So Euro 2008 has come to an end. Whilst the England national team missed out, the summer tournament still provided entertainment, excitement and an eventual winner in Spain.
Jointly hosted by Switzerland and Austria, the competition ran like clockwork with minimal trouble and hitches aside from a few sudden thunderstorms, although you surely can’t blame the hosts for that! Furthermore apart from the early group game between France and Romania which was possibly the worst match in European Championship’s history, every game contained passion and skill. Overall whilst it may be the Spanish who are subsequently celebrating, to use a footballing cliché, the real winner was football itself.
Spain were indeed among the favourites heading into the competition however no spectator can say they were obvious winners from the start. Portugal looked impressive at first, although were distracted by domestic issues with manager Scolari being declared Chelsea manager midway through the tournament and the ongoing saga regarding star player Ronaldo’s future surely having an effect. Whilst that saga has yet to be concluded, fellow Portuguese team mate has moved to the Premiership and has joined up with Scolari at Chelsea. The London club now boast a strong Portuguese contingent what with another summer signing in defender Bosingwa. Winning their group, Croatia looked a threat from the start. With Tottenham’s expensive buy Luka Modric pulling the strings, manager Bilic had his team playing well. Unluckily they crashed out to Turkey after a penalty shootout. Runners up Germany, not looking at their strongest, still managed to make their way to the final and surely for a team which never looked convincing this was a relatively good achievement. Guus Hiddink masterminded a tremendous Russia display as did Terim with Turkey, with both sides reaching the semi finals. For Russia it was playmaker Arshavin who has received significant interest since and is widely tipped to sign for Catalan giants Barcelona.
After a mightily impressive group stage, many believed the Netherlands to be certain winners of the trophy. Their fast counter attacking football delighted neutrals, as did the number of goals they scored. Unfortunately for the Dutch they once again couldn’t keep their form going and were knocked out to Russia. Whilst Spain have come away glorious, both the World Cup finalists France and Italy will be bitterly disappointed with their campaigns. The former not even able to progress past the initial group stage, the latter having already reappointed Marcelo Lippi as manager. Both will look to 2010 for a better performance. In the “Group of Death” credit must be given to relative minnows Romania who punched above their weight and were incredibly unlucky to proceed through.
Overall though it was joy for the Spanish. After 44 years of hurt, the national team mirrored the country’s domestic successes in Europe. Goalkeeper and captain Iker Casillas lifted the trophy after a strong team performance in the final. David Villa came away with the Golden Boot award although it was the performances of Sergio Ramos and midfield quartet Silva, Senna, Iniesta and Xavi propelled the team to glory. With Vicente Del Bosque lined to replace veteran manger Luis Aragones, the pressure will now be on the Spanish in the nearing World Cup.
With the new season getting ever closer, football will be back very soon. Until then keep checking out TF90M for articles, interviews and everything football. Also we will soon find out if the Spanish will be celebrating a double success with Nadal looking strong at Wimbledon.
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