I have not spoken up too much about the UEFA Euro 2008 tournament so I thought on the afternoon before the final match that I would throw my two cents in and put on my gambling degenerate hat and give some sort of analysis of the game. Like I know anything about international football. Dippy the Pirate Bear has been very busy training his Resistance Puppy as well as fighting off a MRSA outbreak. I have no clue what types of training with his puppy he is using, however, one hopes that this training will not involve federal indictments in the future unlike his other enterprises.
It is Germany and Spain in the final match. I have to say first that I am extremely pleased that Italy is not in the final and in fact got knocked out in the quarterfinal round in penalty kicks by Spain. This was a surprise as Spain had a string of several tournaments where they had been knocked out by the Italians--in penalty kick shootouts. The Italian team shows Americans every stereotype they have against football. The Italian players are constantly complaining about calls, flopping all over the field with fake injuries, taking cheap shots on opponents, and crying like twelve year old school girls after their text messaging gets taken away after they sent pictures of themselves flashing gang signs to the local Crips recruiting office. It is miserable to watch. I have no tolerance watching the Italians play when their players complain and cry constantly. I tried to watch them play against Spain and wanted to drink--excessively. I saw so many phantom calls that I thought I was watching Casper the Friendly Ghost. Luckily, Spain pulled it out in a dramatic penalty kick round.
This brings me to another point. Why is it in football that they conclude an important knock-out round match after two overtimes by penalty kicks? They should go to a sudden death goal round to end it all. Whoever scores a goal first (whether it is five minutes or five hours later) wins. It happens in American football and hockey in their play-offs. I would hate to be on a losing side due to penalty kicks when the other goalie got lucky and managed to guess right and dive in the direction of the ball.
Going into the match it is Spain that is the complete team. Spain has an effective offensive strategy that involves attacking from all angles and directions on the pitch. They have attacked from both flanks and the center consistently through-out. They have maintained a solid attack of two strikers throughout which has proven to be effective. They are second in the competition in scoring as well as shots taken. The potential loss of David Villa, the tournaments leading scorer, for the final may hurt, however, Spain remained even more effective in their match against Russia with just one striker. Spain has shot the ball on net more than the Germans and have the most balanced attack on offense between the two sided. The Germans were woeful in attacking on offense from the right flank and it is a glaring weak point. Klose and Ballack are veteran players that are the keys to the German squad staying composed and attacking in their typical surgical manner. The Germans shot the ball on net far less than the Spanish squad, however, their percentage of shots that got into the net (10 out of 23) was significantly higher than the Spanish. Overall, as previously stated the Spanish attack more often and in a more balanced manner than the Germans. The Spanish have the advantage on offense as they will give themselves more chances to score.
This brings us to another advantage for the Spanish squad. Spain is second in the tournament in goals allowed. Their defense and goal-keeping have been solid through the whole tournament. I have not seen any clear let downs (maybe against Sweden) on the defensive side by the Spanish despite the pressure put on them by Italy and Russia in the last two games. The same can not be said for the German squad. The Germans gave up two goals to Croatia, Turkey, and Portugal. All good teams, but the Germans suffered periods of uncharacteristic lapses in concentration on the defensive side that cost them dearly and forced the Germans to work harder than they needed to score goals. The Germans will not be able to get away with giving up easy goals to Spain in this match as the Spanish have given up 0.6 goals a game in the whole tournament.
Spain is more free-wheeling and exciting with a strong defense to boot. Germany is methodical, surgical, and experienced (three titles in five previous final matches) with some defensive lapses.
I will take Spain.
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