I was very sad to see Italy lose in the Euro 2012 final. After the turnaround that Cesare Prandelli has made to the national team and the way they played throughout the tournament, I felt they deserved to win it. But the performance in the final was something that will be hard to forget, and clearly not in a good way.
The Italian team looked knackered. It was clearly evident the way Giorgio Chiellini only lasted just over 20 minutes, that the players were suffering burnout. It was even worse for Thiago Motta who only lasted a mere five minutes, when he suffered a hamstring injury. Thus leaving Italy with only 10 men for the last half hour. It was so hard watching the way Spain tore the Italians apart. With just 10 men left, you knew Spain would take advantage and they did. The substitutions that Del Bosque made were perfectly timed. He could sense the Italian legs were tiring, and then on comes Fernando Torres, ready to inflict more damage on an already defeated Italy. I still think Spain should have played with a striker right from the beginning of the tournament, it almost feels like Spain manager Vincente Del Bosque was just testing different formulas, that's how confident he felt. Apart from the final, Spain were just grinding out there results. They were fortunate to beat Croatia, beat an over hyped France side and only just overcame Portugal on penalties. Maybe if they had played a striker in these matches, they may have won these fixtures a lot more comfortably. But who am I to judge? They did what they came to do, and that was to win the tournament, striker or not.
It was nice to see Italy prove the critics wrong and beat Germany though, for me that was the highlight of the tournament. I was very critical of Mario Balotelli in the group stages. I feel had he converted the chances he had in the opening group game against Spain, things may have turned out differently. But his desire to win the ball and the passion he showed at the end of the final, clearly shows that he will be one of Italy's future stars. It was also great to see one of Italy's veterans, Andrea Pirlo make a large impact at the tournament. His playmaking abilities are incredible, and if it wasn't for him, I very much doubt Italy would have made it into the final. This is someone who rightly deserves the title of game changer, not someone like Steven Gerrard.
There are two things though that really annoy me about the media.
1. Pirlo has always been a brilliant player, not just against England. He's one of the reasons why Milan have been so successful and why Italy won the World Cup in 2006. Had he not have been injured during the World Cup in 2010, things may have turned out very differently.
2. All the pundits keep pronouncing his name as "Pur low. It's not, it's "Peer low".
Enough of that rant. So yes, Pirlo controlled the game against both England and Germany. But fell short in the final. Why? Well Spain simply did what Germany should have done, man-mark Pirlo. Every time he had the ball, you could see the Spanish players pressing him and there was nothing he could do, other than pass backwards, something that Spain do effectively anyway. I think this shows that Italy rely to much on their talisman, and whether Pirlo decides to retire from International football or not, they are most likely going to have to change their game plan again. Otherwise I expect them not to cause much damage in World Cup 2014. Spain on the otherhand have a squad who are more than capable of retaining the next World Cup, the young players they have coming through the ranks, such as Jordi Alba and Jesus Navas shows that even when the likes of Xavi and Iniesta eventually retire, Spain will still be formidable opponents.
With Euro 2012 at an end, it's fair to say it was a very entertaining tournament and through the grit of my teeth I guess the most CONSISTENT team won. Conceding one goal is an achievement itself and shows that Spain have all areas of the game fully covered. I feel Italy were hard done by, had Portugal prevailed in the penalty shootout, the Azzurri would have won this and it's a shame because they were entertaining to watch and thoroughly deserved to win after the shambolic performance in 2010. But as things stand Spain reign supreme and until 2014, will be rightly regarded as the best team in the world.
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