A clash of styles in this the final game of the tournament. Spain have played throughout the tournament with flair and invention. In previous tournament s they have claimed refereeing conspiracies, poor morale and bad luck for their failings. Undefeated in over 20 games, their game is full of confidence and I would expect them to win comfortably.
Germany, the pre-tournament favourites have huffed and puffed their way to the final, exposing weaknesses in their defence from both centre halves but demonstrated great commitment to grinding out a win, as they did in the semi-final against Turkey.
So to the game, the Germans settled more quickly and appeared to be taking the upper hand comfortably. After that the Spanish side have torn through their defence time and time again. The German captain, Ballack suffered a bad cut by his right eye which took a long time to stop bleeding. On his return to the game he became involved in a fracas which resulted in him receiving a caution. In a fantastic piece of refereeing, Rosetti, the Italian referee who took charge of the opening game of the tournament, also cautioned Casillas the Spanish goalkeeper who had run 35m from his goal area to act as "peacemaker".
By that time Spain were leading courtesy of a great goal from Torres, the Liverpool forward. He beat Lahm in a race for the ball and outmuscled him before calmly chipping the ball over the sprawling figure of Lehmann the German goalkeeper. Earlier Torres had hit the post with a strong header which had then bounced away without another attacker getting close to the ball. So at half time, the score is/was 1-0 to Spain.
Spain worked harder, had more chances and rode out the storm in the first 20 minutes of the second half which gave them a great platform to build towards victory. The game flared up in a nasty moment as Silva appeared to headbutt an opponent. The referee didn't see the incident and neither did his Assistant, but Aragones, the Spanish coach did and acted by substituting the player. Torres went close again but the star of the second half for me (and also got at the Germans in the first half) was Iniesta. He made run after run towards the German penalty area but made the wrong choice or stumbled at the wrong second which robbed him of a goal.
Lehmann the German goalkeeper made two world class saves from Ramos and Iniesta to keep his team in the game. He was beaten on one occasion but a defender standing by the goalpost played the ball away. He also demonstrated why goalkeepers are regarded as madmen. He came rushing out for a long ball played through for a Spanish forward and appeared to play the ball off his thigh but when the replay was run, it clearly bounced up off his left arm, but it was debatable whether he was still in the penalty area, but it was a risk he didn't need to take.
The game has just finished and Spain have been crowned European Champions of 2008. They were one of the most exciting sides to watch and their victory of 1-0 was not a true reflection of their domination of this final. Now I have no football until July 22 when I have a charity game ... what am I going to do???
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