Euro 2012 - Post Mortem

Phew! It is over! It has been a good Euro 2012. The refereeing standard has been good, except for that England goal mouth incident which can't be avoided. The quality of soccer was generally high so please tell Mr. Michel Platini that as much as I like him as a player, I do not quite understand him as an official in wanting to extend the competition to more teams like the World Cup which will eventually dilute the quality. All Euro Championship and the World Cup were once just for the last sixteen and it should always remain that way. What needed to be changed in soccer urgency is the introduction of goal-line technology.

Euro 2012 Final

Spain v Italy 

When I saw how Italy played England and later tore apart favourites Germany, I was totally convinced that they would beat Spain if Espanol maintained their pre-Final performances because the Italians were simply awesome! 

Italy

One observation I made was that can't UEFA make it more even in terms of rest days? Italy had a gruelling game versus England that went into extra-time and penalty kicks and when they met Germany, their opponents had two more rest days and when they met Spain they have a day less. I felt this was one of the reasons the  Italians look jaded in the Final and they have several players carrying injuries without sufficient time to recover.

The game could have been quite different had Italy been defensive but this team is plays an un-Italian style, they love attacking. The first bad omen came when their best defender Chiellini limped off with a recurrence of a hamstring injury. Later on, after having used all three substitutes, Motta who came in earlier for Montolivo had to be carried out in the 61st minute as he pulled a hamstring. This meant that Italy had to play with only ten men as they have exhausted their subs allowed. Italy were then completely outplayed by Spain as their short burst in the second half was short lived and they conceded two more goals. There were periods though that Italy looked like they could come back as they attacked Spain.

Defender Leonardo Bonucci was inconsolable as he cut a lonely figure apparently crying his hear out as the rest of his team mate looked solemn not knowing what hit them. An alien spacecraft? Peerless Pirlo, their classy midfield maestro was surrounded and overwhelmed in the middle. I detected a wetness in his eyes as they turned a shade red as this must be his good-bye gift. Thanks for the memories. Kudos to Prandelli and Italy for a good show. They will be a force come World Cup 2014. March on Azzurri!

Spain

First, the accolades - first team to win the Euro, the World Cup and then the Euro again. The 4-0 thumping win over Italy was the Euro's biggest ever score in a Final. Striker-less Spain also known as Simply Superb Spain made other new records too. I used to joke that defensive teams may some day play a 10-0-0 formation which they now call "parking the bus". No, Spain played without a forward in what would have been a 4-6-0 formation where Fabregas was their point men up front.

For the first time in the Euro 2012, Spain turned out and saved the best for last. They were completely rampant and incisive. Spain was in a word, devastating! Every team has a Golden Generation from Brazil, Germany, the Dutch, England, Portugal and this is Spain's. Barcelona and Spain certainly have two of the world's finest players in Xavi and Iniesta. As early as the 14th minute, Iniesta released a laser-liked pass for Fabregas to the right. Fabregas's cut back found Silva's head who nodded home gladly past a stranded Buffon. Three little men. 1-0. Just before half-time, Xavi who was having a quiet tournament from his very high standard, threaded a through pass of such grace that it landed right in front as left-back Jordan Alba was racing in and slot home past a lunging Buffon. 2-0. 


In the 84th minute, Torres latched on to a through pass from Xavi to make it 3-0 and Torres returned a favour to Juan Mata in the 88th minute. Spain even without Xavi and Iniesta would dominate world soccer for some time to come but it is hard to find replacement for Xavi and Iniesta. In fact, Iniesta could be the best player in this tournament. The Spaniards were quick-thinking and fast-moving. All the goals were mesmerising as a result of superb teamwork not individualism. They are from a different planet! And in Vincente del Bosque, a great and shrewd coach. Together, they are playing at a very high level. Untouchables. (That is why I have said often times Singapore should go learn from Spain who have smaller built!) 

Put the achievements aside and rank them against the best international sides say Brazil of 1970, 1982, Netherlands of 74/78/88, Germany of 72-74 and early 80s, France of 84/98/2000. Like Brazil of old, they put 4 past Italy and dominated. It was frightening. When Torres scored in the Final, boss Vincente Del Bosque just sat there, clenched and fist and later applauded ever so politely as if these happens all the time so it is just normal and Spain was missing two important key players in Puyol and Villa. Del Bosque invented a striker-less system of 4-6-0 because David Villa (out injured) is the perfect arrow head for his formation and he didn't trust Torres a 100% so he got Cesc Fabregas to do it.

Spain cut Italy down to size, slice by slice. They move the ball around so well until Xavi or Iniesta could find a gap to make that killer pass. If you watch Discovery channel or National Geographic and saw how wolves hunt in packs, now that was what Spain did. They completely raised their game in the final, nothing evident from all previous matches. Spain is frightening. What if one day Del Bosque decides not to have a goal keeper? Want more frightening stuffs? Spain's Under-19 and Under-21 are European champs at their age group level and will continue the supply chain to the national team.

You have to be thankful that in our lifetime, we get to watch a mesmerising team like Spain. Life is not fair, even the children of the Spanish players who came onto the pitch after the game was over were all so cute! It was like they scored another goal. Now that Spain has conquered Europe, the World and Europe again, there is one last most important to do. The world is suffering due to what is happening in Europe. We need Spain to do the right thing, no tiki taka on the economy. Amor Espanol. Puedes ayudarnos por favor (Please help us).

P.S. There was controversy recently when it was discovered that UEFA used footage of a German lady in tears at a time Italy was leading Germany 2-0 while German coach Joachim Loew was bantering with a ball boy during the match. It appeared "live" on TV when actually the German lady was in tears when they were singing the national anthem and Loew's liaison with the ball boy happened before the match. Why did they have to do that? Nothing is for real these days.