Messi’s hat trick lifts Argentina over Brazil

Lionel Messi recorded his second international hat trick, scoring three times as Argentina edged Brazil 4-3 in an international exhibition game Saturday. Messi finished the season with a club and country record 82 goals, scoring all three times off sizzling dashes through the Brazil defense. Romulo opened the scoring in the 23rd minute for five-time world champions Brazil, which went with a young roster Saturday in front of a crowd of 81,994 at MetLife Stadium.
Messi gave Argentina a 2-1 lead with goals in the 31st and 34th minute on superb runs. Brazil’s Oscar tied the score in the 56th minute and Hulk converted a corner kick dropped by goalkeeper Sergio Romero in the 72nd. Argentina rallied three minutes later when Federico Fernandez scored off a corner kick by Sergio Aguero. In the 84th, Messi picked up the ball at midfield, charged ahead and blasted a left-footed shot from 21 yards that went in just below the crossbar.
In 60 games for Barcelona this year, Messi scored 73 goals, breaking the European club record of 67 goals set by Bayern Munich’s Gerd Mueller in 1972-73. Messi also had nine goals in nine games for Argentina. His first hat trick for Argentina was on February 29.
Poland braced for high-octane Russian clash: Euro 2012 co-hosts Poland are bracing for what looks the most politically-charged match of the tournament on Tuesday here when they face Russia who are on a high after thrashing the Czech Republic 4-1.
With Poland coach Franciszek Smuda tipping Russia as Group A favourites, his squad know they have to prove their staying power after throwing away a lead and drawing 1-1 with Greece in a tense tournament opener in Warsaw’s National Stadium on Friday. “We need to be very focussed, very concentrated, in order not to lose the game,” said Smuda.
Dutchman Dick Advocaat’s Russia, whose base-camp is in the Polish capital Warsaw, returned there victorious after taking the Czechs to pieces on Friday in the southwestern city of Wroclaw. “It’s going to be another interesting game for both teams,” said Advocaat, who has less need to bang the drum. Like co-hosts Ukraine, Poland did not have to qualify for Euro 2012 and were left only with friendlies to fine-tune their tactics – and know they have their work cut out on Tuesday. “The match with Russia is going to be something completely different,” said 22-year-old midfielder Maciej Rybus, who signed for Russian club Terek Grozny from Legia Warsaw this year. “They don’t defend like the Greeks. But we’ll have got more used to the championship feel.” Smuda and Advocaat will look to their young gun strikers – both rumoured to be being courted by English Premier League clubs – to make their mark again on Tuesday.
Poland’s man is 23-year-old Robert Lewandowski, fresh from a stellar season with German double winners Borussia Dortmund, who sent home fans wild when he scored on Friday. Russia know they can rely on CSKA Moscow’s 21-year-old Alan Dzagoev, their two-goal hero in Wroclaw, who had been a doubt for the tournament due to a broken toe but is set to play a starring role.

Spain kick off their Euro campaign

Spain on Sunday begin their quest to become the first team to win back-to-back European titles, as they take on crisis-hit Italy in their Euro 2012 opener. Vicente del Bosque’s side won the crown four years ago in Austria and Switzerland, going on to win the World Cup two years later and putting an end to their reputation as perennial under-achievers in international football. La Roja are without defensive talisman Carles Puyol and David Villa, who both failed to recover from injury to make the trip to Poland and Ukraine, while Italy are seeking respite from fresh match-fixing revelations. Cesare Prandelli’s Azzurri had the worst possible build-up, when police raided their pre-tournament training camp near Florence as part of a nationwide probe into illegal betting. The team later had to cancel a warm-up match against Luxembourg in Parma after an earthquake rocked northern Italy. They were then thumped 4-0 by Russia in a friendly in Zurich. Spain — as a nation — has problems of its own, as Madrid has had to go cap in hand to eurozone countries for a potential 100-billion-euro ($125-billion) bail-out of its banks. But under-pressure Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he would still attend the match, “because the Spanish team are world champions and I think it is good that the head of government be at this inaugural game”. Spain’s Group C match with Italy kicks off at 1600 GMT in the Baltic port city of Gdansk, northern Poland. The Republic of Ireland then take on Croatia at 1845 GMT in the western city of Poznan. The game is being seen as a clash of the generations between Ireland’s Giovanni Trapattoni, who at 73 is one of the most respected coaches in the game, and Croatia’s 43-year-old Slaven Bilic, who is seen as one for the future. Trapattoni said the match — Ireland’s first in the European championship finals for 24 years — was a chance to repay the faith that Ireland’s football federation and fans had placed in him.