Best goal Russia’s second goal against Sweden scored by Arshavin created by Zhirkov.
Best free kick goal (possibly the only free kick goal) Michael Ballack’s rocket against Austria.
Players of the Tournament 1. Xavi Hernandez, 2. Marcos Senna, 3. David Silva, (All Spain).
Euro 2008 - the Best of (4-1-4-1) Buffon (Italy); Anyukov (Russia), Puyol (Spain), Chiellini (Italy), Zhirkov (Russia); Senna (Spain); Xavi (Spain), Ballack (Germany), van der Vaart (Netherlands), Silva (Spain); Villa (Spain).
Second Team (4-1-3-2) Casillas (Spain); Corluka (Croatia), Tamos (Romania), Simunic (Croatia), Rat (Romania); Aurelio (Turkey); Sneijder (Netherlands), Deco (Portugal), Poldolski (Germany); Arshavin (Russia), Torres (Spain).
Officiating Group stages – fair to good. Knock out rounds – very good to excellent.
Comments of the Day “For whatever reason, Spain excels at producing pint-sized pass-happy pixies: Xavi, David Silva and Andres Iniesta are all in the same mould, creative little fellas who can pass the ball to death. The problem is, you can only fit so many of them in your team.” – Gabriele Marcotti writing back on the eve of the European Championship.
“But the limiting of his participation has not prevented the Arsenal man (Cesc Fabregas) from confirming that he is not simply the most creative architect of penetration available to his country but conceivably the ultimate practitioner of the art in all of football today. And he is as brave as he is talented, constantly displaying not just the physical version of courage but that rarer form so often lauded by Sir Alex Ferguson, the kind that makes a player eager to embrace responsibility, to think always not of what will make him look good but what will benefit the team. As it happens, Fabregas’s innate style almost invariably causes him to look good whatever he does.” – Hugh McIlvanney.
Predictions
Geniusatwork takes the prediction league with 44 points out of a possible 64 points - congratulations.
Thank you to all that participated and the cast of thousands identified by daFootbllas who were apparently responsible for tabulating the results for me.
Blog wisdom and mirror time Pride of place goes to the following posters for their insight and willingness to critique others choices without posting their own predictions.
OCbabelovesepl – “whoever seriously picked SPAIN to win, is retarded. Spain never pulls through, with or without Fernando Torres. That’s the way it is.”
Bman87 – “How funny, in your predictions Germany always beats the Czechs (by the way Czechs beat Germans twice in last three games) or Portugal and Spain are beating everyone else. Unfortunately these two losers will choke again. The final will be Holand (sic) – Czechs, Any m@ron understand that these two teams are playing the most entertaining football.”
No doubt we can look forward to more insight from these two clowns in four years time.
Next up Draws for the first two qualifying rounds of the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League will be held tomorrow, July 1.
Match Report Spain 1-0 Germany It is very rare for a country to make it through a complete tournament final (6 games in the European championships or 7 at the World Cup) playing almost flawless and entertaining football and in the end still lift the trophy. This Spain has done just that and there can be little doubt that they were the best team at Euro 2008.
Spain may have sputtered sporadically in some of the six games but at no time did the overall quality of their play slip below the opposition’s for 90 minutes or anything close to it.
Germany settled into the final match more quickly and for the first 10 minutes looked to be the most dangerous side. An early slip from Ramos allowed Klose half a chance but his control let him down.
Germany targeted the right side of the Spanish defense trying to split right back Ramos and center back Puyol with passes played into the space between them. A similar tactic would eventually bear fruit although it would be Spain that would prosper rather than Germany.
After some early nerves Spain settled in to their familiar pattern of short quick passes and constant movement in midfield. Halfway through the first 45 minutes a Fabregas to Ramos move finished with Fernando Torres leaping high above the German defense only to see his downward header rebound off the base of the post. With no one to take advantage of the rebound the danger was cleared.
As the first half progressed it became obvious that Germany was carrying a number of players who were just not up to the occasion and could not match Spain’s play. Just after the half hour mark Spain scored what would ultimately be the only goal of the game.
A Xavi Hernandez pass split Metzelder and Lahm. Lahm was guilty of worrying too much about Fernando Torres and not making a great enough effort to get to the ball first. Torres brushed the full back aside and clipped the ball over an advancing Jens Lehmann.
The half time introduction of Marcell Jansen after half time was the catalyst for Germany’s best spell of the game. Even then there was little threat that Iker Casillas would be beaten.
The introduction of Alonso for Fabregas swung any territorial advantage back Spain’s way and although Germany threw more players forward Spain was the team most likely to score.
With expectations raised for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa it will be very interesting to see how Spain reacts.
Ratings
Spain Casillas 7 – Lifting the trophy caused him more problems than the German attack.
Ramos 7 – Improved as the game progressed but mental errors are never far away.
Puyol 8 – Strong in the air and along with Marchena (8) presented a formidable barrier.
Capdevilla 7 – Had little to do but what he did do was accomplished with great effectiveness and efficiency.
Senna 9 – Another outstanding display of defensive midfield play but also exhibited great mobility and could have even scored in the last few minutes as he appeared in Germany’s six yard box.
Iniesta 9 – Enjoyed his best performance of the competition. If he put a foot wrong then I missed it. He was at the centre of most of Spain’s moves constantly prompting, passing and supporting.
Xavi Hernandez 8 - Just a smidgen off a 9. Played the through ball that Torres latched onto and scored from.
Cesc Fabregas 7 - Struggled to stamp any authority on the match.
Silva 7 – One of his quietest games of the tournament and was not as influential as we’ve come to expect.
Torres 8 – His pace and power a constant threat to the German defense. But even scoring the winning goal wasn’t enough to stop Aragones from substituting him.
Substitutes Alonso 7 – Helped Spain through the vital last half an hour.
Cazorla 7 – Brought on to replace Silva after he went head-to-head with Podolski. Did what he was supposed without being flashy.
Guiza 7 – With 12 minutes to go he had little time to establish himself but still delivered 100% effort in that time.
Germany
Lehmann 8 – Some may criticize him for the goal that was conceded but I wouldn’t. He never looked comfortable but he still pulled off three very good saves.
Friedrich 7 – Spain rarely attacked down Germany’s right and and for large spells of the game he was hardly noticeable.
Mertesacker 8 – Battled bravely and without him the the destination of the trophy would have been decided long before 90 minutes was up.
Metzelder 5 – The doubts about Metzelder’s readiness for this tournament were widely discussed in the lead up. Any problems he had in the previous games had not proven costly. It was not the case tonight. Nervous, indecisive and off the pace of the game.
Lahm 5 – At fault for the goal he only lasted 45 minutes.
Frings 7 – He fought the good fight and perhaps if he had better support in midfield the outcome might have been different.
Hitzlsperger 5 – Out of his depth. Lucky to last as long as he did.
Schweinsteiger 6 – A big disappointment. His set pieces were very poor and his hesitation to deliver early passes when the opportunity arose stifled a number of promising opportunities.
Ballack 7 – He was too occupied trying to contain the Spanish midfield and had little time to get forward and to support Klose.
Podolski 6 - Accomplished little and was never a threat.
Klose 6 – He never look comfortable, his touch was off and he strayed into off-site positions too often and too easily.
Substitutes Jansen 7 – He showed some of the form that was on display in the first game against Poland. A willingness to get stuck in and win some tackles provided a platform for some early German attacks in the second half.
Kuranyi 5 - He was given over 30 minutes to make an impact and he didn’t.
Gomez 5 – He spent as much time on the field has Guiza and delivered about 80% less.
Final Preview Germany vs. Spain A simplistic view might profess that we have two countries coming at Sunday’s final from two very different perspectives. While Germany will look to embrace their football history, Spain will be fighting to overcome theirs.
But, as with many things, the simple view fails to consider the many subtleties at play. For, if Spain is the great under-achiever of European football, then Germany (and the former West Germany) must be the great over-achiever. That may strike some as a strange comment when a scan of the World Cup and European Championship record books show Germany as a six-times winner; runners-up on another six occasions and beaten semi-finalists four times.
When you include Sunday’s final it all adds up to reaching the final four seventeen times from a possible twenty-seven tournaments. And although there have been some outstanding German sides (1970-76 era being a stand out) there are a number of editions that, if described as average, it would be overly generous. It has been the habit of average German teams making it to the latter stages of major tournaments that fits the description of overachievers.
In Germany a side lacking top class talent in all positions isn’t an excuse for failure at the international level. Build a team around what you have, stay organized, wait for the breaks and always fight to the end even though on occasion it may be a bitter one.
And what Germany has had over the last half century or so has been at least one world class player around whom a competitive side could be built. From Fritz Walter to Uwe Seeler, Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Mueller, Gunter Netzer, Bernd Schuster, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Lothar Mattheus, Jurgen Klinsmann, Mattias Sammer, Steffan Effenberg the mantle was passed until it reached Michael Ballack at the beginning of this decade.
All the German greats with the exception of Uwe Seeler won a major international and/or club trophy during their careers. Sunday may be one of the last chances for Michael Ballack to join them. And nobody is more aware of the need to win a major competition than Ballack. Before the Champions League Final he said, “People remember the trophies you win, not the quarter-finals or the semi-finals.”
He might have added finals as well. In 2002 while with Bayer Leverkusen they lost in the German Cup Final, the Champions League Final and completed a horrible treble by blowing a significant lead in the Bundesliga. Then only a few weeks later Ballack had to undergo the anguish of sitting out the World Cup Final against Brazil after picking up a suspension for bookings. Ironically without Ballack it is doubtful whether a poor German side would have made it to the final match.
After moving to Bayern Munich Ballack never got past the last eight in the Champions League and at the 2006 World Cup Germany lost 2-0 to Italy after the semi final went to extra time. This past season another case of “close but no cigar” with a penalty shoot loss to Manchester United in the Champions League Final in Moscow.
Whether or not Ballack can finally hold aloft a major trophy come the final whistle on Sunday will largely depend on his own performance and that of Torsten Frings. No matter if Joachim Lowe opts to play 4-4-2 with Ballack and Frings centering the midfield four or a 4-2-3-1 (more likely) with Frings offering cover as part of a defensive pairing behind Ballack , Podolski and Schweinsteiger the problem that German must solve is how to disrupt Spain’s rhythm.
Eyebrows may have been raised when Luis Aragones replaced David Villa with Cesc Fabregas (midfielder for a striker) but it turned out to be an inspired tactical change that only served to to solidify Spain’s solid start to the semifinal.
With Marcos Senna providing the defensive cover the midfield foursome of Iniesta, Xavi, Silva and Fabregas were free to dictate the pace and tempo of the game. Russia had no answer. If Germany is to win the final they have to control the midfield and that involves closing down space and shutting down passing lanes. If they don’t it will be a new reign for Spain and their first international trophy for 44 years. If Germany does it will be one more example of why you should never under estimate an over-achiever.
Comments of the Day "Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win," - former England forward and now BBC presenter Gary Lineker.
“Sure, it’s going to be easy for us; all we have to do is to beat Sweden who historically have better results than us, down Greece who are the reigning champions and then Russia and all that will be easy,” – Luis Aragones before the group stage.
Stat Facts 1. Spain is unbeaten in 21 matches (18 wins and three draws) since losing to Romania in November 2006. The Spanish record is 31 matches. 2. Aragones is the oldest coach to lead a team to a European Championship Final. He is 69 years and 337 days old on Sunday. 3. We have already seen 19 goals in the knock stage, that number blows away the 13 goals we were limited to four years ago. 4. Germany has scored six goals in the quarter and semi final games; all six goals have come from crosses delivered or moves started on the left side.
Semi-Final Preview Spain vs. Russia Asked to comment after Greece’s win at Euro 2004 coach Otto Rehhagel said, “First it was about attitude and discipline; then it was organization; then it was results; then it was about self belief; and then it was about the result, the result and the result.”
If Spain goes on to win this tournament Coach Luis Aragones might express similar sentiments. Long dismissed as bottlers and underachievers, Aragones has worked long and hard to reshape the mindset of the Spanish squad. The acid test came last Sunday against World Champions Italy.
We have become use to Spain starting tournaments at a rate of knots but returning home after the quarterfinals has also been a recurring theme. Toss in the fact that Italy has long been Spain’s bête noire together with the hex of losing penalty shootouts on June 22 you can see why Sunday’s win has brought about a renewed belief that the trophy has Spain’s name on it.
Spain also goes into the semifinal knowing that they have already beaten Russia in their opening game of the tournament. What is more Spain has reached the last four without firing on all cylinders. Casillas, Capdevilla, Senna, Silva and Villa of all played well but there have been other players whose play could be described as patchy at best.
Sergio Ramos underwent a particularly tough time against Russia, Iniesta has played poorly, and Torres has yet to hit top form. In the center of the defense Puyol (at times Albiol) and Marchena have accomplished the task without inspiring confidence.
However, Spain also realize that their semifinal opponent has bounced back after the 4-1 loss and has far exceeded the expectations going into the tournament. Before the Euro finals Guus Hiddink had talked down Russia’s chances preferring to to talk about how this tournament would help his team prepare for the World Cup in 2010.
Whether Hiddink was trying to scoot under the radar or the progress of his young team was more rapid than expected, we don’t really know. What we do to know is that Russia has become one of the great stories of this tournament. The transition from a team that stumbled to a qualifying place to a team that is only 180 minutes from winning the European Championship is amazing.
And Hiddink has engineered the change through evolution rather than revolution. Igor Akinfeev, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Andrei Arshavin, Aleksandr Anyukov, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Sergei Semak were all part of the Russian side that played against Slovakia just before Hiddink’s arrival less than three years ago.
But you don’t even have to to go back that far. On September 12, 2007 Russia played England at the new Wembley in a critical Euro qualifier. England won 3-0 and to say that Russia looked ordinary would be an exaggeration.
They looked awful. But eight of the players that were so badly beaten at the new Wembley nine short months ago will most certainly line up against Spain today. Of the other three, goalkeeper Akinfeev was injured and not available, Pavlyuchenko was on the bench while Semak was out of favor and only recently been recalled.
The contrast between that heavy legged team that was beaten by England and the team that out ran and out played the Netherlands last Saturday is nothing short of phenomenal. According to Opta Sportsdata Semak covered 9.3 miles while Zyryanov and Zhirkov were not far behind.
The man responsible for Russia’s fitness is Dutchman Raymond Verheijen. Raymond Verheijen also worked with Hiddink when the Netherlands reached the semifinal of the World Cup in 1998 and with South Korea when they reached the same stage four years later.
Verheijen’s background is academic as well as practical implementation. His book, “Conditioning for Soccer,” was published in 1998 and is still available. He has also contributed to research that studied referees errors (they found that errors were more likely the closer the referee was to the incident), and the positioning of assistant referees in relation to offside calls.
Verheijen is considered to be a critical element in Russia’s success. It was on his recommendation that the date of a pre tournament friendly game against Lithuania was changed to June 4 from June 3.
Keys to the Game Denis Kolodin had torrid time against David Villa in the first team of the tournament but settled down to become a vital part of the Russian defense in the next four games. It would have been interesting to see if he could handle Villa after being burned so badly only a couple weeks ago but we won’t get the chance because he is suspended after picking up two yellow cards.
It looks as if one of the Berezutski twins – Vasily – will partner Sergei Ignashevich in defense. However, both of the Berezutskis are painfully slow and that is certainly something that Villa and Torres will test.
At the other end Spain will need to take care of Arshavin and the much lighter and more mobile Pavlyuchenko. The big striker lost close to 9 pounds in the lead up to the tournament and this has contributed to a marked improvement in his game.
Both he and Arshavin are willing to take up wider and deeper positions and that poses problems for defenders. Go with them and you run the risk of leaving space for other attackers to fill; let them go and they have the opportunity to turn and run at defenders with great pace.
Look for the Russian pair to pull into wide positions or perhaps even start there in order to stretch central defenders Puyol and Marchena and defensive midfielder Marcos Senna.
Comment of the Day “"Marco van Basten used to ask me why we had to win and also be convincing," Arrigo Sacchi remembers."A few years ago France Football made their list of the 10 greatest teams in history. My Milan was right up there. World Soccer did the same: my Milan was fourth, but the first three were national teams - Hungary '54, Brazil '70 and Holland '74. And then us. So I took those magazines and told Marco, 'This is why you need to win and you need to be convincing.' I didn't do it because I wanted to write history. I did it because I wanted to give ninety minutes of joy to people. And I wanted that joy to come not from winning, but from being entertained, from witnessing something special. I did this out of passion."” - Jonathan Wilson writing in the Guardian.
Stat Fact “This (Spain vs. Russia) is the ninth time that two countries have met in the group phase and the knock-out stages of a European Championship or World Cup. The only countries to win the knock-out encounter after first losing in the group phase are West Germany against Hungary at the 1954 World Cup and the Netherlands against the Soviet Union at Euro 1988.” – BBC.
Match Report Spain 3-0 Russia As a contest it never reached the heights that we had a right to expect. However, it was a Spanish master class of passing and movement when they had the ball and of shutting down the opposition when they didn’t.
From the start Spain showed much more ambition and initiative. Spain refused to allow Russia to settle in to the pattern of play that had worked so well and had been so successful against the Netherlands.
It took until almost the last minute of play for Casillas to make his first save of the match so dominant was the Spanish back four. Puyol and Marchena had their best game of the tournament while Capdevila did not put a foot wrong.
In Sergio Ramos Spain had a full back who was almost flawless in defense and also found time to push forward and was a constant menace to Russia.
David Villa’s injury after less than 30 minutes threatened to disrupt Spanish plans but rather than opting for a like-for-like change Coach Luis Aragones chose to reinforce his midfield and change from a 4-1-3-2 formation to a 4-1-4-1. On came Fabregas and slowly but surely Spain suffocated the life out of Russia.
When Russia gained possession they were instantly closed down and hurried into rash and wayward passes. Even though the game was scoreless on half time it was obvious that Guus Hiddink needed to kick start his Russian team. But you can’t tackle what you can’t catch and that was definitely the case today.
The first Spanish goal was perhaps slightly fortunate given that Iniesta look to have shot rather than have passed. But a pass it turned out to be as Xavi timed his run and deflected the ball past a helpless Akinfeev.
As Russia tried to push forward Spain enjoyed even more freedom and was much more likely to add to their lead. And so it was when a terrific flick from Fabregas found Guiza who beat the offside trap and then the goalkeeper.
Fabregas was the architect of the third and final goal when he delivered an inch perfect pass to the outstanding David Silva. Silva calmly picked his spot and completed a very impressive Spanish win. On the day Russia just could not match Spain in any department.
Based on his performance Spain will likely go into Sunday’s final as favorite. But that has not necessarily been a good thing at this tournament. Great performances seem to be tantamount to painting a large target on your back at Euro 2008.
Conventional wisdom would have had an early goal for Croatia offering up the platform for a resounding win. Conversely the Austrians would have been expected to fold given the form guide going into the tournament. As it was the early penalty kick turned into a curse for Croatia and a blessing for Austria.
The early goal (a dead-cert penalty decision) seemed to dull Croatia’s appetite for the game as they failed to string passes together in any meaningful way. Without Ivica Olic the Croatian attack would have been completely anemic with Petric utterly anonymous.
With Croatia showing little ambition to increase their early lead the Austrian’s slowly settled into the game, grew in confidence and from the 30th minute onwards they dominated large chunks of the match.
Croatia allowed Austria far too much space in midfield as time and time again the co-hosts were allowed time to look up and to pick out their targets. Modric and Srna were particularly culpable as Austria regularly found Martin Harnik on the right side with raking crossfield passes.
Substitutions by Croatia’s manager Slaven Bilic failed to turn the ever increasing tide of Austrian attacks while each change rung by opposite number Josef Hickersberger upped the pressure on the Croatian defence.
In the end Croatia played poorly but still took three points; for Austria a glorious loss.
Three games gone and no surprises - so far.
Germany 2-0 Poland
After an early goal in the first game of the day, we could have had two in the first five minutes of this one. The first chance fell to Poland after Lehmann chose to try and gather a cross under pressure rather than punching clear. The fumble dropped awkwardly to Jacek Krzynówek who shot over from just outside of the box.
Only a couple of minutes later Klose caught the Polish back four flat-footed and square and was left with a clear run on goal. Rather than shooting Klose opted to pass to Gomez who in arriving late had to stretch to make contact. It made for a weak connection and the ball rolled agonizingly past the post.
Both incidents were to be harbingers as the first half progressed. Krzynówek was the central focus of most of the Polish attacks, while Klose again beat a stagnant Polish defensive line to find himself one-on-one with Boruc.
Once more Klose opted to pass but this time it was Lukas Podolski who was in support and he potted the chance. By half time it could well have been 3-1 as Germans continued to press with purposeful play and although Poland continued to look shaky under pressure they still carved out a great chance for Zurawski.
Half time substitute Roger Guerreiro helped Poland to their best period of pressure in the first twenty minutes of the second half but after Podolski scored with twenty minutes left a German win was never in doubt.
Podolski produced the best individual performance of the tournament so far and it was not just down to his two goals. Starting on the left side of midfield Podolski worked hard getting up and down the park and was a constant irritant to Poland.
Germany will be happy with the result and satisfied with the performance. Poland can take something away from this game as well. The defence and midfield settled down after a wobbly start but they look to have same problem as a number of other countries at his tournament – no one to finish at the business end.
Comment of the Day
In my Spain preview I included this comment - "Spain’s soft spot might
be in midfield and that in turn may put the centre of defence under stress and
strain. In midfield tidy passing types pervade but they may turn out to be
lightweight over potentially three weeks of competition. Ball possession may
not be a problem but moving the ball quickly to the strikers could be".
Writing in The Times Gabriele Marcotti provided his thoughts on the Spanish dilemma and in the process he included some memorable alliteration.
"Cesc Fabregas may be the best
foreign midfielder not named Michael in the Premier League, but it holds little
stock with Luis Aragones, the Spain manager. His place with Spain is in serious
jeopardy which, frankly, seems extraordinary until you look at the midfielders
at Aragones' disposal. For whatever reason, Spain excels at producing
pint-sized pass-happy pixies: Xavi, David Silva and Andres Iniesta are all in
the same mould, creative little fellas who can pass the ball to death. The
problem is, you can only fit so many of them in your team.
Already Aragones is having to deploy
Iniesta and Silva wide, despite the fact that both are probably more suited to
a central role. And while deploying Xavi and Cesc together in the middle is a
sexy idea, Spain need at least one holding midfielder, otherwise they'll be
steamrollered. And that spot goes to Marcos Senna. Which means that Aragones
has two options: he can either go with a 4-5-1 formation (but that would mean
leaving out the in-form David Villa) or he can make a difficult choice between
Xavi and Cesc. And, in that case, Xavi would be favored by a mile. It's
debatable that he's a better player, less debatable is that he's more
experienced and plays his football in Spain which means that, if things go
horribly wrong, Xavi's exclusion is likely to haunt Aragones for far longer."
Ukraine must feel like they've been invited to a mugging. The first one was a poor goal to lose - bad marking and the keeper didn't look overly smart. The second goal was a wicked deflection that left Shovkovski without much of a hope.
Senna is solid in midfield while I don't think Alonso and Xavi have misplayed a pass yet. Garcia is doing what he does - flitting between midfiled and attack. Villa is a fire-plug up front.
Ukraine is seriously shell-shocked and need a quick break at the start of the second half if they are to get back into this one. They're tentative on the ball and can't match the Spanish speed and movement.
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
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