Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Netherlands)
People had started questioning the 33-year-old Dutchman’s international longevity against quality attacks. After his country’s Euro 2008 campaign, the critics were truly put in their place. Van Bronckhorst continues to defend the way the Netherlands have always preferred to: by going forward and pressing hard.
He proved his value as a stable hold, both in defence and attack, culminating in a now famous passage of play against the Italians. During that Group C match, he cleared the ball off his team’s line, and then embarked on an epic counterattack that led to him scoring at the other end with a header.
Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben may dominate games with their flair, but there is always a small-statured fullback who holds the Oranje ship steady when it matters, even excelling in a holding midfield role when his team was looking for an equaliser against the Russians in the quarterfinals.
Artur Boruc (Poland)
"The Holy Goalie", so called for his continuing religious symbols in the sectarian world of Scottish football, must have crossed himself the right number of times during the tournament, because the Celtic star was amazing at Euro 2008.
One could argue that Buffon or Casillas had the saves of the tournament, but Boruc was under far more pressure in a strictly average team that looked like hemorrhaging goals left, right, and centre. If it wasn’t for his reflexes, they might well have capitulated that badly. He certainly was the only impressive thing about the Polish side.
That 1.93m frame had miraculous performances, stopping one of the highest percentages of shots in the tournament, including three first-half saves against the Austrians in Group B that were nothing short of phenomenal. Celtic fans may well be disappointed this summer when bigger clubs come calling.
Marcos Senna (Spain)
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