Italy went into their final group
match against Ireland knowing only a victory could see them make the
quarterfinals and duly delivered. Despite the 2-0 scoreline, Italy were made to
work it as Ireland delivered their best performance of the tournament.
Antonio Cassano headed home from set-piece
specialist Andrea Pirlo’s 35th minute corner but it was not until the 90th
minute when substitute Mario Balotelli put the game to bed with a well taken
volley on the turn from another Pirlo corner. Leonardo Bonucci cleverly covered
Balotelli’s mouth and calmed him down as he looked to be mouthing off about something
which could have got him in trouble, something that seems to follow Balotelli
wherever he goes.
Ireland entered the tournament
with 11 clean sheets in their previous 14 games and were expected to put up a
wall of resistance similar to Greece, however ended up conceding 9 goals in
their 3 games at Euro 2012. More surprisingly, they were very susceptible from
set-pieces and leave Euro 2012 wondering what went wrong.
Spain and Croatia were both
sitting on four points heading into their final group match and a draw for
Spain would have been enough to see them qualify for the next round. A draw may
also have been enough for Croatia depending on Italy’s goal difference after
their match with Ireland. Spain, in contrast to Ireland, turned in their worst
performance of the tournament as Croatia kept them at bay for long periods.
Despite Spain dominating possession, chances were at a premium with Croatia
content to sit back and soak up the Spanish pressure.
With Italy ahead in Poznan,
matters remained finely poised in Gdansk as a goal from one side was enough to
eliminate the other. Substitute Cesc Fabregas calmed Spanish nerves in the 88th
minute as he lifted a ball over the Croatian defence to send Andrés Iniesta
clear on goal. Iniesta left Croatian keeper Stipe Pletikosa stranded as he unselfishly
squared the ball to substitute Jesús Navas who was left with the simplest of
tap-ins into the vacant goal.
Croatia pushed for an equaliser
that would have sent them through as news of Italy’s result filtered through
but the Croatians simply ran out of time, leaving Spain top of Group C and
Italy in second place.
The Spanish will have to life
their performance if they are to defend their title especially with a possible
matchup against England or France the quarterfinals.
If, as expected, France defeat
Sweden and England see off the challenge of co-hosts Ukraine, then it will be
Spain versus England and Italy vs France in the final quarterfinal matchups.
You can read more about the conclusion of Group D here.
