Portugal'supporter went wild in the most awaited match of the day that, looking at the rink hockey history, smacked of a final: and the players really put their heart, souls and legs on the parquet in a thrilling and hard fought match.

After two days at the European Championship in Oliveira de Azemeis, only three teams are unbeaten. Wednesday, in the last day of the group stage, France and Italy will play for the leadership in group A and Portugal will defend the 1st place in group B against Austria.

France - England (2-0)
France conquered the second victory in this tournament and the certainty of one of the two top ranks in the Pool A. The match against England is more hard than expected: With Roberto Di Benedetto injured, the French team is less balanced and the strength of the men of coach Savreux is beneath usual. On the other hand, England defended itself very well and attacked whenever it had the opportunity, hassling the goalie Bonneau. The match has been decided by the two David's goals and by the high number of English mistakes. Tomorrow, France will meet Italy for the top rank of the pool: only a victory will ensure it to "le Bleu".

Italy - Germany (11-0)
Great Italian goleada in the second match of the day that, surprisingly, finished with a so large goals gap: just one year ago, Germany defeated Italy at the quarters' Worlds. Today it was completely different: the guys coached by Massimo Mariotti played one of their best matches in the last years, being almost perfect both on the team work and the characters. Ambrosio opened the markings two minutes after the starting whistle and, at the end of the first period, Itlay owned the match thanks to Verona's double, Ambrosio - again - and Cocco. After the restart, the gap increased Ambrosio's third goal, penalty shot for Compagno and double both for Amato and Pagnini. Tomorrow, the match against France will decide the top position of the pool: a tie will be enough.

Switzerland - Austria (4-1)
Switzerland won the Alpes derby and quite surely will be third in the Pool B. Swisse superiority was clear since the very beginning and the players went to the locker rooms at 4-0. Garcia Mendez converted the direct free hit and doubled by the middle of the first period: Rattenmund and Kissling scored before the whistle. Back to the parquet, Austria improved the defence but was not able to recover the gap. Pafant scored the consolation goals at 3 minutes to the end and, soon after, the Austrians missed the direct free hit for the 4-2.

Spain - Portugal (1-6)
An evergreen in the European rink hockey did not failed the expectations! Spain and Portugal played a strong match, amazing and full of feelings, that seemed to be a final and not "just" the second match of the qualifications. Portugal won: after a balanced first period, the Portuguese team crushed Spain in a high-level match. Since the very beginning, a whirling rhythm forced the goalies to many actions. The first tit-for-tat was on the penalties: Barreiros scored for Portugal, and Jordi Bargallò answered for Spain. The host team, supported by the 2300 people in the sold out "Salvador Machado", often pushed in Puigbi's area, whilst Girao had just to manage Jordi Bargallò far hits. The blue card to Helder Nunes at 13' gave Spain the chance to take the leads: Barallò missed the direct free hit and Spain was unable to score in the 2 minutes of numerical superiority. Back to the full, Ventura scored the advantage goal: strength and precision. One minute to the end of the first period, and Jepi Selva took the 2 minutes, but also Ventura missed the goal. Back from the locker rooms, Spain was still in superiority when Joao Rodrigues found the 3-1 tap-in. Since then it was a different match: Portugal missed a lot of opportunities but around the middle of the second period, it was ready for a masterpiece by Rafael Costa in the top corner. At 5 minutes to the end, another great goal for Portugal: Diogo Rafael sit the goalie and went beyond him with a lob. Ten faults for Spain and it is the turn of Gonçalo Alves to score, converting the direct free hit. It is a 6-1 that cleared the ranks in the Pool B.

RESULTS OF TODAY (Tuesday, July 12th)

GROUP A
France-England 2-0
Italy-Germany 11-0
Standing: Italy and France 6 points, England and Germany 0 points.
GROUP B
Switzerland-Austria 4-1
Spain-Portugal 1-6
Standing: Portugal 6 points, Spain and Switzerland 3 points, Austria 0 points.

SCHEDULE (Wednesday, July 13th)
4.00 PM WET - Group A - Germany vs England
6.00 PM WET - Group A - Italy vs France
8.00 PM WET - Group B - Spain vs Switzerland
10.00 PM WET - Group B - Portugal vs Austria

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Pictures by Marzia Cattini