I haven't? I just think Italy are more deserving. The went into the tournament with little or no expectation on them, on the back of all the troubles in their domestic league and have surprised everybody.
Forza Italia.
Still think they are the worst Azzurri team I've ever seen but you can't argue with what they've done. My love of Italian football goes back a long way and this will give the Italian game a real boost. What Dave says is true to an extent, Italian football is going through a crisis on and off the field in terms of corruption, stadiums and attendances, but some of the football played in Serie A has been brilliant in the past few years and things will improve. Some of the best players in the World still wish to play there and some of the top clubs rival the very best in Europe in terms of history, tradition and stature. So it's not all doom and gloom.
I'm loving watching Hansen et al glow about Pirlo and call him one of the Worlds best as well, funny they haven't mentioned him since 2008 because he doesn't play in the Prem or for Barca/Real.
They aren't going to be glowing much more pal!
Well, I fancied Italy would give them a real game tonight and, to be fair, for an hour they did. The hamstring injury finished them off but Spain showed that they had just that bit more class throughout.
Pirlo has been great but he was just showed to be second rate compared to the Spanish midfield.
Three titles on the row is unprecendented in world football and Spain must be congratulated.
Brazil in 1970 was seen as the pinnacle but this team has earned the right to be mentioned, not only in the same breath, but possibly as the best ever.
I haven't been a fan of the way they have played football in this tournament but I have no arguments about tonight. You've got to doff your cap to it.
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Well, can't argue with a performance like that.
But, where was this Spain all through the tournament? If they had played like that from the beginning there would have been no debate whatsoever about who was going to win the tournament because at their best they are on a different level. But they really ambled their way through to the Final and I'm left thinking we only saw the real Spain in the Final.
Secondly, that was how you isolate and make Pirlo completely irrelevant. It's not a difficult concept, crowd the midfield and press and make him come deeper to look for the ball. Does it take a coaching genius to work it out? I wouldn't have thought so, yet the England coach is the only one who seemingly didn't grasp even that basic tactical understanding of the game.
It was a masterstroke by Del Bosque to put Xavi on Pirlo. It's almost as if Spain use the group stages as a warm up, a chance to fine tune and try a few things.
Incidentally I have always rated Iniesta as a better player than Xavi and IMO, this tournament has proved it. However in Spain, Xavi is perceived as the better player.
Some of Iniesta's passes defy belief, he is just a world class midfielder
Oh they were there all the way through the tournament if people knew what to look for. When you are so much better than the rest you only really do what you have to during the group games
Spain controlled every single game they played in, even the Portugal one, and there is no one even close to them at present
I think that they proved how daft the comments on this thread about them being over-hyped and on the slide were
Wouldn't necessarily agree with that to be honest.
Firstly they were great last night and were really enjoyable to watch, I did want Italy to win like many I think and it was a shame to see their competition end that way.However I did predict a Spain win at the begining of this thread so them wining is of no surprise at all.
As for teh controlling every single game, the Italians had them rocked for spells in their first game and the Portuguese had opportunities to beat them. However I think Spain of last night beats any team in teh world and as Gray has said it's a shame we didn't see that kind of performance throughout the tournament.
Given the downbeat nature of the build up to the tournament, the concerns about racism and violence it's passed by largely without incident (one flare up) and has been one of my favourite tournaments in many a year...just a shame it's the last time we'll see it in that format and in 4 years we'll have a diluted tournament.
Now, lets go win the Olympics.....
You know it winds when someone up starts giving it that 'I'm a more knowledgeable football fan than you' crap after the event. Just appreciate that people have different opinions and sometimes you can be proved right, and sometimes you can be proved wrong. At the end of the day if Portugal had scored their penalties in a shoot out (or Ronaldo hadn't blazed a great chance over the bar in the 90th minute), Spain wouldn't have been in the Final and there would have been a huge inquest in Spain as to why they played the semi-final the way they did. Yes, they thoroughly deserved to win the tournament, but there was some pretty uninspiring performances on the way.
Oh, and for your information, I have been watching football since the 1970s; Gray for nearly as long. We do know what to look for. They controlled possession very well, but they were lacking a cutting edge. And on that basis, many knowledgeable football fans fancied they might not win it. The fact that they did does not make you the master of football knowledge and other people a bit of a thickie.
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I don't think anyone especially wrote them off, they just thought that there was a damned good chance they would be beaten. I thought Germany would win the tournament, but I only thought it. I didn't write anyone's chances off.
As I have said for a long time now. There are few certainties in football. That's why the game is so popular. The best team doesn't always win.
THIS YEAR LENDING SUPPORT TO:- St. Helens RLFC, Manchester City, Celtic, Alemannia Aachen, Steps 1 to 6 Non-League Football
They could/should have been beaten by Croatia in all honesty and had they done so they would have gone home. They wasn't as dominant as 2008/2010 and the stats back that up with the amount of passes per shot which the BBC highlighted.
They have now won 3 competitions in a row and will rightly be remembered as the best side of all time IMO but the final aside, they weren't as impressive as usual
Yes they did. But the best team doesn't win every single game therefore there was every chance there could have been a different winner. If there wasn't then none of us would have bothered watching the tournament.
Don't tell me you think Chelsea were the best team to enter the Champions League.
That's football. The best team start out as favourites for every competition they enter, but they don't always win it, and not everyone tips them to do so.
THIS YEAR LENDING SUPPORT TO:- St. Helens RLFC, Manchester City, Celtic, Alemannia Aachen, Steps 1 to 6 Non-League Football
That is just obviously untrue though. I presume they drew with Italy and looked poor doing so on purpose? Or that they deliberately played fairly average against Croatia and nearly came unstuck just to lull everyone into a false sense of security? Or that they gave Portugal two or three really decent chances in the Semi because they knew they would all be missed, or that they always knew they'd win the shoot out? Come on, seriously, this Spanish side may well be the best team and they won the tournament and so I will not argue about their qualities, but they struggled to break teams down in 4 of the 6 games they played and only played genuinely well against a good side once in the Final.
They are not the same side that conquered and did so consistently with style in 2008 and 2010. They can still pass it better than anyone else and have technical ability that is unmatched by anyone else, but the 4-6-0 formation didn't work on many occasions in this tournament and to harp on after the event as if them winning the thing was never in doubt is fine and dandy, but they had their share of luck along the way. The sides of 08 and 10 didn't need such luck and where on a different level.
Fair do's to Spain, they proved their superiority and difficult to argue with their tactics when they have won the competition. However, I still don't think they are the side that won the World Cup and the previous Euro's. They showed their vulnerability twice in this tournament IMO.