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Poland, Greece seek opening win
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Mata bides his time on the bench
Errani storms into final
Mukul, Ravinder star for Collage group
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Poland, Greece seek opening win
The kick-off is not just being keenly anticipated for the football, where world champions Spain are looking to the retain the crown they won four years ago and beaten 2008 finalists Germany seek revenge. The tournament is also the first behind the former Iron Curtain and a gamble by European football’s governing body UEFA to develop the game beyond its traditional heartlands. Franciszek Smuda’s Poles are seeking to emulate the golden generation of the 1970s and 1980s while Greece want to prove that their 2004 victory was no fluke - and give their cash-strapped compatriots something to smile about. Captain Giorgios Karagounis, of Panathinaikos, said, “We want to give joy to the Greeks. We will do our best, without stress and pressure, and hopefully bring back beautiful memories.” Russia play Czech Republic
The Poland-Greece opener is followed by Russia versus the Czech Republic in Wroclaw, where Dick Advocaat’s side come into the tournament on a high after beating Italy 3-0 last week, prompting predictions that they may be a team to watch. The experienced Dutchman may play down any talk of Russia as outside bets but captain Andrey Arshavin believes they are ready to take on and beat the best. “The result of the friendly match with Italy boosted our fans’ hopes ahead of the championship’s start and all of our players also. However, for a long time we have believed our team is capable of playing at this level,” he said. The Czechs’ Champions League-winning goalkeeper Petr Cech told fans in an online chat yesterday that Group A was wide open, with any one of them able to progress to the quarter-finals. “Our chances are the same as those of the other three teams in Group A,” he said, predicting that Spain, Germany and the Netherlands would win the title although he suggested: “We may spring a surprise.” Czech coach Michal Balek, however, has injury concerns over captain Tomas Rosicky, who resumed training on Monday after a calf injury, as well as Galatasaray forward Milan Baros, who limped out of Tuesday’s session with a thigh problem. Row in Dutch camp
In Group B, Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk said the Oranje’s opener on Saturday against Denmark was “the most important game in the last six months” but fears have mounted about another potentially self-destructive row in the camp. That followed comments by Bundesliga top scorer Klaas-Jan Huntelaar that he was unhappy about not being picked as lone striker ahead of Arsenal’s Robin van Persie, who was the leading goalscorer in the English Premier League. But Inter Milan playmaker Wesley Sneijder said: “We are fine. There are no fights. We’ve been together in this team for a long time, so there are no problems.” Germany forward Lukas Podolski has meanwhile backed his team to subdue Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo, predicting a 2-0 win for the Mannschaft when the sides meet in Lviv, Ukraine, on Saturday. “We have to be aggressive, entangle him in some tough tackles and take away his love of football,” Podolski said of the Real Madrid player. “But one thing is clear, we have enough players of our own with great potential.” Injury-hit England’s preparations for their first Group D match against France in Donetsk, Ukraine, on Monday, were hit further when striker Jermain Defoe flew home from their Krakow training camp after the death of his father. The Football Association said he would rejoin the squad at a later date. France coach Laurent Blanc, however, said a weakened England were still a threat, particularly given the tradition behind the tie. “Yes of course they are not at full strength but what concerns me is that England will play in a certain style, based on their qualities, and their philosophy of how to play. They will give everything because when there are French against English, it raises the game above the normal international match. We're going to have to be extremely strong physically. That is going to be a difficult match.”
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Logo and slogan
The official logo for the tournament was unveiled at a special event at Mykhailivska Square, Kiev, on 14 December 2009. It takes its visual identity from Wycinanki or
Vytynanky, traditional form of paper cutting practised in rural areas of Poland and Ukraine. The art form symbolises the nature of the rural areas of both countries.
The official match ball for UEFA Euro 2012 is the Adidas Tango 12, which is designed to be easier to dribble and control than the reportedly unpredictable Adidas Jabulani used at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
The Henri Delaunay Trophy began a journey through the host cities seven weeks before the start of the tournament. A hundred days before the first match a 35.5-metre-high (116 ft) hot air balloon in the shape of the trophy was flown in
Nyon, Switzerland and will visit 14 cities throughout the host countries, reminding spectators of the impending tournament. On 20 April 2012 the trophy tour started and visited Warsaw, Wroclaw,
Gdan'sk, Poznan', Kraków, Katowice and Lódz' cities. After the Polish cities, the trophy visited seven Ukrainian cities: Kiev,
Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Lviv, Odesa. Euro 2012 is being jointly held by Poland and Ukraine and both nations have four venues each.
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Mata bides his time on the bench
Gniewino, June 7 Amid such stiff competition, he is realistic about his chances of being called on to help Spain become the first nation to win back-to-back Euro titles with a World Cup in between. But the 24-year-old said he was focused on getting himself in peak form so he can contribute his best if he does make an appearance. "It's true that I played a lot of minutes at Chelsea this season and felt like an important player," Mata said. "I just need to keep working now to try and get into the starting 11 for the national team," he added. "But there are a lot of players who have been here a long time who have also earned that right. "Whether I am playing or not playing I will always be supporting the team as we all have the same goal." — Reuters
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Paris, June 7 She stepped inside the baseline to take the Stosur serve early and edged the first set with some deep, penetrating groundstrokes. The Australian struck back, however, with a dominant display of power hitting in the second set which she wrapped up in only 36 minutes. The 21st seed claycourt specialist, who had already knocked out former champions Ana Ivanovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova, exchanged breaks with Stosur at the start of the decider before capitalising on a string of unforced errors to wrap up the match. Maria Sharapova enjoyed a double celebration on Thursday as she reclaimed the world number one tennis ranking after blowing away Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-3 to reach her maiden French Open final. The Russian now stands one match away from fulfilling her dream of completing a career Grand Slam and will be favourite to become the newest member of the Roland Garros champions' club when she takes on Italian outsider Sara Errani on Saturday. — Reuters
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Mukul, Ravinder star for Collage group
New Delhi, June 7 Scores: RP Academy:246 for 7 (Puneet 76, Sachin 68, Ajit 33, Ravinder 4/60). Collage Group:249 for 5 (Mukul 81, Rahul 46, Yashpal 43, Pankaj 33). In the second match Hargopal XI beat Rohtak Road Gymkhana by 8 wickets. Scores: Rohtak Road Gymkhana:217 for 8 (Saurabh 91, Akash 26, Avinash 25, Rahul 20, Manan 2/21, Rohan 2/29). Hargopal XI:220 for 2 (Eklavya Diwedi 142, Jagrit Anad 56 n.o).
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Warsaw, June 7
Warsaw, June 7
The competition slogan, Creating History Together, was announced along with the logo. The slogan reflects the fact that Poland and Ukraine were united in the past as one country and now represent ambitions of two eastern nations to perform the best tournament in the history of European Championship.
Slavek and Slavko are the official mascots of the UEFA Euro 2012. They are twins and represent Polish and Ukrainian footballers in national
colours. The mascots were announced in December 2010. Similarly as in 2008 names Slavek and Slavko were chosen in the web voting, over
"Siemko and Strimko" and "Klemek and Ladko". It should be noted, however, that the name of the "Polish" mascot,
Slavek, is not Polish. The letter "v" does not exist in the Polish alphabet and is used on a daily basis only in a very limited set of loan words. More importantly, the Polish equivalent of the Ukrainian Slavko would be
Slawek, which contains the letter "?", pronounced quite differently from "l" (in a way its proper pronounciation resembles that of the letter "w" in the word "walk").
UEFA, however, refused to incorporate non-English letters in the mascots' names. They were designed by Warner Bros.
