Welcome to my blog. Sit down and have a drink. So it's pretty obvious what the lead story is today. By the way if gambling were legal (it's not) and I was a betting man (I'm not) I would have bet on Spain and Portugal (I didn't) and I would have won (I didn't) and I would have to figure out what kind of Dutch jersey I wanted (I'm not leaning towards powder blue).
If he was coaching Spain after the tournament do you think they still would have lifted him lack that? Spain defeated Germany 1-0. They really looked much the better side. Apparently I write British. If Torres had been in his Prem form the game would have been over in the first half. The Germans didn't look great in this tournament, but you have to give them credit for finding ways to win. It's a credit to their system.So here's my two pence for team of the tournament. I'm going with a 4-5-1.
Starting XI
GK- Saint Iker it is. Buffon was good, but Casillas had three clean sheets and two pk saves in the knockout round. He was great at handling crosses and corners to keep the German aerial threat at bay.
LB- There were a lot of great left backs in this tournament; Rat, Van Bronckhorst, Lahm. However Yuri Zhirkov gets my vote. He was phenomenal in the Sweden and Holland games. His disappearance in the Spain game helped explain their loss.
CB- One of the shocks of the tournament was Romania, they held the World Cup Finalists to one goal. A large part of that was Daniel Goian. His two yellow cards(absurd rule) meant he couldn't participate in their game against the Dutch. They lost.
CB- Ricardo Carvalho didn't get a lot of attention, but that's usually a good sign for a center back. He was a ferocious tackler on a not so tough Portugues side, and you have to wonder where Portugal would be if he had marked Ballack on that corner.
RB- He may play center back for his club, but Sergio Ramos was born to play on the wing. He spent more time in the opponents half than his own. This tournament it worked out well and he created a lot of chances and kept the other teams on defense.
DM- De Rossi played well once Donadoni switched to a Roma midfield, but this is Marcos Senna's position. He held together the Spanish midfield and we may soon call the Makelele holding role the Senna holding role.
LM- The Germans had a shortage of goals, but not because of Lukas Podolski. He really played as more of a deep striker and looked more comfortable with Klose than Gomez did. He has a rocket of a left foot though tracking back he looks more likely to get injured than win the ball.
RM- This may not have been Wesley Sneijder's position, but since when did the Dutch have official positions. He is the maestro of the Dutch team, and once he started shooting against the Russians it looked like they might get back in it.
CM- This position got a lot of attention because of how much time the ball spent in the center of the pitch. Luka Modric was incredible, the ball seemed glued to his feet and he could also put in a tough tackle. That first pk miss hurt though.
AM- He has a habit of losing in finals, but Ballack never goes home easy. You could tell he wasn't one hundred percent on Sunday, but his crunching tackles kept the score close. When Loew put him in a more forward position is when the Germans started winning.
Striker- Tough decision because the top strikers really didn't come through. In the end I think Torres deserves the nod. He scored the goal that won the tournament, and it was his work that got Villa all those goals.
Subs- My subs are actually subs. Xabi Alonso is a great defensive midfielder who made sure the Spanish never gave up a lead. When Arjen Robben is healthy he is one of the best offensive players in the world. When he is healthy. Cesc Fabregas can go forward, he can control a game and can put in a tackle or two. The final penalty he put in against the Italians was probably the most important moment of the tournament
My alternative XI would be Turkey. Except it would have to be my XXIII because it seemed like you could put any Turkish player on the field and they still found ways to win. I've never seen any team like that, and when they equaled against the Germans I thought they were going to do it again.
Massive first post I know. Next up is the club world, and trying to figure out the transfer market and where everyone is going.
