Sunday night’s action offered little respite from the current trend of underachieving giants at this year’s European Championships, with Italy holding Spain to a draw before Ireland fell to an impressive Croatian performance.
Today, England and France begin their Euro campaigns with fresh and fully fit squads, yet a tone of caution still lies over both sides’ preparation for the game.
Elsewhere, co-hosts Ukraine kick off tonight against Sweden under the cover of controversy as fan trouble besieges the tournament from a number of different fan groups.
All that and much more…
Top Stories
Rep of Ireland 1-3 Croatia: Mario Mandzukic stars as Ireland disappoint Croatia take advantage of a disappointing opening performance from Ireland with a comfortable demolishing.
Spain 1-1 Italy: Honours even with Di Natale and Fabregas on target World and European champions fail to overcome impressive Italy in a thrilling end-to-end draw.
England have fully fit squad to face France Roy Hodgson confirms a fully fit squad in face of Group D opening tie against Blanc’s French side. (ESPN)
Germany and Portugal under UEFA investigation following Euro 2012 incidents Germany and Portugal both face charges from UEFA after their opening tie on Saturday over separate instances of crowd and player trouble.
Del Bosque: Spain may forego striker again Spain boss, Vicente del Bosque, stands by his failing false forward ploy and hints that he may use it again in their next tie against the Irish on Thursday. (FourFourTwo)
Must Reads
Matchday 4: Respectful French wary of England Andrew Gibney applies his expert opinion on tonight’s game and how the French side look to set up. (Mirror Football)
Spain 1-1 Italy – What did we learn? James Burn dissects last night’s opening tie against Italy and whether del Bosque was right to start with no striker. (Inside Spanish Football)
England can exploit France’s centre-back weak spot Michael Cox details a fine thesis explaining why England’s forward line could well break through their French opposition tonight. (The Guardian)
How will Blokhin tackle it? Boris Popiv does his best to predict Ukraine’s starting 11 ahead of the co-host’s opening tie against Sweden. (UEFA.com)
Video:
More About Euro 2012
- Where do Sweden go after their poor performance at Euro 2012
- STV Sports Daily at the Euros: Our look back at the Euro 2012 final
- Italy manager urges Mario Balotelli to learn and grow from Euro final loss
- Vicente Del Bosque basks in 'extraordinary' Spain achievement
- Spain 4-0 Italy: Spain's dominance confirmed with rout of Italy
- Cesc Fabregas starts in strikerless Spain formation for Euro 2012 final
- Abate returns to Italy team for Euro 2012 final against Spain
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