Yes, this Sports story is so true! The national teams of Azamat, the character played by the very talented Armenian-american Actor Ken Davitian, and the on screen character of Kazakhstanian Borat were playing each other this past Sunday. Armenia made headlines in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying Group 10 thanks to a 1-0 victory against Kazakhstan.

PictureKazakhstan's Abzal Beisebekov pursues Varazdat Haroyan of Armenia
Here is how it all went down:

Armenia is off to the races in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying Group 10 thanks to a 1-0 victory against Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan found themselves second in the section going into the game, having won 1-0 in Belarus in their opening fixture. However, they have now been leapfrogged by their opponents in Astana, who prevailed courtesy of Gagik Poghosyan's early goal.


Poghosyan's decisive intervention came in the fourth minute, heading in from
Aghvan Papikyan's corner. It proved sufficient for Rafayel Nazaryan's side,
who negotiated the remainder of the game without undue alarm.

"I am really pleased that we won the game against Kazakhstan," said the
Armenia coach. "They are a well-balanced team throughout. In the first half we
played more aggressively but then we decided to change our tactics. In the
second half we played more defensively because we started to feel the
pressure."

We even hear the Armenian Team has a famous celebrity fan by the name
of Kim Kardashian. The reality star of "Keeping up with the Kardashians" went to
Twitter back in June to boast about Armenia's victory over Football powerhouse
Denmark. Is it possible the Armenian players are getting an extra boost of moral
from Kim K's 18 million Twitter followers?

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Kim Kardashian loves cheering on her ancestral team of Armenia
 

The Spanish have once again proved that they are a force to be reckoned with after beating Italy 4-2 in the UEFA Under-21 Championship Final.

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Thiago Alcántara struck the first ever hat-trick in a one-off Under-21 final as Spain beat Italy 4-2 to retain their UEFA European U21 Championship title.

Julen Lopetegui's masterly Spain side came into the decider unbeaten in 25 competitive encounters, and though Thiago's early opener looked to have set them on course to increase that tally, Ciro Immobile soon struck back for Italy. It proved a false dawn for Devis Mangia's team, who fell behind again just after the half-hour.

The two previous finals between these nations – in 1986 and 1996 – had been won on penalties, so it was fitting that spot kicks from Thiago and Isco ultimately settled matters in Jerusalem. Fabio Borini's 80th-minute riposte was too little, too late.

Considering these two sides had conceded a solitary goal between them in Israel, few could have foreseen such a helter-skelter encounter. Álvaro Morata, the adidas Golden Boot winner with four goals, had been Spain's go-to man in their opening four fixtures and, six minutes into the showpiece, again came up trumps. This time he played the role of provider, shimmying his way to the byline before standing the ball up for Thiago to head in from close range.

If that was typical tiki-taka from Spain, the Azzurrini's equaliser came in more direct fashion. Immobile brought down Matteo Bianchetti's long pass with one exquisite touch before dinking the ball over David de Gea – bang went Spain's tournament clean sheet.

Francesco Bardi soon got down swiftly to deny Morata and Koke, thus keeping his team level. De Gea, making his 27th appearance to equal Santi Denia as Spain's most-capped U21 international, was in action himself before the half-hour. Alessandro Florenzi raced on to Borini's pass, bamboozled Marc Bartra and volleyed goalwards – De Gea was well placed.

It proved a turning point for Spain, who restored their advantage when Thiago wriggled free, took Koke's ball down on his chest and squeezed a shot through Bardi's legs. The Italian did not get quite so close to preventing La Rojita's third, Thiago slotting past him from the spot after Giulio Donati felled Tello.

The FC Barcelona midfielder so nearly made it four after the interval but his low effort was thwarted by Bardi. De Gea should also have been required not long after, Lorenzo Insigne and Florenzi both snatching at half-chances. Isco soon followed suit at the other end, putting his first-time finish narrowly wide following a lightning-fast counterattack from Cristian Tello.

Though Tello's pace was now proving a frequent thorn in Italy's side, it was the man behind him who teed up Spain's fourth, Martín Montoya pulled down by Vasco Regini after racing forward from right-back; Isco made no mistake.

Despite the early scare it seemed that, finally, Lopetegui's assertion that "the final is in our hands" had come to fruition. Though Borini prompted brief cause for alarm with a fine finish, Lopetegui, mastermind of Spain's U19 triumph last summer, could join a record crowd at Teddy Stadium in watching his team lift Spain's fourth U21 title in consummate fashion.

 
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Here is something you won't hear very often - Israel beat England in Football. Against all odds, the David and Goliath match-up turned in Israel's favor in the last minutes of the game with a goal by Ofir Krieff to put Israel up 1-0.

There was a sense of pure delight among the Israel players after they finished their home UEFA European Under-21 Championship finals with a 1-0 victory against England, even if they bowed out at the group stage.


"I wanted to run over to him but afterwards I saw nothing because everybody was all over me"

Ofir Krieff talks about coach Guy Luzon

Goalscorer Ofir Krieff, playing in front of his home-town Jerusalem crowd, dedicated the win to coach Guy Luzon while Nir Biton explained what an honor it was to captain this side as he summed up the three years of preparation ahead of the tournament.

Ofir Krieff, Israel midfielder


To score in the capital city, in my home town, in front of my home fans, is a fantastic feeling. We did a really good job. The credit goes to the team and not to me even though I scored. It's all thanks to the great work of the staff and the players.

I think that we had a really good tournament overall. To win four points against these kind of teams is a big achievement. We had some criticism and it wasn't always right. This team has a lot of potential and we proved it today against England which is nothing to take for granted.

When I scored I just thought that we had finally got the win after this hard work. The credit goes to Guy [Luzon]. It was highly important to finish with a good taste because of him and I'm happy that we gave him this goodbye present. “I wanted to run over to him but afterwards I saw nothing because everybody was all over me”.

What do I take from this tournament? Great guys, and we had three years of preparation which was insane. I will take all of these forward with me in my life. I played with talented players here.

Boris Kleyman, Israel goalkeeper


I'm used to the fact that goalkeepers are always being criticized. It doesn't matter how good you are, you will concede in the end. I know what I'm capable of and people that see me know me for the good and the bad. I will keep going my way and believe in myself.

I have done a lot of hard preparation over the year. I didn't play too much for Hapoel Tel-Aviv so it was mainly preparation for me. I don't think we started as well as we could have done but things were fixed in the end. We conceded in the 92nd minute against Norway and we broke down against Italy.

It's hard to describe the fans in one word. We are so happy to finish with a win, especially so that Guy will go in his new direction feeling good.

Nir Biton, Israel midfielder


It started with great excitement and it got better because we played better even though we got a bad result. In the closing match we gave it our all and we played great. It's a great result and we are highly satisfied.

“I can't believe only a week has passed. We prepared for this tournament for the last three years and it went by in a minute”. I enjoyed this tournament so much and I think this is the biggest experience of my life. I realized before the tournament how much of an honor it is to be captain of this team. It's not every day that an Israeli player gets the chance to lead his team at an U21 EURO. This is pride in a way I can't describe.