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Euro 2008: Spain ousts Italy (A look back)

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Spain’s curse is over.

You heard over and over about Spain’s history of losing penalty kick shootouts on the date June 22, along with the tradition of falling short in major tournaments. The Spanish national team was able to put that to bed on Sunday after its thrilling penalty shootout victory against Italy in the European Championship quarterfinals. No, Spain still hasn’t lifted the trophy, but getting this far has helped validate a talented team that may now have the confidence to finish the task.

Spain deserved it in every sense of the word. The Spanish attacked more than Italy, created more chances and just looked like the better team for much of the 120 minutes of soccer. Italy defended well and played a physical game, but lacked creativity and failed to generate much offense.

And then there were four. Germany, Turkey, Russia and Spain. It isn’t quite the semifinal group most would have expected, but all four have earned their places. Germany has been resolute, Turkey has been inspiring, Russia has been dynamic and Spain has been quality throughout the tournament.

What did you think of Spain’s victory? Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Il Consigliere,

    At least Spain attempted to play attacking football..

    Posted by: Andy R

    _______________________________________________

    Mr. R,

    The key word is “attempted”. You shouldn’t get credit if your attempt is inept. Spain spent all night trying to beat a 10 man Italian defense by either trying to beat them one on one (as if the Italians were schoolboys) or by shooting from ridiculous ranges. They had no clue as to how to pick apart such a defense. If not for penalties they would still be playing a scoreless tie (especially after taking off Torres, their best attacking player!?).

    Italy came out to try to steal something off a break and then shut down the Spaniards; in fact Casillas had the best save of the night off of Camoranesi, who should have scored. It wasn’t pretty, or pleasant but it was effective. Italy shut down Spain, got a couple of chances and then went to penalties; where it just did not work out. Based on this game, I found both sides equally cynical and I would not have wanted either team to make the final.

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  2. This is why we have draws in soccer; neither team deserved to win. They could have played another 90 minutes and Spain was never going to break down the Italian defense. Buffon was barely active. Italy just did not seem to want to go forward and I have to feel that Pirlo and Gattuso would have made a difference. Regardless, I think Russia takes Spain 1-0.

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  3. Sg, I guess the Italians playing defensively was a strategy to win…on penalties. Thank god it misfired and they are back home now. At least the rest of us can get on with watching some football now.

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  4. the team that deserves to win is the team that actually wins the game. Hence, Spain. If Italy won on penalties, then they should have deserved it. If one team play to win and the other plays defensively, it’s still a strategy to win the game. Just b/c a team has more chances doesn’t mean they deserve sh*t.

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  5. Ives,

    Call a spade a spade. That game was everything bad about the sport. I can’t stand Italian soccer. Every other game they play they pull that crap. Spain at least tried to score although their play in the final third bordered on comical at times. Luckily, Italy was eliminated so we don’t have to be bored to tears by them anymore.

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  6. To the people complaining about Spain not making much of their chances, Italy was playing 10 men behind the ball, no team in the world is going to play pretty or very effective soccer when one team is bunkering for 120 minutes. Spain deserved to win because they were at least trying to open up the game and dominated the Italians from the beginning. The Spain and Russia game will be as good if not better than the Netherlands – Russia game.

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  7. HomeyBoehme I see your point, cohesion is very important as these teams do not play very often. Sometimes it takes some time for national teams to click as they doint play together very often, and it is rare when they use the same lineup.

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  8. I thought the game was riveting, and Spain is now my second favorite team – I love how they play. I reject the idea that Spain dove and otherwise cheated at the level of the Italian MNT. The TV replays showed otherwise. The Italian team is really in a league of their own when it comes to manipulating the ref. Andy Gray and Adrian Healey are the top commentating pair going.

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  9. Germany and Turkey had all to easy routes to get to the Semi’s… the structure/seeding was crap.

    Germany, Croatia, Turkey, Portugal

    With the possible exception of muted Czech Rep. team it took far from a brain surgeon to predict these teams would advance through their groups. I could only see 1-2 making in through the group stage on the other side of the coin.

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  10. @emilio – My point was more that the teams who had to play their starters for all 3 games (Germany, Russia, and Turkey) looked fresher and more cohesive in the quarter-finals than the teams that did not. Spain is the only exception as far as advancing, but they lacked cohesion compared to the first two games as well.

    I don’t really count Italy in there because they had looked awful in all of their games.

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  11. All credit to Spain…they were the more aggressive team and despite their failure to crack the Italian defense, on the whole they deserved to move on. That being said…I feel like there are some broad stereotypes being thrown around. First off, Italy USED to play like this often but has not since before Lippi was the coach. For people to post that they “always” play anti-football is uninformed at best. Watch them play normally and you’ll see pressuring defense with quick transition to the attacking outside backs and service to Toni. Hardly catenaccio folks.

    Second, the absence of Pirlo from this game can not be understated…he is the engine that makes Italy go. His passing in transition and accuracy on set pieces was sorely lacking.

    As for Andy Gray..he, like Tommy Smyth, is a buffoon and a hyprocrite. My favorite from yesterday was his statement that the Italians should have learned their lesson about grabbing in the box from the Romania game. Incredibly, during that game he complained that the grab “was certainly not a penalty.” From now on…I’ll watch EsPN with the sound off.

    The referee was no worse than normal. True, he shouldn’t be telling the Spaniards to kick the ball out, but they shouldn’t have to be told either. Italy kicked the ball out on 2 occassions for a Spanish player. It’s called FAIR PLAY even if you don’t believe the opposition…and as someone else pointed out they (Spanish and Italian) were all faking!

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  12. Coach, it is certainly not just you (or William). Me and all my buddies are sick and tired of Italy’s “win at all costs” flopping, defensive, theatrical style of play. I watched this match at a pub with some Aussies, and they were jazzed to see Italy bomb out of the tourney.

    Spain reminds me alot of Arsenal. Plenty of really nice ball movement but unfortunately frequently not much to show for it. Good to see Fabregas convert the final kick.

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  13. The best thing about this site is that I know it’s not just me; that Italy regularly resorts to “bunkering, diving, whining and theatrics” as William put it.

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  14. I dont think you can say Spain played poorly, Italy is a great defensive team and it isnt easy to score against a team with 10 players behind the ball. Also if a penalty was awarded when it should have it would have changed the game as Italy would have to try to attack a bit, and it would have opened up spaces for Spains quick forwards. Overall Spain dominated the match without scoring a goal.

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  15. well, when i said that Aragones did an awesome job coaching, I meant in his preparation for a potential shootout. Spain did not play well at all, and the game could have went on for days and I don’t think their forwards would have ever scored. As I said, they couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn and would blow it big time once they got to the box.

    However, even though Spain played poorly, Aragones still did a better job coaching than Donadoni. I’m not saying that Aragones had a great game coaching, I merely wanted to point out that Donadoni was obviously not prepared and was afraid to lose. I could sit here and list the many many things that Donadoni did wrong that caused Italy to lose in a shootout, but I really don’t have the time to do that as the list is waaaayy too long.

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  16. In regards to Andy Gray, I was a little disappointed in his getting on Luca Toni and Di Natale for being down, getting play stopped, and then springing back to life. Go back to the first half when David Villa and a second Spaniard (don’t remember his name) went down in the box, did not get the penalty, stayed down, and the Italians played the ball out on both occasions while on the counter attack. Both times, the Spanish players continued without a trainer stepping on the field. Same thing as the Italians, but he didn’t harp on it then. If you are going to get on one team’s players for it, then you have to do it for both…and he did not…(And for the record, none of the players should have been down, and all of them deserved to get blasted for it).

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  17. Guys, football is not a matter of being “sporting” or “decubertainian” when you’re supporting your team. you can watch it from there and not having such feelings. that’right. be here, be italian (or spanyard, or brits etc…) and you don’t care very much on how you win, providing you win. what shall I say? Spain deserved the victory? sure it did.did they play much better than Italy? not so much, just a little. it was an equal match. Buffon had to self-scored to have some real thrill, while Casillas had to save the match twice. That counts, the rest is only a blablabla.

    Then you ask me Italy plaied well? not at all. I’d preferred to see Toni on the bench at the end of first half, I’d preferred to leave Cassano doing what he likes, I did prefer to see so many other things that maybe I could be a better coach than Donadoni…

    Be easy: Italy’s out. No Italy, good party.

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  18. Yes Cassillas is an awesome goalkeeker and Spain has better soccer players than Itally, who played to win and dominated the match, and they didnt win in regulation in large part due to the officiating. So none of those where penalties? You thought Italy was a better team than Spain? This is not about the country your from, be objective and state what you saw out there,ok.

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  19. Karma is a bitch…I can sense all of Australia applauding the Spanish right about now.

    You can only get refs to put you into finals so many times.

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  20. “Now THAT is coaching!!! AWESOME JOB!!!” if the job would have been so awsome, they would have scored 9/10 times, while Spain just demonstrated to be not able to manage the ball. even if they hold it for more than 60% of the game.

    Casillas is an awsome GK, period.

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  21. So happy Italy is FINALLY out of the tournament!!!!

    One thing this tournament has shown is that it DOES NOT PAY to rest your starters (switch out 7-9 of your players) once you have clinched qualification out of the knockout round. Croatia, Netherlands and Portugal lacked the cohesion from their first two games in the quarterfinals.

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  22. hey vipero,

    I guess you are right, Croatia would deserve to be reinstated as much as the Dutch.

    As far as Casillas guessing right each time, he wasn’t guessing at all. He knew exactly where each Italian was going to shoot it. Aragones had the goalkeeping coach study film on each Italian player to know where they shoot their PKs. Here is the quote from Aragones, “The goalkeeping coach studied the videotapes and told Iker Casillas how they would take them. We watched them together and also yesterday we practised three batteries of spot-kicks.”

    Now THAT is coaching!!! AWESOME JOB!!!

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  23. I agree 100% with Willy. Thank you Holland for the way you play football, the correct way. Trying to win with attractive football, the ends do not justify the means and I applaud Holland for playing the way the sport should be played. Not resorting to underhannded tactics and just plain negative football to try to squeak by.

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  24. Willy… take it easy bud. It’s only a game. You could blame Machiavelli if you whish, we just apply his “the aim justifies the means” ;o)

    It’s a game of tactics… Next time ask Van Basten to play, not to coach.

    ciao ciao/Paolo (Rome, Italy)

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  25. I cant believe how some people could say that Italy deserved to win as much as Spain. So anti-football should be rewarded, I think not. Do we want the football the Italians practice to be the football of the world. Just defending and hoping for one mistake from the other team, or winning in the pk lottery. Thats not what this sport needs, it needs skill and playing to win.

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  26. Spain clearly dominated the match out shooting Italy 26 to 12, with 57% of the possession. Its dificult to score when you have 10 men behind the ball, and when the referee doesnt call obvious penaltys. The one on Silva the one on Villa , the one on Sergio Ramos on a free kick, not to mention the two times on corners where an Italian defender held a spanish players. And how can you counterattack, when the ref stops play everytime an Italian player fakes injury. Well deserved, finally the better team won in the penalty kick shootout.

    Spain won yesterday but most importantly Football won yesterday in that the team that went after the victory got what they deserved and the team that was there to not ose got what they deserved, a loss.

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  27. I agree with most everyone here. The game was awful and embarrassing really. I also can;t believe how some are saying Spain deserved to win. Okay, they attacked more but as someone previously said, they didn’t have a lot of great chances and didn’t test Buffon much. Instead, they launched off-target shots from long range and panicked when inside the penalty area. Italy didn’t have as much possession but still had about an equal amount of goal scoring opportunities. Donadoni waited far too long to get Del Piero in the game. I was calling for it right as extra time started. When he came on, I would have taken off Toni, who has been the disappointment of the tournament for me. And why he wasn’t a kick taker, I have no clue. This was just a pitiful game that hopefully people will forget. Let’s hope Russia beat Spain.

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  28. This was definitely a game where the referee asserted himself in a negative way. Forcing teams to play the ball out every time a player picked up a knock (you would assume by now they would know better with the Italians, and even Spanish). Not calling obvious fouls on the Italians, etc.

    How absurd was it that Spain got 3 Yellow Cards, and Italy 1? The way he called that game encouraged Italy to be more physical, and discouraged Spain from attacking. He calls a pk on the obvious foul early in the first, it opens up the scoring, and forces Italy to not try and bleed out a 1-0 win.

    Spain deserved it, no doubt…and that Spain-Russia rematch is sure to be a cracker. Russia just looks like a completely different team with Arshavin in there. Don’t know if that’ll be good enough to make up 3 goals, but we’ll see!

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  29. As sad as I am for the Dutch loss on Saturday, at least I can hold me head high knowing that Holland attacked and looked for goals. Russia played better, exposed our defense and beat us thoroughly. It was a well-desrved win and I now hope that they take the title (although I suspect the Germand will win).

    Italy, on the other hand, once again resorted to its tactics of bunkering, diving, whining and theatrics. Had the game been any longer, they may have won simply by boring Spain to death.

    So, you Italian fans who had so much fun attacking me last week, keep right on at it. Both of our teams are out now. But at least we went out with our heads held high. At least the Dutch understand that it is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.

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  30. Yeah, Andrew…Mr. Gray was ALL wound up about the officiating….rightly. I was wondering if the guy was bought by the Italians (Hey, it wouldn’t be the first time). However, when I got to thinking about it, Spain had so much of the possession that most of the bad calls would seem to be against them.

    Regards,

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  31. yea it wasnt the game i was expecting to see, both were very tenetive. The USA soccer federation needs to fire bb and go after Guus Hidienk after the euros. Hes amazing and would def make the usa better, what does everyone think?

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  32. the best part of this game was Andy Gray’s commentary. That guy’s not afraid to have a go at the referee. Pretty refreshing. Everytime an italian was tackled and no foul called and spain held an adavantage, the italian who was tackled stayed on the ground as if injured and the ref stopped play, halting Spain’s advance and advantage, only to see the ‘injured’ player get up just fine. Everytime this happene dit set Andy Gray off.

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  33. I usually like to take the positive route on most things, but I’m sorry, this game was horrendous. This game absolutely had to have a goal in the first half to open it up and make it exciting. Once it got to the 60th minute, I knew it was going to extra time and penalty kicks. Just knew it. I’m glad the Spanish put it away, though. I don’t really like Italy (despite a 50% Italiant background, I know, what’s wrong with me?), and Spain were the better team for the balance of the game.

    And also, what was with Italy leaving Alessandro Del Piero on the bench until the 112th minute, then not making him one of the Top 3 shooters in penalties?!?!?!?! Mind-boggling move by Donadoni who will almost certainly be fired in short order.

    I’m all for Spain now. I hope they win the whole tournament.

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  34. My only disappointment is that they weren’t able to finish off one of their chances during regulation or overtime. Very good gameplan and build-up execution from the Spaniards.

    Off-topic, there seems to be a problem with the coding of the website, Ives. During the last week, whenever I go to the website, it usually only loads the first story, the second headline, and the left sidebar. If I leave it alone long enough, it goes blank and says the connection was reset. If I reload the page it works fine, but it’s kind of a pain. I’m experiencing the exact same thing on my work and home computers, so I don’t think it’s an issue on my end.

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  35. yeah, rubbish game to be sure. The ref was even lousy.

    At least Spain tried though and we shouldn’t see another snoozer in this tournament given the four that are left.

    Without the throttling, catenaccio tactics of the Italians, both games should be interesting with the Spain-Russia game being a technical dream to watch.

    The poor Turks are too undermanned to give the plodding but effective Germans much trouble….right? Those Turks are the great story of the tournament to be honest. They can’t do it again, can they?

    In my little dream world, it will be a Russia-Turkey final. To hear the lamentations of the “big” (read arrogant) footie nations would be priceless.

    Cheers,

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  36. Why reinstated the Dutch and not Croatia? The Oranjuices got what they deserved too, period.

    Ref Spain and Italy I agree, both plaied a poor match. That’s what life and foreign players mean: no good national players in specific roles.

    Spain made a little better game? yes, sure: Casillas made them go ahead. Twice during the match and twice in the penalties (btw, he guessed where the ball was going all times!)

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  37. Il Consigliere,

    At least Spain attempted to play attacking football. Once again, you can blame the Italians for playing anti-soccer, bunkering all 10 players behind the ball for 90 (or in this case 120) minutes. We’ve seen Spain attack from the outset of the tournament, and yesterday was no different, but when the opposition is playing rugby, its going to be tough to play beautiful soccer.

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  38. What an absolutely awful game!! Neither team deserved to advance! UEFA should have just ended the game at 90 mins and eliminated both teams automatically and put Russia straight into the final (or reinstated the Dutch).

    Spain’s forwards looked clueless. Villa was absolutely terrible and the rest of them couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn. It seems like every Spanish attack ended with the ball in the 5th row. DREADFUL!

    Donadoni should have been fired just from picking that awful starting lineup and going out there with an afraid to lose strategy. Luca Toni was left up top by himself, and there was no sense of urgency to try to support him. When he was supported, there were some problems created for the Spanish defense, but then everyone just looked clueless as to what to do next. He then proceeded to make terrible substitution decisions, and looked like he was settling for the shootout. Absolutely terrible! Italy deserved what they got, and Donadoni should be fired!

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  39. I do not think either team deserved the win…for all of Spain’s passing and possession, how many times was Buffon tested?? About as many times as Casillas. A dreadful match played by two teams lacking attacking bite…Spain has turned into a blunt sword…it can be used to attack, but it cannot penetrate to make the kill. Italy got what they deserved…now, Donadoni needs to take the final fall…

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