Euro 2008 Final - Germany vs. Spain

Thanks for that TS

Amazing performance from Spain

It was a bit more direct today which ended up being awesome to watch



Torres scored a great goal....

The barracuda was taken off to save him from more torres humiliation...

And Lehmann and ballack ended the game in tears


A good night all round

COTR wrote:Amazing performance from Spain

It was a bit more direct today which ended up being awesome to watch



Torres scored a great goal....

The barracuda was taken off to save him from more torres humiliation...

And Lehmann and ballack ended the game in tears


A good night all round

I didn't know what i wanted to happen before the game. But it could not have gone any better on reflection

The sad thing is that Germany were dominated. I was expecting more from this match.

What a great finale

Germany never looked like scoring, it was too easy for Spain. They would have won by a lot more if they had a better striker than Torres.

@ fey what is your of? miss world or miss universe?

Congratulations Spain.
Hugely deserved victory in Euro 2008.
I hope we (France) will have a competitive team to meet you during WC2010.

Calidad wrote:@ fey what is your of? miss world or miss universe?

No idea, they arent that pretty so dunno if its miss world or miss universe.

Murray wrote:Germany never looked like scoring, it was too easy for Spain. They would have won by a lot more if they had a better striker than Torres.

The bullshit begins!

Please list how many other strikers could have scored Torres' goal tonight.

Z wrote:

Murray wrote:Germany never looked like scoring, it was too easy for Spain. They would have won by a lot more if they had a better striker than Torres.

The bullshit begins!

Please list how many other strikers could have scored Torres' goal tonight.

Maybe Drogba thats about it I guess.... Torres came and delivered...

Torres could have had a hattrick today, if he's touch wasnt so bad.

Just saw Ramos t-shirt, nice touch remembering Puerta

Have to wonder if Puerta would have been Spain's No.1 LB, a real damn shame what happened. Though he on course to be a top player.

Puerta would have become the best LB In the world eventually

Ade Alonso wrote:Have to wonder if Puerta would have been Spain's No.1 LB, a real damn shame what happened. Though he on course to be a top player.

No. I didn't think he was a particularly good player. Adriano was regularly getting ahead of him.

Olé wrote:

Ade Alonso wrote:Have to wonder if Puerta would have been Spain's No.1 LB, a real damn shame what happened. Though he on course to be a top player.

No. I didn't think he was a particularly good player.

Really? I thought he looked a fantastic talent. He actually impressed me more than Alves

Calidad wrote:

Olé wrote:

Ade Alonso wrote:Have to wonder if Puerta would have been Spain's No.1 LB, a real damn shame what happened. Though he on course to be a top player.

No. I didn't think he was a particularly good player.

Really? I thought he looked a fantastic talent. He actually impressed me more than Alves

He was linked to move to either Real or Barca that summer.

Well he was young don't forget and would have improved so......
we'll never how good he could have become.

I thought he had a lot of ability to be a top full back in the future and I think he had made his debut for Spain just before his death so he was doing something right.

San Iker Casillas wrote:

Calidad wrote:

Olé wrote:

Ade Alonso wrote:Have to wonder if Puerta would have been Spain's No.1 LB, a real damn shame what happened. Though he on course to be a top player.

No. I didn't think he was a particularly good player.

Really? I thought he looked a fantastic talent. He actually impressed me more than Alves

He was linked to move to either Real or Barca that summer.

And Liverpool

Rafa has even said he was looking at him during THAT summer but had to spend money in other areas of the team.

So, Spain had Puerta and Italy and Calciopoli. If England are ever going to win it, Beckham will have to be killed in a horrible plane crash or something.

Lehmann: 8 – The single reason why the winning margin was not much greater. Superb save to prevent Metzelder from turning the ball into his own net, and made a number of other stops. Could do nothing on Torres’ goal.

Friedrich: 4 – Germany have had some brilliant full backs over the years - Paul Breitner, Berti Vogts, Hans-Peter Briegel, Andreas Brehme – the list goes on and on. To mention Friedrich among any of these names would be blasphemy.

Mertesacker: 4 – Germany have also had a plethora of world class centre backs – Franz Beckenbauer, Jurgen Kohler and Matthias Sammer to name just a few – Herr Mertesacker is not one of these. At fault when Torres hit the post, and terrorised all night by the Liverpool man.

Metzelder: 5 – Also struggled, as he has during the whole tournament. Not even that overgrown beard can disguise his deficiencies. Part of the worst German defence since World War II.

Lahm: 5 – The fourth and final member of the Marx Brothers. Bright going forward, but again struggled badly defensively, and he allowed Torres to get round the back of him for the goal. Substituted at half time.

Schweinsteiger: 6.5 – One of Germany’s best players, full of energy and running. Made some intelligent runs into the box, although his set pieces were very poor.

Frings: 6 – Started the game authoritatively but could not gain a foothold thereafter, and seemed to tire in the second half.

Hitzlsperger: 5 – An honest player, but he quite clearly lacks the quality at this level of football. Outclassed by the Spanish midfielders, and replaced on 57 minutes.

Podolski: 5.5 – Tried hard but never really got into the game. Has had an excellent tournament but tonight it just didn’t happen for him. Must be credited for his fair play when Silva put his head into his face.

Ballack: 6 – Was a doubt for the game, and never really looked fully fit. Went closest to finding a German goal when he shot just wide in the second half.

Klose: 6 – Excellent in the first 15 minutes, and could have scored early on, however he contributed little thereafter as Spain completely dominated.

Substitutes

Jansen: 5 – Came on at half time for Lahm but did no better than his Bayern team-mate. Comically played Sergio Ramos onside when Lehmann pulled off a fine save at 0-1.

Kuranyi: 5.5 – Brought on to add some extra firepower to the attack, but caused no problems to the Spanish defence at all.

Gomez: 5.5 – Similar assessment to Kuranyi. The story of Gomez’s tournament.

SPAIN

Casillas - 7 Unflappable all night, dealing with everything that came his way. Did particularly well on crosses. Having said this, he did not have a save of note to make.

Sergio Ramos - 6.5 Started nervously, and made a horrendous error that could have gifted an early goal to Klose. However he improved greatly as the game wore on and perhaps should have scored to make it 2-0.

Marchena - 7 Was believed to be the Spanish weak link coming into Euro 2008 but in truth he has had a good tournament, and he did well again tonight.

Puyol - 6.5 Showed all of his leadership qualities once again, but not as impressive as he was against Italy and Russia, and made a couple of defensive errors.

Capdevila - 6 Caused some problems by Schweinsteiger during the first 20 minutes of the second half, but apart from this he had a generally sound game.

Iniesta – 8 Perhaps his best performance at the Euros. Caused the Germans problems all night with his jinking runs, and intelligent reverse passes. Outstanding.

Senna - 9 The exact player that Spain have been missing in recent years. Has carried out such a vital role in front of the back four all tournament and it was the same tonight. Tactically perfect. Player of the tournament?

Xavi - 9 Displayed all of his classy playmaking skills and ran the show in the middle of the park. The difference in technical quality between Xavi and the German midfielders was huge.

Silva – 7.5 Has been one of the best young players at the Euros, and once again displayed all of his raw talent tonight. Switched from right to left and caused both German full backs all sorts of problems. Could have been red carded though after his altercation with Podolski.


Fabregas - 6 Contributed to the team effort but it never really happened for Fabregas tonight. Was overshadowed by his midfield peers.

Torres - 8 Led the line on his own superbly, and caused the shambolic German defence all kinds of headaches. Hit the post with a header, before scoring the goal that won Spain their first major trophy in 44 years.

Substitutes

Xabi Alonso – 7 Germany had a bright start to the second half, but Alonso steadied the ship after coming on and helped Spain regain their dominance.

Cazorla - 6.5 Did well after coming on, linking up nicely with Iniesta and Xavi.

Güiza – 6.5 Has impressed as a substitute against both Italy and Russia, and he again was lively tonight. Almost set-up Senna for what would have been a deserved second goal.


(goal.com)

In the end the game was fairly average with only moments of quality. I blame Germany for than in the 1st half as the kept fouling and diving around with Ramos joining in. Torres I thought would do well considering the shitness of the defenders but messed up every attack other than the one he scored, Guiza should have started IMO. Spain needed some to hold up the ball in stead of loosing it everytime he got near the CBs. I knew Cesc and Xavi should not start as they get in each others positions but it was the wide player including the FBs that ruined the shape. The was no movement to create space for each other like there was in the the SF. When the was like the 1-2 between Iniesta and Cesc things opened up.

Still, Spain deserved winners though I agree with Desailly that Spain did not show their personality.

MOTM Casillas
Player of the TOunament Casillas

Spain deserved it on the night but Turkey are the people's champions.

Its an unsatisfactory end to a great tournament - Spain's best outfield player was a Brazilian and if Marchena had correctly been sent of for violent conduct 5 mins into the 2nd half or Silva later on it could have been so different.

I don't think too much money will be going on Bayern to win the CL next season if they have Klose and Toni up front as they are strictly UEFA Cup standard.

Truly gut-wrenching to see Fabregas win something - Torres did a couple of classic push and runs worthy of Henry but unlike teh Frenchman he finished brilliantly when it counted.

I have to say, through gritted teeth, that it was a superb finish that I would rave about if it had been done by a player I like but he was absolute shite apart from that and his lack of ball control is sometimes embarrassing.

Casillas MOTM and player of the tournament.

The biggest suprise is that Shazlx gave MOTM to Iker and not Patrick Vieira

Must be a typo.

The tears, god they were salty again!!

Where are the German's Congratulating Spain!!! It's a very sad turn out I must say.......

Casillas was v.good at punching and claiming crosses, but he really had so little to do in the way of saves, I don't see how he could be MOTM. Great tournament, but he wasn't the standout player today.

It would have to be one of Xavi, Iniesta or Senna for me.

Congrats to Spain, fully deserved... but you'd have thought Torres & Cesc carried them on their shoulders from the BBC commentary though

And however much we wish to mock the Germans, to get t 2 finals and a Semi-Final this decade despite their clear dearth of talent compared to times past is something not to be sniffed at

Well the midfielders didn't pass well today, even Senna was a bit so and conservative. I don't think Xavi was outstanding but was the best outfield player tonight. However, because of Spain horrible defence - Puyol and Ramos - those punches away were crucial as Spain were only 1-0 up.