HEROES
Jordi
Alba – The Valencia left back certainly wasn’t the most illustrious name on the
Spanish team sheet before the tournament began, but he’s finished it as one of
the players of the summer. His goal in the final was superbly taken, racing
onto a through ball despite having six Italians surrounding him. He’s now
sealed a move from Valencia to Barcelona for a bargain £11 million, so expect
to hear plenty more of Alba’s name in the coming months. One of the stars of
Euro 2012.
Tiki-Taka
– Boring? Pull the other one. Spain’s style of play had attracted criticism
before the final as many people decided the Spaniards were simply too dominant
to play beautiful football anymore. Del Bosque’s men utterly destroyed that
concept in the final and the merits of tiki-taka were there for all to see as
the midfield maestros in the Spanish line-up pulled their opponents all over
the park. Everyone else needs to catch up and fast.
Xavi
and Iniesta – Simply brilliant in everything they do. Messi and Ronaldo may
steal all the plaudits when it comes to the best player in the world tag, but
take these two out of either Spain or Barcelona’s side and there simply
wouldn’t be a team. They’re that good. Xavi provided a number of assists in the
final, while Iniesta picked up the player of the tournament award after bossing
Andrea Pirlo out of the final. Majestic.
Cesare
Prandelli – Ok, his side got beaten 4-0 on the night and were completely played
off the park, but credit has to go to the manager who’s done a wonderful job
this tournament. No one expected Italy to get this far, but Prandelli rallied
his troops after a difficult build-up that featured a hammering by Russia and
match-fixing allegations. His dignity after the final whistle along with skipper
Gianluigi Buffon was commendable and it’s a lesson that Mario Balotelli could
do with learning.
Kiev
– All the pre-tournament talk was of racism and vicious gangs that kept
supporters away but these fears were fortunately never realised. Both Poland and
Ukraine staged a memorable tournament, one of the more entertaining
international competitions we’ve seen for a while. And Kiev’s hosting of the
final was simply sensational as everything ran smoothly from the kickoff
countdown to the spectacular fireworks at the end. Round of applause necessary.
ZEROS
Injuries
– The Azzurri must be cursing those damn injuries that essentially ruined any
chance they had of winning the game. If losing Giorgio Chiellini early on
wasn’t bad enough, Thiago Motta’s second half demise reduced Italy to ten men,
allowing Spain to simply rip them apart across the midfield. Bad luck is one
thing you just cannot afford if you want to beat the Spanish.
The
Italian defence – The back four that looked so assured against the Germans in
the semi final and that defended terrifically in the opening game against Spain
simply fell apart. They had plenty of men back to deal with Jordi Alba’s second
goal, but nobody picked his run or that of Cesc Fabregas for the opener.
Whether it was fatigue or just the size of the occasion, the Azzurri back four
never turned up.
Spanish
strength in depth – It’s an absolute killer that Spain can bring a player of
Juan Mata’s calibre on with just three minutes remaining so he can score with
his first touch of the tournament. Mata would walk into most other
international teams as would forward Fernando Llorente who didn’t kick a ball
all competition either. Iker Casillas says this is only the beginning for
Spanish football and looking at some of the youngsters coming through like
Bilbao’s Iker Muniain or Barca’s Thiago Alcântara, you have say he’s right.
Scary prospect for world football and a highly annoying one as well.
Mario
Balotelli – It just wasn’t the Manchester City man’s night up top, especially
having to chase shadows for almost the whole 90 minutes. Unfortunately the
petulance was there for all to see again. A couple of times during the game he
looked like lashing out and when the final whistle went, he stormed off down
the tunnel in a fit of rage. To his credit, he reappeared for the presentation
in a flood of tears, but he needs to learn to control his emotions. No one else
in the losing team behaved like that.
Riccardo
Montolivo – He’s had a wonderful tournament, the highlight being his through
ball for Balotelli’s second in the semi final, but Montolivo simply didn’t turn
up in Kiev when the Italians needed him most. With Spain deploying those six
midfielders once again, Montolivo needed to step up to take the pressure off
Andrea Pirlo who found himself surrounded by a wave of red every time he
stepped foot in the opposition half, but he didn’t and Prandelli replaced him
early in the second half. He can still be proud of his performances during the
rest of Euro 2012 though.
Read
Euro 2012: Heroes and Zeros of the
Semifinals: http://goo.gl/z3qa7
Read
Euro 2012: Heroes and Zeros of the
Quarter-finals: http://goo.gl/HCDEj
Read
Euro 2012: Heroes and Zeros of Round 3:
http://goo.gl/xtaI5
Read
Euro 2012: Heroes and Zeros of Round 2:
http://goo.gl/w1uYa
Read
Euro 2012: Heroes and Zeros of Round 1: http://goo.gl/cGz1O
By The Coin Toss
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