Saturday 11 June 2011

Swiss, Belarus grab opening victories


The European U21 championships got off to a bad start for hosts Denmark when they suffered a 1-0 opening defeat to Switzerland, though were left to rue a late refereeing decision and a fine performance from Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
Xherdan Shaqiri scored the winner for the Swiss
GettyImagesXherdan Shaqiri scored the winner for the Swiss
Xherdan Shaqiri followed his fine display his senior team at Wembley last week with a 48th minute winner struck with his left foot.
The FC Basel prodigy had already fired in a few sighters and was the dominant force in a goalless first half before scoring just after the break.
The second half saw the home side, with Ajax's Christian Eriksen at the core, be the most threatening as Sommer made a series of fine saves from Andreas Bjellend and Nicki Bille Nielsen. The latter had the ball in the net in the dying minutes but was marginally offside - at best - when finally beating Sommer.
That result puts the host at the bottom of Group A after Belarus stormed to the top after something of a surprise win against Iceland in an earlier game which preceded the opening ceremony in Aalborg.
A drab game in Aarhus looked to be headed for a goalless final whistle before Iceland were shattered by two late Belarus goals and a sending off in a 2-0 defeat. Having missed three chances through Kolbeinn Sigthorsson, the much-vaunted AZ striker,
Belarus celebrate a famous victory in Aarhus

Belarus celebrate a famous victory in Aarhus
Iceland paid the penalty when Aron Gunnarsson was given a straight red card for a professional foul on Stanislav Dragun, from which Andrei Voronkov scored from the spot in the 77th minute.
Substitute Maksim Skavysh completed the win for Belarus with a well-taken chip over Iceland keeper Bjornsson and he and his team-mates celebrated wildly at the final whistle and now look to have a good chance of reaching the semi-finals, where the likes of England and Spain may lie in wait.

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