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The European Championship A group matches have ended. From this group, the host of the tournament Portugal advanced to the quarterfinals, defeating Spain by one goal, and the surprise of the championship Greece, which despite losing to Russia, finished second. Portugal – Spain 1 – 0 57' [1 - 0] The championship hosts needed a victory and they started the first half by pressing the opponents, while the latter played with counterattacks. However, the Spaniards managed to defend against dangerous Portuguese attacks. The best chance at the end of the first half was for the young Ronaldo, but his header went wide. After the break, Portugal's coach sent Nuno Gomes onto the field instead of the inactive Pauleta, and as it turned out later, it was a crucial decision. The Spaniards did not play for a draw and switched to attack, but it was the Portuguese who scored - Nuno Gomes received the ball near the penalty area, turned around and shot from about 20 meters into the bottom corner of the goal. Of course, the Spaniards were not satisfied with this result, so they pressed the opponents. In the 62nd minute, the ball came to Torres in front of the goal, but his shot hit the crossbar. The pressure continued, and after fourteen minutes from Luque's attempt to beat the goalkeeper, defender Carvalho saved, followed by a corner kick and Juanito's header bouncing off the top of the crossbar. Soon Spanish coach Inaki Saezas sent a fourth attacker onto the field, and this redistribution of forces affected the defense: Maniche initially missed with his head, after a few moments completely free in front of goal Costinha missed with his head from a few meters. Later, in extra time, Maniche dribbled the goalkeeper and shot into an empty goal, but defender Raul Bravo cleared the ball. Portugal celebrated a hard-fought victory and won Group A with six points. They will find out their opponent only tomorrow, and according to the current situation, it would be the team of England. Russia – Greece 2 – 1 2' [1 - 0] 17' [2 - 0] 44' [2 - 1] The match started tragically for the Greeks - already in the second minute, following a mistake by defender Konstantinos Katsouranis, the ball was sent into the Greek goal by Kirichenko. It was the fastest goal in the history of the European Championships. After the first goal, the Russians did not stop pressing the Greeks, which resulted in a goal in the 17th minute. After a well-placed corner kick from Gusev, Dmitriy Bulykin scored with a header. The Greeks managed to reduce the score in the 44th minute, when Vryzas scored a goal with a header after a pass from Papadopoulos. At the end of the match, both the Greeks and the Russians had chances to score, but the shots were inaccurate. Since the Greeks scored more goals than the Spaniards, they advance to the quarterfinals of the European Championship for the first time, where they will have to compete with the top team from Group B.
