Euro 2012 Results: Quarterfinals Scores and Highlights

The group stage at the 2012 European Championships was fantastic—a collection of tight games, brilliant goals and a quality of play only topped at the World Cup.

Expect the quarterfinals to be even better.

Be sure to keep it here after each quarterfinal game, where we will provide scores, highlights and a brief recap for each game. From Cristiano Ronaldo doing battle against the Czech Republic to the evenly matched tilt between England and Italy, we've got you covered.

Tournament Schedule

Date	Matchup	Time	Round	Watch
6/27/2012	Portugal vs. Spain	2:45 p.m. ET	Semifinals	ESPN/ESPN3
6/28/2012	Germany vs. Italy	2:45 p.m. ET	Semifinals	ESPN/ESPN3
7/1/2012	Portugal/Spain vs. Germany/Italy	2:45 p.m. ET	Finals	ESPN/ESPN3

June 23rd: Italy 0, England 0 (Italy Wins on Penalties, 4-2)

It took a penalty shootout, but eventually the better team won. And once again, penalties were the death of England a major tournament.

Italy dominated possession (64 percent), put 20 shots on target to England's four and overcame an early deficit in the penalty shootout to still win.

The story remained the same for England. They sunk too far back into a shell, allowed the Italians to much space in the attacking third and didn't press forward with enough urgency on the counter-attack. For most of the match, England played with fire and was a bit lucky the match extended to penalties.

But the Three Lions looked like they might actually steal the match when Riccardo Montolivo missed Italy's second penalty kick attempt. England went up 2-1 on Wayne Rooney's effort before Andrea Pirlo—who was fantastic throughout, as usual— netted a brilliant, gutsy floater to knot the score at two apiece.

And that's where England crumbled.

Ashley Young hit the crossbar, Ashley Cole saw his effort handled by Gianluigi Buffon and Antonio Nocerino and Alessandro Diamanti made their penalties, sending Italy to a semifinal match against powerhouse Germany.

The Italians won't dominate possession against Germany, and they'll face a counter-attack with far more bite as well. If they fail to finish on the (less plentiful) opportunities they get against Germany like they did against England, they won't beat the hot German side.

June 23rd: Spain 2, France 0

Spain controlled the midfield once again with its “false No. 9” lineup and now the team is one win away from a second consecutive European Championships finals appearance.

The French put together a much better performance than they did in the final group stage game against Sweden and they were able to create quality chances.

The final shot count for the game was 13-4 in favor of Spain. 

Spain took advantage of the match when Jordi Alba received a perfect through-ball from Andres Iniesta and picked out Xabi Alonso, who ran through his header and bounced the ball into the goal in the 19^th minute. 

Alonso grabbed his second goal of the game on a penalty kick in the 90^th minute to put the game away. Pedro received a through ball and was taken down from behind to draw the spot kick.

Spain’s strategy in the knockout stages of major tournaments is geared towards earning 1-0 victories. The team defeated Germany by that score in the finals of Euro 2008 and reeled off four straight 1-0 wins to win the 2010 World Cup. 

The Spanish defense has been superb in the last three games and has not allowed a goal. Worries over Carles Puyol’s absence have been put to bed. 

Once La Roja grabbed a goal, it made France’s task monumentally difficult. With a stout defense and a dominant midfield that helped Spain control the ball 60 percent of the time, it was near impossible for the French to establish an offensive rhythm and put pressure on Spanish defense. 

The team looked poised for its sixth 1-0 victory in a row in the knockout stages of a major tournament until Alonso’s well-taken penalty gave them some breathing room. The team’s 2-0 victory set up a seminal match with Portugal and proved that the players still have the skill and swagger that has led to all their success.

June 22nd: Germany 4, Greece 2

The Germans played like favorites in their 4-2 quarterfinal victory over Greece.

The Group B winners made some surprising changes to their lineup, playing Andre Schurrle, Marco Reus and Miroslav Klose in the attack instead of Mario Gomez, Thomas Muller and Lukas Podolski.

The lineup did not slow down the finalists from four years ago and they are certainly in fine enough form to return to the title match. 

The Germans dominated possession early and bombarded the Greek goal before Phlipp Lahm finally broke through with a curling shot from outside the penalty box in the 39^th minute. 

The Greeks went into halftime facing a 1-0 deficit, but came out of the break with renewed energy and equalized when Georgios Samaras knocked in a cross from Dimitris Salpingidis in the 55^th minute.

But just six minutes later, Sami Kedhira gave the Germans the lead again by finishing off a brilliant buildup with a stunningly powerful volley into the top of the net. 

The Germans never looked back and goals from Klose and Reus put the game away. Salpingidis converted a penalty kick in the 89^th minute, but it was a meaningless goal at that point.

Germany kept possession 77 percent of the time and outshot the Greeks by a ridiculous margin of 26-10, according to the match report on ESPN.com.

Germany continued to dominate at Euro 2012 against an admittedly inferior Greek side, but it does not look as if anyone can beat them at this point.

June 21st: Portugal 1, Czech Republic 0

The score doesn't really paint the picture of just how much the Portuguese were able to control this match, namely in the second half.

Cristiano Ronaldo hit the bar twice and created numerous opportunities in space, Petr Cech played admirably in goal for the Czechs against the Portuguese onslaught and this Portugal side showed they are a force to be reckoned with for either Spain or France in the semifinals.

Seriously, they dominated this match. They out-shot the Czechs 20-2 and finished with 57 percent of the possession.

While stars like Ronaldo and Nani get all the attention, the Portuguese back line and midfield was stout against the Czech Republic, limiting chances and generally controlling possession.

This is no longer a collection of flashy performers—this is a true team that is totally capable of winning this tournament.

I'll say this on behalf of the Czechs—they were without top-playmaker Tomas Rosicky in the midfield, unable to play with an injured Achilles tendon. Without him, the Czech attack lacked creativity and flow.

But on this day, Portugal was clearly the better team and probably should have won by a wider margin. Don't be shocked if this Portuguese team ends up being the surprise of the tournament and advances to the final.

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