Now has become the perfect time to start putting Madonna’s ‘La Isla Bonita’ — the Spanish lullaby — into the nearest speaker set along with checking out of the European Championships 101SL-style as the 10-point outlook with no chronological significance goes through the finals rundown from earlier today (postgame reaction for each one in bold):
1. Expectations should be nothing less than high for a real good championship ballgame considering these were the top two names on most of the respectable pre-tournament betting boards. Spain’s victory was far from a classic but also nowhere close to being the Bore Bowl. With the way this tournament had been going, the notion of Germany scoring late against the grain a la Turkey to force extra time and probably penalty kicks looked like a prime possibility. Indeed, a nice-looking matchup on paper unfolded into a full-blown display of the immense impact that the Spanish midfield can impress upon a balanced affair and the first major wave of legitimacy for a team that should already be harboring huge South Africa 2010 aspirations.
2. Among things to do to kill all the anxious time in the hours before kickoff, conjure in your mind how a would-be nice looking Turkey-Russia third place game might have ended up. The third place game has long been banished from the tournament and it’s years like this one that might make officials think a little about some reinstituiton. Third place games in these setups always tend to be all-out goal brawls and these two teams lend themselves to that scenario. Both had already had statement summers and would be yearning for more whereas putting more of a longtime contender in this spot can saturate the game in a major way. From the perspective right here, Turkey is regarded as the would-be winner over Russia because of the sheer confidence and development of its individual abilities that made the squad so tough for some of the big dogs to shake loose. Like Spain, the Turkish are another side that has to be absolutely amped up about their 2010 potential.
3. Trying to pick out a single individual on either side as the face of their team for this tournament is still difficult, though help is on the way with the spotlight brightness kicked up a few notches here in the search for the true stars of the stage. Even in all the post-match haste, enough can’t be said about Spain’s midfield. There was no emerging to do per se for that group since they have long been the established strength of the current squad. Still, they took it to another level when they were needed to. Almost fittingly, the midfield’s star, Fabregas, wasn’t the one who propelled the force in the victory. Xavi, Iniesta and Silva were constantly a piercing presence while Senna seemed to keep the pace intact from far back. It’s hard to remember the last time that infamous 4-5-1 formation looked so good in a crucial match.
4. The theory about the type of lackluster momentum Germany has carried around in the wins after the Croatia loss can be rendered useless in the opening 25 minutes with a strong showing reinforcing to Spain that it’s down to one match with the rest of the tournament essentially insignificant and now behind. Germany never had the juice, period. As one of the lead favorites coming in, they were a bit of a farce over the last three weeks. An area the Germans probably don’t get enough credit in is the future potential. Add them to the list with Spain and Turkey as a source of excitement for South Africa. Metzelder and Lahm solidifying the back, Schweinsteiger and Podolski becoming prominent attack, maybe even some recognition of David Odonkor’s value to the statue midfield by Joachim Low … the only real worry at this point will be how the goalkeeping situation is a make-or-break on the shoulders of 23-year-old Leverkusen man David Adler.
5. There’s the chance Luis Aragones will admonish repeated blog requests here the past few days about a Cesc Fabregas sighting in the starting lineup with David Villa out, but also the reality that Daniel Guiza, a super wild card in this case, will emerge the as the second member making up the ‘2′ in the 4-4-2 setup that has carried the Spanish to this point — indeed, it will be the formation versus Fabregas battle to win a part in Aragones’ starting scheme. Fabregas won and so did Spain the end. Stacking the midfield and letting Fernando Torres off the leash up front worked wonders. Spain was actually well-seasoned in that regard because not until the tournament opener did Aragones seriously implement the Torres-Villa partnership. It looked like a godsend for the one match in the drubbing of Russia but didn’t do much to unsettle opposing defenses afterward. Today’s barrage — a 14-4 edge in total shots and an 8-3 advantage in shots on goal are far more telling than the deceiving 53-47 German possession win — was like the ultimate breakthrough for the team’s use of the formation that usually happens at a random team workout when no one is watching, not the grandest stage for European soccer. As for Fabregas, all the moaning and groaning for his admission into the starting lineup and then he goes out and delivers his least effective performance of the tournament.
6. Michael Ballack and Villa are out, so that afforementioned spotlight may very well find itself on Fernando Torres and Bastian Schweinsteiger all night long in a prime opportunity for both to come away with something epic-like and new to put on their respective growing international resumes. Ballack’s surprise entry in the starting 11 kept Schweinsteiger out of the immediate forefront. Torres was a terror, a real clear example of the 21st-century forward. In addition to being fast as they’ve always been made, strikers like Torres have that ranginess about them. You don’t often hear much about his size, but he has that 6-foot frame that he likes to use every inch of. His strength is also under-appreciated quite a bit, which stems from the way he has been forced to jostle with those pragmatic Premier League defenders. For that matter, he also has that sense of physical poise whereas forwards are traditionally regarded as lacking shiftiness amid their on-the-go mission each game. Torres and Didier Drogba are both excellent examples of how all this weaponry is utilized to the fullest.
7. If Italy contributed anything to the tournament, it was the exposition of the simple principle that possession is important against the Spanish, who — get this — can’t be dangerous offensively when they don’t have the ball. Sure, the Germans finished ahead 53-47 in possession, but who noticed? Spain engulfed the flow of the game. This was almost the exact opposite of the Italy match for Spain. Loads of quality chances and an early goal kept adding doom to German hopes, which had all but disappeared by the final whistle despite the meager one-goal deficit.
8. Don’t underestimate the importance of this game for Jens Lehmann, who in one facet for international play at least can topple peer predecessor Oliver Kahn with a Euro Championship ring as a starting goalkeeper. Lehmann is now 0-2 in major European title games. His last setback against a Spanish side when Arsenal fell to Barcelona in the 2006 Champions League final was much more of a nightmare because of that questioned red-card call he picked up early on. Lots of people, and it’s a group some Arsenal fans are a part of, aren’t feeling sorry for Lehmann about now. Whether he gets one last chance in 2010 will be up to Low, whose decision won’t be influenced by Lehmann’s showing at this tournament because he simply was never forced into the heart of the battle much.
9. The starting Spanish back line of Carlos Marchena, Carlos Puyol, Joan Capdevila and Sergio Ramos has not yet been forced by an opponent to run a full day at the races, something Lukas Podolski and friends will want to change in a hurry. The replay in extra time that demonstrated perfectly the way Puyol is able to play at 6-foot-2 despite being 5-10 was the only time the back line truly got a chance to shine. Similar to the semifinal win, Spain’s best defense was its offense that kept the German counter-attack stiff and honest.
10. Aragones with his retirement situation is in much more of a hurry to win a major championship than his German counterpart Joachim Low, who still will want nothing more than to get a leg up on constructing one of his country’s great coaching legacies. Aragones got to go out in the blaze of glory. Winning the Euro title isn’t shabby for a guy who only got 11 international caps as a player despite a spectacular club career. Now he can sit back and watch as the Spanish media gores over the search for a new coach. One attractive partnership to root for or follow from a neutral perspective would be Spain and ‘Spruce’ Guus Hiddink. This post-Raul Spanish group still doesn’t seem as if it has peaked yet and could very well make another definitive splash in South America. If Hiddink was ever able to take the reins, Spain would instantly become among the most hyped teams in history going into a tournament. The ultimate lineup and the ultimate manager — it doesn’t happen often, though Jose Mourinho and the Chelsea years weren’t too far back. In any case, Spain will be one of those teams where it’s hard to fathom a coach making much of a difference. Maybe that’s an indirect swipe at the impact of Aragones, but only time will tell since the core of the now-reigning European champions is slated to remain very much intact in 2010.
