re-opened !!

congrats Spain, Viva Espania!

Unfortunately didn't see the game

, but at least Germany lost and that is good

.

Al-Jassas

Originally posted by ulrich von hutten

re-opened !!

? what happened?

anyways, i'm not really dissapointed that much, still dissapointed a bit though of course. admittedly the Spanish had the best and most consistent show of good and sucessfull matches in thsi torunament. i really didn't saw that comming, if you check one of the first pages of this thread, you will see that i was completely left puzzling about the performance of the Spanish selection (don't know how to write that in spanish Dead

) at the beginnign of the torunament. many names rather new and unknown to me and an unspectacular qualification. other than Torres of course. Torres, what a show, he outran everyone! i think he is better than Ronaldo, who is in my opinion slightly overrated. well, now after many decades of waiting they won another title, good for them! Cheers

however Michel Platini has made hismelf a new arch-enemy, one should expect from the UEFA boss neutrality, but his obvious strong anti-Germany attitude and the resulting pro-Spain attitude pissed me off beyond imagination.

as for Germany? a second place in a big tournament (that i actually value higher than the WC because it is tougher) is still a huge achievement, particularly because Germany already made the third place in the last WC, that leaves us hopign for more! about Ballack? mmmh, i wasn't ever really a big fan of him, his time might have come but i'm not sure who's gonna step up from the bench.... the sad loser of yesterday was arguably Lehmann, he was thoroughly broken after the match which you could easily see, it was definately his last EC and maybe his last big tournament at all, and if Germany isn't lacking in anything particular, then it is definately good, solid, young goalkeepers. he will continue to play for Stuttgart at leats for some time but it is not unlikely it was his last major match for the German national team. the worst thign for me personally was not missing the cup but missing the upcoming Confed Cup, which is my favourite Cup of all. Cry

Originally posted by Peteratwar

Glad Spain won this tophy at last.

My son won £100 for £20 on this so he is happy. He also works for a spanish company!!!

Oh I always wanted to find a job in Spain. Is it hard to get?

Oleee, Ole Ole Ole, You're the Champions! You're the Champions!

Congrats to Spain!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Moment of unity as Spain win Euro 2008

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7481556.stm

Regional divisions

Some will look to portray this achievement as a force for national unity, given Spain's long-standing regional divisions.

In a pre-match newspaper article, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero wrote: "We have all identified with the red shirt... with the ball at their feet, we've seen an understanding between Andalucians, Basques, Catalans and Valencians."

Spanish%20fans%20celebrate%20win%20in%20Madrid

Some are seeing the victory as a way of uniting the country

But one trophy does not a unified nation make, and Mr Zapatero was perhaps overstating the point.

Basque and Catalan nationalists are not suddenly going to abandon their political principles on the strength of a goal by Fernando Torres.

Before the final, an awkward-looking President of the Basque Nationalist Party, Inigo Urkullu, said he hoped "the best team" would win. He got his wish.

In stark contrast to the recriminations and intrigues of past tournaments, the key to this success was perhaps that Spain's Euro 2008 was free of any sort of politics.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What can I say? Well, it could be endless but let's see what comes out. First before I forget, Congrats to the Germans! I know I didn't give them favorable grades before the tournament and I supported some of the teams they were playing against during the tournament, mainly Turkey and Spain. But that was more to do with my antagonistic nature and love for the underdogs. Plus I wanted to get some controversy, conversation, passion flowing in AE. I hope I didn't step over the line too much and I apologize if I did.

Having said that, it's almost to impossible to just plow through oppositions in a major tournament like this even if you have a seemingly invincible team. Injuries are one thing, but also with all the different styles of oppositions you have to face, the odds are some will expose your weakness soon or later. you need the flexibility and inventiveness to answer all the crisis thrown at you. In that sense i was impressed how they bounced back from the loss to Croatia.

Of course, the second place finish isn't satisfying enough for the proud German football tradition, standard and expectation and rightfully so. People say nobody remembers the second place(then again, thank God for Wiki

). But I hope more people would remember the teams other than the winner in this cup. This German team for how they fought back from the crisis, same for Italy, and Portugal and Netherlands for their high points, and Turkey and Russia for their miracles and self beliefs.

I know people blame Lahm for that goal. First I don't think it's necessarily his fault as much. Why people blame for the small wingback for getting out muscled and strided by the bigger center forward? If anyone I blame Metzelder for getting beat for the ball first place and Lehmann for coming out too lat or not staying back. Even at that it was just a great play by a great player, Torres, imo.

Ballack, yes, he's the perennial bridemaid now. Not just WC '02, CL against Real Madrid back in Leverkusen days, EPL and CL to Man U last season, and now this. But I still think he's a great player and also a great leader and now even greater team player with humility that you don't see often in the superstars of his caliber.

Now Spain! Alright let me do this one more time.

Oleee, Ole Ole Ole, You're the Champions! You're the Champions!

Spain wasn't necessarily my favorite team in the beginning. I mean I like the squad and their style. And I knew they have enough talents to have great success. But with all their historical hangovers, it makes you weary of getting heart broken again. Such lingering baggages just get bigger and bigger each time you don't redeem yourself, become the bigger mountain to climb.

As a football fan I actually love both Barca and Real Madrid. I know that's a big 'no no' for some, but both represents certain philosophy in Football for me. Barca represents their passion for aesthetics and style. I don't know any other fans in the world who are not happy with just winning other than the Brazilians and the Catalans. A Brazilian friend told me '94 is not celebrated in Brazil among other WC winners because they didn't win it by playing the 'Beautiful Game'. I've read similar story about Bobby Robson's Barca team that delivered 3 cups in one year and Barca fans still booed.

It's more than just matter of style. It's way of thinking and feeling and a way to go about applying them into life. It's a life style about quality not quantity, matter of Kantian taste not Totalitarian unity and production. It's is more than a club and a football game. It is a school of thought and culture needs to be cherished. The 'Beautiful game is not trained or educated, it's cultivated.

Real Madrid represents their passion for prestige, class and perfection. I miss those Real Madrid squad that dwarf the opposition into awe even before they step on the pitch. When they were good, they were beautiful and efficient, complete and perfect. I thought my boy Robinho could carry that torch for Madrid when he got there. But Madrid was to pressured to out produce Barca's Success at the time, They ended up shying away from the beauty and chase the results, which they got.

This Spanish team had all. Barca was well represented in Xavi and Iniesta in their skills and style to keep the ball on the ground, develop good possessions and inventiveness to push forward at right moments.

I remember in one game during the qualification, I can't remember against whom, but they connected more than 50 passes in a row. They pushed one flank, the defense steps up, they pull back, swing to the other plank, dribble up, pull back, let the keeper touch the ball, build the possession slowly again, pull back and so on. They were in complete control. And then it the defense gets impatient and tired just chasing around, they get lullaby into the swinging waves and boom, goal. I only saw the highlight of that, but I knew this Spanish squad could be something special.

Madrid was represented with Ramos and Casillas. Their best defender and the keeper. If Xavi and Iniesta are the engine of this team, Ramos, Casillas and Puyol were the back bone. They made this group of artisans tough enough. And Ramos is so dangerous when he pushes up. Casillas, OMG! He outplayed Buffon, nuff said.

And those Madrigal boys, Senna and Capdevilla! Senna, I knew. I called him the poorman's Seedorf. I think only richmen can afford him now. Capdevila was a big surprise for me. I almost suggested to move Puyol to the left if he doesn't work out. And oh boy did he ever work out! I was concerned about how they would take the blows from the more physical German side. And not only they took the blows well, they delivered some themselves. I'm not condoning violence or any cynical rough plays. All I'm saying is they stood their ground and Man-ed up.

And the Valencia boys, Villa and Silva. Those two took the artistic approach of the midfield and translated into more direct vertical approach in the attacking third. And that is so Valencia. I tease them by calling them the Italian team in La Liga, but they balance La Liga from the opposite spectrum. And Marchena. I doubted him also. But in actuality both Capdevila and Marchena performed even better than Ramos and Puyol. That's kinda big sweet surprise that every winning team needs.

And the exports, Torres and Fabrega. Torres actually missed many shots he should have put away. but he delivered when it counted the most. That's why he gets the big bucks, not just because he's tall and blond. Fabregas was one of the best sub, game changer in the cup. He also stepped in big time when villa got hurt. Instead of adding another winger or striker they went with 5 mids. That made Xavi and Iniesta even more secured to push forward, not that Fabregas is a stranger to setting up goals or scoring of his own.

Even Guiza from Mallorca, stepped in right time and produced.

All their veteran players were part of leading the team. All their newcomers and question marks stepped up and stood their ground. But I'll give it to Xavi. He's the Barca youth team product, home grown Catalan leader. But he's also young enough to be part of this 'New Spain' He was the guy made Iniesta, silva, Carzola, Fabregas better and helped out Senna same time. When Barca won CL and La Liga, I saw a magazine article talking about the best number 10's in the game that year. They put all three Ronaldinho, Deco, Xavi as top 5-6 number 10's in the world at the time. How is that possible? How can they have three number 10s from one club? Of course they are all different Dinho can be the number 10 or 11 or 7, Deco is more drop back 10, and Xavi is somewhere in between 10 and 8 that is not 9. But they were all primary playmakers. Barca was that kind of team that year. Xavi is that kind of player.

And last but not least. I wonder what Raul was feeling the moment final whistle blew and Spain won. It must've been hard for him. I know it disappointed him not to be there. And he should have been there. As I've said in earlier thread he deserved to come off the bench. But this hero taking the back seat in the bench could have been a distraction. I'm not saying he would have been a bad influence in the locker room. Far from the truth. It could have been the media, it could have been other players, he just doen't belong in the back seat. But all those emotions were for a fading old starplayer trying to hang on. But when that whistle blew I know he was just another happy Spaniard. Strange how the game changes and humbles us on its way to unite us.

I don't wanna bring in politics into this thread too much other than the cultural reference point since that is all I can make. But I do feel that Spain still has a lot of soul searching left to do regarding how it sees itself in relation to rest of the Western Europe and EU, in relation to the Islam world of today and of history, and in relation to its former colonies. But most of all how they see themselves. Today they see eachother, together. And they see happy faces, together. And the others say Futbol is just a silly game.

I remember when Ronaldinho got the standing ovation in Bernabeu. I remember that big sign in Camp Nou, 'Catalona is not Spain'. Today, we all want to be like the Spanish, least how they feel.

Edited by King Kang of Mu - 01-Jul-2008 at 07:59

http://www.allempires.net/forum/forums.html

EUropean Championship 2008

Moment of unity as Spain win Euro 2008