The reason why I didn't write anything about the final

Tuesday, July 10, 2012


So, you might wondering, after all those posts about Euro 2012, match to match, the scores, the details, and all, why didn't I write anything about the final? Well, you might wondering, or you might not, because you already understand what I feel.
What? Did I say I was neutral? Yes! I was! I am!
Well, you know, I am neutral. In the beginning of the tournament I said I wish Italy and Spain met at the final, and they did. So, I was really happy about that, and I was about to be happy of whoever wins the game.

But..... 4 - 0?? Guys! Really??

It was a shock therapy for me!
I thought--or maybe I should say I wished--it would be penalties at the end. Because I didn't want anymore goals to each teams goal. Both Casillas and Buffon were the best goalkeeper in that tournament. Their goals were the cleanest of all contestants. Before the final, there was only one ball went to Casillas' goal, and there were only 3 balls went to Buffon's goal, and the last one was penalty.
So, basically I just didn't want their goals to be added more balls. I think it would just ruin their statistics. Especially if Spain made goals. Because Germany's goal in Italy last match before the final has made their...

The Final of My Dream

lunedi, 2 giugno, 2012

This is the final of my dream!

Since the first time I started watching football, this is the first time my two favorite teams meet at the final.

As you may already know, I started watching football from World Cup 1998. The final was Brazil vs France. I was so upset when France beat Brazil 3 – 0. The next big international tournament is Euro 2000, the final was Italy vs France, and again, France beat my favorite team for the second time, the score was 2 – 1 for France, and they got the trophy. That’s why I hate France. Well, used to hate them.

My first two big tournaments were upsetting. But the next tournaments always satisfied me, especially World Cup 2002, when Brazil won the World Cup for the 5^th times, and my superhero Ronaldo got the golden shoes by 8 goals. Fantastic! They beat Germany 2 – 0 in the final.

Euro 2004 final was weird and unpopular. It was between Greece and Portugal. So I wasn’t really supporting any of them. Although I loved Nuno Gomes, Luis Figo, and Rui Costa. I think there were no Cristiano Ronaldo back then.

Then World Cup 2006 final, Italy vs France. Italy won by penalties. It was a bad game, but I’m glad that France, my enemy, was defeated by one of my favorite team, Italy. Then Euro 2008, I’m so glad to see Spain beat Germany in the final. It was 1 – 0 for Spain. Yeay!

And the last but not least, 2 years ago, Spain beat Netherland in World Cup 2010 final. Woohoo!

So, since the first time I watched big football tournaments, I’ve never seen two of my favorite teams meet each other at the final. Of course I’ve always wished Italy and Brazil would meet on World Cup final, or Spain and Italy meet on Euro final. But it never happened since 1998.

So, now I’m so happy because since this Europhoria started on June 8, I’ve been wishing to see Italy and Spain in the final. And it happens now! Now I don’t really care who’ll win the cup. They’re both my favorites, they’re both very good teams, they’ve played very well so far, they’ve got brilliant players… Oh, well, Spain’s got more brilliant players, meanwhile, I think the ones really good in Italian team are only Andrea Pirlo, Antonio Cassano, Mario Balotelli, and of course, the one of the best goalkeeper, Gianluigi Buffon.

Now about my prediction for this final.

I think both Spain and Italy have got good materials. Both teams have got the best goalkeepers in the world, Iker Casillas and Gianluigi Buffon.

Italy's got the best defenders, plus Andrea Pirlo, the midfielder, also helps with the defense. For defense, I think Italy's got better materials, but in this tournament so far, Spain's got the least GA (whatever it is, I just don't know how to mention the one team who's the goal being... goaled?).

Spain's got wonderful midfielders like Cesc Fabregas, Xabi Alonso, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets. Most of them play in FC Barcelona: team with the best midfielders. Italy's only got Andrea Pirlo. Match after match he's the only player who really worked through the midfield. He's the playmaker, he's always the man of the match.

For strikers, Spain's got Fernando Torres and well... the rests are not really useful. Except maybe Jesus Navas, at least he made a goal against Croatia. Meanwhile, Italy's got Antonio Cassano, Mario Balotelli, and Antonio diNatale. They're genius! And they've made some very great goals, especially Balotelli.

Their coaches, Cesare Prandelli and Vincente Del Bosque, are surely have got different characters, and also different background.
Cesare Prandelli used to bring serie B teams to be promoted to serie A, such as Verona and Venezia. Meanwhile, Vincente Del Bosque was once a coach of the biggest club, most glamorous club in the world, Real Madrid. He's been coaching some superstars such as Ronaldo, Beckham, Zidane, Carlos, Figo, etc.
Seeing how they've lead their teams so far, Spain plays very consistent with attacking character, entertaining ball flow. They always play beautiful and entertaining. Italy, they seemed changing their game all the time. Prandelli seems to do some experiments with his players. But anyway, it always works, at least for the last 3 matches.

In this tournament, on their first match in the group, they played even 1 - 1. Then Spain was the leader of the group, while Italy was only the runners-up. Italy played even with Croatia and only won against the weakes team of that group, Ireland. In the quarter-final, Spain beat France, the runners-up of group D, while Italy beat England, the leader of group D. Before final, Spain beat Portugal, the runners-up of group B, by penalties, while Italy beat Germany, that used to be the most promising team before.

For these last 4 - 6 years, Spain seems to be pretty consistent team. They played very well in international tournaments. They've won the Euro 2008 in Swiss-Austria, then continued with the World Cup 2010. Everyone think that they'd gonna keep going with this one. Spain got great players, with good attitude.  They have fair play.


Italy's achievements for these last 4 year are not really satisfying. They didn't go to the round of 16 in World Cup 2010, and they was beaten by Spain in Euro 2008. But Italian squad is now totally different. You can see it very clearly. The way they play, the way they dominate the game. They didn't start this tournament very well, but they've beaten two big teams, England and Germany. They've been getting better in attacking, while still great at defense. And don't forget, Italy has proven itself as the only team that can make a goal to Spain's goal for the whole tournament.

Now seeing the history, Italy won Euro 1968 after Spain won Euro 1964. Then both teams never won the trophy until Euro 2008, who was won by Spain. So, if Italy always got the trophy after Spain, will this year be the same?

Last thing...
Both Italy and Spain have ended one of their matches in this tournament with penalties. And in the last Euro, Euro 2008, Spain beat Italy also by penalties. No wonder, both teams got the best defense!

So..., would it be another penalties?

Let's watch guys!!
Viva españa! Forza Italia!!