Star Sixes: Semi-finals results – Spain beaten by France; Denmark shock Brazil

• Brazil 2 – 4 Denmark

Denmark were suprise 4-2 winners over crowd favourites Brazil.

The Danes put Brazil to the sword when Jorgensen scored twice either side of this wonderful team move to tee up Hjalte Bo Norregaard for a tap-in.

Up by three, Denmark appeared to be cruising. However, it was to their credit that Brazil fought back and did so in style, courtesy of Elano.

The former Manchester  City forward bagged a brace, beginning with a spectacular strike.

He almost bettered it with his second.

Elano’s goals were also almost enough to peg Denmark back. Yet the Danes held on and even managed to pad their lead, courtesy of Junker, to book their place in the final.

• ​Spain 2 – 5 France

France impressively swept Spain aside with a 5-2 victory. Giuly got things started with this smart finish from a tight angle. 

It became two when Vincent Candela turned in from close range after Pires had pulled the strings on the break.

Djorkaeff scored before Gaizka Mendieta and Garcia briefly got Spain back in it. However, two more from Giuly were enough to end any realistic Spanish hopes of a comeback.

Ultimately, Giuly, Pires, Djorkaeff and Co. had too much class and guile throughout what has been a thoroughly entertaining tournament. As a first attempt, this free-scoring legends format has to be considered a major success.

Star Sixes Final- France beat Denmark to clinch maiden Star Sixes title; List of participants

France 2 – 1 Denmark

France were crowned champions of the inaugural Betsafe Star Sixes with a 2-1 win over Denmark in Sunday night’s final at the O2 Arena.

The French team, captained by Arsenal legend Robert Pires, beat Spain 5-2 in the semi-finals before rounding off the star-studded four-day tournament with their narrow victory over the Danes.

Ludovic Giuly bundled home the opener from close range, with Youri Djorkaeff striking what turned out to be the decisive goal after Daniel Jensen had equalised for Denmark.

“I’m very proud of my team,” Pires told Sky Sports. “It’s always very important to do well whenever you put the French shirt on. It was a very tough game.

“The legs were a bit heavy and Denmark played very well, so we’re very happy to win the tournament.”

Denmark captain Stig Tofting added: “Of course if you told us we would finish runners-up before the tournament we would have been happy, but it’s always disappointing to lose. Congratulations to France.”

Denmark‘s Sorenson was voted star of the tournament.

Spain‘s Michel Salgado was presented with the top scorer award.

Top Scorers

9- Michel Salgado

6- Ludovic Giuly

5- Julio Baptista

BRAZIL: 

Roberto Carlos, Juliano Belletti, Gilberto Silva, Rivaldo, Elano, Dida, Juninho, Djalminha, Amaral, Julio Baptist

CHINA: 

Peng Weiguo, Peng Weijun, Xia Yao, Liang Jianfeng, Jiang Feng, Wei Qun, Liu Cheng, Chen Yongqiang, Hu Zhijun, Li Wei

DENMARK: 

Martin Jorgensen, Stig Tofting, John Sivebaek, Daniel Jensen, Mikkel Beckmann, Mads Junker, Chris Sorensen, Per Kroldrup, Hjalte Bo Norregaard, Jan Hoffman

ENGLAND: 
Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Owen, David James, Emile Heskey, Phil Neville, Danny Murphy, Paul Merson, Lee Hendrie, Wes Brown

FRANCE: 

Robert Pires, Olivier Dacourt, William Gallas, Eric Abidal, Ludovic Giuly, Marcel Desailly, Sebastien Frey, Youri Djorkaeff, Bruno Cheyrou, Vincent Candela

GERMANY: 

Michael Ballack, Timo Hildebrand, Dietmar Hamann, Simon Rolfes, Marco Reich, Kevin Kuranyi, Jens Nowotny, Jorg Albertz, Maurizio Gaudino, Dariusz Wosz

ITALY: 

Alessandro Del Piero, Simone Barone, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Paolo Di Canio, Angelo Di Livio, Massimo Oddo, Marco Amelia, Stefano Fiore, Marco Delvecchio, Luciano Zauri

MEXICO: 
Jared Borgetti, Luis Hernandez, Garcia Aspe, Joaquin Reyes, Braulio Luna, Mario Mendez, Miguel Zepeda, Alberto Rodriguez, Hector Altamirano, Erubey Cabuto

NIGERIA: 
Jay-Jay Okocha, Celestine Babayaro, Daniel Amokachi, Julius Aghahowa, Garba Lawal, Joseph Yobo, Taribo West, Victor Ikpeba, Peter Rufai, Uche Okechukwu

PORTUGAL: 
Deco, Vitor Baia, Fernando Couto, Maniche, Jose Bosingwa, Raul Meireles, Nuno Gomes, Paulo Ferreira, Helder Postiga, Luis Boa Morte

SCOTLAND: 
Dominic Matteo, Don Hutchison, Christian Dailly, Simon Donnelly, Rab Douglas, Paul Dickov, Barry Ferguson, Jackie McNamara, Mark Burchill, Richard Hughes

SPAIN: 

Carles Puyol, Gaizka Mendieta, Fernando Morientes, Michel Salgado, Luis Garcia, David Albelda, Pedro Contreras, Alfonso Perez, Carlos Marchena, Joan Capdevila

Star Sixes: Third place play-off – Spain crush Brazil to finish third

Spain 11 – 3 Brazil

Spain couldn’t make it past France in the final four, but they still signed off from the tournament in memorable fashion by putting 11 past Brazil.

Michel Salgado, the one-time Real Madrid right-back, who has established a niche for scoring at this tournament got the first goal.

An equaliser from Amaral was cancelled out by a brace from Salgado’s former team-mate, Fernando Morientes. Goals from Luis Garcia, Joan Capdevila and another from Salgado put Spain 6-1 in front.

Salgado and Capdevila both scored again as the lead increased before Julio Baptista got some faint consolation for Brazil. Carlos Marchena added to Spain’s tally.

Brazil had already suffered one heavy defeat earlier in the night when they lost to Denmark in the semi-final.

Star Sixes- Final group stage results: Brazin, France, Denmark qualify; Portugal win Germany but crash out; Nigeria lose but go through

Brazil, Spain, England and Italy all won to qualify for the quarter-final of the 2017 Star Sixes at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday.
Group A

Spain 6-0 Scotland

England 2-1 Mexico 

Former Liverpool and Fulham playmaker Danny Murphy scored the winner as England beat Mexico 2-1 to progress from Group A.

England were one up early thanks to an unfamiliar source. It was midfielder Lee Hendrie who drilled the Three Lions into the lead.

El Tri pulled one back courtesy of Braulio Luna, before Murphy restored England’s advantage. It was enough to put the hosts in the quarter-final.

Spain also turned on the style as they hit Scotland for six. There was an unlikely goal hero in the form of right-back Michel Salgado.

Hardly known for finding the net during his days with Real Madrid and Blackburn Rovers, Salgado bagged a brace against the Scots. He got Spain started with this terrific strike.

It was Salgado who doubled Spain’s advantage, before Gaizka Mendieta made it three. Then it was time for the Spanish to put on the kind of pass-and-move clinic their modern generation has become known for at international level.

Defender Carlos Marchena was the lucky recipient of an easy finish at the end of a rapid and precise exchange of passes.

Alfonso and Luis Garcia added goals to cap the scoring and send a message to the rest about Spain’s quality.
Spain P 3 W 3 D 0 L 0 GD +10 Pts 9

England P 3 W 2 D 0 L 1 GD 0 Pts 6

Scotland P 3 W 1 D 0 L 2 GD -6 Pts 3

Mexico P 3 W 0 D 0 L 3 GD -4 Pts 0

• Group B

Brazil 3-0 Nigeria

Italy 4-2 China 

Brazil were rampant as they saw off Nigeria with an emphatic 3-0 victory, with former Sevilla, Real Madrid and Arsenal star Julio Baptista opening the scoring in typically emphatic style. The powerhouse forward worked space for the shot before rifling the ball home.

It was 2-0 when former Manchester City forward Elano tapped home from close range after a slick combination of passes in the final third. The goal was a testament to Brazil’s quality on the ball.

Brazil’s typical flair was best embodied by this moment of improvised brilliance from one-time Deportivo La Coruna maestro Djalminha.

Their passing and movement was too quick for Nigeria, who were made to pay when ex-Middlesbrough talisman Juninho swept in a stylish third goal to seal his nation’s place in the last eight.

Italy beat China 4-2 in a six-goal thriller. Skipper Alessandro Del Piero opened the scoring for the Azzurri, before Paolo Di Canio added a superb second.

China battled back valiantly and got one of the goals of the day.

However, Luciano Zauri scored twice to put the game beyond doubt for Italy.
Brazil P 3 W 3 D 0 L 0 GD +11 Pts 9

Italy P 3 W 2 D 0 L 1 GD +2 Pts 6

Nigeria P 3 W 1 D 0 L 2 GD -3 Pts 3

China P 3 W 0 D 0 L 3 GD -10 Pts 0

Group C

France 1-1 Denmark

Germany 0-2 Portugal
Denmark finished top of Group C after a 1-1 draw with France.
In the other group game, Portugal failed to qualify despite defeating Germany 2-0. Portugal lost their first two games.
Denmark P 3 W 1 D 2 L 0 GD +2 Pts 5

France P 3 W 1 D 1 L 1 GD 0 Pts 4

Germany P 3 W 1 D 1 L 1 GD -1 Pts 4

Portugal P 3 W 1 D 0 L 2 GD -1 Pts 3

Star Sixes – Friday results (Round-up): Germany DRAW, Nigeria LOSE, England WIN

Italy Legends bounced back from their disappointing defeat to Brazil Legends with a 2-1 victory over Nigeria Legends on Friday.

Following a beginning that was low on goalmouth action, the match burst into life in the closing stages of the first half.

Alessandro Del Piero got the ball rolling with a simple tap-in after a rebound from Peter Rufai’s save.

Stefano Fiore doubled the advantage few minutes later after firing an unstoppable shot past Rufai.

Yakubu Aiyegbeni pulled one back for Nigeria seven minutes from time, but it proved to be mere consolation for the African outfit.

The Super Eagles created a number of late openings but Italy goalkeeper Marco Amelia,  was supreme throughout, repelling everything thrown at him.

Nigeria must beat Brazil in their last group game to secure a place in the next round of the competition.

England picked up their first win of the Betsafe Star Sixes as they beat rivals Scotland 3-1 on the second night of matches at the O2 Arena on Friday.

Michael Owen scored twice before Steven Gerrard capped the performance with the final goal of the night to bring an end to another star-studded evening of six-a-side football.

Elsewhere, there were wins for France, Brazil, Italy and Spain as icons of the game, including Rivaldo and Alessandro Del Piero, rolled back the years in London.

France beat Portugal 3-2 with Arsenal legend Robert Pires opening the scoring before ex-Barcelona man Eric Abidal showed great skill to round goalkeeper Vitor Baia.

Germany then came from behind to earn a 2-2 draw with Denmark, before Brazil delivered a masterclass in seeing off China7-0 with Julio Baptista’s brilliant hat-trick wowing the crowd.

Eight of the 12 teams will progress to the quarter-finals following Saturday afternoon’s final group games.

Star Sixes – Match results: Nigeria, Germany WIN; England, Italy LOSE

​Group A

England 1 (Owen)

Spain 4 (Luis Garcia 2, Alfonso Perez, Joan Capdevila)

England were beaten 4-1 by a strong Spain side on the opening night of the Betsafe Star Sixes at the O2 Arena on Thursday.

England, boasting former internationals Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen, Emile Heskey and Phil Neville, went ahead early on through Owen, but were pegged back by former Liverpool midfielder Luis Garcia’s double.

Spain continued to dominate, thanks in part to a colossal performance from former Barcelona defender Carles Puyol, and goals from Alfonso Perez and Joan Capdevila gave them the opening victory.

England now face Scotland on Friday night, before going up against Mexico on Saturday afternoon in their final group game.
MEXICO (Hernandez)
SCOTLAND 3 (Donnelly, Ferguson,  Burchill)

Scotland enjoyed a fine opening victory, beating Mexico 3-1 to take early advantage in Group A.

Goals from Simon Donelly, Barry Ferguson and Mark Burchill but the Scots in control, while Luis Hernandez grabbed Mexico’s consolation.
GROUP B

Brazil 2 (Juninho, Belletti)

Italy 1 (Delvecchio)

A star-studded Brazilside beat Italy 2-1, with Rivaldo, Roberto Carlos and Gilberto Silva turning out for the five-time world champions. 

A huge crowd packed out The O2 and many turned up to see if Rivaldo, Robert Carlos and Juninho still had the magic that made them world stars not so long ago. And the answer was a convincing ‘Yes’. Brazil showed all their skills in overcoming a tough Italy side.

Juninho, so often a little magician for Middlesbrough, opened the scoring as he found a sliver of space and smashed the ball past Marco Amelia. But Marco Delvecchio equalised with an equally brilliant goal, before former Barcelona full-back Juliano Belletti, who broke Arsenal hearts in the 2006 Champions League final, struck again with a long-range effort to seal Brazil’s first win.

Nigeria 3 (Yakubu 2 ,Amokachi)

China 2 (Peng 2)

In the other Group B game, Nigeria beat China 3-2.

A moment of brilliance from Yakubu Aiyegbeni helped Nigeria legends to a winning start in their StarSixes World Cup campaign as they beat China 3-2 on Thursday.

His first half braces plus Daniel Amokachi’s goal helped the Super Eagles subdue the Asians whose late rally almost earned them a draw.

Ayegbeni got the curtain raiser in the 15th minute after slotting past goalkeeper Li Wei having profited from a loose ball off Garba Lawal’s tackle on a Chinese player.

Few seconds later, he completed his brace after collecting a beautifully looped pass from captain Austin Okocha.

In the final half, the former Everton star turned provider after setting up Daniel Amokachi for the third goal.

While it looked the Super Eagles were cruising home to a flawless victory, Peng Weijun pulled one back for China after a horrendous goalkeeping from Peter Rufai. And with few seconds left to play, the Asians got the second but that could not halt the Super Eagles from securing maximum points.

Nigeria face Italy on Friday night in their second Group B encounter.

• GROUP C

DENMARK 6 (Junker 3, Sorensen 2,  Beckmann)

PORTUGAL 4 (Postiga 3, Maniche)

Denmark won a ten-goal thriller against Portugal as they began their quest to be Star Sixes champions with a bang.

Both of the Group C sides were eager to pick up an early win as they knew matches against heavyweights France and Germany lay ahead.

In the end it proved to be a game of hat-tricks as both Mads Junker of Denmark and Portugal’s Helder Postiga found the net three times.

However, Junker’s hat-trick was decisive as it helped Denmark secure a valuable 6-4 victory as they continue their fight to make the knockout stages of Star Sixes.

GERMANY 4 (Kuranyi 2, Ballack,  Gaudino)

FRANCE 3 (Nowotny og, Candela, Giuly)

Maurizio Gaudino scored the winning goal as Germany defeated France 4-3 in their opening match of Star Sixes.

After watching fellow Group C side Denmark defeat Portugal 6-4, both teams knew they had to lay down a marker in their match.

France took the lead early on through a Jens Nowotny own-goal, but they were soon behind as Kevin Kuranyi and Michael Ballack found the net.

In an end-to-end game, France were then ahead courtesy of Vincent Candela and Ludovic Giuly’s strikes and it looked as though they would claim the win.

But then Kuranyi bagged his second of the night before Gaudino secured Germany the three points.