Euro Final 2008

As promised I am writing on my favorite sport football or soccer. It was a long dream of mine. I wanted to develop a Web site which will give analysis, results, discussion only on football. So I planned to dedicate this blog of mine to football. I will try to cover the World football scenario. To start with let’s talk about Euro 2008.

Germany will play Spain in the final. Germany is the most successful team in Euro history. This is their 6th final out of 13 European championships. They have won the championship three times, 1972 (Belgium), 1980 (Italy), and 1996 (England). They were runners in 1976 (Yugoslavia) and 1992 (Sweden). They lost in the semifinal in 1988 (Germany). We have to salute them for their fighting qualities. So many matches they have won just by their will power. Germany is going to meet Spain, better known as chokers. This is the third final for Spain. Spain has won the championship in 1964 (Spain). Interestingly that was their only success in a major football championship. They finishes runner up in 1984 (France). Spain never lost a semifinal match.

Germany started the tournament with a fluent 2-0 win over Poland. But they lost to Croatia by 1-2 in the very next match. They qualified to quarterfinal by defeating Austria 1-0. In the quarterfinal they played superbly to defeat Portugal 3-2. They showed their steel nerve against Turkey in the semifinal. They won 3-2. The players to watch for Germany are Bastian Schweinsteiger (7), Michael Ballack (13), Lukas Podolski (20), Miroslav Klose (11), Philipp Lahm (16), and Jens Lehmann (1). Their best player in this tournament is Lukas Podolski (20). Spain has to stop Schweinsteiger and Podolski if they want to stop Germans.

Spain had won all three matches in the group league. They defeated Russia 4-1, Sweden 2-1 and Greece 2-1. They were very disappointed against Italy which they won in try breaker. They were again at their very best in the semifinal against Russia. Their midfield is playing superbly. If spanish midfield plays well in the final then Germany may end up runners up. Germany led by Ballack has to counter Xavi, Senna, Fàbregas, Iniesta, and Torres. Puyol is marshalling the defense really well. This is best of Puyol I am watching in Spanish color. The players to watch for Spain are Iker Casillas (1), Sergio Ramos (15), Carles Puyol (5), Fernando Torres (9), Andrés Iniesta (6), Xavi Hernández (8), Marcos Senna (19), and Cesc Fàbregas (10).

I am sure if Spain plays their real game then they will not miss Villa much. German defense is the weak point in this tournament. I also like the way Casillas is playing in this tournament. He is very cool customer under the bar. Spain till now has scored 11 goals and conceded 3 whereas German has scored 10 goals and conceded 6.

For me Spain should win the final. I will come back with an update after the Euro final.

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