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Spain wins! Spain wins!
June 30, 2008You may remember I predicted Spain would win the 2006 World Cup -- or probably not.
(You may also remember I said I would blog every couple days on Euro 2008, something I failed to do.)
Anyway, soccer fans had to love Spain's 1-0 victory over Germany on Sunday, giving the country its first major title in 44 years.
They were the best team in the tournament. Against Italy, I really hoped they would prevail in penalty kicks because the Italians basically said they were fine with a 0-0 game from the beginning.
That is not the right way to play soccer to me, although it earned Italy the 2006 World Cup.
This tournament was highly enjoyable for many reasons. Turkey had three memorable comebacks (each one was more fascinating than the last), and teams like Spain, Portugal, Holland and Russia were a thrill to watch.
Like I wrote in my column for today, there were more 3-2 scores in this tournament than 0-0 games.
Euro 2008 was something soccer needed. First, ESPN decided to televise every game for the first time, which I am sure made many soccer people (like myself) very happy. And they made sure to air lots of highlights, too.
And then the tournament play, for the most part was brilliant. Lots of goals and dramatic moments. I watched every game (not always live and with the exception of a couple 15-minute breaks here and there) and I never once felt it was a waste of time.
It was a great tournament. Now if only the next World Cup wasn't two full years away.
Posted by at 12:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
