WARSAW, Poland (AP) Defending champion Spain plays Croatia and Italy takes on Ireland in the final Group C matches at the European Championship. Ireland is out but the other three teams are battling for two spots in the quarterfinals.
Here is a running account of Monday's action. All times are local to Poland.
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2130: HALFTIME: Italy 1, Ireland 0; Croatia 0, Spain 0
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2125: Moments after Di Natale had a penalty shout turned away by the referee, his strike partner gives Italy the lead. Cassano scores with a glancing, near-post header from a corner by Pirlo. Duff, who was on the post, kicked the ball clear but it had already crossed the line. As it stands, Italy is top of the group and Spain is second.
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2122: GOAL! Italy 1, Ireland 0 (Cassano)
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2117: CROATIA VS. SPAIN: Torres has continued his lively form from the Ireland game, weaving into the penalty area on the right before shooting from an acute angle, forcing a save from Pletikosa. Sergio Ramos then brings a stop from the Croatia goalkeeper with a long-range effort. Spain is stepping it up a bit.
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2110: ITALY VS. IRELAND: The already-eliminated Irish are enjoying their fair share of possession in the opening 20 minutes in Poznan. They do seem to be playing with a lot more freedom than was seen in their opening two matches and they are unbeaten in three fixtures against Italy under their Italian coach, Giovanni Trapattoni.
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2105: CROATIA VS. SPAIN: Spain is wearing blue shirts with black shorts tonight instead of its famous red shirt because Croatia, which is ruled as the home team, plays in its favored red-and-white chequered shirt. Not many chances early on here.---
2059: Paul Logothetis, AP reporter at Croatia vs. Spain: Croatian fans throw flare from upper tier and it comes flying down onto their own supporters sitting in lower tier in 6th minute at Arena Gdansk.
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2052: ITALY VS. IRELAND: De Rossi with an early shot for Italy. Di Natale breaks down the right and switches the play with a floated cross over to De Rossi, who hits a left-foot volley from outside the penalty area that flies wide of the left post. It wasn't troubling Given in the Ireland goal, but a good start from the Italians.
CROATIA VS. SPAIN: Spain has started on the front foot against Croatia, but that packed midfield that Slaven Billic selected to frustrate the defending champions and their fluent passing game is holding strong in the opening exchanges.
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2045: Both games have kicked off...
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2037: Mario Balotelli drops to the bench for Italy, which starts with Antonio Di Natale in attack with Antonio Cassano. The Spanish players warming up on the pitch in Gdansk are wearing Knesio tape, which relaxes overused muscles while helping to rehabilitate recovering muscles.
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2030: Spain and Croatia both have four points, Italy has two and Ireland none. So three teams could all end up with five points by the end of the two matches. Then things would get complicated, with various permutations coming into play. We'll keep you updated.
Spain is unchanged and that means another start for Fernando Torres, who scored twice in a 4-0 thrashing of Ireland on Thursday. Croatia drops striker Nikica Jelavic, so Mario Mandzukic plays up front on his own in a 4-5-1 formation. The Croatians will look to flood the midfield, where Spain is so strong.
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2019: Ireland's players will be wearing black armbands tonight, commemorating the 18-year anniversary of shootings in Northen Ireland that killed six people. The match falls on the exact date of the attack and is especially poignant as it happened while the victims were watching Ireland play Italy in the 1994 World Cup on television in the rural village of Loughinisland.
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2010: And here are the teams for Italy vs. Ireland:
Italy: Gianluigi Buffon, Ignazio Abate, Andrea Barzagli, Giorgio Chiellini, Federico Balzaretti, Andrea Pirlo, Claudio Marchisio, Thiago Motta, Daniele De Rossi, Antonio Di Natale, Antonio Cassano.
Ireland: Shay Given, John O'Shea, Richard Dunne, Sean St. Ledger, Stephen Ward, Aiden McGeady, Glenn Whelan, Keith Andrews, Damien Duff, Robbie Keane, Kevin Doyle.
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2002: Here are the lineups for Croatia vs. Spain:
Croatia: Stipe Pletikosa, Ivan Strininc, Vedran Corluka, Gordon Schildenfeld, Domagoj Vida, Danijel Pranjic, Ivan Rakitic, Ognjen Vukojevic, Luka Modric, Darijo Srna, Mario Mandzukic.
Spain: Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Gerard Pique, Jordi Alba, Alvaro Arbeloa, Sergio Busquets, Xabi Alonso, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, David Silva, Fernando Torres.
Final Group C matches
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