Quarterfinal / Semifinal Starting XI

Each round of the group stage, we presented a lineup of the players we felt had the best performances. But that was the group stage, and as teams like Holland and Italy found out, it’s the knockouts that really matter. Here is our starting eleven for the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, with a four-player bench. It’s admittedly a little heavy on the winning sides, but that’s bound to happen, since those were the teams that we saw the most of, and the ones that put in winning performances.

Let us know what you think in the comments. At least our formation is a little more regular.

Keeper: Iker Casillas (Spain)
The best keeper in La Liga came up against arguably the best in the world in the Italy-Spain quarterfinal, and after a game in which neither was tested much, it came down to spot kicks. Casillas saved two, to Buffon’s one, and that was that. Then, Casillas helped keep the Russian side that had demolished the high-flying Dutchmen from scoring a single goal. Even late in the game, when the victory was sewn up, he still made a perfect palm save to keep the sheet clean.

Right back: Sergio Ramos (Spain)
This is a bit of a tough one, because Ramos had a shaky quarterfinal. As he tends to do, he committed unnecessary fouls, and made a few questionable marking decisions. But his semifinal made up for it. Even though the scorers will get the glory, Ramos’ runs down the right were brilliant, and the Russians had no answer for him.

Center Back: Giorgio Chiellini (Italy)
Say what you will about the Italy side that faced Spain in the quarters, but you can’t fault the central defense. Every time Villa, Torres and company got any sort of move started, there was a wall of blue right in their face. Chiellini is the youngest member of the Italian defense, and his performances should be one of the most hopeful aspects of this tournament for the disappointed Azzurri fans.

Center Back: Carles Puyol (Spain)
From Italy, you expect great central defending. Spain has been nowhere near as consistent at the position, but Puyol kept things solid at the back. When he went down with an ankle knock against Italy, every Spanish fan’s heart stopped, because they know his importance. But he was back up in a few seconds, and held strong, not only against Italy, but then against the wily Russians. Puyol made Casillas look even more brilliant by keeping opposing strikers far away and off balance.

Left Back: Philipp Lahm (Germany)
Lahm, like Ramos, had his shaky moments. He was culpable for the goal that let Turkey back into the semifinal match, even though very few of us actually saw his mistake. But his overall defending was very good, and his goal sealed the deal for Germany, punishing the Turks for leaving four minutes after their tying goal.

Right Winger: Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany)
Schweinsteiger was one of only two players to score in both the quarterfinal and semifinal round of Euro 2008 (for the other one, see below). He started his week by solidifying himself as Ricardo’s worst nightmare, opening the scoring against Portugal. After Turkey’s opening goal, Schweinsteiger responded in just four minutes with a perfect side-footed volley past Rustu to equalize. Even if that was all he did, he’d be worth a spot, but he was always dangerous, and might be the player of the round.

Central Midfielder: Michael Ballack (Germany)
Germany hasn’t exactly been dominating their way through the tournament, with both their quarterfinal and semifinal wins coming by way of 3-2 scorelines. But they’ve gotten it done, in large part thanks to their captain waking up and doing his job. He had an uninspired start in the group stage, but as we keep saying, it’s the knockouts that matter. Ballack’s header put Portugal down 3-1, and that was pretty much that.

Central Midfielder: Cesc Fabregas (Spain)
The only bench player that we have promoted to the starting eleven, Fabregas has shown in this tournament what a lot of people thought before it - he should be starting. The Arsenal playmaker might be young, and it’s a stacked Spanish midfield, but his play has been solid. When it came down to the game-winning penalty against Italy, it was Fabregas that stepped up and buried it. When Villa came out with his foot injury against Russia, Fabregas was the first sub in, and he got an assist in that one too.

Left Winger: David Silva (Spain)
The best players play beyond themselves in the big tournaments, and Silva has done just that in the knockouts. Against Italy, he had a very un-Silva-like hunger for goal, but no kind of accuracy. Still, he put on the kind of pressure you need against the Azzurri defense. Against the Russians, he finally got his prize, putting the last nail in Russia’s Euro coffin.

Center Forward: Semih Şentürk (Turkey)
Semih was the other one with a goal in both knockout rounds, and with Nihat out, he took over as the top threat of the Comeback Kids. Against Croatia, he redefined “late equalizer” by scoring with the absolute last kick of the match and sending the match to penalties. You want to see the impact of that goal, look at the video of Luka Modric’s face as he lined up for the opening spot kick. He was in absolute shock. Then he did it again in the semi with Germany, but he made the mistake of leaving any time at all, and Lahm made him pay.

Second (Slot) Striker: Andrei Arshavin (Russia)
That’s right - both of our starting forwards are semifinal losers. Arshavin was the only possible choice for Man of the Match in the quarterfinal with the Dutch, scoring once and absolutely running Holland ragged. He was admittedly not on the same kind of form against Spain, but the way he dominated the Dutch itself deserved a spot. The semifinal round wasn’t exactly dominated by strikers anyway, with Villa and Torres staying quiet and Nihat out injured.

Bench: Buffon, Boral, Anyukov, Klose