Jonas Hector scored the decisive penalty in the ninth round of penalty kicks after Leonardo Bonucci had canceled out Mesut Ozil’s strike in regular time to send Germany into the Euro 2016 semi-finals.
Germany altered their lineup to effectively null any Italian attacking strength, and a fascinating tactical battle between two of Europe’s greatest footballing nations struggled to match the pregame hype.
The greatest story I saw in sports this weekend was not the amazing comeback by the Golden State Warriors who were down 3-1 in the NBA's western conference finals only to win the series 4-3. It was not the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500. It was not some of the masterful shots made by Novak Djokovic in the French Open. Instead it was an exhibition match between some blind soccer players who won over the crowd at the UEFA Champions festival.
The San Siro in Milan will play host to the 2016 Champions League final as Atletico Madrid take on local rivals Real Madrid. It is a rematch of the final from two seasons ago, which Real won 4-1 in extra time, despite being down 1-0 for most of the match. This will be only the second time that a European Cup final will be contested by two clubs from the same city.
Fernando Torres, Diego Costa and Juan Mata have all been omitted from Spain’s 25-man provisional Euro 2016 squad by manager Vincente del Bosque. In Torres and Mata, Spain have elected to drop players who’ve combined for 151 appearances, 48 goals, three European championships, and two World Cup winner’s medals.
Costa suffered a hamstring injury during Chelsea’s 1-1 draw with Liverpool on May 11, putting his participation immediately in doubt. Costa’s consistent hamstring troubles, coupled with his subpar form this season, have seen him lose his place in the squad.
Luis Suarez’s blatant handball from the 2010 World Cup continues to be a subject of debate amongst soccer’s lawmakers. Suarez committed the offense in the closing stages of a quarter-final match against Ghana, giving Uruguay the slightest hopes of staving off elimination.
Asamoah Gyan sent the resulting penalty over the bar for Ghana, and Uruguay went through to the semis after a shoot-out victory. The International Football Association Board (IFAB) is now looking into ways to prevent that situation from ever occurring again.
Having already secured qualification for Euro 2016 at the top of Group E, Roy Hodgson and England have already switched gears, looking forward to the start of the tournament and setting their sights on winning their first major trophy since the 1966 World Cup.
However, England is already facing their first obstacle in France before they have even arrived.
Borussia Dortmund’s early Europa League match in Norway Friday literally finished against all the odds.
The German club arrived in Norway early Thursday morning to face Norwegian football club Odds Ballklubb. From what looked like an easy match for Dortmund on paper, turned into a game of catch-up after Odd scored three unanswered goals in the first half. Thomas Tuchel was staring at his first loss in charge of Borussia Dortmund at 45’, but the boys in yellow came out on top to move on in the Europa League campaign.