Justice is done
Mon Jun 30 12:51PM
In the end the best team won it. No under-achievement this time. No bottling a major tournament. No self-destructive internal politics. Spain had the best collection of players by far at the Euros, played the best football and deserved to win it. No-one else came close. In fact if they hadn't, we should have been initiating an inquiry into the biggest injustice perpetrated in international sport.
But there was more to Spain's victory than simply the best team winning it. Anyone who believes in football can but concur the right team won it. They played the game as it should be played, the perfect distillation of aesthetics, athleticism and nous. They were not deflected by the cynicism of the Italians or the flaky promise of the Russians.
Nor did German certainty worry them. Everything about their game was refreshing, from the way they passed to the way they defended. In Iniesta, Xavi, Fabregas and Senna they had a midfield so good, it would be bizarre not to nominate it, in its entirety, in any team of the tournament.
Spain's brilliance was all there, encapsulated to perfection in Fernando Torres's winning goal. Xavi's perfect through ball, Torres running at it with nerve and aggression, thrusting aside Philipp Lahm's challenge as if it came from an eight-year-old, then, as the foresquare presence of Jens Lehmann advanced on his shins, executing the most exquisite of the chips to send the ball into the net. Nerve, skill and power in one brilliant package. No wonder they worship him at Liverpool.
If the Germans had won it, theirs would have been a victory for team work, for effort, for never-say-die resolve. And for coaching: Joachim Loew did brilliantly to steer his team to the final. But a German victory would not have been a triumph for football.
True, at times Loew had them playing attacking, vibrant football which belied the individual abilities of their constituent parts. True they possess an innate strength in their footballing genes which enables them to progress. This was the 13th major final for the Germans. A mere 12 more than the perennially pitiful English have managed.
And true you could only feel for Michael Ballack, the eternal runner-up, for the second time in his life coming second in four major tournaments in one season (he did the same with Bayer Leverkusen in 2002) No wonder the poor guy looked so dignified as he led his team up to receive their consolation prize: he's had the practice.
But the Germans should not have won the tournament. For a start they didn't use their big advantage in the final. They were to a man about a metre taller than their opponents. But they couldn't get a good enough cross in to exploit their advantage. Not once did they use their principal possibility. Every single dead ball - by far their biggest opportunity to win - was either over-hit or ended up in Iker Casillas's hands.
By contrast, like everything else they did, Spain's game plan - pass the Germans to distraction - worked a treat. And looked a treat. Watching Casillas lift the trophy was the perfect summation to a brilliant three weeks of football, in which so many teams contrived to entertain. It was the icing on the cake.
Rarely has an international tournament ended this satisfactorily, rounded off in such universally acclaimed manner. Rarely has the best team involved won one so easily, so smoothly, so comprehensively. And as they did so, Spain gave advertisement to the notion that doing things the right way - through technique, skill and precision - can triumph in the end. As a lesson for the English, incidentally, that is the most alarming news of all to emerge from the Alps this summer.
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IM this storyAgreed 100%
You know it would be a shame if Spain doesn't make it to at least the quarter-finals in World Cup 2010. They have many players who haven't reached their peak yet.
From lolqbabolq on Mon Jun 30 12:58PMI agree, spain played the game right...they deserved it.
But I still have to point out our new "biggest chokers": The dutch
In the past few tournaments, whether euro or world cup they have been the most impressive in the group stage, but somehow still fail to score when it matters, remember portugal 2 times in a row and against russia, it just did not work. OK, so the dutch had on off day while Russia had their best, but I am still sitting here wondering why Robben never came on. That could have been one for the History books, a dutch-spanish final. Well, I guess all that said, spain played the game right, it was not them who drew them into this group. Which is not a surprise, I already told my friends that teams from the group of death seem to always spend too much energy too early, and have what is similar to 6 or 7 elimination games, which is why no matter how good they are, must crack eventually. the easiest way to find the group of death in any tournament: Look for Argentina or Netherlands. Easiest group: Look for the Germans. How Unlucky can some teams be. For Holland and Spain now is the time to prove you are not the biggest underachievers - half of that is done.
And by the way, watch out for Africa in 2010, I just wish one of those coaching elites would take one for history and coach these african talents to the Semi's atleast. Guus Hiddink: next stop? AFRICAFrom ye7ia3omar on Mon Jun 30 03:36PMSpain has a very young team who form a well-knitted group. They could very well do an impressive World Cup in 2010 but there are hazards lying in wait. The most important would be the return of Raúl, 31, to the squad. He has been everything for Real Madrid (three UEFA Champion Leagues) but an absolute liability for the national squad, especially within the dressing room and in the press--even though he doesn't publish the newspapers worshipping the Sacred Cow day in and day out.
The new Spanish coach, Vicente del Bosque, should be wise enough to try to protect the group cohesion by keeping these players and their playing style, and maybe adding a bit of fresh blood, for instance Bojan Krkic, the 17-year old striker who plays for F.C. Barcelona (and who asked not to be summoned to the Euro Cup after a mentally exhausting season).
From m_angstadt on Mon Jun 30 03:46PMJim i must congratulate you for your great words about the Spanish team as well as the criticism for the English team. I was a huge fan to the English national team putting it just after my home national team Bulgaria right until Euro 1996. This was the last year i was cheering for the English nationals, because until this year the English team was all about attack and they were so entertaining, that it was impossible not to feel sorry for them. After that came Sven £%&^%*@@ Erikson and f***ed it up. Suddenly the English team begun playing more defensively than the Italians and that was just horrible. My point is that you have to play the football that suits you and even if you fail to win you'll be loved and respected. But when you win the trophy playing the perfect attacking football like the Brazilians and the Spanish you will be absolutelly admired like the Spanish are now. No one can argue that Spain were the best team in the tournament and no one, not even the Germans can deny that they deserved the vistory. VIVA SPAIN, hope England goes back to the team they were.
From petko1979 on Mon Jun 30 03:57PMfinally the best team in the tournament won not like in 2006, heres looking to the year 2056 when spain win another cup and england are still talking about 1966, 3rd in 2006, 2nd in 2008 and first in 2010! Go germany!!!!
From irmcraut480 on Mon Jun 30 04:01PMGreat article that sums it up nicely. And it's good to see that the fair play spirit is still alive in England.
From mihai1x4 on Mon Jun 30 04:14PMIts easy to dismiss other teams like turkey, russia and croatia that were underdogs but were giant killers, congratualtions to spain for winning a well fought campaign but lets not forget the underdogs who made the most out of this competition.
From paulhomy on Mon Jun 30 05:24PMWell done, Spain! Good to see the best and most deserving team emerging victorious!
From shevlane on Mon Jun 30 05:30PMdutch-spanish final could never have been possible (see tournament set-up)
From yannschmidt on Mon Jun 30 05:48PMThe best team overall was the biggest chockers of all-time, the Dutch. But taking nothing away from Spain, they are deserving champions.
From klood04 on Mon Jun 30 05:51PMFirst I want to congratulate Spain on a great final. They demonstrated how a true champion should perform. But Jim, I must say that your comments are some what in accurate. Yes the best team one this tournament, bur against Italy, Spain did not perform as well. Italy did not play good at all in this tournament but could have easily won the shoot out like Spain did. Then what…Italy could have gone to the finals and played Germany and anything could have happened. Lets not forget that Italy had to change there line-ups multiple times in this tournament. The truth of the matter is that even though Spain had, by far, the best team in the tournament could not beat Italy on the field. Penalty shoot outs are a flip of the coin. Once again congratulations to Spain.
From silviag.1986 on Mon Jun 30 06:00PMOh, my bad...Semis I guess. Thanks YannsSchmidt
Which reminds me, another thing Uefa needs to change, what if Russia was better than Germany and deserved to be in the final. Team emerging from the same group should not meet again until the final, just like the World Cup or African Cup of Nations. In 2006 Ivory Coast made it to the final proving they are second best, to Egypt, again although they were in the same group. Same thing with Cameroon in 2008, which is why Uefa needs to change this in Euro. Remember Italy vs. Netherlands in Euro 2000.
Come on UEFA...make some changes, I hope this 24 team deal passes through!From ye7ia3omar on Mon Jun 30 06:28PMDefinitely, the best team won, I only wished it had been so as well in the semi-finals.
From s_j_douglas on Mon Jun 30 06:47PMSilviag,
Respectfully, if Italy would have attacked slightly more (only 12 shots) they may have won. But I doubt it, Spain would have more chances as well then, but this is what Italy tried to prevent.
I will say the Spain was lucky to win that game, but I will not agree that Italy was unlucky. They got the result they played for and deserved.
From bruceoncins on Mon Jun 30 06:53PMwell said, the english will triumph when they come off their plateau of ego and overhyped talents. the english always presumed they will win any competition before it starts and end up with plenty eggs on their faces. the best english side is that of Italia 90, what a pity they didn't go all the way. subsequent sides are all bunch of mediocre with the exception of steven gerald others bunch of overrated players
From eastlegon9ja on Mon Jun 30 07:16PMwas it me, or did the Germans stay on the pitch way to long after the ceremonies? I thought I seen the coach try to usher them off on more than one occassion to the dugout, in the best interests of sportsmanship and let the spanish have their 15 minutes, god knows they waited long enough!All in all, I thought the germans rode their luck as in getting that far, the pushing Ballack, and his one in a thousand free kicks, not to mention the clear offside agaainst Poland i think it was, and Goalie blunders by the Turks, that let them off the hook, Spain almost let them back in it to, by not netting a second, all in all justice was done finally! they have given us some spectacular soccer over the years, with no reward. Viva le-Espana
From shn_01_99 on Mon Jun 30 07:32PMare u critisizing the germans for trying to understand that they lost? they were not in the way of the Spanish Team...the Spanish Team was celebrating and was not disturbed a bit by the German Team on the pitch.....Gosh...some people love to bash the Germans for no reasons....and to me, the Germans were not in the final because of luck...if there was one somehow "lucky" team...it was Turkey....and I don´t even call that luck...if someone is in the final, he well deserves it....Just like Italy did in 2006...even tho it hurt terribly back then, but they scored the goals and kept us from scoring....And the push from Ballack? Please...there´s much worse been done in the box...sometimes we werere lucky with some referee´s decision...but a lot of times we were unlucky as well...no penalty yesterday...the spanish player gave Podolski a "head nut"...no card, no penalty against Turkey and on......So...in the end I think the luck and no luck factor always equals in the end...
Again....Spain defeated us fair and square and were the best team of the Championship...and it´s nice for em to finally hold that cup again.
From trackrebel81 on Mon Jun 30 08:27PMI am surpised no one has mentioned the referee last night. Everybody are talking about how much Spain desrved it but the fact is, the germans got their game completely ruined by the referee. In the first hal when germany began their hunt for an equalizer, they took of Ballack for treatment. Then the referee didn't aprove of the treatment the fourth referee had been in charge of. That combined whith corner kicks and free kicks being forced to be re-taken resulted in the last 20 min of the first half being completely destroyed for the germans.
But that's not all. In the second half Spain got free kicks for just stop running (those are the rules in La Liga) and Germany were robbed a red card and a goal. Silva should clearly have been sent off for the head but and Marchena got a free kick in the penalty area for being a bad defender and missing the ball and when Schweinsteiger was about to put the ball into the net the wistle had already gone. Horrible decision.
All in all I'd say Spain are deserved winners, but I think the match was destroyed by poor refereing, and the germans weren't given an honest chanse.
From richard.ekman on Mon Jun 30 08:32PMI'm swedish so please excuse my spelling btw
From richard.ekman on Mon Jun 30 08:38PMDamn good article! im not a Spain fan, but what does lads got was absolutely what they deserved to. They played entertaining football, but with good defending and solid team play. What else can you expect from a national team?
They scored a lot of goals, let very few in, and they brought screams of delight with their knit-passing.
All in all, finally no bitterness with the champions!
And someone mentioned Italy... Well, whenever Italy won one of the major tournaments only pessimists and Italians were satisfied...
Yesterday...Everyone who loves a good football game couldn't but smile when the ref blew his whistle for the last time...
From irvin_selimovic on Mon Jun 30 09:00PMTotalmente de acuerdo con su comentario Sr. White. España ha sido la mejor selección de esta Eurocopa. Casi ha rozado la perfección: Ganar todos los partidos en el tiempo reglamentado (el de Italia se gano a los penaltis. Lotería decimos por aquí
.
El centro de campo de España ha sido de largo la mejor línea del campeonato. La suavidad en el trato de balón ha sido tan espectacular que han dejado en evidencia a los demás sistemas empleados por los demás equipos. Llama especialmente la atención de que se haya ganado a una selección dos veces y por goleada, siendo dicha selección una de las favoritas después de cuartos.
Estamos muy orgullosos de esta selección.
Un saludo a todos.From braspit on Mon Jun 30 09:04PMagree 100%
spain deservd the win
spain can make be one of the big 4 in 2010 world cup
if aragonis staysFrom mufc_abojodeh on Mon Jun 30 09:18PMI think there was some questionable officiating on both sides, but in the end it was something of a wash and nothing too bad.
AND, if Ballack didn't cry like a whiny baby to the ref after EVERY little stupid thing, the refs may have been more inclined to give Germany one of those borderline calls.
I don't care what sport you are talking about, game officials do not want to hear pissing and moaning out of the players. It certainly doesn't HELP the cause anyhow...
From burt_5_to on Mon Jun 30 09:25PMjim white is a stupid pig! i mean yeah they deserved to win and they did, but thats no excuse to put the germans down! he is just a sad old man, who cant stand seeing germany reach the final of a major tournoment, and seeing his country england not winning anything! especially for the past 42 years.
"In fact if they hadn't, we should have been initiating an inquiry into the biggest injustice perpetrated in international sport." this was the stupidest thing he could say.From adib3066 on Mon Jun 30 10:28PMIt would have been the perfect final if it was between Hollad and Spain instead of Germany.
Two best attacking sides and a dream ending if the score end at 4-3 to spain... that would be a final that would stuff where lengend are made of.
From kogn1 on Tue Jul 01 01:45AMIn addition, i want to inform you that someone here is keeping saying you are seeking a sugar woman on website called SugarCupid recently.. maybe you need to stop the slurring!
From tabli14 on Tue Jul 01 03:07AMunfortunately holland did not make the finals nor did they make the semis. So if they played Spain it would be in the semis and Spain showed throughout the tournament that they were taking defenses apart other than Italy's. The aggr. for Spain vs. Russia was 7-1 and Holland lost. Holland has no defense and a goalie who is way past his prime to keep up with any legitmate goal scorer. If you wanted a face paced final with excitement than I think it should of been Portugal now labled the underachievers vs. Spain. And one last thing I loved how Turkey played throughout the tournment they play all 90 min or 120 vs crotia and they deserved to be there as much as any other European powerhouse.
From dferraro11228 on Tue Jul 01 03:11AMFor the first time in 4 yrs, the best football team in a major football comptition has won....
Greece didn't deserve euro 2004 and italy didn't deserve fifa 2006....
it really shows that football has progressed in the last couple of yrsFrom elius03 on Tue Jul 01 04:14AMI too don't understand how Germany gets bashed when they win and when they lose. It seems they never "deserve" to win and when they do it's "luck"!!
I thought the final was good and the outcome was what it should be but the Spainish goal was just Torres capitailizing on a mistake by Lahm and Lehmann nothing great. I thought the spanish defense and the Goalie should be given the most credit for preventing the germans from having a chance to score. If the goalie didn't hit the ball away as many times has he did Germany would have had 2 easy goal with a header.From hansdie on Tue Jul 01 05:07AMADIB IS A STUPID PIG FOR USING SUCH LANGUAGE. IF U ONLY HAVE INSULTS AND SOUR GRAGES THEN SHUT UP U IDIOT. THE BEST TEAM WON AND THATS THAT
From rajahralphrajah on Tue Jul 01 05:44AM
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Jim White
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