Spain, the perennial underachievers, shed that label with a 1-0 win over Germany to win the Euro 2008 tournament, its first since 1964. The only goal was scored by Fernando Torres (photo) in the 33rd minute.
I watched the last half of the match and was pleased to see that ABC stuck with the post-match awarding of medals to both teams. The players went through a long receiving line that included Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and German chancellor Angela Merkel. The eye candy quotient was quite high and even the medal presenter (a former player from the 1960s, I think) could not resist squeezing the faces of some players like Germany’s Lukas Podolski (who could resist this?).
Spain had been the soccer equivalent of the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts, a perennial favorite that always flopped in the end. But like the Colts of 2006, the year’s Spanish entry got the job done and analysts agreed they played like the best team in 2008. While not a big soccer fan, I always enjoy these inter-nation tournaments and watched a fair amount of the Euro this year. That’ll be it for me and soccer likely until the 2010 World Cup. –Jim Buzinski
on Jun 30th, 2008 at 5:58 PM
Should of watched the first game of the doubleheader on Sunday, as DC United ripped Becks and Donovan(who played part of the match with a tampon up his nose, no joke) 4-1.
The Donovan incident occured near the end of the first half after Marcello Gallardo “Accidently” elbowed him in the nose…which then began bleeding profusely. Apparently its quite common to use the aforementioned product in such cases.
Oh, and the Olympic tournament could provide some excitement. The US should send a very good squad featuring the likes of Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore and Chris Seitz. Probably not gold-medal worthy, but could make it to the medal round.
on Jul 1st, 2008 at 6:07 PM
The recieving line also included (in addition to the Spanish and German Prime Ministers)
King Juan Carlos of Spain. His son the Infante (heir to the throne) Felipe, Duke of Asturias
attended Spain’s previous game. He is very tall and handsome.
on Aug 1st, 2008 at 9:33 AM
I think that Spain deserved to win the European Championships. They played by far the most entertaining football and only ever went onto the pitch to win every game, not like other negative tatics taken up by some other countries. And of course Cesc Fabregas, from Arsenal, was outstanding!