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Awards of the Day: Euro 2008 Final, Spain v Germany

June 29th, 2008 | By: chris | 11 Comments »

Players of the Tournament: There are four of them:

Carles Puyol
Carlos Marchena
Sergio Ramos
Joan Capdevila

Knockout stages: 0 goals conceded

Iker gets some credit as well, but the most attack-gifted team in the tournament was riding the coattails of the Fearsome Foursome. Much like Italy in 2006, their defense was the difference between winning and second place.

And though this may sound like a broken record……DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS.

Fan of the Day: Above. Hey, at least he’s trying, right? Wonder if he got in. (Think I saw him sitting next to Angela Merkel, but don’t want to spread any rumors.)

Player of the Day: Fernando Torres. Sometimes, all it takes is one moment of brilliance….and one defensive slip up.

Unfair Advantage Award: Spain. Since Enrique Iglesias is Spanish, UEFA should’ve kept things fair by allowing David Hasselhoff to perform. The man helped bring down the Berlin Wall, he damn sure could’ve helped bring down Spain.

Goat of the Day: Philipp Lahm. One of the revelations of 2006 was anything but this time around. Fullback isn’t typically a position where coaches hope to make a major difference going forward, so to be subbed at halftime says quite a bit about the defensive end of his day. That defensive end costing them the title. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Hard Luck Crew of the Tournament: The German midfield which was already banged up going in; Ballack had a calf injury and his partner, Frings, was sporting broken ribs. Late in the first half Ballack, like Simon Rolfes, got hammered in the face and began squirting blood like a tomato can. Either the fates were conspiring or Germans cut easily.

Awkward Photo/Caption of the Day: From Yahoo…

Germany’s Michael Ballack,rear, comforting teammate Torsten Frings, reacts at the end of the Euro 2008 final between Germany and Spain in the Ernst-Happel stadium in Vienna.

I think they’ve mistaken the comforter and the comfortee.

Traffic Cop of the Day: Jens Lehamann. Not only is he directing traffic in front of his net, but he does so with the most obnoxiously bright neon shirt he can find.

Disappointment of the Day: I realize very few Spanish fans will probably agree with this, but it would’ve been nice to see Spain go from nothing to winning the World Cup instead of the Euros. I mean, the EC is a sexy lady, but she ain’t the World Cup. The celebrations in Madrid will surely ring throughout the night, but not winning for 44 years and then winning The Holy Grail would’ve blown the lid off.

Also, Luis Aragones should never have been allowed to stay in his position, much less win a trophy. Very few deserve this less than he does.

Matchup of the Day:

Tags: Austria, Carles Puyol, Carlos Marchena, Euro 2008, Euro 2008 News, Final, Germany, Jens Lehmann, Joan Capdevila, Luis Aragones, Michael Ballack, Philipp Lahm, Sergio Ramos, Spain, Torsten Frings, Vienna

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Comments

By Louise | June 29th, 2008 at 8:20 pm

If you are going to give Spain’s defense that much credit, you must add Marco Senna. He was consistently outstanding, hardly a foot out of place (that open shot he missed today… he’s a DM, what do you want). Honestly, I would give player of the tournament to him alone.

Posted from United States

By Martin | June 29th, 2008 at 8:26 pm

“Also, Luis Aragones should never have been allowed to stay in his position, much less win a trophy. Very few deserve this less than he does.”

I don’t think something so wrong has ever been said in this blog. Is this about his racist comments a few years ago?

Posted from United States

By colman1860 | June 29th, 2008 at 9:06 pm

Martin, I believe it is about his racist comments, and quite frankly, I couldn’t agree more that this racist bastard doesn’t deserve it. How he wasn’t fired I will never understand.

Posted from Canada

By Justjoko | June 29th, 2008 at 9:17 pm

that was lucky goal. There was no clown yesterday but Lehmann. I must achieved him Euro Clown of the day

Posted from Australia

By Martin | June 29th, 2008 at 9:44 pm

What he said was wrong(!) and, yes, racist. But you can’t believe that because of that incident (which has been taken out of context), the man is a “racist bastard” and thus undeserving of any success. The relationships he has fostered with many of the players he’s coached suggests otherwise.. not to mention none of you actually know the man.

*sigh*

It’s just not right to say he doesn’t deserve to have led his team to the European Championship because of an unfortunate act he committed three years ago–and has apologized several times for. I’m not defending what he did, but it is important not to judge a man on so little.. and to forgive.

Posted from United States

By Josh G | June 29th, 2008 at 9:57 pm

justjoko: lehmann has been shit but today he and frings were the reasons why it wasnt 4-0 spain. amazing save to prevent a metzelder shitkicking own goal

By Adam | June 29th, 2008 at 10:37 pm

I don’t quite see the logic in blameing Lehman for this… Torres was coming in close and he did exactly what he needed to do. He just didn’t get the defensive support he was rightfully expecting. Although when comparing this to his World Cup performace, this does not seem like the same Lehmann…

I’m not aware of Aragones’ comments to be honest but some of his decisions seemed rather… odd to me… I could be wrong here but the constant subbing ot Torres was getting to me. Especially in the Italian game. To sub a player off that was the only one who was creating chances when penalty shootouts are LOOMING and you know he’d take one?! Ummm… in fact, his sub was the guy who didn’t score. And I say this as a hardcore Italian fan too!

I almost feel like Spain won DESPITE Aragones. He wasn’t bad, persay… just not good either.

By elisa | June 29th, 2008 at 11:25 pm

I agree with Martin, forgiveness to the Old Man. Let’s move on. Adam, I actually applaud Aragones’ substitutions and tactics. He built a balanced team, no stars, throw away the egos, and a core starting 11. Everyone participated, everyone was important to the success of the team.

By nsd | June 30th, 2008 at 5:11 am

Yea I agree with Elisa…Aragones wasn’t stubborn or afraid to make changes. He changed his team as he saw fit, moving from 4-4-2 to 4-5-1…very few other coaches dared to change their formation.

Plus Torres kills himself out there so when you have backup the way Spain does in Guiza (sp?) it makes sense to put fresh legs on.

Posted from United States

By Mat | June 30th, 2008 at 7:28 am

Agree…did you guys see how much running Torres did in the first half itself?? I was saying to myself within the first ten minutes…this guy is out by 55-60 mns… he was running like a crazy madman sometimes..but one of the burst of speeds (or deceleration by stupid Lahm.. if you will) resulted in the all important goal! ..I think when you have a strike force sub as good as Guiza….you just gotta use him …Totally agreed with taking Fabregas out for Alonso too..they needed help for Senna in the latter stages and Alonso would have been fresh and more defensive minded

Posted from United States

By Babyshoes | June 30th, 2008 at 2:41 pm

When I saw Enrique performing before the game, I thought, “oh, they’d better bring on Rammstein to be fair.”

Posted from United States

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