EURO 2008 FACTSFIRST PENALTYThe first penalty of EURO 2008 was scored by Luka Modric of Croatia in the 3rd game. Modric's penalty was the only goal in Croatia's 1- 0 win over Austria. FIRST BRACE In the 4th game of the tournament Lukas Podolski of Germany became the first player to score more than 1 goal in a match. He scored 2 goals against Poland, the country of his birth. As a mark of respect to Poland and his Polish family members in the crowd he did not celebrate his goals. FIRST HAT-TRICK David Villa of Spain put on a clinic in how to finish in front of goal. He scored 3 goals in the 7th game of the tournament between Spain and Russia. After the match his stock immediately went up and it is expected that Barcelona, Real Madrid, Arsenal and Chelsea will be competing for his signature next season. FIRST HEADER Giovanni Van Bronckhorst's header in the 6th game (Holland v Italy) was the first header of the tournament. The Dutch midfielder scored the 3rd goal of a stunning 3 - 0 drubbing of Italy. FIRST RED CARD The first red card of EURO 2008 was shown to Bastian Schweinsteiger of Germany after he retaliated to a perceived foul by Croatian Jerko Leko. He will be missed badly as he was the only other German (besides Podolski) who seemed likely to score. The match ended with a surprise win for Croatia (2 - 1). OLDEST PLAYER TO SCORE IN EURO COMPETITION In scoring the penalty against Poland, Austria's Ivica Vastic became the oldest player (at 38 years and 257 days) to score in the tournament's finals' history. THE EARLIEST EXIT FOR A DEFENDING CHAMPION On Saturday June 15th Greece lost to Russia 0 - 1 and became the first defending champion to lose its first 2 matches of the following tournament. As a result, they are eliminated from the competition. Many believed that Greece overachieved in winning the 2004 competition because they entered EURO 2004 as 150-1 outsiders who had never won a match at a major tournament. TURKEY: FIRST TIME IN SEMI-FINALS Turkey like a cat with "nine lives" refuse to go down easily. By beating Croatia they have reached the semi-finals of the European Championship for the first time. FIRST MATCH TO BE DECIDED IN ADDED EXTRA TIME SINCE... The 200th match in the history of European Championship finals (Holland 1 - 3 Russia) was the first to be determined in extra time since the 2004 semi-final between Greece and Czech Republic (1-0) that was decided through a silver goal. |
Legend: GP = Games Played PT = Points | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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