Motta in midfield for Riccardo Montolivo but the idea was shortlived, as Motta seemingly injured his hamstring and had to be taken off on a stretcher.

With Pirlo and Balotelli, the two-goal hero against Germany, well marked, and being one man up, Spain had no further trouble seeing out the game, which now lacked the class and flair of its first hour.

But there was time for two more goals, in the 84th when Torres, on for Fabregas, put away another super pass from Xavi, and Torres then fed the final substitute Mata in the 88th as Spain also got the biggest winning margin in a Euro final — beating West Germany’s 3-0 over the Soviet Union from 1972.


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Agencies
June 7,2020

Mumbai, Jun 7: The Mumbai airport became home for a 23-year-old Ghanaian footballer for 74 days after he got stranded there due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown that led to cancellation of flights.

The ordeal of Randy Juan Muller reminded people of Tom Hank's character in the Hollywood film "The Terminal", and it ended after Yuva Sena, the youth wing of the Shiv Sena, reached out to help him.

Muller has now shifted to a local hotel and is waiting for airlines to resume operations so that he can fly home.

The Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) also provided him all help, including food, and allowed him to use the airport WiFi network to make calls, an official said.

Muller, a Ghana national who used to play for a club in Kerala, was scheduled to fly home by Kenya Airways flight when the lockdown was announced and he found himself stranded at the Mumbai airport.

"He would spend his time at the airport's fancy artificial gardens and somehow buy food from stalls and pass his time with the airport staff. Muller told me the airport staff was very helpful," Yuva Sena office-bearer Rahul Kanal said.

A security officer at the airport gave him mobile phone to call his family back home.

A Twitter user brought Muller's plight to the notice of Maharashtra Tourism Minister Aaditya Thackeray following which Kanal reached out to the footballer and helped him move into a hotel.

On Saturday, Muller thanked Thackeray and Kanal for their help.

"Thank you Aaditya Thackeray, Rahul Kanal. Thank you very very so much. I appreciate what you have done. Salute," he said.

Kanal in a tweet said when he met Muller at the airport, the latter cried with happiness.

"Have no words to salute his willpower and fight for survival in such circumstances at this age," Kanal said.

An official at the Mumbai International Airport Ltd said the footballer was provided all help.

"All personnel at the airport, including from MIAL and CISF, gave him every possible help during his stay at the airport. Besides food, he was also allowed to use the airport WiFi network to make calls. Airport staff would recharge his phone at their own expense," the official said.

The 2004 film "Terminal" of Steven Spielberg was about a man stranded at a US airport after being denied entry into the country and a military coup back home.

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News Network
June 3,2020

Colorado, Jun 3: Formula One boss Chase Carey has said that races will go ahead even if a driver tests positive for coronavirus.

His remarks come as organisers revealed a revised 2020 calendar and the schedule for the first eight races was put in the public domain.

"An individual having been found with a positive infection will not lead to a cancellation of a race. We encourage teams to have procedures in place so if an individual has to be put in quarantine, we have the ability to quarantine them at a hotel and to replace that individual," the official website of Formula One quoted Carey as saying.

"Some things we'd have to talk through and work through. The array of 'what ifs' are too wide to play out every one of them, but a team not being able to race would not cancel the race. I do not think I could sit here and lay out the consequences," he said.

Carey added the organisers will be having the necessary procedures in place so that the race does not get cancelled if a driver ends up testing positive for coronavirus.

"But we will have a procedure in place that finding infection will not lead to a cancellation. If a driver has an infection, teams have reserve drivers available," Carey said.

"We would not be going forward if we were not highly confident we have necessary procedures and expertise and capabilities to provide a safe environment and manage whatever issues arrive," he added.

The Formula One 2020 season will be beginning with the Austrian Grand Prix in July.

F1 currently expects the opening races to be closed events but hopes that fans will be able to attend again when it is safe to do so.

The season will kick off with the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring on July 5, followed a week later by a second race on the same track.

The Hungarian Grand Prix will follow a week after that, before a break. There will be then two back to back races at Silverstone, followed by the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona.

The Belgian Grand Prix will follow that, with the Italian Grand Prix at Monza a week later on September 6.

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News Network
March 2,2020

Mar 2: Indian captain Virat Kohli was left frustrated and deflated as New Zealand won the second Test inside three days in Christchurch on Monday to sweep the series.

India started the day at 90 for six and were all out for 124, before New Zealand chased down the required 132 to win for the loss of three wickets in 36 overs.

It ended a disappointing tour for India and Kohli as New Zealand, who won the first Test by 10 wickets early on day four, wrapped up the series with ease.

New Zealand are now unbeaten in their last 13 home Tests, winning nine of them, and in the past decade their record as hosts is played 39, won 20, drawn 13 and lost five.

In the latest series, on traditional New Zealand green wickets, India managed scores of 165, 191, 242 and 124, reflecting the low contributions from Kohli of 2, 19, 3 and 14.

Kohli came to New Zealand as the world's top Test batsman and oozing charm as he described New Zealand as the “nice guys” of cricket.

But during the series he lost his top ranking to Australian Steve Smith and when Kane Williamson went for three in the first innings of the second Test the pressure showed when he gave the New Zealand skipper a very animated send-off.

There was further evidence of frustration when he was caught on camera yelling an obscenity at a group of New Zealand supporters on Sunday.

The end came quickly for India on day three as Tim Southee and Trent Boult tormented the batsmen with their variety of inswing and outswing deliveries targeting both sides of the stumps.

Hanuma Vihari was the first to fall, in Southee's second over, when he turned a legside delivery too fine and was caught by BJ Watling diving to his left.

Five balls later and with no addition to the score, India's other overnight batsman Rishabh Pant was caught behind off a Boult delivery that swung away.

Mohammed Shami was caught for five by Tom Blundell at deep mid-wicket and Jasprit Bumrah was run out when trying to give the strike to Ravindra Jadeja, who was unbeaten on 16.

Boult and Southee signed for most of the dismissals with Boult taking four for 28 and Southee three for 36. The swing pair accounted for 25 of the 40 Indian wickets in the series.

There was enough seam and swing available for India to keep the New Zealand batsmen guessing but Bumrah and Umesh Yadav were unable to apply consistent pressure and Mohammed Shami was troubled by a sore shoulder.

New Zealand coasted through a century opening stand by Tom Latham and Blundell before losing three quick wickets.

Latham notched his 18th half-century and second of the Test before he was caught behind off Yadav for 52, Kane Williamson had a short stay for five, and Blundell went for 55.

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