Tomorrow is the big day!
We will see the much-anticipated Euro 2008 final. This year, the participants are two of football's giants, Spain and Germany.
The Spaniards never were able to put it together, until now. After dispatching of every team in the group stages, Spain ridded themselves of the '06 World Cup champs, Italy, in penalties. They followed that by dispatching with upstart Russia, in a 3-0 triumph.
The road was a little tougher climb for Germany. After suffering a minor upset to Croatia, the Germans defeated Austria to move into the knockout stages, never a fun task. The Germans pounced on a lazy Portuguese side, and finally rid of them completely in a 3-2 triumph after 90 minutes.
In the semifinals, Germany found themselves in a surprisingly tough matchup with the under-manned Turkish side. It took a Phillip Lahm 90th minute strike to cultivate Germany into the finals.
So who holds the advantage? Let's investigate.
Goalkeeping: Spain
Jens Lehmann has looked very beatable all tournament, and he has really played a lackadaisical tournament. If Spain can rock Lehmann's ship early, the Germans will have far more work than they expected in order to win.
His counterpart, Iker Casillas, has been rock solid in every game, and has done what has been needed to win. Isn't that all it is now? It doesn't matter if you win ugly anymore, as long as you get the results.
Fullbacks: Tied
Both defenses are hard to judge, mainly because of the inefficiencies the two have had. You can't make a solid prediction on what is to happen. Sergio Ramos has been the only dominating player out of both sides, and the Spaniards are more star-studded.
Germany, on the other hand, are much more offensive, and attack more often than not. Because of this, I can't give either team the nod here. It's a tie as far as I'm concerned.
Midfield: Germany
As much as I'd like to give this to Spain, because again, Spain is more star studded, the Germans have been much more physical, and much more on the attack all tournament long.
Michael Ballack is an intimidating force right up the gut, and I'm not sure if Spain knows how to exactly deal with it. I'll give a slight nod to Germany, which evens it up, matchup-wise.
Strikers: Germany
Another slight advantage to the Germans. Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose, and Bastian Schweinsteiger overall are much more dangerous then a David Villa, Daniel Guiza combination. Villa will need to be stopped, and if he can't, we could be in for a long night. It could go either way as well.
Overall: Spain wins on Penalties, 2-1!
I feel that if Spain can overcome the attack the Germans bring, and sneak a couple by Lehmann, they will be in great shape. I feel Jens will be on his game tomorrow, though, and I sense that the Germans will throw everything they have at Spain in order to avoid penalties.
Spain is very dangerous in spot kicks, and they showed it in downing the World Cup champs. Cesc Fabregas in the 57th minute off a cross, and Miroslav Klose in the 83rd minute with a strong left boot for the equalizer. Spain wins 3-1 on penalties.
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about 1 month ago
Eh, care to revisit the fullbacks again? Sergio Ramos (at last) showed what he's got against Russia. But why do you omit mention of Carles Puyol altogether? He even *looks* like a terrier, reliable, fast and incredibly strong in the air - something rather non-trivial especially against the German front line men. Then there's Carlos Marchena, another mysteriously underrated but solid defender. And Joan Capdevila has shown throughout the tournament, especially against Russia, what a reliable workhorse he is.
I guess taste bears no argument, so I can live with your holding the technical superiority of fast one-touch playing Spanish midfielders as something somehow favoring the German athletes. Even when I fail to understand the logic there, as the Russians in formidable (early season!) form clearly would concede that chasing the ball wrecks even the biggest athlete.
Up front we have a set of slow, tall (therefore extra handicapped) big guys from Germany, versus a fast combining Spanish front line, with their short, wiry stature helping them to criss-cross around (if not through) those long legged wonders.
So yeah, advantage for Germany in all three lines. Nah - make that four: Lehman has rested his powers of concentrations so well over these weeks that I'm sure it counts as an edge over Iker Casillas' tournament long effort. Poor guy must be exhausted by now.
My prediction: in spite of all these shortcomings, Spain comes in merely one before last, while Germany gloriously wins silver, in a match ending 3-1 in regular time.
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