The own-goals at UEFA Euro 2020 are coming at a blistering — and record-breaking — pace.
Two own-goals scored on Wednesday by Slovakia in Spain’s 5-0 victory made it eight so far at the tournament. That is already five more than the tournament record of three set at Euro 2016.
The first Slovakian mishap came when goalkeeper Martin Dubravka pushed a high rebound off the crossbar into his own net.
Photo: AP
Juraj Kucka then knocked in the final goal of the rout in Seville, Spain.
There had been only nine own-goals scored in 40 years, from Euro 1976 through Euro 2016.
Before this year, there had never been a tournament game with two own-goals, but there have been two in the past week.
Portugal also scored two on Saturday last week, four minutes apart. Defenders Ruben Dias and Raphael Guerreiro gave Germany a 2-1 lead in a match that the Germans ended up winning 4-2.
The scorers of all eight own-goals in the group stage ended up on the losing team, including Germany defender Mats Hummels in France’s 1-0 victory.
This includes three goalkeepers who had varying degrees of luck.
Poland goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny was unlucky that a Slovakian opponent’s shot rebounded off the post and against the back of his arm to go in.
Finland’s Lukas Hradecky was a little clumsy reaching for a ball that bounced back off a post from Belgium defender Thomas Vermaelen’s header.
On Wednesday, Dubravka’s error was harder to explain and came minutes after he dived to save a penalty from Alvaro Morata.
When Euro 2016 set the record five years ago it was the first 24-team edition of the tournament. The 51 games was an increase of 20 on the previous 16-team format.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
The Minnesota Timberwolves, with so many promising performances spoiled by late mistakes fresh in their memory bank, sure timed this strong finish well. Jaden McDaniels scored a career playoff-high 30 points and spearheaded Minnesota’s stifling defense on an ailing Luka Doncic, and the Timberwolves beat the Los Angeles Lakers 116-104 to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday night. “Jaden never looks tired. He looks like he could play 48 minutes,” said teammate Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, eight rebounds and eight assists. Julius Randle added 22 points for the Wolves, who outscored
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
RSS