Euro 2012: Spain And Italy Win To Book Spots In The Quarters

Below the jump, you’ll find animated GIF goodness of each goal. Watch them both, then vote for the goal you think is superior.

Here’s Balotelli’s awesome goal from two angles.

Apparently upset at having lost his nickname (because nicknames are that important to Balotelli, or just to keep this nickname theme going), Balotelli decided to do the most super thing of the tournament thus far. He came in off the bench and scored a peach of a goal. A stupendous goal? A super goal.

Woahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Let’s try again from another angle. Take two, go!

Slaven Bilic made his move in the 66th minute, bringing on Ivan Perisic and Nikica Jelavic as Croatia switched to an attacking 4-4-2 formation. It didn’t help them much going forward, and they never did create a chance that was better than the one Modric set up for Rakitic.

Spain looked content to pass in circles and never attack the goal until the 88th minute, when Xavi and Andres Iniesta decided it was time to win the match. Iniesta made a brilliant run behind the Croatia defense, who attempted to step up and put him offside on Xavi’s chipped pass, but Iniesta was level when the ball was played in the judgment of the referee. He squared for Navas, who scored the winner for Spain with a tap-in.

As soon as Navas knocked the ball in the net all of the Croatian players were clamoring for offside. It was close ... very close.

Keep in mind that the ball was played into Andres Iniesta, who is on the far side, and not Navas on the near side, so where Navas is does not matter. If Iniesta is offside then it is by millimeters.

Getting through group C wasn’t easy, and although Italy weren’t at their best, they did enough.

You can find our previous coverage of both of Monday’s games in our Euro 2012, Group C Finale StoryStream. For more on Euro 2012 and the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on twitter.

Spain and Croatia are playing the most predictable game ever, and unfortunately, that means it’s predictably boring. Croatia are playing very conservatively with 10 men behind the ball, while Spain appear pretty content to walk the ball around the box and not actually do a whole lot with it. The Spaniards have 75 percent of the possession and five shots on target, but they’ve never really looked like scoring in his 0-0 draw.

This could stay 0-0 for a while, especially since Spain don’t really have any incentive to push forward with reckless abandon. But eventually, Croatia are going to have to venture forward. It’s an interesting match to think about in those terms, but the actual play on the pitch has been pretty dull.

Fortunately for Italy, the ball completely crossed the line in the intervening period, giving them a highlight in a first half that was otherwise notable only for a weird rugby-style tackle by left back Federico Balzaretti as he attempted to stop Aiden McGeady from breaking down the right wing. Unsurprisingly, he was booked for his troubles. At any rate, it’s 1-0 at halftime, and Italy are in fairly good shape as things stand.

Kickoff is at 2:45 p.m. ET from the Municipal Stadium in Poznan, Poland. You can catch the game on ESPN 2 in the United States.

We’ll have live coverage of both of Monday’s games simultaneously in our Euro 2012, Group C Finale StoryStream. For more on Euro 2012 and the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on twitter.

Kickoff is at 2:45 p.m. ET from the PGE Arena in Gdansk, Poland. You can catch the game on ESPN in the United States.

We’ll have live coverage of both of Monday’s games simultaneously in our Euro 2012, Group C Finale StoryStream. For more on Euro 2012 and the entire world of football, follow @SBNationSoccer on twitter.

So what are the scenarios for advancement in Group C of Euro 2012? We lay them out, just hope that Spain and Croatia don’t draw while Italy win because that could get messy.

Spain advance if: A win or a draw doesn’t just guarantee that Spain are onto the quarterfinals, but that they are the Group C winners. They will also advance even if they lose to Croatia so long as Ireland win or draw against Italy.

It should be simple enough. Not only have Ireland not managed a single point in Group C, but they haven’t looked remotely capable of taking points off their competitors. The defence is a shambles (which anyone who’s been forced to spend a season watching Aston Villa should have been able to tell you before this even started). The attack is what you would expect from Giovanni Trapattoni. Watching Ireland, you really wonder ... how’d they even get here? And then you remember they beat Estonia in the playoffs.

Italy (4-3-1-2): Gianluigi Buffon; Federico Balzaretti, Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, Ignazio Abate; Daniel de Rossi, Andrea Pirlo, Claudio Marchisio; Ricardo Montolivo; Antonio Cassano, Antonio di Natale.

Italy haven’t performed poorly in this tournament and certainly have some talent among their ranks, but Spain and Croatia will still provide each other with the toughest test that either team has seen so far. The Spaniards are heavy favorites and it would be stunning if they failed to at least draw, but this game is by no means a gimme for them.

Torres has run extremely hot and cold for club and country over the last four months, which is a significant improvement over the previous 14 months, when he was consistently poor. He is among the best center forwards in the world at his best, and even though no one’s seen his best for back-to-back games since just before his 2010 knee injury, he appears to have something left in the tank.