The general sentiments in the English media days ahead of the tournament has been either going for Holland, Spain, Poland (mainly because of the large number of Poles who came to the UK for work since their country became part of the European Union). Germany is for those who dare to stick their necks out in support of their arch-rivals. Holland's brand of football is a well-known fact.
Spain? My theory is that given it has the dubious honour of being called the underachievers as it's puzzling with the national team blessed with talent and promise always fail to shine on the major stages (the only major honour to date is the 1964 European Championships being held at their own backyard). Something maybe the English can identify with given the current state in the England national team. Alright, I have to admit as a Germany supporter, Spain has always been my sentimental favourite for the title. Seriously, it's about time.
What is for sure is that Spain coach Luis Aragones is already like among the oldest national coaches in this tournament. And his counterpart Guus Hiddink has been already reowned in international football even before the Dutchman becomes Russia's first-ever foreign coach to date. Working wonders with South Korea and Australia in the past, it's Russia now. Russia is on a resurgence under Hiddink and someone by the name of Roman Pavlyuchenko needs to rediscover the form where he scored the eventual goals which became a turning point in England not qualifying for Euro 2008 when the two met in the group qualifiers in Moscow.
What is interesting ahead of the tournament (of an analogy) that Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas has insisted that they are not a collection of individuals like their star tennis player Rafael Nadal but instead a finely honed team. Nadal just beat Swiss tennis star Roger Ferderer in the French Open over the weekened, again (and winning it for the fourth time in a row too). And Russia coach Guus Hiddink has turned the heat on Spain by saying they are the clear favourites in this tournament.
On the team-news front now. Bad news with key players like playmaker Andrei Arshavin and striker Pavel Pogrebnyak out for this match. The former case is because of earning a red card during the qualifying stages and this will be one of the three matches being suspended for the playmaker. If not, he and Pogrebynak were actually among the outstanding ones during Zenit St. Petersburg's UEFA Cup triumph over Rangers. In the Spain's corner, Fernando Torres and David Villa are fit for the match.
As someone who also watches the Premier League (though her club is not Liverpool), Fernando Torres is definitely one I am looking to see shining on the international stage. He might had been a star at his hometown club Atletico Madrid before heading to Liverpool and always scoring for Liverpool half the time, this is his time.
If Spain want to remove their underachievers tag for real, then the match against Russia will be the one to get it going.
