When the ball is at your feet, when you are making a run for a through ball, the few seconds before you take a free kick, when you've got passed the last defender...... the only thing you'd feel is your heart beat.
"Soccer is simple, but it is difficult to play simple", said a former dutch footballer, Johan Cruiff.
The World Champions, Euro Winners and all the big names in a side did not ensure that a team automatically became the winners this year too. The match against Portugal showed how close any team was from the winning team especially when the game remained deadlocked even after a couple of hours play.
That day it seems to me that the critics were right about the "Tiki Taka", it made me think if the best team in the world was past its best on the field. I always believed that Spain had more stars in a team than any other team in the world that I have seen. (The only exception in club football, thanks to Real Madrid). But all these stars could not compensate for an in form striker. Torres on his day would run past any team, but thanks to the amazingly dull club season and ill luck if you'd like to call it that way, he looked nothing close to his real self leaving Fabregas to lead upfront with support from Iniesta and Silva on the wings.
The Germans on the other hand looked like a team that would go all the distance, a classic reminder that looks can be deceptive came in the form of a focused Italian team which had a quirky striker who added insult to injury scoring twice against the folks who owned the auto ban. A seasoned warrior with a big heart named Pirlo on his part lifted his game each time it was required and saw his team into the finals.
The Italians looked more indulged in their national anthem, they looked like a team that was there to upset the big names in their opposition. And the hotdog-hair styled striker looked eager to stamp his presence like he did against the Germans and at Manchester City, which ensured that their neighbors were stripped off their pride in public last season.
The game opened with the Italians keeping much of the possession, something you'd never witness in a Spanish encounter. And then before anyone could sink into the game on the 14th minute of play, the speedy Cesc Fabregas had ran past the Azzurri defenders and almost past the corner line before clipping off a stunning pass right onto Silva's head who made no mistake to deposit the pass deep into the net leaving no chance for Buffon. A stunning surprise!!! The Spaniards had not lost the previous 70 encounters when they scored first.
The second sting came just before half time, an ambitious run by Jordi Alba, a perfect through pass by Xavi and a delicate touch by Jordi got them an insurance policy to hang on to victory in the game.
At half time, both teams had 8 shots each, 3 on target each, just about 50% possession and approximately 85% pass completion. The stats looked similar except for the fact that the number of goals was different.
The second half was power packed, like hunters on the prowl, hungry for more, both teams looked to attack. The Spanish looked a lot more in control while the Azzurri's relied on long range shooting. With each passing minute the chances of winning diminished for the blues, the reds on the other hand grew in confidence, their passing improved, the fluid play spread out and Casillas continued to prove that he was the best with some decent saves.
I guess an hour and 15 minutes was what Vincente Del Bosque had promised Fabregas in the finals, he brought in Torres for the rest of the 15 minutes. The strategic change paid dividends when Torres took off to a well timed run to complete the third for Spain and seal the chances off with just under 10 minutes of play left. If one was not enough to ensure the result, Torres setup the next one for Mata who ran in unmarked to flick an easy one into an open post to call it a day for the Italian and the Euro 2012 finals.
History was written on this day at Kyiv.
• 1920 was the last time Spain defeated Italy.
• The first European side to win three consecutive major tournaments.
• Spain joins Germany, the only other team to win 3 Euros.
• Iker Casillas equals Van De Saar's 9 clean sheets at the Euros.
"Tiki-Taka" continued right into the Italian nets to prove that the best were still "The Best". They made hearts stop, gifted heartaches and I’m sure they even broke a few of them. At the end of the day, they listened to their heartbeat, lived up to their billing and proved that they were the best team, hopefully ever!
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