The Latest on soccer’s European Championship:
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Aaron Ramsey scored the first goal to give Wales a 2-0 victory over Turkey at the European Championship.
Gareth Bale played a lobbed pass over the opposing defense and Ramsey chested it down before knocking it past onrushing Turkey goalkeeper Ugurcan Çakir in the 42nd minute.
Bale had a chance to make it 2-0 in Baku but he missed from the penalty spot in the 61st minute. Connor Roberts added the second in the final moments of the game.
Wales has four points in Group A from its first two games while Turkey has zero after losing both of its matches.
Turkey had strong support from traveling fans and many locals in close ally Azerbaijan. The presidents of both Turkey and Azerbaijan were in attendance.
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Romelu Lukaku says the Belgium players will kick the ball out of play in the 10th minute of their game against Denmark so the stadium can pay tribute to Christian Eriksen with a minute’s applause.
The fans at Parken Stadium are planning a loud ovation for Eriksen in the 10th minute of the Euro 2020 game because the midfielder wears the No. 10 shirt for Denmark. Lukaku says both teams will stop playing to join in the tribute.
Lukaku says ”we will kick the ball out for a throw-in to stop and applaud and mark this moment.”
Eriksen remains in a Copenhagen hospital close to the stadium after suffering cardiac arrest during Saturday’s game against Finland. Lukaku is teammates with Eriksen at Inter Milan and sent a greeting to the Dane after scoring in Belgium’s 3-0 win over Russia.
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Belgium coach Roberto Martinez says playmaker Kevin De Bruyne is ready to play at least part of the game against Denmark on Thursday.
De Bruyne missed Belgium’s opening 3-0 win over Russia at Euro 2020 because of a facial fracture sustained in the Champions League final but has taken part in full training the last few days.
Martinez says the Manchester City midfielder has been given ”the green light to be in a match situation.” He adds that ”now it’s a question of how long Kevin can play” and that he will use the two remaining group games to gradually bring De Bruyne back to full match fitness.
Belgium plays Finland in its last Group B game.
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Large numbers of fans have been chanting for Turkey as the team warms us for its European Championship game against Wales in Baku.
Much of the stadium is wearing Turkish red and chanted loudly as the team was announced.
The crowd was visibly larger than the 8,782 who watched Wales play Switzerland in Azerbaijan last week.
Both teams predicted it would be like a home game for the Turks because the country is allies with Azerbaijan and they have close cultural ties.
Posters reading “one people, two states” and “Turkey, our hearts beat with you” were on the walls of the subway system in the city.
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Aleksei Miranchuk’s curling shot in first-half stoppage time gave Russia a 1-0 win over Finland and its first points at the European Championship.
The playmaker exchanged passes with striker Artem Dzyuba before cutting inside onto his favored left foot and floating an angled shot into the top corner.
Russia opened with a 3-0 loss to Belgium. Both matches were played at Saint Petersburg Stadium.
The Finns would have qualified for the knockout stage with a game to spare with a win. They are playing in their first major soccer tournament and started with a 1-0 win over Denmark in a game marked by Christian Eriksen’s collapse.
Russia lost Mario Fernandes to a potentially serious spinal injury in the first half. He was taken to the hospital.
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Russia defender Mario Fernandes has been taken to the hospital after landing on his back in a fall during the European Championship game against Finland.
The Brazilian-born right back was carried off on a stretcher in the 26th minute after a lengthy period of treatment on the field in St. Petersburg. He had jumped for a header and was unable to break his fall as he landed on his back.
Russia says Fernandes has a spinal injury.
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Finland fans wearing the white-and-blue colors of the national team are starting to make themselves heard inside Saint Petersburg Stadium ahead of the European Championship game against Russia.
St. Petersburg is less than 125 miles from the Finnish border and many of the approximately 4,000 visiting fans expected at the game have made the journey on buses.
Many of the jerseys being worn have the name Jari Litmanen on the back. The former Ajax, Barcelona and Liverpool forward is regarded as the country’s greatest player but never got the chance to play at a major soccer tournament.
Euro 2020 is the first major tournament Finland has qualified for. The team is guaranteed to advance to the knockout stage with a win.
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Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand expects Christian Eriksen to wear his match jersey while watching the team’s European Championship game against Belgium from the hospital.
Denmark faces the Belgians in Copenhagen on Thursday in the team’s first game since Eriksen’s collapse against Finland.
Hjulmand says “I think he’ll be in his shirt and watch the game.”
Hjulmand also pointed out that the hospital treating Eriksen is so close to Parken Stadium that the midfielder will be able to “hear everything” during the game. Fans are planning a standing ovation for Eriksen during the 10th minute of the game in honor of his No. 10 shirt.
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Germany defender Antonio Rüdiger says he regrets putting his mouth on France midfielder Paul Pogba’s back during a match at the European Championship.
Rüdiger was shown holding Pogba from behind and putting his mouth in a biting gesture on the Frenchman’s back toward the end the first half in France’s 1-0 win in Munich on Tuesday.
Rüdiger says “I shouldn’t go like that with my mouth to his back” and adds “it looks unfortunate.”
The Germany defender had said before the game that his team would need to be “disgusting” to beat the World Cup champions.
Pogba said after the game that he and Rüdiger were friends and had known each other for a long time.
Pogba says he thinks Rüdiger “nibbled” on him a bit and adds it was “nothing big” and “belongs to the past.”
Rüdiger says he doesn’t expect any retrospective punishment for the incident. Neither Spanish referee Carlos del Cerro Grande nor video assistant Juan Martínez Munuera took any action on Tuesday despite being aware of it.
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Austria forward Marko Arnautovic has been suspended from the team’s game against the Netherlands on Thursday for insulting a North Macedonian opponent.
Arnautovic was charged with “insulting another player” under UEFA’s disciplinary rules.
He was accused by the North Macedonian soccer federation of insulting Ezgjan Alioski. Alioski’s family roots are Albanian. Arnautovic’s father is Serbian and his mother is Austrian.
Arnautovic could have been banned for 10 games if UEFA had found his comments to be racist or insulting based on ethnic origin.
Arnautovic later apologized on Instagram for “some heated words” and said he was not a racist.
Netherlands coach Frank de Boer says “it’s a shame (for Austria) because he’s a very good player.”
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Flying a small plane with a banner attached over the Netherlands’ training field for the European Championship is apparently becoming a thing.
First it was a sign saying “Frank. Just 4-3-3!” in a message to coach Frank de Boer to play an attacking lineup in the team’s opening match at Euro 2020.
Now it’s a banner emblazoned with the words “Auf Wiener Schnitzel!” ahead of the team’s second match of the tournament against Austria on Thursday.
The message combines the German for goodbye with Austria’s famous wiener schnitzel fried meat dish.
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Greenpeace has apologized for the injuries caused by a protestor whose parachute landing “did not go as planned” before Germany’s game against France at the European Championship.
UEFA said “several people” were hospitalized when the man connected with overhead camera wires and caused debris to fall on the field and main grandstand.
Greenpeace spokesperson Benjamin Stephan says “that was never our intention. The paraglider was to fly over the stadium and drop a latex ball with a message of protest onto the field.”
The protestor’s parachute had the slogan “KICK OUT OIL!” and “Greenpeace” written on it.
Stephan says “technical difficulties meant the pilot was forced to land in the stadium. We deeply regret that this put people in danger and apparently injured two persons.”
The protestor was led away by security stewards.
UEFA called the action “reckless and dangerous” and said “law authorities will take the necessary action.”
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It’s time for teams to start playing their second matches at the European Championship.
Italy will get a chance to win again in Rome when it faces Switzerland in the late match, Finland can do the same against Russia in St. Petersburg in the early game, and Wales will face Turkey in Azerbaijan in between.
The top two teams in each of the six groups will advance to the round of 16 along with the four best third-place teams.
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