Spain were sent crashing out of Euro 2016 at the hands of Italy following a 2-0 defeat in the round of 16. In a rematch of the 2012 final in Kiev, a dominant victory for a brilliant Spanish side, Italy met Spain in an early round of 16 clash of the titans.
The world champions have awoken in France, and the rest of the field have been warned. Germany’s comprehensive 3-0 victory over Slovakia in their round of 16 encounter gave evidence to the brilliance, balance and cohesion this German side is able to muster.
Jerome Boateng scored a wonderful opening goal in the eighth minute, Mario gomez added a second in the 43rd and Julian Draxler capped a superb individual performance with Germany’s third in the 63rd minute.
Chile has beaten Argentina in a penalty shoot-out in the Copa America final for the second time in two years.
Arturo Vidal got Chile off the the most inauspicious start possible in the penalty shootout when he had his opening penalty saved.
But then the impossible happened. In a shocking turn of events, Lionel Messi missed Argentina’s next penalty, failing to capitalize on Vidal’s miss and put Argentina ahead.
For almost an hour, this match was essentially one long double take at the scoreboard with Ireland leading 1-0 through Robbie Brady’s second minute penalty. The Boys in Green played admirably but came undone when French hero Antoine Griezmann powered home a header in the 57 minute. Griezmann quickly added to his total with the go ahead goal in the 61 minute.
Shane Duffy was sent off for denying Griezmann a clear goal scoring opportunity in the 66 minute, and France rarely looked troubled as they saw out the game in Lyon.
Portugal defeated Croatia 1-0 after 117 minutes of sleep-inducing tedium. To call it a tactical battle is to turn a blind eye towards both sides' lack of ambition and risk taking. A show that promised the likes of Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic, Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo resulted in 116 minutes of football without a shot on target — Ricardo Quaresma sparing us from the second shootout of the opening day of knockout fixtures.
Every time Lionel Messi’s teammates step out onto the pitch, they must be thankful that the Argentine wizard is wearing the Blaugrana shirt. In this video from the official FC Barcelona YouTube page, Messi can be seen humiliating some of Barcelona’s biggest stars during training.
Lionel Messi broke Gabriel Batistuta's Argentina National Team all-time scoring record in the most dazzling way possible: with a scorching free kick. La Pulga now has 55 career goals for La Albiceleste t Batistuta's 54.
The free kick put Argentina up 2-0 on the USA. The game finished 4-0, with Gonzalo Higuain scoring twice and Ezequiel Lavezzi scoring once. The best goal of the night, though, belonged to Messi.
Northern Ireland vs. Germany finished 1-0 in favor of Die Mannschaft, but it could have been so much worse.
Germany could have ended the first half 5-0 in front, but Northern Ireland held on, thanks in large part to the performance of goalkeeper Michael McGovern, who made seven magnificent saves throughout the match.
The result sees Germany top Group C, while Northern Ireland's ability to keep the score down means they are very much still alive in this competition.
The Czech Republic vs. Turkey kicked off with both teams needing to win in order to give themselves a chance to progress.
An opening goal from Burak Yilmaz, followed by a rocket from Ozan Tufan gave Turkey a 2-0 victory, knocking the Czechs out of the competition.
Despite the win, it may not be enough for Turkey to progress, as they sit third with three points and a goal differential of negative two.
Kazuyoshi Miura, a.k.a. "King Kazu," broke his own goalscoring record as he headed in a goal for Yokohama FC against FC Gifu this weekend. At an unbelievable 49 years, three months and 24 days, King Kazu broke his own record as the oldest goalscorer in Japan's J-League 2.