Spain is Euro 2008 Football Champion

Spain won Euro 2008!

Spain should have won 3-0 against Germany. Their domination was complete from one goalpost to the other. Mertesacker and Metzelder played Dumb and Dumber in the German defence. Lahm and Lehmann competed for the title of the Dumbest German footballer. Lehmann's save off one of his own morons and a few more other saves, takes nothing away from the fact that he gave, the single goal, that was the difference between two sides.

I did not want to see Spain in the finals for apparently no reasons at all. All the same, while I was away from this blog, I was tempted after the QFs to post just one line - Spain will win Euro2008! I did mention this much to my friends.In spite of the fact that more informed experts (e.g. Maradona) of the game predicted a Spanish victory, not many were looking forward to Spain winning glory after a gap of 44 years. I welcome their win though. Almost as much as I welcomed the exit of the Greeks from the competetion.

Spain played a brilliant final. Speed, skill and strategy were as good as it has been for the 21 something consecutive matches they have played without defeat. Special thanks to Turkey and Russia to give football lovers some great memories. Fatih Terim was in my view the coach of the tournament. Thanks to Terim's Tireless Terriers, Germany almost lost the plot in the SF against Turkey. The best players of Euro 2008 .....I dunno..... but here is an expert view on the subject. I would have found room for Pirlo but everyone has his/her favorites. The thing about opinion is that it is like an ass...everyone has got one.

It is easy to name the flops though - Portugal, France and Italy were the biggest flops of Euro 2008...in descending order. Inevitably Ronaldo, Henry and Toni the biggest flops as strikers. Nobody will remember Austria, Switzerland and Poland. Greece played to potential and therefore don't count as flops. They were lucky to be there in the first place. Holland had a great qualifying round until Hiddink's Russia played the party poopers. But again ....the 'experts' opinion was that Holland were overrated. I disagree. They had a bad match against Russia and this kind of reverse could happen to any team. I still believe that Spain were lucky to face Russia in the SF instead of Holland. Dumb and Dumber pair of Germany, were the worst defenders in history to have played in a Euro championship final. Germany has no chance in 2010 with these two jokers. It is curtains for Klose and Lehmann too.

To close this piece - I had this feeling after the QF that this was Spain's year. I somehow felt this so strongly that I thought, maybe, even the referee and the linesmen will ensure that the Armada sails through this time without a hitch. Although Spain dominated the match and were deservingly crowned the champions of Europe, I will never understand why, the Itallian referee Rosetti, awarded a foul to Spain, when the Germans were in a position to draw level from within the Spanish box. I don't need a Havelange to tell me that there is more to it than meets the eye. Guess some things will never be explained.... how South Koreans made it to the WC semi finals or...how Greeks won Euro 2004 !