Archived News

Since the opening game last Friday the tournament has produced one exciting match after another.

Poland Vs Greece Kick Things Off

Poland and Greece were the countries to kick-off the 2012 tournament. Both teams gave us lots of drama with 2 goals, a missed penalty and 2 red cards! Robert Lewandowski became the first player to score a goal in the 2012 tournament. Unfortunately that wasn’t enough to win the game for Poland as Dimitris Salpigidis scored the equaliser in the 2nd half and the game ended 1-1.

The 2nd game of the opening day for Euro 2012 was played by Czech vs. Russia. The game was packed with action and ended with a dominating 4-1 victory to Russia.

‘Group Of Death’ Gets Started

On Saturday, 9th of June it was Group B’s turn to kick off. The first game of the day was Netherland vs. Denmark. The underdogs Denmark showed us their Viking blood and fought their way to a surprising 1-0 victory.

Michael Krohn-Dehli bleeds 'Viking'...

Next up was Germany vs. Portugal. Both teams played well but even though the Portuguese defence withstood much of the German onslaught it wasn’t enough to keep a clean sheet. Germany’s Mario Gomez scored the deciding goal in the 71st minute and won the game for Germany.

Sunday Football Excitement

Sunday saw the first of Group C’s games starting with tournament favourites Spain taking on Italy. The match resulted in the 2nd tied game of the tournament. Italy was the first team on the score sheet. Unfortunately for Italy Fabregras equalized just 4 minutes later. Despite many chances, both teams lacked the killer instinct needed to end the game victorious.

The 2nd game of the night saw Ireland taking on Croatia who got off to a flying start scoring after only 3 minutes. Ireland equalized 15 minutes later but couldn’t keep up with Croatia. The game ended 3-1 to Croatia.

Group D Takes Centre Stage

The last teams to play were France, England, Ukraine and Sweden from Group D.

The first game was between France and England, played at a relatively slow pace. The game didn’t create much drama (unless if you were French or English perhaps) and ended in a draw.

Karate Kid John Terry...

The 2nd game in Group D was a bit more exciting as Ukraine were playing to win. The Swedes were somewhat disappointing with their flat play. Zlatan Ibrahimović was the only one showing character and to no surprise he was the first goal scorer. Unfortunately for Sweden Ukraine showed a winning spirit, especially Andriy Shevchenko, the 35 year old Ukranian talisman who rolled back the years to score a brace, deciding the game for Ukraine.

Fun Facts From Euro 2012

With the teams first matches all finished and the second games well under way we certainly hope you are enjoying the competitive European football being played in this tournament. At the next game why not impress your friends with some of these fun facts from Euro 2012:

• In the 2004 tournament Portugal was the only team to lose the final as hosts

• Seven of the Spanish team members for Euro 2012 are part of the Barcelona FC squad

• Spain’s goalkeeper, Casillas, has more caps than any other player competing in the Euro 2012 tournament with 129

• Co-hosts Ukraine is the only nation making their debut at this European Championship

• Poland is the lowest ranked nation in the FIFA World Rankings (65th) to participate in Euro 2012

• Germany has played the most number of matches in all UEFA Tournaments with 38 Matches, Netherlands is ranked second with 32 Matches and Spain is next with 30 Matches

Good luck to all the countries taking part in Euro 2012. And if you, our loyal lottery player, feels like taking part in your own football competition why not give the FREE PlayHugeLottos.com ‘Spot-the-Ball’ competition a go? You can win yourself a £2,000.00 home cinema system or the equivalent cash value.