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Best and Worst of Euro 2008

Written by Adeleke Afolayan

Tuesday, 01 July 2008

The 2008 European Championship brought us some exciting football, a few great goals, the emergence of sorts of certain players and most especially, was not devoid of a few upsets here and there.

In all, there were 77 goals in Austria and Switzerland with just two games; that bore of a match between France and Romania along with the quarterfinal between Spain and Italy, failing to produce a goal while Spanish striker David Villa finished as top scorer with four goals, despite missing the final through injury.

However, the Spanish striker not only won the Golden Boot of the Championship, his country, Spain ended a jinx of underachievement by winning the trophy; their first triumph in a major tournament in 44 years.

Deservedly so, the Spanish were the best footballers throughout the Euros thanks largely to an experienced tactician in Luis Aragones and a talented midfield consisting of Player of the Tournament Xavi Hernandez, Brazilian born Marcos Senna, Andres Iniesta, David Silva and Cesc Fabregas.

It would have been one of life's ironies had Spain not won the final match, against a Germany side that rode its luck all the way to the final as they were not particularly impressive as previous Germans teams were.

That brings to mind the shocks that brought about the exit of enterprising sides such as the Oranje Boys from Holland along with the Croatian team and the Cristiano Ronaldo led Portugal.

Holland in particular were in a realm of their own following exceptional performances in dispatching world champions Italy and France in the group stage, only to fall at the quarterfinal to one of the tournament's revelations.

In come Russia who can be proud of themselves as Spain was the only team that seemed to have the key to undoing Guus Hiddink's men; twice inflicting three-goal defeats to the side that made the Dutch look all too human.

The Russian revolution roots its foundation in the technical prowess of Hiddink; who led South Korea from obscurity to the semi-final of the World Cup in 2002, and the creative ability of a certain Andrei Arshavin.

The FC Zenit St. Petersburg playmaker made such an impact on the Russians; and the Championship, with his visionary play and ability to control the game and bring havoc to opposition defenses with just one pass, all this after serving suspension in the opening two games.

Though his midas touch let him, and the Russians down the semi-final against Spain, his ability on the ball and on his team; club and country, is undisputed and this has not gone unnoticed with CF Barcelona, Arsenal and Chelsea all linked with the 27 year old who is destined to leave the Russian league and UEFA Cup champions.

Apart from Arshavin, another player that made a big impression on the Championship apart from the Spanish midfielders...none actually, although Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic of Croatia, Lukas Podolski of Germany, Deco of Portugal, Gianluigi Buffon of Italy, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben of the unfortunate Dutchmen and Semih Senturk of Turkey did pretty well while it lasted.

And apart from Spain, a host of countries played exciting football such as Holland, Croatia and Russia at times but Turkey really held everyone spellbound and it was not because they played such attractive football.

The Turks infact were responsible for those moments in teh Championship when you found yourself holding your chest to check if your heart is actually still beating after what you just witnessed.

Funny enough, it was only against Portugal in their opening group match that they failed to do what brought them the title of Comeback Kings by scoring when they enjoyed to, in the dying moments of their matches.

First it was Arda Turan's 92nd minute winner that completed a comeback win to knock out co-hosts Switzerland, followed by; in my view the best goal of the Championship from Nihat Kahveci in the 89th minute which completed a stunning comeback from 2-0 down against the czech Republic.

The peak of the bunch however came in the quarterfinal against Croatia who looked certain to go through after scoring in the 119th minute of extra time but Semih Senturk blasted home with the last kick of that match which Turkey won on penalties.

Germany however administered a full dose of the Turkish pill to the Turks in the semi-final with a 90th minute winner from Philip Lahm after Senturk looked to have earned extra time for Turkey with an 86th minute equaliser.

Too bad their last minute magic opium ran out four minutes early but at least they fared better than a few other countries who without mincing words wasted their time coming for the Euros.

Top of the flops without a doubt are the French and their array from misassembled stars who were uninspired in all their group matches, quite the opposite of what was expected from the likes of Thierry Henry and Les Blues.

Italy may have reached the quarterfinal but they only just made it thanks to some help from the Dutch and goalkeeper Buffon who made some of the best saves of the Championship in the group stages.

The Azurri however lacked the steel they are known for and in a way were not just in the mood for Euro 2008 like they were at the 2006 World Cup, just like the French.

In the end, the European Championship lived up and probably exceeded the expectations of all and had all the elements that make football the beautiful game, capped by the peoples choice, mostly based on sentiment, winning the Championship...viva l'Espana

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