Spain beat Italy 4-2 on penalties on Sunday to reach the Euro 2008 semi-finals and in so doing break a number of painful hoodoos.
Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas saved penalties from Daniele De Rossi and Antonio Di Natale before Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas buried the winning spot-kick after the match had ended 0-0 following extra-time.
Spain will play Russia in Thursday’s semi-final, having already beaten them 4-1 in their opening Group D match.
PHOTO: EPA
The Iberians had never before beaten Italy at either the World Cup or European Championship and on three previous occasions over the last 22 years had lost a quarter-final at a major tournament on penalties on the same date: June 22.
For Spanish coach Luis Aragones it was a case of being vindicated for not stepping down after they went out in the second round of the 2006 World Cup finals.
“I would like to congratulate, first, of all my players for their remarkable behavior and maintaining their morale during the match,” the 69-year-old said.
His Italian counterpart Roberto Donadoni was disappointed, but proud of his players.
“When one loses on penalties, it is obviously very disappointing,” said Donadoni, who knows at first hand as a player what it is like, having missed a spot-kick in the 1990 World Cup semi-final penalty shoot out loss to Argentina. “We were shattered and tired. I had to study very carefully throughout the match as to who to change and who to bring on. I think that the players can exit the tournament with their heads held high, because they gave everything. At the end of the day, that is a positive.”
The match took on a predictable pattern in the first half, with Italy defending resolutely and Spain overplaying the passes and underplaying the urgency.
Italy had the first shot on target when Massimo Ambrosini crossed for Simone Perrotta, but his header lacked power.
David Villa had a shot blocked by De Rossi, before Gianluigi Buffon got down quickly to save his free-kick.
Fernando Torres then beat two men on Spain’s left, but De Rossi, again, was there to block before David Silva sent the follow-up just wide.
Just after the restart a ricochet in the box presented Silva with an opportunity, but having created space onto his right foot, he tried to bring the ball back onto his favored left, and the chance went begging.
On 56 minutes Spain finally took a more direct route and Torres muscled Christian Panucci off the ball only to have his cross aimed at Villa cut out by Giorgio Chiellini.
The Juventus stopper was proving majestic in defense and cut out a cross from Joan Capdevila that looked destined for Torres’ head.
The game was finally starting to liven up and Italy came within a whisker of taking the lead after a scramble in Spain’s box, with goalkeeper Casillas kicking away a shot from substitute Mauro Camoranesi.
Italy were starting to have more of the game and Luca Toni headed wide from a great cross by Gianluca Zambrotta.
Ten minutes from time, Marcos Senna forced Buffon to punch clear his fierce free-kick and moments later Buffon spilled a shot from the same player, before clutching on gratefully after the ball came back off the post.
Extra-time was immediately more exciting than what had come before as Silva flashed a shot wide just after the restart.
Up the other end, Casillas tipped over a header from Di Natale and Toni flicked another header just over the top.
But the match quickly settled back down into its frustrating stalemate.
Spain had the last chance of the match, but Santi Cazorla dragged a shot wide.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but