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| Euro 2008- Knockout Rounds (R); Quarters, Semis & Final | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 18 2008, 09:19 AM (1,649 Views) | |
| Manzanares | Jun 30 2008, 08:51 PM Post #121 |
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What an incredible day it was yesterday! I had my doubts if I would ever experience the thrill of seeing Spain win a major tournament, but yesterday it happened! You know we were all talking yesterday where we watched the game and there were fans there who support Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Valencia, etc. and we all asked, so was this even better than seeing your club win a major title? The unanimous answer was yes it was! Luis Aragones went out as Spain coach on his terms, and he deserves so much praise for not only his tactics but the attitude he brought to the team. You don't go 22 games without losing without building up a strong mentality and that is what this Spain team had. They won every game they played at Euro 2008 except the draw with Italy where they subsequently advanced on penalties. And Spain won in all sort of different ways, blowing Russia out twice, scoring a last minute goal against Sweden, having the subs defeat Greece, penalties over Italy and finally last night beating Germany in a final where Spain controlled the game. An impressive run but as Pepe notes the long unbeaten streak shows this was no fluke tournament victory. From start to finish this was the best and most consistent team at Euro 2008. Spain won and did it in style. It is something we Spain fans will never forget. |
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| Merengue | Jun 30 2008, 11:47 PM Post #122 |
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What a day it was yesterday. Only when I got married and my wife gave birth have I been so happy. This even exceeded Real Madrid's triumphs, (I am more accustomed to those! hehehe). What an incredible tournament it has been for Spain and it's fans. After getting by our "bestia negra" (nemesis) Italia, I had confidence Spain could win the title. But to do it with such style makes it all the better. This is the way I have been dreaming to see Spain play and you have to give Luis Aragones and the players plenty of credit. 22 games in a row without a loss shows this was not like Denmark 92 or Greece 04, a team getting hot at the right time, no this was a team building up to this and then producing on the big stage. And it was a team which won with both style and plenty of determination. I don't know what else to add now, I'll have more to say later but this was one of my happiest moments watching a sporting event. My only regret is that my father who passed away 5 years ago didn't live to see this happen. He did at least experience the 1964 title. |
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| historyman | Jul 1 2008, 01:28 AM Post #123 |
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Nice comment Merengue.
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| Johnbuildr | Jul 1 2008, 04:50 AM Post #124 |
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Just want to add my belated congratulations to all the Spain fans here! A well deserved final win. Could have been 3-0 without any stretch of the imagination. Oh, by the way, I didn't know this entire Board was really the Spain Soccer Supporters Board, with just a few of us other internationals sprinkled in! You guys kind of snuck up on me one at a time, but now the secret is out! Ha! Great comments and fun, emotional thoughts on the game by all, but the most telling soccer point of all may have come from a person who is not even a Spain supporter first and foremost. That was when Hobbes pointed out Spain controlled the German air game. My thought is, not only did they control it, they gave the Germans (a national team I have always loved to follow myself) a clinic in the air game. Hell the Germans haven't been dominated in the air like that since the US and British got through with them in WW II! (Sorry, couldn't help myself because it is so true.) <_< |
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Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum | |
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| galicia | Jul 1 2008, 05:13 AM Post #125 |
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Indeed. Nice comment and very much on point. I am sure many Spaniards have had similar poignant feelings. In fact, I had the same thoughts shortly after the final whistle (my own father died in 2001). I also consoled myself thinking that he did get to see Deportivo win our only league title the year before. Pedro |
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| valenciano | Jul 1 2008, 09:13 AM Post #126 |
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Here is another Spain supporter (hey JohnB it is called the Soccer Futbol Forum! ) who is extremely delighted. We Spaniards had experienced so much pain in past tournaments that we always enter them with plenty of pessimism. In sporting terms the 21st century has seen Spain achieve a lot of success in basketball, tennis, auto racing, handball, athletics, etc. but not in our national passion- futbol. That is why there always has been that pessimism around Spain's chances. But this team overcame that with grit and skill and hopefully now we can bury that pessimism forever and think, like this team did, if you play intelligently and with skill then you can win.It was great to read others thoughts about this Euro 2008 victory, and I really appreciated reading the posts from the non Spain fans who admired the team's play. For me this will go down as an unforgettable tournament. |
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| libero | Jul 1 2008, 09:55 AM Post #127 |
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Congratulations to Spain and it's supporters here on winning the European championship. I know the great joy it is when your national team wins such a major championship as it is what I experienced two years ago with Italy. Spain are a well deserved champion and their passing game, while not easy to copy becasue it requires such highly technical players, is one I hope more teams will look to adopt in the future. While I was disappointed in Italy's overall performance, they still were the only team to shut Spain down in the tournament and only lost on penalties. Not bad for what ended up being a sub par Azurri team. Overall this was a very enjoyable tournament, thanks to teams like Spain, Turkey, Russia, Holland and Croatia who brought joy to millions with their way of playing. |
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| Johnbuildr | Jul 1 2008, 10:07 AM Post #128 |
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yeah, well, the futbol supporters seem to greatly outnumber the soccer supporters here. Better than being athletic supporters I suppose...... :rolleyes: |
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Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum | |
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| xeneize | Jul 1 2008, 01:25 PM Post #129 |
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Include my congratulations to Spain and it's fans here on the Euro triumph. A very deserved title. I'm just repeating what others have said but it was good to see a team playing such free flowing soccer end up winning the tournament. Last summer in Copa America, Argentina played like that until they got to the final and lost to Brazil so it is good to see you can still play open, attacking football and win. What also impressed me about Spain was the garra, which I guess translates to fighting spirit, they showed throughout the tournament. Players like Puyol have always had that but you sensed in the past that not all of his teammates did. In this tournament everyone did show that garra. Credit the players and coach for instilling that in them. That is I think how the much smaller Spanish were able to beat the taller Germans so often in the air on Sunday. Both defensively and offensively as we all saw Fernando Torres outleaping taller German defenders. I listen to fellow poster Martin on the podcast he is on, and he mentioned something I thought was enlightening, that this was essentially the same German team which played so well in 2006 but this tournament, despite getting to the final, they rarely reproduced the form they showed two years ago. I think he makes a good point. For whatever reason, Germany did not look the same now as they did when Klinsmann coached them two years ago. |
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| raconteur | Jul 1 2008, 08:43 PM Post #130 |
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This is a good point and why I think Spain had success this year. They were tough when in tournament's past Spain were often known as being weak mentally. It was getting past Italy which seemed to have a cleansing effect for Spain. After winning that game, they didn't seem burdend by their past. And in addition they showed a tenacity that had previously been missing.
xeneize, another good point. Germany were a real revelation at World Cup 2006 with their play but the same group of players just could not reproduce that magic in this tournament. Germany got to the final but it reminded me of their 2002 World Cup where they also reached the final despite not playing all that well and beating less than top notch opposition. Once at the final they were overwhelmed by a superior team. Compare that to the 2006 German World Cup team who went out in the semifinals in an epic match against eventual winners Italy and played much more vibrantly than Germany did at Euro 2008 |
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| Hector | Jul 2 2008, 06:28 AM Post #131 |
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Whew, what a past few days these have been! I have never seen Spain celebrate like this before, it was an incredible party, as the chant went, iEspaņa entera, se va de borrachera! (all of Spain is getting drunk!) It really was a memorable time and we have the football team to thank for that. It is nice to come to this message board with posters from around the world and see the good wishes towards Spain's win. It gives me pleasure not only that my country won the European championship but did it with style. Others have already talked about this but Spain showed a toughness in this tournament that was admirable and when combined with the skill of the players it produced the winning combination. We're still not getting much done at work as all everybody wants to talk about, and that includes my company's customers too, is the victory and how they celebrated! This has been an unforgettable three weeks and an even more unforgettable past three days. |
| iPuerta amigo, Sevilla esta contigo! | |
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| Martin | Jul 2 2008, 09:13 AM Post #132 |
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To echo others, I'll add my congratulations to the Spain fans here. It was a real pleasure being able to watch the final with so many Spain fans, including some posters here, and share in their joy. And they had reason to celebrate not just for the obvious reason of winning the European championship but also for the manner in which the team won. As others already wrote, Spain showed flair, intelliegnce, speed, mobility and tenacity in winning this championship. I have to say it was some of the most enjoyable play I have seen from a national team since the Michel Platini led France teams and the Zico and Socrates led Brazil teams in the early to mid 80's. I'm not necessarily saying this is the best team since then but their style of play did remind me of those memorable teams from years past and this Spanish midfield probably is the best I've seen since those times at the national team level. As Merengue wrote, and as we discussed last week, once Spain got past Italy and the quarterfinals, they played with a confidence which has rarely been seen from them. The intelligence, skill, speed and determination of this Spain team is what set them apart. xeneize, thank you for the comments about the podcast I appeared on. I do wonder what happened between 2006 and now with this German team. It is the same group of players that played in 2006 but they did not have that same flair. Maybe we have seen the difference Jurgen Klinsmann made to that team? |
| Club Sportivo Desamparados | |
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| rosarino | Jul 2 2008, 11:21 AM Post #133 |
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This is a thought provoking comment Martin. I had previously thought France's 1998 winning midfield with Zidane, Djorkaeff, Petit, Deschamps and Karembeu was the best midfield I'd seen since those 1980's era Brazil and France teams you mentioned. Of course France needed that as they may have had the worst group of forwards of any major championship winning team in history (Stephane Guivarc'h, Christopphe Dugarry!), which is actually something they shared in common with that 1982 Brazilian team too who didn't win the World Cup. I'm not sure if this Spain midfield was quite as good as those previous ones we named, they don't have any players we could call all time greats like Zico, Socrates, Platini or Zidane, but they are damn good. And with Torres, Villa and Guiza at forward, this talented Spanish midfield has good forwards to feed the ball to, something those other national teams we discussed did not have. An interesting topic for debate for sure. But as everybody has commented, a deserving Euro 2008 win for Spain, a team which began to believe it was possible to win after eliminating Italy. |
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| Don Balon | Jul 2 2008, 02:27 PM Post #134 |
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Pinch me and make sure I am not dreaming Spain are European champions! I don't know what to write which ahsn't already been said. Speed, possession, movement, tenacity, teamwork, Spain displayed it all in this tournament. It is how I like to see this sport played so I am ecstatic with this championship. Thank you to Luis Aragones and the players for making these past three plus weeks magical here in Spain. And thanks to all the fans from elsewhere here on this message board for their kind words of support for Spain. It is good to see your team's efforts appreciated. As for where this Spain midfield ranks, I am not sure if I can judge. I wil say it is the best midfield I've seen in the past decade on a national team and the general youth of this team is what makes me very optimistic for the future. Del Bosque is expected to be the new coach and while he will have a lot of talent to work with, he now will have increased expectations to deal with too! |
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| Merengue | Jul 3 2008, 10:13 AM Post #135 |
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It is very hard to compare teams from different eras but I see the point about the current Spain's midfield play reminding one of how France and Brasil played in the 80's. Those were some of my favorite teams to watch play back then and I didn't have any ties to those nations. Being Spanish all I can say is how thrilled I am to see my country's national team playing this well and having such a classy midfield. That is where the team generated so much of it's success and wore it's oppponents down with it's precise passing game. Talking about France 1998, I wouldn't exactly call Youri Djorkaeff a midfielde ron that team but rosarino's point about that team having a top class midfield is well taken too. But if you exclude the withdrawn forward Djorkaeff, you have the incomparable Zidane and 3 hard workers in Deschamps, Petit and Karembeu. A slightly different set up from Spain's current midfield with it's 4 jugones the skilled midfielders plus the hard working Senna or the 1980's France which had Platini, Giresse and Tigana or 1980's Brasil with Zico, Socrates, Falcao and Toninho Cerezo. An interesting discussion and I am pleased to see others link this current Spain midfield with some of the all time great midfields of the past. |
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) who is extremely delighted. We Spaniards had experienced so much pain in past tournaments that we always enter them with plenty of pessimism. In sporting terms the 21st century has seen Spain achieve a lot of success in basketball, tennis, auto racing, handball, athletics, etc. but not in our national passion- futbol. That is why there always has been that pessimism around Spain's chances. But this team overcame that with grit and skill and hopefully now we can bury that pessimism forever and think, like this team did, if you play intelligently and with skill then you can win.
5:04 PM Jul 10