Germany crush Greece 4-2 in Euro 2012 quarter-finalJune 23, 2012 - 13:17 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Germany crushed Greece 4-2 in a one-sided Euro 2012 quarter-final on Friday, June 22, and set up a last-four clash against England or Italy with their 15th successive win in competitive matches, Reuters reported. The Germans, who will have to wait until Sunday to find out their semi-final opponents, have won all five European Championship quarter-finals they have played and they have reached the final on the four previous occasions. In a one-sided contest, Germany took the lead through captain Philipp Lahm late in the first half and survived a scare 10 minutes after the restart when rank outsiders Greece leveled with a breakaway goal from Giorgos Samaras. But the three-times European champions, who had never previously scored four goals in a match at the tournament, were in no mood for an upset and three goals in 13 minutes kept them on track for their first title in 16 years. Greece cut the deficit with a late Dimitris Salpingidis penalty. "We made it unnecessarily difficult for us," said Lahm, who has scored for his country once every two years since 2004 to take his tally to five. "We had huge chances to go into the lead in the first quarter hour. We got into the lead but gifted it away. We were too slow at times and made too many easy mistakes but the important thing is that we are in the semi finals.” For the Greeks, shock 2004 European champions, it was an expected end to their campaign after advancing to the last eight with a surprise 1-0 win over Russia. "We could have held the ball more and maybe taken a few more chances," said Greece coach Fernando Santos. "But we did not manage to breathe. We did not have the space to breathe. They pressed us all the time." Top stories Armenian gymnast, Olympic bronze medalist Artur Davtyan has reached the finals of the World Cup. Gor Manvelyan has denied reports alleging that he has expressed a desire to one day play for the French national team. Roma midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan is not considering FC Spartak Moscow as his next haven, according to fresh reports. 10 Armenian lifters will compete in the 2021 World Championships scheduled to be held from 7 to 17 December in Tashkent. Partner news | Russia clarifying reports on Baku’s alleged arms supply to Ukraine Russia says is carefully working to verify reports about alleged arms supplies from Azerbaijan to Ukraine Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. |