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Russia vs Spain: Live Score and Updates

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Russia and Spain are going to take on each other in the second semi final of Euro 2008 tournament on 26 June 2008, Thursday. The match will take place at the Ernst Happel, Vienna in Austria, where the final match of the tournament will also take place. To be honest, after experiencing Russia’s performance in their previous two matches, I think, Spain is perhaps going to face the toughest challenge from Russia in the second semi final, even though Spain demolished Russia 4-1 in their first match of the tournament.

Match: Russia vs Spain, Second Semi Final, Euro 2008

Date: 26 June 2008, Thursday

Venue: Ernst Happel, Vienna in Austria

The way Russia outclassed the tournament favorite Netherlands in the quarter final, Russian fans now have enough ground to hold their hope high ahead of the Spain encounter. Spain, in the same way, has achieved something to cherish so far in the tournament and knocked out reigning world champion Italy in the quarter final. I think, in Euro 2008 Spain has a very good chance to get out of the bad patch of falling short of expectation of the fans in major football tournament. Spain has been playing consistently well so far in the tournament and Spain is the only semi finalist of Euro 2008 who progressed to quarter final as the group winner.

The last time Spain played in the final of a major football tournament was in Euro 1984 and since their appearance in the final of that tournament, this is going to be the first time Spain has reached the semi final in a Euro tournament. Spain’s biggest achievement in football came 44 years back when Jose Villalonga’s Spain won the title of Euro 1964. However, for Russia, this is the first time they progressed to the semi final of a major football tournament. However, success is nothing new to the Russians. In fact, before the break up of the Soviet Union, the former USSR had some notable successes in the 1960’s. USSR won the first tournament of European Championship in 1960. Four years later in 1964, USSR became runner up in European Championship being lost to Spain in the final. They continued their success in the next two tournaments as well reaching the semi final and final of 1968 and 1972 tournaments respectively. USSR also reached the last four of 1962 world cup tournament.

Russia vs Spain: Road to Semi Final

Both the teams faced each other in their tournament opener and Spain emerged winner in style thanks to the hat trick by David Villa. However, ahead of a rematch in the semi final, it is also true that Russia will not leave any stone unturned to win the match this time around in what it would be a revenge of their humiliating defeat in the group stage. After their star striker Andrei Arshavin came back in action against Sweden in the last group stage match, Russia started appearing with their prime form and the presence of Andrei Arshavin has boosted up the confidence of the whole Russian team.

Russia bounced back in the second match to win over defending champion Greece thanks to the solitary goal by Konstantin Zyrianov. Even with that victory, Russia needed to win over Sweden in their final group stage match. Arshavin-inspired Russia pulled off a superb 2-0 victory over Sweden to reach the quarter final of the tournament. In the quarter final, Russia faced mighty Netherlands, who outclassed the world cup champion Italy and world cup runner up France in group stage. Going into the match as an underdog, Russia started off well in the match and from the very beginning started attacked. Two strikers- Roman Pavlyuchenko and Andrei Arshavin- appeared as constant threat to the Dutch defense and continued doing that throughout the match. As a result, Russia defeated Netherlands 3-1 in the match. I think, the victory was less important than the way they outplayed seemingly formidable Netherlands in the match.

As I mentioned earlier, Spain started the tournament defeating Russia 4-1 in style. Striker David Villa scored three goals becoming the first hat trick man of the tournament. In the second match, Spain defeated Sweden 2-1 and confirmed their place in the quarter final, leaving Coach Luis Aragones in a state to consider giving rest to some of his regular players for the last group stage match against Greece. However, Spain won 2-1 against Greece after coming back from a goal down in the match and it once again showed the strength of Spain squad because many of their regular players were rest against Greece and many reserve players stepped in the starting line up. So, Spain progressed to the last eight as the winner of Group D.

Spain encountered Italy in the quarter final of Euro 2008 where they defeated the world champions 4-2 in penalty shootout. As the 120-minute football action remained goal less, the match entered into the penalty shootout and Spanish goal keeper Iker Casillas saved two shots to lead Spain to the victory. The goal keeper played excellently well in the match and became the man of the match.

Russia vs Spain: Head to Head and Recent Form

The two teams faced each other on four occasions so far including their group stage meeting. Out of four encounters, Spain emerged winner thrice and the other match ended in draw. So, Russia does not have any victory over Spain since the break up of former Soviet Union. However, it does not mean that Russia will come into the match as an underdog. Russia won all of their last seven matches except the defeat to Russia. It shows the level of confidence Russia holds ahead of the match.

However, Spain looks formidable in terms of their recent form. I think, no other participating team of Euro 2008 has as impressive recent record as Spain has to their credit. Spain is now on 10-match winning streak and the team is now unbeaten for the last 20 matches in all tournaments. So, their recent form is really pretty much impressive and it is clear that the current Spain squad is full of confidence in the back of such an impressive recent performance. However, it may not help Spain against Russia who has nothing to lose in this match; rather has everything to win against Spain team.

Russia Coach Guss Hiddink Hopeful for a Surprising Victory over Spain

Guss Hiddink has nothing to prove as a coach, but has something yet to win on pen paper which he will cherish for the rest of his life. Well, the coach is well-known for bringing successes to whatever the team he managed in his career. The Dutch coach lead South Korea to the semi final of 2002 world cup, and this time it is Russia and the tournament is Euro 2008. Well, the truth is that Guss Hiddink could not yet win any title in any major football tournament with national teams, except the fourth place title of 2002 world cup with South Korea. So, if Russia can defeat Spain to reach the final of the tournament, then at least a runner up trophy will be added to Hiddink’s cap.

Now, ahead of the match, the coach is looking for a surprise win over Spain, even though he admitted the strength of Spain. While talking about Spain’s advantages, the coach said that Spain had a strong league and their players had been together for a long time. However, still Guss Hiddink is hoping for a victory over Spain in the match.

dw-world reported:

Hiddink said that Spain "like to play like we like to play."

"I don't think we are fitter when I see the Spanish team play. It is not just fitness that will determine it," he said.

Spain, moreover, had the advantage of having players that had been together for a longer time, Hiddink said.

"Besides, they are playing in a league which is very strong, whether it is the English or Spanish, plus they play Champions League in between, which gives them a lot of potential," he said.

"Our players don't have that, but I hope I will be surprised."

Andrei Arshavin: New Star of Europe Attracting the Big Clubs

The Russian striker has become the center of attention of the big clubs from Europe like Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona. With his excellent performance in the last two matches, he could attract the clubs and it is possible that the striker could move to England or Spain next season. Currently he is playing for Russian club Zenit St. Petersburg. Chelsea’s Russian owner has recently shown interest on Andrei Arshavin and asked his newly appointed coach Luiz Felipe Scolari to bid for the striker. However, Andrei Arshavin himself has expressed his wish to move to Spain and indicated Barcelona as his favorite place to go. No doubt, it will inspire the striker to continue his impressive form against Spain in the semi final.

Andrei Arshavin vs David Villa

You know that Andrei Arshavin and David Villa are the mains strength of Russian and Spanish attack. So, there could be a competition between the two strikers as well. Though their face to face encounter will be with the opponent defenders, there could be a competition between the two strikers. Villa is currently the highest goal scorer of the tournament with four goals to his credit, while Arshavin has two goals to his cap. So, Arshavin has a good chance to become the highest goal scorer if he could lead his team to the final. There is no doubt, the opponent defense will definitely have the plan to stop the two strikers. In fact, Andrei Arshavin and David Villaake could make the difference in the match.

Russia vs Spain: Online Live Score and Updates

I know that many of you are now eagerly waiting for this seemingly exciting encounter of Euro 2008 and planning to manage your time to enjoy the match on television. However, it is also true that some of your might not be that much fortunate to be able to watch the match live on television due to personal or professional works, or inaccessibility to the channel the match will be shown live. If this is the case, then do not put your head down. You can get the online live score and updates of the match from different online live score websites. Here, I am giving some links of some of the online live score sites from where you can get the online live score and updates of the match:

Live Score
Goalzz
Euro 2008
Goal.com
football-data
Sky Sports
Live Score.cz

I would not like to pick up a favorite team for a match at this stage of such a big tournament, when both the participating teams are at their prime form ahead of the match. Russia vs Spain semi final encounter has exactly what it takes to be a classic match. I would not be surprised if the match wins the ‘match of the tournament’ status at the end of Euro 2008. Now, let us hope to see an entertaining and mind blowing match at Ernst Happel in Vienna.