No shocks as Italy, Spain come through

Hosts' woes

Germany's victory over Denmark on Sunday set up a clash with Greece which has turned minds to a deepening economic crisis, pitting the eurozone's most troubled country against its rich paymaster on Friday.

Precious few Greek fans have made the trip due to a mixture of searing budget cuts, tax rises and economic collapse which have crippled households in the country of 11 million people and left more than half its young out of work.

Spanish supporters, by contrast, streamed into the Baltic coast city of Gdansk in defiance of a worsening domestic economic picture which has forced the government to seek aid for its banks and driven unemployment above 20 percent.

"The most important thing for us is to give some happiness to the Greek people, that's all, to make them celebrate in the street, given everything that is going on," Greece midfielder Giannis Maniatis told reporters.  

Italy's goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon (R) and Leonardo Bonucci celebrate their victory at the Group C Euro 2012 soccer match against Ireland at the City stadium in Poznan, June 18, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

Poland were knocked out on Saturday and Ukraine's chances of keeping one of the host nations involved in the tournament's latter stages have taken a blow with injury doubts over the striker Shevchenko.

He took part in a squad training session on Monday after earlier being rated by the team doctor as having only a 50-50 chance of playing in Tuesday's final Euro 2012 Group D match against England.

France and England need draws to go through and only victory will do for Ukraine.

UEFA president Michel Platini said the co-hosts had "already won" the championship for the legacy it would leave and the improvements it has forced on football and transport infrastructure.

"It's not been perfect but I'm very very happy," Platini said of the biggest sporting event to be staged in eastern Europe since the Berlin Wall fell.

"The atmosphere in the stadiums has been 99.9 percent fantastic," said Platini, picking out the Poland v Russia and Ukraine v Sweden games as "extraordinary" to be present at.

The tournament has also been marked by a debate over racism and a series of UEFA disciplinary proceedings against countries for their fans' conduct.

But the latest to feel the governing body's wrath was Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner, banned for one match and fined 100,000 euros ($126,200) for revealing the logo of a betting company on his underpants while celebrating a goal in his team's 3-2 loss to Portugal.

The Czechs and Portugal will meet in the first quarter-final on Thursday.