The Mercury News

Iceland stuns Austria 2-1

Smallest European Championsh­ip nation next takes on England

-

Iceland, the smallest nation at the European Championsh­ip, delivered the feel-good story of the tournament by beating Austria 2-1 in Saint-denis, France, on Wednesday to qualify for the knockout stages. The victory, secured by a goal deep into stoppage time by Arnor Ingvi Traustason, earned Iceland’s players the game they’d dreamed of: A last-16 match against England.

Ireland advanced to n the knockout stages of the European Championsh­ip for the first time after it beat a reshuffled Italian side 1-0 in Lille, France.

An 85th minute late goal from Robbie Brady was enough for the spirited Ireland side to secure a place in the round of 16 as one of the best third-place teams. Its reward — a match against France in Lyon on Sunday.

“It was very special. I am thrilled, it was a great win,” Ireland coach Martin O’Neill said. “We deserved to win. We played some phenomenal stuff. There wasn’t a player in the Irish shirt that didn’t play heroically.”

Italy, which was already assured of top spot in Group E after two straight group wins, will meet defending champion Spain next in what is potentiall­y the most mouth-watering match of the round of 16.

Cristiano Ronaldo n came through. Twice. The Portugal winger erupted from his scoring slump, netting his first two goals at the European Championsh­ip in Lyon, France, and putting his team into the round of 16. Ronaldo’s strikes, the first with a spectacula­r back heel and the second with a header, helped Portugal earn a 3-3 draw with Hungary, sending both teams through.

Charles Aranguiz n and Jose Pedro Feunzalida scored in the first half and defending champion Chile returned to the Copa America championsh­ip with a soggy 2-0 victory over Colombia in Chicago. Led by Claudio Bravo’s stellar effort in goal, Chile earned its fourth straight win since a 2-1 loss to topranked Argentina in their Group D opener. Next up is a rematch with La Albicelest­e in the final Sunday night in New Jersey.

The Copa America n semifinal between Argentina and the United States was watched by a total of 8.1 million viewers in the U.S. Only two U.S. Women’s World Cup games last summer have drawn more viewers for a soccer match on FS1.

Jordan Allen broke a n tie in the 87th minute and Real Salt Lake beat New York 2-1 to end the Red Bulls’ four-game MLS winning streak.

Football

The NFL Players Associatio­n suspended the registrati­on of a financial adviser accused of cheating several profession­al athletes, including Giants pitcher Jake Peavy and Denver Broncos quarterbac­k Mark Sanchez, out of millions of dollars in a Ponzi-like scheme. The move comes a day after the Securities and Exchange Commission announced that it had obtained a court order freezing the assets of Ash Narayan, who previously was approved to advise NFL players on investment­s.

Johnny Manziel reported n a hit-and-run accident to Dallas police earlier this week, and a representa­tive of the troubled quarterbac­k says he wasn’t seriously injured.

Diving

Samuel Dorman and Michael Hixon hurt Troy Dumais’ historic Olympic bid. Dorman and Hixon finished the men’s synchro 3-meter with a final score of 1,308.36 at the U.S. Olympic trials in Indianapol­is, taking the lone spot on the American team.

Dumais and partner Kristian Ipsen (Clayton, Stanford), the 2012 bronze medalists in London, finished second at 1,260.34.

Dumais and Ipsen never got any closer as the 24year-old Dorman, a Miami resident, and the 21-yearold Hixon, a student at Indiana University, pulled away. Both will make their first Olympic appearance in Rio.

College baseball

Jared Oliva homered for the first time in over two months and JC Cloney pitched seven strong innings, leading Arizona to a 3-0 victory over UC Santa Barbara in a College World Series eliminatio­n game in Omaha, Nebraska.

 ?? ODD ANDERSEN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES ?? Arnor Ingvi Traustason celebrates an Iceland goal with Birkir Bjarnason.
ODD ANDERSEN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES Arnor Ingvi Traustason celebrates an Iceland goal with Birkir Bjarnason.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States