The tournament, the party may have ended in both Austria and Switzerland but, what has happened to the two finalists after they got home, more reactions and what does Europe's governing football body UEFA has to say of the tournament. Good grief, I still can't believe it's all over.
The victorious Spanish national team returned home to a victory parade in an open-top bus in the capital of Madrid. Well, as they say in Spanish - "Si, si, si la copa ya esta aqui!" (yes, yes, the cup is now here!). Of course it's a pity that coach Luis Aragones said that no matter what happens to the squad in the tournament, he will step down at the end of it. Other than the usual chants, the crowd in Madrid also chanted "Luis quedate!" (Luis stay). The photos of the celebrations in Madrid. To imagine almost two years ago, Spanish football was in the doldrums when they lost to Northern Ireland in the qualifiers and people were calling for Aragones to go. And the fact that he never picked the nation's darling Real Madrid's Raul to the tournament, it didn't make him popular as well. The old man has suffered a lot.
Aragones, the man who is fit enough to be the grandfather of just about everyone on the squad. Reports surfaced some time back way before the tournament that former Real Madrid coach Vincente del Bosque will be the new man at the helm and if it's true, he definitely has 'big boots' (Luis Aragones's nickname as a player) to fill.
The report about Spain's current No. 1 tennis player Rafael Nadal (the man from Mallorca is a Real Madrid fan) resisted the temptation to crack open the champagne (he will only do that, if he finally wins the Wimbledon which has been dominated by Switzerland's Roger Federer in recent years) came out before he beat Mikhail Youzhny yesterday. I should know, my father and I watched part of the match last night on Star Sports. Still worthy of posting here given he's a football fan as well. Back in Liverpool, the club's Spanish coach Rafael Benitez yesterday spoke of his pride of Fernando Torres's winning goal which gave Spain their first major honour in 44 years. Rafa's star signing...has paid dividends on the night it mattered in Vienna.
I think my father was just cynical last night as I was flipping through the Teletext. Being one happy man that the team he rooted for won, he almost laughed when he saw this headline - We will beat Spain next time, Loew says. My brother was also nearby and living in a family where you are sort of ridiculed if you support Germany (I get that 'treatment' especially from my father and brother who also watch football...but then again, life hasn't been treating me fairly all the time), I tried not to raise my voice at the two men in the house (yes, I am still feeling the pain of Germany falling at the final hurdle then). Only replying to my brother in Mandarin (the meaning in English here) - 'One person taking a jibe at me is enough already...'. Which is why of what I said in the opening paragraph in the previous post - I can't stand the look on my father's face after the final whistle has been blown. But then again, his prediction went right this time. I will have to learn to deal with it for probably the rest of my life if he ever reminds me that Spain won Euro 2008.
In regards to what Germany coach Joachim Loew was saying after he and his side landed in Berlin (the photos), this is what he said - "The Spanish were a very good team all through the championship. We have to recognise their quality ... Should the Spanish come up again in a championship we will beat them,". This is actually the first time he ever encountered Spanish opposition in his former playing (his best-ever international achievement as a player was playing for the Germany U-21s) and current coaching career. He did encountered the English as a coach (the 1997/98 Cup Winners' Cup final against Chelsea when he was still in charge ofVfB Stuttgart, the August 2007 friendly against old rivals England at the Wembley). I purposely raised 'the English' given of the November friendly against the now Fabio Capello's England in Berlin. Well, come next month, a friendly against Belgium and then in September, 2010 World Cup qualifiers time.
Turkey striker and captain Nihat Kahveci could be out for up to four months after undergoing a successful operation on his right thigh that he injured in Turkey's Euro 2008 quarter-final win over Croatia. So maybe its own national team lost to Spain in the final but for German sportswear giant Addidas (which is also a sponsor at the tournament), it scores with both the finalists of the tournament given it also sponsored the Spanish national team as well. Every major tournament, there are always bound to be news surfacing of people gambling illegally on football matches (for the record, it's legal here but you have to make your bets at the legalised gambling outlets) and this time round, more than 1,000 are arrested in Thailand over gambling on Euro 2008 matches (most gambling is outlawed in the country itself).
Alright. More honours roll (given in my previous post, it's only on the winners of the European Championships from the inaugural edition of 1960 up to the present day) but this time with UEFA's Euro 2008 squad and given of Spain's successful run in the tournament, not surprising to see Spanish players in all categories. Spain's Xavi is the UEFA's Player of the Tournament. All in all in the post-Euro 208 press conference yesterday, UEFA hails Spain's open, attacking play. And the tournament was just as successful off the pitch as on it.
Whatever links relating to the tournament I can find all after this paragraph for more reading. I swear I almost roared with laughter in terms of what the UEFA website has collected in terms of interesting quotes from the footballers and the coaches themselves during the tournament (the link is below), especially this - I lost a bottle of wine in a bet with [assistant coach] Hans-Dieter Flick today. I said we wouldn't score from open play. Oh, two bottles of wine ... (Germany coach Joachim Löw drinks in the success over Portugal). From a Germany to a Manchester United supporter mode and what my mind was saying immediately - Paging Sir Alex Ferguson! The Manchester United gaffer always like a bottle of wine and share it with his counterpart on matchdays, even on Champions League matches!
Anyhow to the original quote itself. I only remembered Flick revealed after the match that he had wagered a bet that the national team will score from a set-piece and ended up there are two which happened during the quarter-final match against Portugal itself when the head coach was banned from the dugout (so he has to watch from the executive box as a result). Now the mystery is solved...
Spain's Euro win mirrors sporting success elsewhere (Spain's victory in the final of Euro 2008 means its success at football finally matches those of other sports in which it has excelled.)
Spain bury their demons at glorious Euro 2008 (After just over three weeks of drama, shocks, comebacks and capitulations, Spain emerged triumphant from Euro 2008 to end decades of consistent failure and launch perhaps a new dawn in international football. No longer can the term perrenial underachievers be used to describe that country's football team as 44 years after they last won their continental championship, Spain are sitting pretty on the throne of Europe once again.)
Toni and Gomez head top of the Euro flops (It doesn't say much for the Bundesliga defenders that Luca Toni and Mario Gomez accrued 40 goals between them last season and yet when they got to Euro 2008 their return was - zero. Toni had a pretty thankless task ploughing a lonely furrow up front for world champions Italy, with neither veteran Alessandro del Piero nor Antonio Cassano capable of providing much support - his only moment of note was being brought down by Eric Abidal in their final group match against France leading to a penalty. The poor fellow was so distraught at his predicament that he got in touch with Bayern Munich strike partner Miroslav Klose.)
The best team won (for a change) (Phil Ball celebrates victory for Spain - and for a team which plays the game the right way.)
Putting the myth back to bed (Uli Hesse-Lichtenberger takes Germany's final defeat in philosophical fashion.)
What they said at Euro 2008 (Some of the things they said at Euro 2008)
UEFA EURO 2008™ in quotes (With UEFA EURO 2008™ being rightly hailed as one of the most exciting tournaments of modern times, euro2008.com tells the story of three and a half weeks in Austria and Switzerland in the words of the players and coaches who made the magic.)
