KIEV (Reuters) – Germany are blazing a trail, leaving awed competitors in their wake. Greece are perilously close to the exit.

It could be the euro zone, but this is Euro 2012.

Even at Europe’s biggest international soccer tournament, it is hard to get away from the debt crisis afflicting some of the countries playing in the 16-nation competition.

KIEV, June 14 (Reuters) – Germany are blazing a trail,
leaving awed competitors in their wake. Greece are perilously
close to the exit.

It could be the euro zone, but this is Euro 2012.

Even at Europe’s biggest international soccer tournament, it
is hard to get away from the debt crisis afflicting some of the
countries playing in the 16-nation competition.

KIEV (Reuters) – Germany beat the Netherlands 2-1 on Wednesday to move within touching distance of the Euro 2012 quarter-finals and Portugal kept their chances alive with a last-gasp 3-2 victory over Denmark.

Mario Gomez scored twice for Germany, taking his tally to three goals in two games and leaving the Dutch needing victory over Portugal in their last Group B match to have any chance of progressing.

KIEV (Reuters) – Germany beat the Netherlands 2-1 on Wednesday to move within touching distance of the Euro 2012 quarter-finals and Portugal kept their chances alive with a last-gasp 3-2 victory over Denmark.

Mario Gomez scored twice for Germany, taking his tally to three goals in two games and leaving the Dutch needing victory over Portugal in their last Group B match to have any chance of progressing.

KIEV, June 13 (Reuters) – Germany beat the Netherlands 2-1
on Wednesday to move within touching distance of the Euro 2012
quarter-finals and Portugal kept their chances alive with a
last-gasp 3-2 victory over Denmark.

Mario Gomez scored twice for Germany, taking his tally to
three goals in two games and leaving the Dutch needing victory
over Portugal in their last Group B match to have any chance of
progressing.

KIEV (Reuters) – Substitute Silvestre Varela smashed in a late goal to grab a 3-2 victory for Portugal over Denmark on Wednesday as a row brewed between Poland and Russia over clashes between their fans at Euro 2012.

Varela’s 87th-minute strike secured all three points for Portugal in a pulsating match after Denmark had erased their two-goal lead with close-range headers by Nicklas Bendtner in the 41st and 80th minutes.

KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich stirred up a storm over his jailed rival Yulia Tymoshenko on Wednesday by linking her to a 16-year-old murder case and indicating he was unmoved by a boycott of Euro 2012 soccer matches by Western governments.

But, just hours ahead of a match involving Germany, its foreign minister urged soccer fans not to forget the jailed former prime minister as they gathered to watch their country play the Netherlands.

KIEV (Reuters) – Co-hosts Poland promised tough punishment on Wednesday for Russian and Polish fans detained for fighting at Euro 2012 and UEFA said it was determined the violence would not be repeated.

Soccer’s European governing body hoped Wednesday’s Group B match between Germany and Netherlands would quickly restore the “festive atmosphere” after Tuesday’s clashes in Warsaw, in which police fired rubber bullets and teargas and detained 184 people.

KIEV, June 13 (Reuters) – Co-hosts Poland promised tough
punishment on Wednesday for Russian and Polish fans detained for
fighting at Euro 2012 and UEFA said it was determined the
violence would not be repeated.

Soccer’s European governing body hoped Wednesday’s Group B
match between Germany and Netherlands would quickly restore the
“festive atmosphere” after Tuesday’s clashes in Warsaw, in which
police fired rubber bullets and teargas and detained 184 people.

KIEV (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich stirred up a storm over his jailed rival Yulia Tymoshenko by linking her to a 16-year-old murder case and indicating he was unmoved by a boycott of Euro 2012 soccer matches by Western governments.

Tymoshenko, who is serving a seven-year sentence for alleged abuse-of-office when prime minister, has dismissed any link with the killing of Yevhen Shcherban as “absurd”, and her supporters on Wednesday accused the president of acting like a dictator.