12/21/24
June 27, 2012
Spain Beats Portugal, Advances to Euro Final: Spain has reached the Euro 2012 final, defeating Portugal 0-0 (4-2) on penalty kicks -- with Cristiano Ronaldo never getting to kick because he was set to go fifth. Cesc Fabregas scored the winning penalty for Spain after Bruno Alves clanked one off the bar. Eurosport called it "a game that resolutely refused to catch fire."
I feel like every Ronaldo national appearance should end with "Oh Magoo, you've done it again!"
posted by yerfatma at 06:06 PM on June 27, 2012
That match set the record for players collapsing with catastrophic injuries that were miraculously healed after a foul was called.
Had it been a better match, they might have had their concentration on something other than playing sniper victim. Spain looked jaded until extra time, the Portuguese never really threatened, and everything got bogged down in midfield.
I bloody hope that the Germans make it to the final.
posted by etagloh at 07:15 PM on June 27, 2012
I'm not sure what prompted Del Bosque to start Negredo - the Guardian claim it was because Negredo works hard to close down and would shut off the supply route from Alves to Ronaldo - but his inclusion didn't work. It seems if Del Bosque had started Torres he would have had the perfect situation, as the Portuguese pressed very high from the off, leaving the sort of space in behind that suits Torres' runs.
The big problem with pressing so high is the question becomes "can you keep it up for 90 or 120 minutes" and the answer is almost always "no." When the Geese started to look a bit leggy in the second half, (though they kept going longer than I thought), and started to sit a bit deeper, then you can swap Torres for Fabregas and leave the deep defensive line with no one to mark.
I thought Arbeloa did pretty well against Ronaldo and Pique did a really good job of shading his positioning to offer help if Arbeloa got caught out, but Nani faded after a good start, Almeida was expectedly crap and Spain went from a forward not playing well to no forward at all.
Pretty disappointing game for a semi, but at least England aren't responsible for the only 0-0 in the tournament now! Woo!
posted by Mr Bismarck at 07:46 PM on June 27, 2012
While I have been a pretty big fan of what Spain has done in recent history and their style of play generally, it does get a bit ponderous. I thought they looked markedly better once Pedro and Navas had come on and they were a bit more direct and seemed to actually look to go forward. The game kind of reminded me of the World Cup final against Holland, where Spain seemed to increasingly get better as the game went on and into extra time, which surely was aided (as Mr. B points out) by the fatigue of Portugal from pressing initially and then chasing the ball.
As an aside, while the tika-taka bit does arguably get dull after a while of just pinging the ball about, I absolutely love to see Spain play it out of the back. They are just so cool, using the same triangles they use in the middle of the field, that it almost borders on cocky.
posted by holden at 01:53 PM on June 28, 2012
That match set the record for players collapsing with catastrophic injuries that were miraculously healed after a foul was called.