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Tournament favourites Spain have
made it to final albeit on the back of some unconvincing performances and with
manager Vicente del Bosque still unsure of who to play as his “no. 9”. Eyebrows
were raised when he named Alvaro Negredo for the semi-final against Portugal with
Negredo only having played just one minute of Euro 2012 prior. His lack of
playing time with the team showed as he was on a completely different
wavelength to those around him.
Spain went through on penalties
in an uneventful match that only had 2 shots on target during the 90 minutes of
normal time. To Portugal’s credit, they pressured Spain high up the pitch early
on and prevented the Spain imposing their trademark passing and pressing game.
However, as the game wore on, fatigue set in for the Portuguese and Spain got
into their rhythm. There were no goals still and the lottery that is the penalty
shootout went the way of Spain as even Sergio Ramos copied Andrea Pirlo’s ‘Panenka’
style spot-kick.
Italy on the other hand have
performed well above expectations coming into this tournament on the back of
the ‘calcioscommesse' scandal back home affecting their domestic football. Mind
you, I did pick 3 of the 4 eventual semi-finalists in my Euro 2012 preview with
only the Netherlands ruining a clean sweep!
The Italians accounted for Germany,
another tournament favourite, 2-1 thanks to their maverick striker Mario
Balotelli, or Super Mario as his fans refer to him. There is so much publicity
about him on and off the pitch that it is easy to forget that he is only still
21-years old! Here is a player who can infuriate just as much as he can dazzle
you on the pitch. His first goal was a powerful header from 6-yards out having
read the cross from his strike partner Antonio Cassano perfectly and his
second, a powerful strike which swerved away into the top-right corner from
just outside the box after a long ball from Riccardo Montolivo.
In my Euro 2012 preview I raised
the issue of the German defensive frailties in their pre-Euro friendly
internationals and after only conceding 2 goals in the group stage, they
conceded 2 goals in their quarterfinal against a toothless Greek attack (much
like their economy) and then another 2 in this semi-final. Their frailties
finally showed through and without a doubt, both Italian goals were a result of
poor German defending.
That is not to take anything away
from Italy though as they do deserve to be in the final for the way they have
gone about their football. Of the four semi-finalists, they are the only team
that plays with 2 strikers in a 4-4-2 formation and a diamond midfield. All the
others play a 4-2-3-1 formation and deploy one striker, or in Spain’s case,
sometimes a ‘false nine’.
Germany’s Mesut Özil put away a
penalty in the second minute of injury time after a handball by Italy’s Federico
Balzaretti but it was nothing more than a consolation as they ran out of time
to salvage anything from this match. Thus Italy maintained their remarkable
unbeaten record against Germany in tournament football with four wins and four
draws in their eight meetings.
Spain and Italy of course met in
the first group match and that ended 1-all but first matches of a tournament
are generally cagey affairs which mean that it would not be an accurate
indicator. Not only that, but Italy have since disbanded the use of the 3-5-2
formation that was utilised in that match.
Italy’s midfield and strikeforce
will remain unchanged with Balotelli starting again upfront alongside Cassano. Defender
Ignazio Abate, who missed the semi-final with an injury, is likely to be fit in
time for the final while fellow full-back Christian Maggio is also available
after serving a one-match ban. The dangerman though that Spain have to watch
out for is Pirlo who will be pulling all the strings from his deep-lying playmaker
role. He has shown his vision throughout this tournament and set up the opening
goal for Italy against Spain in their first match of Euro 2012.
Spain on the other hand, still need
to work out what to do with their “no. 9” position in their 4-3-3 formation.
Will del Bosque start Fernando Torres? Possibly. Or will Cesc Fabregas start as
the ‘false nine’ especially given he scored the equaliser in their first match
against the Italians? More likely.
Both teams are defensively sound
with Spain only having conceded once all tournament, against Italy mind you,
and Italy conceding three times with the third coming in injury time against
the Germans after the match was pretty much won. The Italians even regained
defender Giorgio Chiellini from injury after it looked like he was going to be
ruled out for the rest of the tournament.
I have said Spain would be in the
final all along and after the Netherlands failed to live up to their hype, Spain
were my choice for the win. However, I do have a nagging feeling that the
Italians might just pull a rabbit out of the hat! In 2006, a pre-tournament
match-fixing scandal stoked Italy's fire to succeed as they won the World Cup
in Germany and the same thing is happening now at Euro 2012! Without a doubt, Spain
will dominate the possession statistics, such is their game of tiki-taka. However, they have been poor
in the attacking department unlike Italy who may well make them pay.
Balotelli could even end up with
the Euro 2012 Golden Boot if he scores and that would only serve to inflate his
ego even more! Currently he is tied on 3 goals along with Portugal’s Cristiano
Ronaldo, Croatia’s Mario Mandzukic, and my picks as tournament joint top
goalscorers, Germany’s Mario Gomez and Russia’s Alan Dzagoev.
Have you ever wondered why
Balotelli hardly smiles or celebrates his goals? Well, this is how he explains
it, "When I score, I don't celebrate because I'm only doing my job. When a
postman delivers letters, does he celebrate?"! Question is, will Italy’s
postman deliver in the final?
