Monday, 2 July 2012
SPAIN ARE EMPERORS OF EUROPE! MAUL ITALY 4-0 TO RETAIN EURO TITLE AND RE-WRITE HISTORY.
The Spanish team sunday night overran Italy 4-0 to become the first European team in history retain the UEFA Euro cup and also become the first team ever to win three successive international tournaments. Coincidentally, this is the first time Spain will be defeating Italy in a competitive match in 90 minutes and they did it in grand fashion. They also overtook West-Germany as the team that has scored the most goals in a single Euro competition amongst so many individual honours swept by the Spaniards.
Interestingly,Spanish goalkeeper and captain, Iker Casillas has also entered the history books as the first ever player in the history of international football to win a 100 matches for his country. The Real Madrid goalkeeper, making his 137th appearance for La Roja, also broke Dino Zoff's European Championship record of 494 minutes without conceding, setting a new record of 511 minutes without being beaten.
Between former coach Luis Aragones and current Manager, Vincente Del Bosque, Spain have transformed from their underachiever's status into the best team in the world for about four years now, no thanks to the Golden generation of brilliant footballers at their disposal. These lads have constantly proven their class time and time again in different clubs spread out in Europe. Manchester City, Barcelona,Real Madrid, Chelsea the list is endless.
What is more remarkable is the fact that majority of the first team players are home grown talents playing in either Barcelona or Real Madrid with a strong youth system and this perhaps goes to show the wisdom behind Nigeria's coach Stephen Keshi's continued dependence on home grown talents in his rebuilding process. There has also been some cries in English quarters about the influx of foreign players as the reason why the Three Lions cannot boast of any world class players presently and have repeatedly faltered in competitive tournaments.
Be that as it may, it must be said that this year's competition will go down as one of the best ever in terms of entertainment and organisation after the initial apprehension over racial prejudices in some quarters. The icing on the cake of course has to be the football orchestra the Spanish team displayed for the world to see. I really hope that the 2013 Orange African Cup Of Nations (AFCON) can take a cue from the organisers of this Euro 2012 competition, more importantly too that our African teams can also raise the level of their performance to match what European have showcased to the rest of the world.
 |
| Spanish Players In Celebration Mood. |
Between former coach Luis Aragones and current Manager, Vincente Del Bosque, Spain have transformed from their underachiever's status into the best team in the world for about four years now, no thanks to the Golden generation of brilliant footballers at their disposal. These lads have constantly proven their class time and time again in different clubs spread out in Europe. Manchester City, Barcelona,Real Madrid, Chelsea the list is endless.
What is more remarkable is the fact that majority of the first team players are home grown talents playing in either Barcelona or Real Madrid with a strong youth system and this perhaps goes to show the wisdom behind Nigeria's coach Stephen Keshi's continued dependence on home grown talents in his rebuilding process. There has also been some cries in English quarters about the influx of foreign players as the reason why the Three Lions cannot boast of any world class players presently and have repeatedly faltered in competitive tournaments.
Be that as it may, it must be said that this year's competition will go down as one of the best ever in terms of entertainment and organisation after the initial apprehension over racial prejudices in some quarters. The icing on the cake of course has to be the football orchestra the Spanish team displayed for the world to see. I really hope that the 2013 Orange African Cup Of Nations (AFCON) can take a cue from the organisers of this Euro 2012 competition, more importantly too that our African teams can also raise the level of their performance to match what European have showcased to the rest of the world.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment