Honestly now that I think about it more... Maybe the first game was made more then it really was... Spain ALWAYS struggle the first game... Look at past tournaments... This is the real Spain right now.
The real "SPAIN TEAM" came to play today, they are cutting into italy like pasta & pizza easy as pie...thinking about it now this german team would have lost to this spain..but at least the pain is not as "Losing the Final" again..so in that sense am glad we didn't go to the final and then get humiliated! www.fotobahn.com
Spain make Italy look like the third rate team they are. Spain have Italy to thank though for taking Germany out,the only Team who COULD HAVE troubled them.But Sadly not to be. Makes our Semifinal loss even more painful cause this is a crap Italian side.
Didn't watch the game... but the score sure made it sound like complete domination. It's all speculation to say that Spain is in a different class/league than us. Maybe, maybe not. If we fielded the right lineup and fired on all cylinders as well, we'd look pretty dominant.
Germany fosho would have given them more trouble & fight...so much mixed feelings at the moment...to know we could have challenged spain...and to lose to a less-gifted mediocre italy side...so MAD right now But credit to spain they played flawless and just marched on with authority! www.fotobahn.com
Ok.... point to where I was being a "hater". I never said Spain played poorly. In fact, I said that it looked like they dominated. It's just annoying to hear speculation that Spain is unequivocally better than us.
I never said we would have won. I'm just saying it's not as cut and dry as some people are making it seem.
I think it's fair to say now that that speculation doesn't hold much weight behind it. Our inability to reach full gear all tournament, even conceding so sloppily indicates we weren't ready to go all the way. Our capitulation against Italy confirmed it. There's not much else you can argue about with Spain. The gulf is pretty clear. We can speculate as much as we want and maybe it was warranted before the tournament but not now, not after.
I don't think we would've beaten them... Our chance will be when we drop the dead weights and fine tune our machine till 2014 and then when Spain's core start going past their prime. We will have our chance.. I still believe despite that ridiculous semifinal that spain are the only team stopping us from winning a title..
My XI of the tournament: Buffon - Coentrao, Ramos, Hummels, Alba - Alonso, Khedira, Pirlo - Iniesta, Fabregas, Silva
Recap: Spain are surely one of the greatest teams, if not the greatest in history. Todays performance was complete dominance over a team which pwned Germany. Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets and Alonso literally had the field to themselves. They are an incredible team and no one should underestimate that they would have given us a whooping had we faced them.
Spain only put ONE by Germany in '08, against a worse Germany IMHO. Congrats to Spain, I saw an exciting attacking match....shocked.
Make no mistake though, Spain has a lot of quality - but it is the four of Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas and Busquets who make all the magic. Replace any 2 of these players and I think things will change dramatically. Congrats to them, best team by a long shot.
gratz to Spain Can't say I feel sorry for the Italians, especially for _some_ of their trolls (a lot of their fans is class though). This Spain side despite I'm not a fan of their football, deserves to achieve three titles in a row. This is one of the most dominant teams in the history of the game. Just impressive.
It would be unbelievable if they win the world cup again in 2 years. If Germany doesnt win the World Cup, I want Spain to win it.
I hope germany becomes stronger for 2014, I want a european team lifting the cup in brazil. Although, spanish success is recent, I have not forgotten all the years where south americans have bragged about europeans never lifting a cup there. A european team has to lift it there, besides the dutch, those guys annoy me.