Euro Day 4

Day 4 of the Euro 08 tournament saw group D go into action.

Spain beats Russia 4-1

A hat trick from David Villa and a late goal from Fabregas gave Spain an impressive 4-1 victory over Russia.

Spain coach Luis Aragones decided to start 2 strikers up front instead of the usual single striker. This choice meant that Villa would start and Fabregas would be on the bench, I move that didn't look at first, but certainly worked out in the end.

The game was pretty even for the first 20 minutes until Fernando Torres made a nice run, and delivered a perfect pass to David Villa in the middle of the box who then put it away.

The second goal came in the 45th minute as Iniesta made a great run and gave a perfect pass through 6 defenders to Villa who put the ball between the goalies legs and put Spain up 2-0.

In the 75th minute Villa scored all by himself shaking off a defender on the left side of the goal and putting the ball in the bottom corner.

Russia, who looked good at times got a consolation goal in the 86th minute when Roman Pavluchenko got a well deserved goal off a corner kick.

Finally in the 90th minute Fabregas got his first ever international goal on a header off a Xavi shot that was saved.

In my view Spain's attack looked terrific, and the players that I said in my Euro Preview, Villa, Torres, and Fabregas all played as well as I thought they would.

The defense for Spain however looked very shaky at times, and Russia could have scored 2 more goals then they did. All in all it was a great win for Spain that showed why they are one of the favorites to win the tournament.

Man of the Match- David Villa (Spain)

Sweden defeat defending champion Greece 2-0

Sweden striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic had not scored an international goal since October of 2005. 

That drought ended today as Ibrahimovic scored the goal of the tournament so far in the 67th minute to give Sweden a 1-0 lead over defending champion Greece. 

Zlatan played a give and go with teammate Henrik Larsson on the edge of the 18 yard box and delivered a perfect strike to the top corner of the goal.

Petter Hansson scored only minutes later after Greek goalie Antonis Nikopolidis got caught up with his own teammate by the net.

No team has ever defended the Euro title in the following tournament, and the way that Greece played today, it doesn't look like they are going to break the tradition. 

Man of the Match- Zlatan Ibrahimovic