Soccer News of Sunday, 1 July 2012

Source: greenfieldreporter

Barwuah makes no impact in final

KIEV, Ukraine — Faced with his best scoring chance, Mario Barwuah Balotelli never even touched the ball.

That's how little of an impact Italy's most talented striker had on Sunday's European Championship final.

Spain did such a great job of shutting down Italy's attack in a 4-0 rout that Balotelli rarely even got the ball in a scoring position.

At the final whistle, Balotelli stormed off the pitch in frustration — shoving aside a team official who attempted to block his path to the changing room.

He eventually came back out and accepted his runner-up medal, then dropped to the pitch where he was consoled by Italy coach Cesare Prandelli.

Fernando Torres wins Golden Boot at Euro 2012

Torres came off the bench to score Spain’s third, and his third of the tournament, in the 84th minute of a 4-0 victory in the final against Italy. He also scored twice in a 4-0 group stage win over Ireland.

Six players scored three goals at Euro 2012, and the tiebreaker was who provided most assists.

Torres duly delivered four minutes after scoring by squaring the ball for Juan Mata, another substitute, to score.

The other three-goal players are: Mario Balotelli (Italy), Alan Dzagoev (Russia), Mario Gomez (Germany), Mario Mandzukic (Croatia) and Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal).