Good afternoon everybody. Today’s the day we have been waiting a month for. The European Championship final between Spain and Germany (2:45, ABC).
In one corner you have Germany, the pre-tournament favorites who have looked very strong in the knockout rounds after a less than stellar group stage showing. In the other corner is Spain, which is unbeaten in the tournament and stands poised to erase decades of tournament futility.
The big story heading into the match is Michael Ballack’s availability. To the surprise of nobody, Ballack is going to start today. Spain is not as lucky and will not have tournament goal-scoring leader David Villa, who is out with a leg injury. As expected, Cesc Fabregas has replayed Villa in Spain’s starting lineup.
If you will be watching today’s final (and who isn’t?) please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions and some play-by-play in the comments section below.
Enjoy the match.
81st minute- Senna just keeps dribbling into the box, passes off, and eventually end up in front of goal with a chance to end the game, but he swung under it. All Senna needed to do was put any kind of touch on it and it was in!
80th minute- Lehman has the ball hit his hand just inches from the penalty area on a long ball, but the linesman missed it.
79th minute- Gomez on for Klose. Both teams have used all 3 subs.
78th minute- Substitution for Spain, it’s the goal scorer Torres out for Guiza.
14 minutes left, Germany have got to use their 3rd sub and soon.
76th minute- Torres was 1 v 1, took a touch around the defender but too much on it, and it went right to Lehman. If he hits it softer, it’s 2-0 Spain and game over.
Andy Gray: ‘I don’t want to criticize the referee’. That may be the funniest thing I’ve heard today.
I wish Andy Gray would lay off Ballack. Can you tell he has something against him? lol.
I really wish Loew wouldn’t keep such loyalty with Klose. Does everyone realize Gomez was as bad as he was because he had to work with Klose as the primary power forward?
70th minute- Soft free kick, and Jansen just runs into Ramos and gets the call. It’s on the left side of the field, a couple of yards away from the penalty area.
Frings put a ball in that Casillas punched away strongly.
67th minute- Sergio Ramos nearly heads home a ball from a free kick. Ramos was wide open, but couldn’t put it in.
Then Spain play a corner short, and nearly put in a shot on the near post!!
69th minute- Then Iniesta hesitates about 3 yards from goal before shooting straight at Lehman!! It was a poor angle to be fair.
Spain has had 3 great chances to score.
66th minute- Silva is off for Cazorla.
65th minute- Germany wants Silva sent off for a confrontation with a German player (I think Podolski), which would have been one of the softest sendings off I could remember.
62nd minute- Schweinsteiger jukes Capdevilla, before sending a cross in from the right that just misses Ballack.
63rd minute- Schweinsteiger shoots from near the top of the area, and it deflected off of Klose and out.
Fabregas is off for Xabi Alonso.
60th minute- Schweinsteiger with a great touch back to Ballack in the middle of the penalty area, who blasted a shot that went just wide!
Then moments later a close, but correct offside decision against Germany.
59th minute- Ramos plays a dangerous ball in from the right edge of the penalty area, but no one got on the end of it. Spain has looked more likely to score again than Germany scoring.
Spain is going to get another goal, just wave after wave of attack with helpless German defenders just doing damage control.
58th minute- Hitzlsperger coming off for Kuranyi
56th minute- Torres nearly scored a 2nd goal, getting behind his defender again, but Lehman just beats him to the ball.
53rd minute- Torres, from the right side of the penalty area, lays the ball back to Xavi, who takes a shot that went wide of the net. Lehman apparently got a touch on it, which gave Spain a corner.
Spain get another chance on the corner, with Ramos possibly deflecting a shot wide of goal rather than on goal.
51st minute- Germany with much of the posession so far in the 2nd half. The fact that it’s been a dull first few minutes to start the 2nd half is no coincidence.
Finally somebody got in touch with the local ABC affiliate and got them to move the weather report box from the bottom left corner to top right. I can live with that, bottom left was the worst possible spot it could be in, especially since South Mississippi, South Alabama and West Florida is a huge viewing area, like 40 counties, the map takes the entire corner. Now if they can manage not to break in with a live weather update between minutes 30-37 again I’ll be happier.
46th minute- Jansen for Lahm is the substitution.
Does anyone know why Casillas got a yellow card?
HALF TIME
1-0 Spain.
Yes, he said 2-1 Spain.
45th minute- Iniesta on the left side of th box looking to send a ball into the middle, but a German defender gets in front of both attempts to do so.
Do we know Ives’ personal prediction on this game?
43rd minute- Casillas and Ballack both booked. Ballack should have been booked moments before, but they probably both got booked for dissent.
41st minute- Germany have had a couple of set pieces in the last couple of minutes, but Spain have done very well to make sure there have been no dangerous chances from them.
40th minute- Germany gifted a free kick on the right flank.
The ref has sent Ballack back 2 times because of blood still on his face, but he is allowed back in.
I have to miss 7 minutes of live action to hear some bozo drone on about thunderstorms, not even tornadic action. It could have waited till halftime, but they don’t care.
37th minute- Ballack is off with a cut he got from a collision with Senna.
Germany with a free kick on the left side of the field, about 20 yards from the penalty area. Schweinsteiger with a rare poor ball in from a free kick.
Torres “gifted” a goal? Are we watching the same game? Pure skill and determination.
Speed of Lahm which was so incredible last game just couldnt contest the strength of Torres on that one. Good chip though
Anyone else underwhelmed by David Silva’s play during this tournament? He’s had some good moments, but he generally seems out of place.
Fernando Torres was gifted a goal on that play. Torres beat Lahm to a ball he clearly should have gotten, and then Torres slotted the ball past Lehman, who was coming out.
A good buildup beforehand, and a good pass by Xavi in particular.
1-0 Spain.
I wish my station could manage to get rid of the weather map in the corner which is taking up like 1/4 of the screen. They are mere thunderstorms, not a hurricane.
33rd minute- GOAL SPAIN!!!!
31st minute- Fabregas hits a shot from just outside the box, which Lehman saves easily.
Spain has fallen in love with hitting shots from distance the past couple of games instead of looking for a better opportunity, which they haven’t done as much of so far.
Mertesacker with great 1 v 1 defending against Torres in the penalty area. Metzelder got caught up field on that one.
25th minute- A header comes to Ballack who is in the center of the penalty area, and he hits it while it is still in the air, stopped by a leaping Sergio Ramos, whose head the ball hit off of.
On the way back, a German defender made a saving poke back to the keeper to keep Torres from a free run at goal.
23rd minute- Sergio Ramos plays in a great cross from the right edge of the box, and Torres with a great header that hits off the post!!!
18th minute- Torres got a ball in ahead of the defense, but a bad touch allowed the defender to catch up and disposess him.
17th minute- Free kick from distance, just left of the goal for Spain.
The ball was overhit, and Lehman collected it on a bounce.
15th minute- Spain with a great bit of posession. Xavi gives a ball to Iniesta, who passes the ball back to the middle, which results in a shot that Lehman does well to save.
12th minute- Spain has controlled posession, which is no surprise, but Germany has had the best chance.
9th minute- Hitzlsperger hits a long shot that is saved easily by Casillas.
7th minute- Ballack just got around Puyol like he was a traffic cone, and sent in a cross that the Spanish defense did well to knock away.
3rd minute- Sergio Ramos gives away the ball in the back with a terrible touch, and Klose comes through but can’t finish the chance. Poorly done by Ramos and Klose
4th minute- Torres just offsides on a ball played in long.
Starting Line-ups
——————
Germany:
Lehmann, Friedrich, Metzelder, Mertesacker, Lahm, Hitzlsperger, Frings, Podolski, Ballack, Schweinsteiger, Klose.
Spain:
Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Puyol, Marchena, Capdevila, Senna, Iniesta, Fabregas, Xavi, Silva, Torres.
COME ON SPAIN!!! EL NINO