Loading ...Jun 29 2008
Spain Earns Well-Deserved Win, Avoids Nightmare
Sorry to dwell on a negative, but as today’s 1-0 Spain victory over Germany in the Euro 2008 final wound down, I couldn’t help but fear a Germany goal. Spain wasn’t doing much to assuage these fears with a couple of defensive lapses at the end of the match. With each Spaniard miss of a second, decisive goal, I was left with a greater impression that Germany would do something to tie the match. It’s funny how we’ve come to expect literary drama from sport.
Thankfully, that did not happen, and I don’t mean that to demean the Germans. Spain outplayed them, deserved the title, and it would have been sad and ironic if something happened to give the title to another team - the nightmare scenario.
For Spain, it seemed that every player realized the moment. Every player gave the requisite effort. Principle of these was Fernando Torres, who fully redeemed himself with not only his goal but his willingness to keep sprinting at the German back line, exploiting his opponent’s greatest weakness. Carles Puyol also had some moments of particular effort, as did Iker Casillas in coming off his line to punch balls.
But to pick out three Spaniards would be to slight the rest of the team through omission, which I don’t want to do. There was nobody on the pitch for the Spaniards who failed to pull his weight, somethign you could say for most of Spain’s matches in the tournament. The overall, team effort will make it hard to pick a Player of the Tournament, but it made it easier to crown a champion.
Links
Spain reign with beautiful game for the purists
Torres delivers finishing touch to make Spain kings of Europe
Spain’s class too much for Germany
Spain beats Germany 1-0 to win European Championship
Spain crowned champions of Europe
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