Finally-Euro 2012 Finals

Finally, the finals. This year’s Euro has had its share of ordinary and extraordinary happenings.

La Roja (Spain) edged into the finals with a whisper, while Italy bounced into the finals with a BANG. Nobody expected Italy to get in, they have a blockage in the shape of Germany along the way. 

 

But, they actually beat the young and confident Germans 2-0 and sealed their way to the finals. Everyone who watched the game was shocked (after all, before Germany lost, their chance of winning was even higher than Spain, according to a world stat. More on that later.)Balotelli (the guy with the weird hair, and even weirder temper) scored those goals, and is making his way to stardom with his feat.

Spain edged into the finals by winning the penalties 4-2 against Portugal, after they played 120mins without any goals. Spain should be better, whispered the crowd of fans. Obviously, starting Negredo at the front (who’s Negredo, anyway?) isn’t a success. I wonder why Del Bosque does that, does he think that the rest of the team is strong enough against Portugal to be able to allow him a big risky experiment?

I’m hoping he doesn’t do anything weird during the finals~ they must win that trophy seriously.

I’ve been following Spain from behind (no time to watch), and they’ve been widely critcised for their boring pass-the-ball-around style. They have the upper hand on ball possession, but they don’t score unless they have to, and they seem contented to pass around and not to score.

For example: Spain Vs Italy 1-1, Spain Vs Croatia 1-0, Spain Vs Ireland 4-0 (only because Ireland is terrible), Spain Vs France 2-0, Spain Vs Portugal 0-0.

Comparing to Germany who scores 3-4 times frequently and look very confident under Loew, it’s obvious who’s the favourites.

But then, do you even need to score many if you don’t concede any goals? The Spanish defenders and goalkeeper are so efficient that in the Euro they have only conceded one goal. Do you need to score extra when the opponent can’t even score?

Del Bosque’s 4-6-0 formation has sparked a lot of controversy. Spain has many amazing players and every one of them is capable of scoring. A few of them have scored two goals each and they’re not even forwards. They’re midfielders and defenders. Do you even need forwards when even defenders can attack?

People have moved from being Spanish fans to Italian fans after the “boring” game by Spain and the stunning display by Italy in the semi-finals. The neutrals are hoping Italy will teach Spain a lesson. People are deciding that even if Spain wins, it’ll either be 1-0 or penalties. And they’re praying that Italy will score so that they can watch a brilliant game instead of a dull one.

That said, I am a Spanish fan and will always be one. For me, I will always side a team I love until it is eliminated, and only then I’ll pick another team to support. Now that Spain has crept into the finals (even though not with a BANG), I’ll support them, even if the situation isn’t looking good. Those so-called Spanish fans should be ashamed of themselves for moving over to Italy’s side.

Even though Germany plays brilliant offensive games, and Spain plays slow, defensive ones, isn’t it better to be boring and be in the finals than exciting and get kicked out in the semis?

Praying hard that Spain will win, and praying even harder that Spain will deliver a brilliant game to silence their critics. I even have friends who doubt their capability, can you believe it? 4 out of 4 friends who talked to me on the topic have voiced out their opinions that Italy will win in the finals. I’m the only one who’s holding hard to my Spanish belief, and I’m not gonna give up.

Viva Espana!