Spain 1-0 Germany

Strangely enough, my initial prediction was pretty close to perfect: I like Spain over Germany in the final on Sunday. Turkey exposed Germany's shaky defending (Lahm got burned badly on numerous occasions) and Spain has far more weapons at their disposal than Turkey did. I like Spain to keep pushing forward, beware the German counter attack and salt this game away throughout the second half.) That's not a bad description of the game. Spain controlled the ball throughout the first half and finally broke through in the 33rd minute. In the second half, Germany never established any offense. Even in the last 10-15 minutes when big time games sometimes break down into crazy attacking free-for-alls, Germany just couldn't maintain control of the ball.

No one in the German line-up stood out at all in the final game. Ballack disappeared for long stretches of time and probably should've gotten more than the single yellow card he got for arguing in the 2nd half. Schweinsteiger's crosses lacked touch, Klose couldn't get to the ball, Podolski was negligible on the wing, Hitzlsperger was disappointing throughout the tournament, and Fritz, Mertesecker and Metzelder were hacks in the back--that German D was ineffective to the extreme. I've never seen a German line-up so punchless, so non-threatening and with such hack-y play. Still, a sub-par German squad got to the finals and held a strong Spanish side to a single goal.

Spain only had a few strong scoring opportunities but held possession for days at a time. Torres was too much for the Germans (probably too unselfish for his own good), Iniesta was constantly attacking, Senna's energy spoiled the German's last chances, Sergio Ramos was a rock in the back and even pushed forward well. Spain was solid from beginning to end only the 2nd Euro champion that won every game (France, 1984 was the other). Killer final, an intense and gripping match.