Spain defeats Holland, both teams advance to U21 semifinals

Spain’s under-21 soccer team beat Holland 3-0 Wednesday night to claim the top spot in Group B of the UEFA European Championships, while Germany overcame Russia 2-1 in a game between two teams who knew their run in the tournament was over.

Spain now plays Norway in Netanya on Saturday in the first semi-final of the tournament, while Holland faces Italy later the same day in the other. The final is in Jerusalem on Tuesday, June 18.

The Spaniards dominated the Dutch as two teams most favored by Israelis faced off in front of a packed Petah Tikvah stadium, battling for first place in their group. It took the Spanish side over 20 minutes to get into rhythm, but once they did they dominated, going up 2-0 in the first half and never giving the Oranje a chance to get back in the game.

The first real shot of the match came in the 23rd minute, when Spain’s Alvaro Morata artfully curved the ball from outside the box to the far corner, only narrowly missing the target. Two minutes later, Morata, who scored both winning goals for Spain in the earlier matches of the tournament, found the back of Holland’s net, after a well-placed pass from Pablo Sarabia set him up in front of the goal.

Holland nearly equalized five minutes later, when Spanish keeper David de Gea blocked a shot by Mike Van der Hoorn from within the box, but it was Isco who scored the second goal of the match, putting the Spaniards up 2-0 after 32 minutes.

The start of the second half was nearly all Holland, as the Oranje tried to score a fast goal and make a game out of the remaining time of play. In the 57th minute, a flying save by de Gea robbed Holland’s Memphis Depay of what could have been the nicest goal of the tournament so far.

Substitute Alvaro Vazquez nearly scored Spain’s third in the 65th minute after a break away run, but Dutch goalkeeper Marco Bizot held his ground and stopped the shot from within the box. The shot marked a shift in momentum as the Spanish side regained its form from the first 45 minutes.

The crowd erupted in the 88th minute, as Holland’s Danny Hoesen rattled de Gea’s crossbar twice within seconds. However, it was Vazquez who ended the story, as he scored off a feed from Sarabia in the last minute of regulation.

Spain’s win means it will now face Norway in the semifinals, while Holland will square off with the Italian squad that won first place in Group A.

In Netanya, thousands of Israeli-Russians flooded the stadium to cheer on Russia as they faced a tough Germany squad, and saw their team drop their final match of the championship 2-1. Both teams were eliminated from the tournament.

Russian manager Nikolai Pisarev explained that June 12th is a national holiday in Russia, therefore he was expecting a lot of people in Russia to watch the match.

Despite the loud Russian support throughout, the Germans were able to secure their first three points of the tournament and the Russians were left going home with three straight defeats.

In the first 20 minutes of the match, Germany had several chances to go ahead, but Russian goalkeeper Aleksandr Filtsov denied the German strikers’ attempts. In the 22nd minute, the Russians went ahead with a superb strike by Alan Dzagoev, but Patrick Herrmann tied things up in the 34th minute, aided by a great assist from Kevin Volland.

Russia suffered a blow going in to the second half after defender Georgi Schennikov was sent off when he committed a very dangerous tackle on German midfielder Tony Jantschke.

Russian goal-keeper Filtsov continued to save the Russian defense by making spectacular saves, but in the 68th minute, Russian midfielder Shota Bibilov committed a foul in the penalty box and the Germans were awarded a penalty. Midfielder Sebastian Rudy took the penalty kick and gave the Germans a 2-1 lead.

In the 90th minute, Russian striker Fedor Smolov shot a rocket to the goal, but it deflected off the post and the match was over. With Germany’s 2-1 victory, the Germans go back home with a solid victory and the Russians return with several question marks for the future of Russian youth football.

Israel and England were eliminated from play Tuesday, as the blue-and-white squad’s 1-0 win over the British provided a sweet ending for the home team, but wasn’t enough to propel it through to the next stage.