Greece captain Giorgos Karagounis
turns Group A on its head with the winning solitary goal against Russia! Just
when you thought that Russia were the favourites to advance to the
quarterfinals and Greece were packing their bags to start their summer holidays,
up pops Karagounis to bailout Greece. I’m talking about their football team of
course! Who knows who will bailout Greece from its economic meltdown…
The only sour note for Karagounis
is that he is suspended for the possible match-up with Germany in the
quarterfinals after picking up a controversial yellow card for simulation in
the penalty area despite replays showing that it was a blatant penalty.
With Dick Advocaat having masterminded
a 16 game undefeated streak, Russia could not make it 17 games as even a draw
would have been enough to see them into the next round.
The Czech Republic take out top
spot in Group A with a 1-0 over co-hosts Poland as both teams came out for the
second half knowing only victory would do given Greece had taken a first half
lead against Russia. Petr Jiracek scored the winning goal with an assist from
Milan Baros, although there was late drama when Poland captain Jakub
Blaszczykowski went through on goal and lifted the ball over Czech keeper Petr
Cech only for Czech defender Tomas Sivok to head off the line. The final
whistle was immediately blown after that, heralding scenes of jubilation from
the Czech Republic who will face a possible match-up with Portugal in the
quarterfinals.
In a few hours, the Group of
Death will come to a conclusion and you can read more of that here.
