Euro 2008
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Spanish Football Internationals XAVI HERNANDEZ & DAVID
VILLA were given their respective Euro 2008 awards by the hands
of the Spanish Football Association President Villar. Xavi was awarded
the Best Player of the Euro 2008 & Villa won the “Golden Boot”
(Top Goal Scorer) at The Euro 2008 with his 5Âşgoals. Here is a video
clip of the presentation. Its in Spanish but the images speak for
themselves:
Written by STRIKER on September 9th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Euro 2008 and Spanish Football and Spanish National Squad.
I wanted to get this post up sooner, but I’ve been blog-less for the past few days as a result of a beer-filled long weekend out of town. I did watch the final on Sunday, though, and although I was cheering for Germany, I can’t say I’m disappointed that Spain won — they were the best team both over the course of the tournament and in the final itself.
Germany started the stronger team in this game, with Miroslav Klose spurning a good chance to score as early as the third minute. They looked particularly dangerous as they attacked Sergio Ramos down Spain’s right wing. But Spain were on top soon enough, with Jens Lehmann called on to make a great save in the 14th minute when Christoph Metzelder and his awful playoff beard almost deflected Andres Iniesta’s shot into the net for an own-goal.
In the absence of injured Golden Boot winner David Villa, Fernando Torres was playing as a lone striker — a familiar role from his time at Liverpool — and causing lots of trouble for the lumbering German defence. He’d already sent a header off the post with Jens Lehmann well beaten, when he scored the game’s only goal in the 32nd minute. Xavi’s through ball split the defenders, Torres outmuscled Philipp Lahm and then, with Lehmann coming out to claim the ball, clipped it perfectly over the keeper and into the net.
If Torres was the pivotal figure for Spain, so too was Michael Ballack for Germany. Ballack has had horrible luck in major finals, and it didn’t get any better for him here. He was already hampered by a calf injury — although I think you’d have had to chain him down to stop him playing — and then he got a cut over the eye toward the end of the first half, after a collision with Marcos Senna.
I think that just added to his sense of frustration, because a few minutes later he got booked for an altercation with Carles Puyol, and he seemed to spend the second half getting increasingly pissed off at the entire world. He did have a couple decent shots on goal over the course of the game — one deflected by Ramos, another one going just barely wide — but mostly he was cro-magnon-ing around and fouling people.
And with Ballack not at 100%, the rest of the team was also malfunctioning. Philipp Lahm was hauled off at halftime and replaced by Marcell Jansen — supposedly due to injury, but come on. (Poor Lahm — I swear I remember him being a good defender; I don’t know what went wrong.) Klose got kicked in the balls early in the second half. And then later in the game had the indignity of being replaced by Mario Gomez. It just wasn’t a good day for them, really.
Germany did have a good spell of pressure partway through the second half, but Iker Casillas and his defence held firm. Luis Aragones sent on Xabi Alonso for Cesc Fabregas — who’d been much less effective than in the semi-final — to shore up the midfield, and shortly thereafter brought on more fresh legs in the form of Santi Cazorla — to replace David Silva, who’d come dangerously close to getting sent off after going nose-to-nose with Lukas Podolski. (I think Silva must have been on his tippy-toes at the time.)
There was a chance that things could’ve gotten out of hand, with the Germans trying to muscle their way back into the game, but the referee did a good job of calming things down — although I still don’t understand why he’d booked Casillas in the first half. Anyway, Spain reasserted themselves, passing their way through Germany as they’d been doing all game. Lehmann had to make another good save from Ramos’ diving header in the 66th minute, and then from the corner, Iniesta’s shot was cleared off the line by Torsten Frings.
The clock ticked inexorably down, and Germany had still only managed one shot on goal all game. Spain, meanwhile, continued to threaten, with Dani Guiza coming on for Fernando Torres — who’d worked his ass off — and almost immediately setting up Senna for what should have been their second goal. Spain might have liked to pad their one-goal lead, as there was always a chance that Germany could surprise them with an equalizer, but the Germans were mostly just lumping the ball forward in the late stages of the game, and Spain were always able to regain possession.
And so it finished 1-0 — albeit a pretty action-packed one-goal game — with Spain becoming European champions for only the second time. They’d already overcome their reputation as chokers with that penalty shootout victory over Italy, but they’ve now killed it off completely with such a comprehensive win. As for Germany, I said before the game that they had been more than the sum of their parts, but they showed their limitations here against a Spanish team that was undoubtedly superior.
I’m not going to pick a team of the tournament, because I’d probably end up like the TSN/Sportsnet crew, who went with an unorthodox sort of 2-5-3 formation. But a few awards to round things up…
Game of the tournament: Turkey 3-2 Czech Republic
It’s hard to narrow this down, because there were so many great games, and Turkey in particular were involved in several incredible results. But this was the epitome of their tournament: a comeback from 2-0 down with 15 minutes to go that was highlighted by brain farts on the part of both goalkeepers, with Petr Cech dropping a cross to gift Turkey an equalizer in the 87th minute, and then Volkan Demirel getting sent off in stoppage time for flattening Jan Koller — no mean feat.
Runner-up: Russia 3-0 Holland
Holland had disposed of Italy and France with ease in the supposed group of death, but an Andriy Arshavin-inspired Russia were brilliant in the quarterfinal and essentially beat them at their own whirlwind attacking game.
Goal of the tournament: Wesley Sneijder vs. Italy
A textbook-perfect counter-attacking move, with Gio van Bronckhorst clearing the ball off the line at a corner, and then pelting downfield to get involved again with a crossfield pass to Dirk Kuyt. Kuyt then headed the ball down for Sneijder to hook it past Gigi Buffon from an almost impossible angle. A fantastic team goal and a fantastic finish from Sneijder.
Runner-up: Bastian Schweinsteiger vs. Turkey
Schweinsteiger and Lukas Podolski sometimes seem to have a telepathic connection — see also Schweinsteiger’s goal against Portugal in the preceding game; here, Podolski broke down the left and crossed to Schweinsteiger coming in from the other flank, who flicked the ball brilliantly across the keeper with the outside of his right boot.
Player of the tournament: Marcos Senna
UEFA’s technical panel may disagree with me — they gave the Golden Ball to another Spanish midfielder, Xavi. But Xavi had periods where he was brilliant and periods where he was invisible. Senna was also often invisible, but for the right reasons: you want your defensive midfielder to go unnoticed, because that means he’s doing his job. He was the solid base for Spain’s tiki-taka attacking play, and a shield for their not always convincing defence. Consistently good throughout the tournament.
Hotass of the tournament: Iker Casillas
Captained his team to the title. Possibly the only keeper in Swisstria who actually knew how to deal with crosses. A big part of the reason why Spain gave up only three goals, and none of those in the knockout rounds. Went mano-a-mano with world champion Gianluigi Buffon in a penalty shootout and emerged victorious. And celebrated winning the whole shebang by stripping down and spraying his teammates with champagne. Well done.
Written by Jen on July 2nd, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Euro 2008 and Germany and Spain.
Euro 2008 is over and Spain are the new European champions. One hour before midnight Iker Casillas lifted the trophy and the celebrations begun all over Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna and in every major city in Spain.
La furia roja is finally on the top of Europe 44 years after the glorious generation that dominated the Old continent in 1964.
The lads of Aragones showed off great maturity in the matches, despite their youth and inexperience, and by many football reviewers they deserved the victory.
The Spanish national team was in the group D alongside with Greece (former European champion), Russia and Sweden. The group phase was passed easily with 3 wins of the three matches. Italy was the team who met Spain in the quarter-finals. The game was not one of the best of the tournament coz Spain faced very dangerous opponent who knew how to play on a result, despite the awful football for watching. The game was decided after penalty shoot-out and Casillas was the man of the match saving 2 of the 4 penalties. Once again the Madridista showed to the world that he is the No1 goalkeeper. In the semi-finals we all saw one of the best matches of this Euro when Spain faced Russia. Led by the excellent coach Hiddink, Russia showed great display during the group stage and especially in the quarter-final with Netherlands, but obviously Spain was way too big bite for them. The match ends 3-0 for Spain and the whole squad was about to prepare for the great final. Big loss for the final match for Spain was the injury of David Villa – the top scorer of the Euro 2008.
The last barrier on the way to the glory was Germany – team who didn’t play such a good football during this competition but their experience showed off as crucial when they beat the opponents Portugal and Turkey which showed much better display then Germany in the matches. First 15 minutes of the game haven’t promised anything good for Spain, but then they turned over the match and took the ball possession also creating some chances. In the 32” Fernando Torres picked up a through ball from Xavi and flipped over Lehman and that was the end for the Germans. They had more than one hour for playing but I think that even if they played whole night they wouldn’t score. In the rest of the match the attendance saw only chances for Spain but they didn’t score. It was 1-0 for Spain in the end!
So, if you make a little overview of the Euro 2008 I think that you will agree with me that Spain deserved this trophy more than any other team.
Congratulations!
Written by done_mkd on July 2nd, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Aragones and Euro 2008 and Germany and Spain and Torres and Villa and Xavi and casillas.
That was intentional.
Anyway, we’re going to milk the Euro for all we can, because once we run out of related posts, we’re going to have to think of things to write about.
Sure there’s the transfer market, but Liverpool is holding Crouch hostage for a fee that is almost exactly what they need to buy Gareth Barry. So their financial situation is fairly transparent and any move they make will be similarly telegraphed. As for the Gunner contingency among us, we will simply plug our ears—la la la la not listening—place faith in Wenger, and conveniently forget that it hasn’t really worked out the last two seasons.
So as futbol’s hot stove heats up, we go to eleven and present our best squads from Euro 08.
Of note, only one of us put Xavi, the EUFA player of the tournament, in their starting XI. In fact, by our collective accounting, Marcos Senna was probably the Spanish midfielder of choice, as he made every single list.
In fact, I’m just going to call out UEFA’s panel of nine technical experts collectively ‘tarded up for their choice. Not that Xavi was at all bad, but it’s pretty clear that Senna was the main reason that Spain went through the knock out stages without conceding a goal.
He so disrupted the Russian and German midfields that Casillas didn’t even have that much to do; and the reflex kick-save on Camoranesi in the quarters turned out to be the most title-saving save he had to make.
Anyway, David Villa and Carlos Puyol were similarly lauded. The latter made every list but one and the former all but two (and the two he was absent from had striker partner Torres instead).
As for players not from Spain (or naturalized Brazil-born Spaniards) there was lots of love for Andrei Arshavin.
It’s tough to poo poo that choice after he riddled the Dutch silly, but I’m going to try anyway. Arshavin only played in three games, and in one of them he was completely shut down—like NYC November ‘65 shut down—by Senna. So Arshavin had one nice game against Sweden, and a superb game against a Dutch team that, pre-tourney, everyone thought had a suspect back line that was waiting to be exposed. So maybe don’t believe the hype.
My personal favorite squad? Not even mine. The NY Kid went genius crazy on us and cooked up a formidable 4-5-2.
Written by Darkvader on July 1st, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Euro 2008 and Precious Roy and Spain.
To the victors go the spoils.
Nine Spanish players were named to the Euro 2008 all-tournament squad, with Xavi Hernandez earning player of the tournament honors. Iker Casillas, Xavi, Cesc Fabregas, Carlos Puyol, Marchena, Torres, Iniesta, David Villa, and Marcos Senna were the Spanish representatives.
While Xavi had a good tournament, I think Senna should have the greatest recognition. He bossed around Arshavin and then Ballack in order. He helped secure the Spanish backline that did not allow a goal in the knockout stages. And, he was a threat at times offensively with some ground missiles he launched at goal. But, a defensive midfielder is not going to win this award.
Only Lahm, Podolski and Ballack earned honors for the runners up. And, if you had watched the games, I don’t think you would have given Lahm that much credit. He was worked by Turkey and Torres. He did have a nice gamewinner, but his overall tournament was not his best.
After the jump the full squad, but please note the one person not on list:
Cristiano Ronaldo.
UEFA’s squad of the tournament:
Goalkeepers: Buffon (Italy), Casillas (Spain), van der Sar (Holland).
Defenders: Bosingwa (Portugal), Lahm (Germany), Marchena (Spain), Pepe (Portugal), Puyol (Spain), Zhirkov (Russia).
Midfielders: Hamit Altintop (Turkey), Modric (Croatia), Senna (Spain), Xavi (Spain), Zyryanov (Russia), Ballack (Germany), Fabregas (Spain), Iniesta (Spain), Podolski (Germany), Sneijder (Holland).
Striker: Arshavin (Russia), Pavlyuchenko (Russia), Torres (Spain), Villa (Spain).
For a team that got worked so hard defensively, I’m not sure how Portugal got two defenders on the squad. More importantly, Bastien Schweinsteiger is not on this list. He did get red-carded in the tournament, but proved invaluable to the German squad. I also think Ruud Van Nistelrooy got shafted as he acquitted himself quite well after Van Basten dumped him at World Cup 2006.
Anyway, post your thoughts or Starting XI in the comments.
Written by Darkvader on June 30th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Euro 2008 and The Fan's Attic.
Congratulations to Spain on winning their second European Championship today. Aside from the first 20 minutes of the game, Germany were never really in it, and Spain controlled play easily. The finish from Torres was top drawer, and will provide ample spank bank material for LB for the next few months. Senna once again marshaled the Spanish defense, and hopefully the rumors linking him to Arsenal are true.Â
We’ll have some more meta tournament thoughts tomorrow, but certainly Euro 2008 was a huge improvement over the past few World Cups and European Championships. For the most part, everyone tried to play attacking football, and negative cynical bullshit teams like Italy and Greece got what was coming to them. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come for the upcoming season, and looking a bit further, to South Africa in 2010.Â
And here is the rest of it.
Written by Darkvader on June 29th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Euro 2008 and Ian and Spain.
Spain became the victorious in the Europe as they win the major trophy of Euro 2008 against Germany in the Final. The dream of Germany to win the Euro 2008 has been collapsed by the deserving Spain. Spain have their first trophy for 44 years and the glory is all the greater for overcoming opponents such as these. A Premier League footballer was decisive but the key individual in Vienna was
Written by Sudip Kafle and Sujan Kafle on June 29th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Euro 2008 and Germany and Spain and euro-cup 2008 and final and highlights.
Okay kids, this is it! You know where we stand in terms of predictions, but we have yet to hear from you clowns. Let’s get some suggestions in early, before the match gets too far underway. Germany v. Spain! Wienerschnitzel v. tapas. Berlin v. Barcelona. BMW v…Oh well. Hopefully you are in a good mood and ready for today’s match. Personally, I am ecstatic, as I have been watching Landon Donovan cry in HD thanks to the abuse heaped upon him and the LA Galaxy by DC United. After the jump, all the details.
The starting XI for Joachim Low’s German squad:
GK: Lehmann (tee-hee; all EPL fans assume at least 1 howler is in order)
DEF: Friedrich; Mertesacker; Metzelder; Lahm
MID: Hitzlsperger; Ballack (C); Frings; Podolski; Schweinsteiger
ST: Klose
Notes on Germany: Obviously, the big news here is that Ballack is fit and will start, although talk has immediately turned to whether he was simply providing a pre-made excuse in the case of a poor performance. Germany plays a modified 4-5-1, which in practice resembles a 4-3-3, with Podolski and Schweinsteiger both acting as offensive midfielders/defensive forwards.
The starting XI for Luis Aragones’ Spain squad:
GK: Casillas (C)
DEF: Sergio Ramos; Marchena; Puyol; Capdevila
MID: Senna; Iniesta; Xavi Hernandez; Silva; Fabregas (finally!)
ST: Torres
Notes on Spain: The Spanish side plays a 4-1-4-1, with Senna acting as the lone defensive midfielder. Also, Aragones is a racist.
The match is being played at Ernst-Happel Stadion in Vienna, Austria.
Centre official: Roberto Rosetti (ITA)
Assistant referees: Alessandro Griselli (ITA); Paolo Calcagno (ITA)
4th official: Peter Frojdfeldt (SWE)
Is anyone out there, or am I blogging with myself?
00:01 - And we’re off!
01:00 - Throw-in from Torres put out, resulting in a throw for Ze Germans.
01:50 - The boobirds come out as Spain opens up very timidly, moving the ball in their defensive third of the pitch.
02:55 - Bad touch from Ramos forced by Schweinsteiger, but Klose is unable to get off a shot.
03:43 - Long ball from Silva, but Torres is offside.
04:27 - More offense from the Germans, as Podolski plays Lahm at the endline, but he is unable to cross the ball in-bounds.
05:56 - Sergio Ramos pushes forward, and the ball eventually gets to Capdevila, who is about 28 yards offsides.
06:59 - Ballack gets loose on the left around Puyol, but the ball served across the goal doesn’t find anyone waiting for it.
08:24 - Klose pushes the ball into the middle for Hitzlsperger, but the quiet midfielder gets off a very weak shot. Too easy for Casillas.
09:16 - The Germans are moving the ball much better than the Spaniards. The crowd is still booing, although that might be residual from Enrique Iglesias’ performance.
10:54 - Poor ball forward for the Spaniards, and Torres and Mertesacker get tangled up. No foul, as the ball was already firmly in Lehmann’s hands.
11:10 - Klose earns a corner. The resulting kick by Schweinsteiger is punched out by Casillas, straight to the Germans. Frierich delivers a ball into the box which is grabbed by Casillas.
12:29 - Torres is fouled by Lahm, but the Spaniards play the resulting kick back into the midfield. They are very tentative.
13:50 - Torres drives the ball into Iniesta, but it comes off Metzelder, which forces Lehmann into an excellent save. The corner is played short to Iniesta, back to Xavi, who puts forth a poor cross.
16:09 - Spanish free kick from 35 yards, and the ball goes directly to Lehmann. Very poor effort.
Ed’s note: I am not impressed by Torsten Frings’ tale of pain. I once broke 3 ribs in the first game of my rec season, and played 3 more games before I realized it. Suck it, Torsten!
18:51 - Deep ball from Silva to Torres, and Metzelder hacks at Torres resulting in a free kick. The ball from Xavi finds Torres, who heads it over the goal.
21:26 - Ballack fouls Xavi as he passes the ball to Cesc. The free kick is played back to the Spanish midfield, and then back forward for Fabregas. He gets it to Torres, who puts it off the post and Sergio Ramos and Capdevila both muff chances at the follow.
24:11 - Podolski earns a corner. Schweinsteiger puts in a ball that is too low, but his second ball comes out to the far post. Ballack receives the ball and fires the ball into Xavi. On the Spanish break-out, Lehmann goofs and has to put the ball out. The resulting throw-in leads to a low shot taken cleanly by Jens.
26:23 - Klose plays the ball through to Podolski, but he is unable to find Hitzlsperger in the middle.
During discussion of NASCAR, we find out that Andy Gray was treating a lady-friend to some shopping yesterday. Fascinating!
28:28 - Ballack is fouled by Senna, and Lahm takes the free kick quickly, but the Spanish take control.
28:51 - Torres gets loose, but Metzelder is able to track him down and put the ball out. The corner kick is played in, but the Spaniards are called for a foul in the box (Sergio Ramos).
30:21 - Silva plays the ball out, resulting in a throw for Lahm. Silva has some words for the AR, who doesn’t seem interested. The ball comes back out to Fabregas, who puts in a low shot that is taken cleanly by Lehmann.
32:20 - GOAL! Spain 1 - Germany 0. Torres gets loose once again, this time darting between two German defenders (Lahm and Mertesacker). Lehmann comes out for it, but Torres pokes it over him.
34:10 - Iniesta gets forward and plays the ball to Silva, who puts it way over the goal. The Spaniards have their tails up.
35:11 - Ballack is bleeding, although it’s not clear where the cut came from. Ah, it appears it was a head-butt from Senna.
36:01 - Schweinsteiger draws a free kick at 30 yards out. The kick is played into the box, but it skies over the bar.
The replays really demonstrate just how brilliant the goal was from Torres. He beats 2 German defenders (one of whom, Lahm, is arguably the team’s best) with his speed, and then beats Lehmann with a smart touch.
37:49 - Ballack fouls Fabregas, and is then sent off again for blood streaming down his face.
39:11 - Schweinsteiger is fouled by Capdevila, although it’s a soft call. Hitzlsperger plays the ball into the box, but the ref calls it back since he hadn’t blown the whistle. The stoppage actually gives Ballack a chance to get back in. The second kick is played into the box and put out by Senna for a corner. The third kick of this series is played out by Casillas, directly to the Germans, who earn another corner. That ball is played out to the top of the box, and played out by Xavi before Hitzlsperger can perform the bicycle kick.
41:31 - Ballack gets involved in an altercation, and Casillas comes flying out of net to push him away. They both earn a yellow card for their trouble.
43:18 - Free kick for Spain near midfield, and it gets played all the way back to Casillas. Fabregas moves forward with the ball, but is dispossessed by Schweinsteiger. The ball is played into Metzelder, but the Spanish respond well, and get the ball up to Iniesta, who earns a corner. The resulting kick is played short to Senna, who eventually plays it into the box. Sergio Ramos goes down trying to earn a PK, but the ref waves it off.
45:00 (+01:00) - Halftime. Spain 1 - Germany 0 on a brilliant goal from Torres.
Written by Darkvader on June 29th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Euro 2008 and Germany and Liveblogs and Spain and The NY Kid.
So, still in the grip of two solid, sustained days of drinking, we have made it to today’s final. And my Spain pick (trendy, but justified) is still there! Wunderbar.
Even though we’re all losing in the UF Pick ‘Em League to you commenters, we still felt like we couldn’t let the Big Kahuna pass by without offering our final predictions for the final. After some back and forth and a firm grip on the definition of irony, we present a sampling of our guesswork after the jump.
If you’re in the NYC area, traipse on up to the Kinsale Tavern (3rd Avenue between 93rd and 94th) to join the UF contingent and friends for a drinking binge in the back corner.
But first…. our wildest and most comical guesses!
Ian: Spain 2-1
A howler from Jens at the death dooms the Krauts.
u75: 3-1 Spain. ‘Cause that’s what I have in my pick’em.
Spectator: 2-1 der Germans, because I predicted Germany would win at the start of the tournament (also correctly predicted Germany v. Spain — I am so
very talented at picking the favorites!!).
Precious Roy: Spain 2-2 (Win on PKs 5-3).
Cesc and Guiza for Espana. Klose x2 for die Germans.
Clueless of the overtime periods, some ABC producer throw switch to a WNBA game after the end of 90 minutes.
Moonshine Mike: 1-1 with spain winning 4-3 on PKs. of course Cesc nails the clincher, then falls down, twists his knee and is out for the entire Arsenal season.
The NY Kid: 1-1 after full time (Klose v. Torres). Germany wins on PK 3-2.
The Likely Lad: I picked spain 2-1 in le juge euro 2008 (don’t ask), so I’m sticking with ‘em!
Lingering Bursitis: My thought: 3-1 Spain.
Torres 1-0
Bastian 1-1
Xavi 2-1
late breakaway tap-in at the death to seal it from Silva 3-1
The Fan’s Attic: Spain 3 (Torres x2, Silva)
Germany 2 (Ballack, Klose)
It’s who I picked prior to the tournament.
Written by Darkvader on June 29th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Euro 2008 and Euro Pick'Em and Lingering Bursitis and Spain and Ze Germans and predictions and we are clever.
Die Mannshaft. La Seleccion. Cooly efficient Teutonic machinery against the emotional, flamboyant, insanely skilled Spanish. And about a million other timeworn national cliches. ESPN is even bringing up the Holocaust. Yes, it can only mean the final is upon us. A quick UF preview, after the jump.
A good portion of this blog was picking the Germans before the tournament started, butÂ
Spain’s demolition of the pesky Russians seems to have swayed opinion. Since Villa is likely not playing today, Cesc seems a lock to start in some version of a 4-5-1Â 4-4-1-1 (the Spanish would never resort to such ugliness as a 4-5-1! please). If Torres can convert some of his chances into goals, Spain have a really good shot today.
Meanwhile, Ballack faces a
late fitness test on his injured calf. After missing the final six years ago in Tokyo, I would imagine that he plays if his leg is still attached to his knee. The general consensus is that the Germans will have to use their physical advantage and rough up the more skilled Spainiards a bit. And lets not forget that Jens is in goal for the Germans.
Your thoughts, dear readers?
Written by Darkvader on June 29th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Euro 2008 and Germany and Ian and Spain and cesc fabregas.
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