Spain are the Champions of Europe. Not only are they champions, they are the undisputed best team, which is often not the case. Years of Spanish heartbreak ended when Fernando Torres overwhelmed Philip Lahm for pace and then deftly chipped the ball over the on-rushing Jens Lehmann. That goal culminated what has been a sensational tournament for Spain who have been the most consistently brilliant side throughout. On its road to the title, the Spanish overcame some serious mental obstacles by getting past their kryptonite of the quarterfinals, as well as by defeating both the mighty Germans and Italians. In the end the final score line did not do justice to the vastly superior Spanish team who, apart from a nervous initial phase, handily controlled their German opponents.
Perhaps it is not surprising that this generation of Spanish players is the one to overcome the weight of history that turned the red shirt into a straight-jacket, clipping the wings of quality footballers in years gone by. Many of them, like Xavi, who was named player of the tournament, Torres, Cesc Fabregas, and Sergio Ramos have experience winning titles with their youth national teams. Ever since the late nineties, Spain’s youth teams have been a serious force, and this victory seems to be the culmination of that collective jump in quality.
The importance of this victory cannot be understated and has completely changed the face of Spanish football for the foreseeable future. It elevates the National Team to the upper echelons of world football, because, not only did it win, it marveled. Pundits and fans around the world are lauding the sheer technical class of the Spanish squad, its crisp passing and precise movements. Before the match, much was made in the press about Germany’s superior competitive spirit, the fact that the Germans ‘always seem to win’, the fact that the height difference between the two sides was abysmal, and other fears of the sort. The excellent Juanma Trueba of Diario AS summed it up perfectly: “We have beaten Germany in the final, defeating both real and imagined demons along the way. No longer are there ogres or superstitions. One can be the favorite and win, one can play the ball and live, and one can be small and be grand”. Indeed, now Spain can believe in itself, in its brand of football, in its own identity independent of the Germans, Italians, Brazilians, or any other great footballing nation. Spain plays its own style, and it can win with it.
The match against Italy in the quarterfinals will forever be remembered as a watershed for Spanish football. There is no team that Spain fears more than Italy and the script was an all too familiar one. Spaniards have seen Spain impress in the group stage only to flounder in the knockout, and they’ve witness Italy scrape through in the group only to march on to victory. The match itself was like a microcosm of the two nations’ football styles: Spain always positive, going forward with the ball while Italy sat back and speculated, perfectly content to go to penalties where they were sure Spain wouldn’t be able to handle the pressure. The expression of agony on David Villa’s face as he missed out on a cross by inches at the end of extra time, knowing that it meant that the match would go to penalties, was the expression of an entire nation. There is one Spaniard, however, who didn’t feel that way. Seemingly blessed by an angel since he debuted for Real Madrid at the tender age of 18, Iker Casillas rose to the occasion as he has done so often in the past. His two penalty saves helped Spain overcome the quarterfinal hurdle, and made a nation believe. We had beaten Italy at their own game. After that, anything was possible.
Luis Aragones deserves credit for his tactical flexibility when it mattered most. In the matches leading up to the tournament, Spain struggled to translate its technical superiority into incisiveness. The team dominated the ball, but it tended to over-elaborate and struggled to penetrate opposing defenses. During the tournament, Spain has been most successful when it has abandoned this method for a more direct approach. People often associate direct football with a less attractive, more archaic brand. That is not always the case; if you can use your skill and passing to break with speed, the results can be devastating. Spain proved that in its opening match against an excellent Russian side, the match that opened everyone’s eyes to the Spanish machine. All four of the goals scored by Spain came on quick counter-attacks.
In many ways, Aragones buried his own personal demons in this match. Go back to May 15th, 1974. Atletico de Madrid was facing Bayern Munich in the European Cup final, with Luis Aragones as their star playmaker. Luis managed to put Atletico ahead with a sensational free kick, only to see the Germans tie the match in the dying minutes. In the replay, Bayern destroyed Atletico 4-0. That match did a lot to foster the German myth in Spain, and the figure of Aragones was at the epicenter. It was poetic and fitting that the old man finally got his revenge, against the feared and revered Germans, in his nation’s finest hour.
Perhaps Aragones’ greatest achievement, aside from the title itself, is that he has created unified group with a clear identity and an exciting foundation to build upon for South Africa 2010. Much maligned during the qualification phase after the disappointment of the World Cup in Germany (and with good reason), Aragones managed to successfully isolate his players from all the negativity and focused it around himself. At times he seemed to crack but it helped form a powerful bond between him and his squad, and that was palpable during the run to the title. Without a star player that stood out throughout the tournament, this truly was a team triumph. Different players had their own personal moments of glory, whether it was David Villa in the group stage, Casillas in the quarterfinal, Cesc Fabregas in the semifinal, or, of course, Torres in the final.
Perhaps it is too early to properly place this performance in football history. Nevertheless, one can scarcely remember such a dominant side that truly had control of every match it played in. Fans are claiming that it wasn’t only Spain that triumphed, but football in general. Jorge Valdano, that idealistic football sage, believes that the essence of football is its beauty, and, if practiced correctly, victory is its natural reward. Never has that rung more true than after this tournament when Spain stamped its authority and, most importantly, its style in the world. No longer will Spain have to look across the Mediterranean or north of the Pyrenees to search for the road to success. People will remember Euro 2008 as the time that Spain created its own path to glory, and they will recognize it for what it is - a good path, a beautiful path.
