Euro 2012

Injured Walcott ruled out of Italy friendly

London: Arsenal winger Theo Walcott has been ruled out of England's friendly against Euro 2012 runners-up Italy on Wednesday because of a bruised thigh.

"Walcott ... was unable to train fully so has returned to his club as a precaution," the Football Association said on its website (www.thefa.com) on Tuesday.

England coach Roy Hodgson confirmed the injury was not serious.

"He had the same as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Unfortunately Alex turned his ankle and Theo took a kick on his thigh, and we were hoping a couple of days would see him right, but unfortunately he couldn't."...more    

Capello keeps faith with Arshavin as captain

Moscow: New Russia coach Fabio Capello kept faith with Andrei Arshavin by naming the underfire forward as his captain for Wednesday's friendly against Ivory Coast. Local media had called on Capello to take away the armband after Arshavin was heavily criticised for his performances during Euro 2012. The Italian, who replaced Dutchman Dick Advocaat as coach last month, said on Tuesday he was ready to give the 31-year-old another go....  

Pele ranks 1970's Brazil more gifted than Spain

Sao Paulo: Brazil's 1970 World Cup winners contained more gifted individuals than Spain's current all-conquering national side, the Brazilian side's greatest player Pele said on Wednesday. Asked who would win a showdown between the two teams, Pele flashed a big smile and said: "If I was playing, we'd win, no doubt about it." "As long as they are comparing teams with the 1970s, it is because the 1970s team is...  

Brazil slump to record low in FIFA rankings

Berne: Brazil slumped to 11th in the FIFA rankings on Wednesday, their lowest ever position, while tiny Tahiti surged 41 places after their astonishing win at the Oceania Nations Cup. Performances at Euro 2012 had an impact on places, with winners Spain staying top, semi-finalists Germany moving up a spot to second and runners-up Italy jumped from 12th to sixth. Moving in the opposite direction, Netherlands slumped from fourth to...  

France take action against four players

Paris: The French Football Federation has opened disciplinary proceedings against players Samir Nasri, Hatem Ben Arfa, Jeremy Menez and Yann Mvila for misbehaving at Euro 2012, the FFF said on Tuesday. The federation added that Didier Deschamps, who has just left his job at Olympique Marseille, had asked for time to think about taking over from Laurent Blanc as France coach. Deschamps has until the end of the week to...  

Spain celebrates Euro triumph

Madrid: Spaniards seized on their European Championship triumph as a source of restored national pride after months of economic anxieties, as celebrations reached fever pitch on Monday with a victory parade in the capital. Across the country many were looking forward to another night of revelry after Spain thrashed Italy 4-0 on Sunday, becoming the first team to win two Euro titles in a row, with a World Cup in...  

Is the present Spain team the greatest of all time?

CNN-IBN's football experts discuss if Spain's hat-trick of Euro 2008, World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012 makes them the greatest. ...

Twitter sees new record during Euro 2012 final

Warsaw: Twitter says its users fired off more than 15,000 Tweets per second when Spain made its fourth goal in Sunday's European Championship final, setting a new sports-related record on the social networking site. The surge in tweets came just weeks before the Olympics Games in London are expected to bring another unprecedented surge of activity by sports fans on social networking sites. Twitter says total global traffic on its...  

Spain medio Iniesta named best Euro 2012 player

Kiev: Andres Iniesta, who helped Spain to a second successive European Championship triumph in Poland and Ukraine, was named the best player at the tournament by UEFA on Monday. Iniesta played a central role for Spain in Sunday's 4-0 win over Italy as they became the first country to retain the title. Andy Roxburgh, the head of UEFA's technical group, told reporters: "Andrea Pirlo was magnificent for Italy, Xavi won...  

Champions of Europe: Tired Italy were outplayed

CNN-IBN's panel of experts said that Italy were tired for the final and Spain just outplayed them to lift the Euro 2012 title. ...

I haven't changed the game: Del Bosque

Kiev: Vicente del Bosque played down a suggestion he had changed football by sometimes starting matches at Euro 2012 without a recognised striker after Spain crushed Italy 4-0 to retain their continental title on Sunday. Midfielder Cesc Fabregas was again deployed as a roving forward for the game at Kiev's Olympic Stadium, as he had been earlier in the tournament against Italy and France, and Spain were soon in front...  

Prandelli rues lack of rest before the final

Kiev: Italy coach Cesare Prandelli was generous in his praise of European champions Spain after their 4-0 victory in Sunday's final but was left ruing the lack of preparation time his team had. Spain's win makes them the first team to win two consecutive European Championships with a World Cup sandwiched in between and Prandelli said they deserve all the plaudits they will get for that achievement. "They made history...  

Spain answers critics with attacking football

Kiev: Spain's talented midfielders answered weeks of criticism over boring play with a masterclass performance of attacking football that led it to a second straight European Championship. Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez, Cesc Fabregas and David Silva repaid coach Vicente del Bosque's trust in fielding a starting lineup without a traditional striker by pulling the strings in Sunday's 4-0 victory over Italy. The four players were involved in nearly all four...  

There was no contest with Spain, says Buffon

Kiev: Gianluigi Buffon feels that Italy were no match for Spain in the final of Euro 2012 as the defending champions cruised to a comfortable 4-0 victory. The Juventus goalkeeper believes the difference in class between the two sides was obvious, and stressed the match was never a real contest. "Tonight, there was no contest, they were too superior - so the bitterness at losing this final is only relative....  

Torres pips Gomez to win Euro 2012 Golden Boot

Kiev: Fernando Torres has collected the Euro 2012 Golden Boot, scoring three goals during Spain's title-winning campaign. In a dramatic turn of events the 28-year-old ensured it would be who won the accolade with a superb 15-minute cameo in the 4-0 final win over Italy to put another torrid season behind him. Despite being level with Mario Gomez on three goals and one assist, he takes home the prize having...  

Balotelli makes no impact in final loss to Spain

Kiev: Faced with his best scoring chance, Mario Balotelli never even touched the ball. That's how little of an impact Italy's most talented striker had on Sunday's European Championship final. Spain did such a great job of shutting down Italy's attack in a 4-0 rout that Balotelli rarely even got the ball in a scoring position. At the final whistle, Balotelli stormed off the pitch in frustration " shoving aside...  

A step too far for heroic Italy

For the past three weeks, Italy have been living the dream. On Sunday night in Kiev, unfortunately, the dream turned into a nightmare. Having been written off before the tournament began, each passing success over the past three weeks only intensified the feeling across the peninsula that the Azzurri were destined to win Euro 2012. The parallels with the World Cup triumph of six years ago were just too difficult...  

Spain win a personal milestone for Casillas

Kiev: Though a team triumph, Iker Casillas managed his own personal milestone when Spain beat Italy 4-0 to win the European Championship on Sunday. The 31-year-old goalkeeper became the first player to ever record 100 wins for his national team. Instead of embracing his fiance journalist as he did after Spain's 2010 World Cup victory in South Africa, Casillas celebrated by giving her a peck on each cheek before running...  

With their third successive major trophy, is the current Spanish team the best ever to have played the game?

Having already won Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010, Spain on Sunday added Euro 2012 to their elaborated cabinet. 

Spain erupts in joy after historic Euro win

Madrid: Spaniards blasted off fireworks and jumped for joy after their soccer team won the European Championship on Sunday night, giving temporary relief from the crushing economic woes that have engulfed the nation. Tens of thousands gathered in central Madrid to watch their team beat Italy 4-0 and shout out "Gol!" more times than they thought possible. Even better for Spain, the country's team became the first ever to win...