Before Euro 2008....

How many of you had Spain as top 3 tourney favourites ?

Some facts to remember:
- Barca was coming out of their worst season under Rijkaard having finished 3rd with Xavi and Iniesta not really shining
- Torres was a massive hit at Liverpool
- Silva and Villa went close to relegation with Valencia

Reality is Xavi Silva, Villa and Iniesta were still good players. Barca just finished in the semis of the CL and it doesn't have any bearing on how Spain will perform plus they had Fab and Alonso on the bench. I had them as one of the favourites.

1-3 favorites, Holland were favorites for me

I thought Germany Italy or Netherlands were favourites

To be honestly, Spain was able only to go forward beaten Italy on penalty kick with without Italy important players.

Spain outclassed Italy every possible way in that match imo

I thought they had a chance but my money was definately on hollland

Lulz Spain didnt have a SINGLE moment in that match. A single. Italy had 2 100 percent moments. But unlucky, debts to be paid in 2012

Grande_Milano wrote:Lulz Spain didnt have a SINGLE moment in that match. A single. Italy had 2 100 percent moments. But unlucky, debts to be paid in 2012

:lol!: are you serious ?

Men I rewatched game, Spain didnt have one moment.


Dont let ''possession means dominance'' crap get in front.

Magricos wrote:

Grande_Milano wrote:Lulz Spain didnt have a SINGLE moment in that match. A single. Italy had 2 100 percent moments. But unlucky, debts to be paid in 2012

:lol!: are you serious ?

he is right
I remember watching the game
Italy were actually the better team for the first 50-60 mins, Casillas had to make a couple of important saves
and then both teams just went for pens

Grande_Milano wrote:Men I rewatched game, Spain didnt have one moment.


Dont let ''possession means dominance'' crap get in front.

I suggest you watch it again then and Spain didn't even have more possession.

Sepi wrote:How many of you had Spain as top 3 tourney favourites ?

Some facts to remember:
- Valencia were having a bad season having finished 10th with Koeman as coach
- Torres was a massive hit at Liverpool
- Silva and Villa were injured and Mata wasnt really first team at the time

Barca had only 3 players in that squad.
at the time, Valencia were THE most important for the Spanish team and their bad season screwed them up
but remember, this was the time when Villareal had Marcos Senna(Spain's most important player at the time) at the peak of his powers, Carzola and Capdevila who were all extremely important for Villareal, they had Guiza who had just become pichichi that season on the bench.

Holland were my first choice but we all know what happened
Spain were actually pretty low on my list(not lower than France though)

You're forgetting that Spain had a lot of players entering the tournament in very good form, Cazorla, Senna, Iker, Ramos, Capdevilla. The rest of the squad were proven as well so they were never in that bad a shape anyway.

Spain were going into that tournament with a quality squad. I personally had them as one of the favourites although I personally expected them to bottle it at some point. I think most Spaniards were half expecting it as well.

But their quality overcame in the end. The best team in that tournament by probably the longest margin in any Euro.

Deserved winners if ever there were any.

I never saw it as Valencia was the most important club.

zarola wrote:

What a boss.

Quite honestly I expected Spain to play well and choke as per usual.

Magricos wrote:

Grande_Milano wrote:Lulz Spain didnt have a SINGLE moment in that match. A single. Italy had 2 100 percent moments. But unlucky, debts to be paid in 2012

:lol!: are you serious ?

Possession doesn't mean dominance in any way. Chiellini and Panucci in the middle shut down everything, while Italy had the chances to win (if it weren't for Toni attempting a bicycle kick with Grosso right behind him, I think the game might have been ours). But it's in the past anyway, just wanted to point that out.

ErPupone wrote:

Magricos wrote:

Grande_Milano wrote:Lulz Spain didnt have a SINGLE moment in that match. A single. Italy had 2 100 percent moments. But unlucky, debts to be paid in 2012

:lol!: are you serious ?

Possession doesn't mean dominance in any way. Chiellini and Panucci in the middle shut down everything, while Italy had the chances to win (if it weren't for Toni attempting a bicycle kick with Grosso right behind him, I think the game might have been ours). But it's in the past anyway, just wanted to point that out.

I'll never forget that, however as you say it's in the past, let's not turn this thread into an argument about a game that's over three years old.

Spain deservedly beat Italy in everything but the scoreline. Credit to Italy though they can bunker down and defend when they have too.

The result of the penalty shoot out was fair.

We did what we could whilst missing a few players, however regardless it's hardly the case that Spain's legitimacy rests upon that game in any case, Italy had equally close calls in 2006.

I still honestly believed that Spain would choke eventually though.

Damn, I want Italy to meet Spain, to show THAT it was an equal game, where Spain didnt have a single moment. Not an argument, a FACHT.

My favourites to win the tournament, were France and Italy, they had both been to the finals of the world cup two years earlier and no other team in Europe really looked that threatening, but they were both in for a shock. Strange tournament that was, Russia, Netherlands and Turkey were also very impressive in the end.

No way France was going to do well with Zidane just retiring.

:lol!: France with Domenech and no Zizou as favourites. lmao

ErPupone wrote:

Magricos wrote:

Grande_Milano wrote:Lulz Spain didnt have a SINGLE moment in that match. A single. Italy had 2 100 percent moments. But unlucky, debts to be paid in 2012

:lol!: are you serious ?

Possession doesn't mean dominance in any way. Chiellini and Panucci in the middle shut down everything, while Italy had the chances to win (if it weren't for Toni attempting a bicycle kick with Grosso right behind him, I think the game might have been ours). But it's in the past anyway, just wanted to point that out.

Like I said before Italy had more possession.