Or not. Anyway, that is Ace’s excuse for not manning up and taking Group D, so I’ve assumed responsibility. After this hopefully we’ll shit out a quarterfinal post by week’s end and we can wrap this shit up. Group D contains Spain, Russia, Sweeden, and Greece. Without further ado, the ladies:
Spain:
Russia:
Sweeden:
Greece:
And the table:
Spain
Sweden
Russia
Greece
And there ya go. Thankfully, the quarterfinals are going to be taken care of in one post, so we are almost through with this shit. The quarters will match up like this: Switzerland v Germany, Turkey v Croatia, Italy v Sweden, Spain v Romainia.
Also, on a spur of the moment decision the roster of writers for GetBoofed will be growing to four, so be on the lookout for that.
…because I’m leaving the window open for some EuroGirls posts.
BV put me on the spot for a more in depth Euro final post earlier, but really, what can one say? The forearm tat loving Spanish were simply better than the Germans, themselves afficianados of bad dye-jobs. To quote the mighty Cardillo over at Deadspin:
When a team plays six games and wins six games, outscoring them 12-3 and playing an attractive brand of soccer, there’s not a whole lot to breakdown. Again, so many times moments of lunacy, or mistakes, or referees whistles determine big matches in world soccer. If one side is simply better – Germany couldn’t even get the ball in the dying minutes thanks to the pressure of Xavi, Senna, Carzola, Güiza, etc. in their own half – it’s almost as much call for celebration.
Spain absolutely fucking dominated. The game could have just as easily been 3-0. Germany played with the same flaws that they had been all tournament (ie: an overreliance on set pieces, a lack of form at the front, and an uncanny resemblence to the Dutch while playing Russia in their lack of desire to move away from the ball/generally maintain possession), though the Spain were the first second team to convert those flaws into a German loss.
The only difficult question surrounding the match was who the man of the match for Spain was. Torres and Sergio Ramos seemed the early clear cut choices for me, but as the game went on it became clear that Marcos Senna insisted on giving Germany fits throughout the second half. He was a major reason the Germans didn’t mount more of a comeback effort than they did. Really, you could have any of the three for MOTM and not be wrong. I think we all know who Spain’s Queen Sofia would vote for though….
Oh yeah, another thing? 5 of Spain’s 10 starters in the field are under 25 years old. There were 12 total <25 players on the squad this summer. I guess what I’m saying is keep your eyes open for a Spain/Argentina final in South Africa as Spain due to get better for the next couple years.
Some things I was right about in my terribly inadequate Euro “preview”:
Six of the eight quarterfinalists.
The Dutch winning their group — and their generally having a team that had the ability to do some damage.
Some things I was wrong about:
Fabregas making this his tournament, since his manager refuses to start him. (Thought he did score the clinching goal in the Spain/Italy shootout.)
Worrying about the French’s younger generation. Manager Raymond Domenech is terrible. I mean, I’m no tactician, but his starting selections across the board seemed akin to Van Basten benching the likes of Sneijder, VanderVaart, and Robben in favor of Davids, Cocu, and Kluivert. For those of you who don’t know who the hell I’m talking about, the French basically trotted out the team that won the 2000 European championship. Eight soccer years is a really, really long time.
Christiano Ronaldo doing anything of note. Well, I suppose he did have one of the harsher injuries of the tournament. Yep. Here it is. I mean, how can you blame him for being so ineffective against Germany with that terrible injury to deal with?
Anyway, we’re down to four teams. The Spain/Russia matchup should be a watchable, fast-paced affair. Russia will likely try to defensively play Spain similar to the Italians, but the Russians will be sure to throw more men forward. Also, the Russian’s lack of size should open things up some more for Spain’s offense. If Aragones starts Cesc Fabregas on the bench again I am going to shit.
Turkey’s comebacks and last minute insanity have been one of the more improbable displays in all of sport in recent memory, but they can’t possibly compete with Germany as the Turks are going to missing a shit ton of players due to injury/suspension (six regulars, to be exact), can they? I mean, Turkey might be forced to play their backup to the backup goalie in the field.
Anyway, my prediction is worth fuck all but if you’re wondering (you aren’t) I’m taking Germany over Russia in the final. I’m typically hesitant to jump on bandwagons of teams like Russia at this point, but it’s hard for me to imagine Spain beating them for the second time in a couple weeks. However, I would like to see Spain win it, though. Fernando Torres is just so pretty. Wait, what?
So yeah. Just a few more matches until the Andrei Arshavin bidding war can begin. Don’t worry, if Arshavin can’t be had by your team, Schweinsteiger, Podolski, and David Villa look to be on the move as well.
Anyway, most of the reason why I made another soccer post is so that I can post a picture of this unnamed Italian fan. As much as I hate the Italian soccer team, wow, just, ok, I’m going now.
