2012 Euro Cup Semi-finals: Spain-Portugal, Ronaldo v. Casillas;

The 2012 Euro Cup is down to the final four teams. In the first semi-final match Spain will face Portugal in what is sure to be a classic. Spain has been on a roll, and after beating long time rival France 2-0, they know with one more win they will be playing in the Championship game.

One of the big questions for this huge game is can Ronaldo come up big for Portugal? Ronaldo has been great in the tourney so far. He was the difference maker when he netted two goals vs. the Dutch, and he scored the winning goal in the quarter-final against the Czech Republic.

He is definitely living up to his hype in this year's Euro Cup.

"He's a very complete player," said team-mate João Moutinho. "I don't think I could highlight any weak points. He's great with his head, his feet, and he's very fast." Ronaldo's partnership on the left with Real Madrid CF colleague Fábio Coentrão has been hugely important for Portugal.But will he be enough to help defeat a red-hot Spain squad, and goalkeeper Iker Casillas?

The Las Vegas odds on this game has Spain -125, with the comeback on Portugal at +320; the Over/Under number is 2.

You always have to wonder about a soccer game that has a number of two. Sure, these guys will play tight defense, after all there is a lot on the line,but they should get two or more goals between them.

Euro Cup 2012: 15 interesting facts you shouldn't miss!

Initially, the first two tournaments in 1960 and 1964 were known as UEFA European Nations Cup before being changed to the current name since 1968.

Frenchman Michel Platini, who typified the player wearing jersey #10, is the top goalscorer in UEFA European Football Champions history with 9 Goals. As per another record, he scored all of his goals in 1984 which makes him the top goal scorers in one tournament as well.

Germany has played the most number of matches in all UEFA Tournaments with 38 Matches, Netherlands is ranked second with 32 Matches and Spain is next with 30 Matches.

Through the entire 13 UEFA Euro National Champions, Greece was the only National Team to win the title without a local National Coach. In 2004, Greece won the tournament with German Coach Otto Rehhagel.

Portugal (in 2004) was the only team to lose the final as hosts.

Michel Platini is the only player to score hat-tricks twice and the only player to score twice in the same tournament. Platini scored two hat-tricks in 2000 while Patrick Kluivert and SergioConceicao scored one each in 2000.

So far, only six players have played in 4 different Euro tournaments. Lothar Matthuis (Germany):1980, 1984, 1988 and 2000 - championship 1980. Peter Schmeichel (Denmark): 1988,1992, 1996 and 2000 - championship 1992. Aron Winter (Netherlands): 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000 - championship 1988. Alessandro Del Piero (Italy): 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008. Edwin Van Der Sar (Netherlands): 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008. Lilian Thuram (France): 1996, 2000, 2004 and 2008 - championship 2000.

The largest attendance in the history of the tournament was recorded at a qualifier between England and Scotland at Hampden Park in 1968. Approximately 130,711 people were present to watch the match.

So far, Belgium (1972), Austria and Switzerland (2008) have been the only teams not to reach semi-final when tournament were hosted on their lands.

David Villa (Spain) became the seventh player to score a Euro hat-trick after Patrick Kluivert (Netherlands), Sergio Conceicao (Portugal), Marco van Basten (Netherlands), Michel Platini (France), Klaus Allofs (Germany) and Dieter Müller (Germany).

Seven of the Spanish team members that started the World Cup final in 2010 were part of Barcelona squad. They send the same number of players to Poland and Ukraine for the Euro 2012.

Spain scored 8 goals in the tournament in South Africa with all coming from Barcelona players (David Villa scored five; Andres Iniesta two; Carles Puyol one).

Casillas has more caps than any other player competing in the Euro 2012 tournament with 129.

Co-hosts Ukraine are the only nation making their debut at this European Championship.

Poland are the lowest ranked nation in the FIFA World Rankings (65th) to participate in Euro 2012.

Compiled by Santu Biswas.

Euro Cup 2012 schedule brings Portugal vs. Spain to live stream and TV Wednesday

The Euro Cup 2012 schedule brings its first semifinals game of the tournament featuring Portugal vs. Spain on live stream online and televised coverage. It will feature one of the game's biggest stars, Cristiano Ronaldo, taking on what many consider the best team in Spain. Ronaldo has discussed his role in the matchup, and seems ready for the task.

The latest UEFA Euro live stream and television coverage gets started at 2:30 p.m. EST on ESPN and ESPN3/WatchESPN for the internet feed. This will be the first of two semifinals games, with the other scheduled for Thursday, and a championship game scheduled for July 1st between the two remaining teams.

According to ESPNFC.com, Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo is ready for the task at hand, and recently shrugged off the notion of any pressure working against him in this matchup. Ronaldo commented:

"Up until now, I’m not feeling the pressure of playing against Spain or any other team because this is part of my life. I’ve already been doing this for more than 10 years, and so I must have become accustomed to it already. I will always have responsibility. But pressure? Not much."

Ronald also added about the task for his team:

"It (would be) beautiful for Portugal to be able to reach another final. It will be difficult but we are only one step away."

It will be a tough task for Cristiano Ronaldo and his team, as Spain is considered the best in the tournament and favorites to advance from this semifinals game. For Spain, Alvaro Arbeloa will play right back for the team, and that will most likely mean a matchup against Ronaldo. Arbeloa has called it a "beautiful challenge" for him, noting Ronaldo is a player you can't "stop for 90 minutes."

The Portugal vs. Spain live streaming and televised coverage starts at 2:30 p.m. EST Wednesday, June 27th on ESPN. Roanoke television viewers can see it on Cox Cable channel 25, as well as online via the WatchESPN website.