Desculpe, nasci em 1976 e para mim a Espanha não vencia torneios. O de 1964 eu não estava aqui para contar história. E não é que eles vencem também?

E com méritos. Ou pelo menos com deméritos dos dois adversários da semifinal e da final. Rússia e Alemanha pareciam ter recebido uma visita de belas morenas espanholas na véspera de seus jogos. Estavam entregues, cansados, mortos.

E a Espanha, inteiraça, correndo, com raça. Campeã sem deixar dúvida. Quem elimina Itália e Alemanha sempre merece. Não importa como o adversário se encontra.

Na final, um meio-de-campo que a primeira vista parecia defensivo, mas que na verdade foi a chave da vitória. Senna, Silva, Xavi, Cesc e Iniesta dominaram o jogo e quando deu um espaço, mandaram uma bola para o matador Fernando Torres marcar.

Senna acabou com Ballack. Esta foto é para mim a síntese do jogo.

Valeu Espanha. Parabéns pelo título!

A princípio esta comparação pareceria sem sentido. Buffon é campeão do mundo. Provavelmente o melhor goleiro do Planeta e um dos melhores que já existiu.

É também jogador da Itália, um país que só não é mais acostumado a vencer do que o Brasil no futebol. Tem 30 anos, idade em que o goleiro começa a chegar perto de seu auge e 1,91m de altura, além de porte e elegância.

Iker Casillas é um fenômeno da política dos Galácticos que tomou conta do Real Madrid. Com tanta gente na frente desde a chegada de Figo, seguida de Zidane, Ronaldo, Beckham, Owen, Robinho, Nistelrooy, Robben, etc, o gol madrilenho precisava de um milagreiro e o jovem caiu como uma luva já que além de fazer chover embaixo das traves, é de Madri e incorpora o sentimento da capital.

Ainda assim, Iker é só um goleiro discreto. Com 1,85m, 27 anos (há quase 8 titular do Real), o novo capitão Casillas virou o herói de uma batalha que não era vencida pelo seu país há 88 anos.

Casillas voou duas vezes para levar a Espanha na semifinal e mudar a história do futebol de um país.

End Of Match: So, this is it! Spain 100% in the tournament will face Italy on Sunday! Greece go home and Russia will play against Netherlands on quaterfinals.

90' (+2): Fabregas didnt play enough to deserve a place in the first team

88': And Greece makes history. First defending Euro Champions ever with no points in the tournament and oldest living goalkeeper to step in the field (the second one is just a joke)

87': And SPAIN SCOOOORES AGAIN. GOOOOOOOOL FROM GUIZA. The Spaniards take the lead and finish the group with 100% of the points

82': Lets face it! After todays game with the substitutes, only Xabi Alonso would deserve a place in the first team.

79': Guinza misses a good chance to score! What a shame for Spain

73': Great play from Guinza. He missed the target for inches. Karagounis goes home for Tziolis.

69': Basinas gets a yellow card for a foul on Guinza. A red one wouldnt be too much I think.

67': Spain keeps the ball, lots of passes, but cant gat into the target. Anyway, they are playing better now.

63': Nice effort from Charistas. He passed Reyna but lost the angle to shoot. Nice play.

61': Now 1 x 1. Lets see what happens from now on

61': AND SPAIN SCOOORES!!! De La Red doesnt respect the older people! He scored on Nikopolidis in his last game before mumification! Nice goal from Spain.

59': I am really sorry., I had to search a little bit for Carzola. So, he plays for Recreativo Huelva on loan. He is actually from Villarreal and he is an attacking midfield. He is 2.3

58': Carzola replaces Iniesta. Now I believe ! Vamos España (hehe)

53': Just cause I said that, Xabi Alonso hit the bar with an amazing free-kick. Alonso is the best Spaniard on the field (although he is actually Basque)

52': Right now Greece is closer to the second goal than Spain to the first

50': Luis Aragones should call the magic Spanish trio to the field... of course I am talking about Pau Gasol, Rafa Nadal and Fernando Alonso.

49': Fabregas tries to cross the ball. My God. He really needs to practice more.

48': Russia 2 x 0 now.

47': De La Red hit Kirgiakos on the head after a shoot. Like a Mike Tyson hook.

46': No subs for both teams. 45 minutes more!

Half Time: Second half is about to start and one question is made in every city in Spain and some corners of London: is Fabregas playing?

Half Time:

I will be right back. Spain is loosing 1 x 0 to Greece. The Azzurra Effect is already rounding la Furia... buuuuuuu

Half Time:

45' (+1): Karagounis... hahaha I love him diving all the time.

45': Two more minutes

43': Spain playing better, but loosing rings anyone a bell?

42': Spain was playing better, but the Greek dont care about that. Nice head for Charisteas. He celebrated with Nikopolidis after the goal.

41':

GOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLL GREEECE!!!! CHARISTEAS IN A HEAD AFTER KARAGOUNIS CROSS

39': Fabregas is really a good boy. Everybody wants him in the team but Luis Aragones. Now he is playing an awful match so his boss doesnt feel on pressure so much.

38':

Another good attempt for Xabi Alonso.

37':

Karagounis is dying to get a red card. He heard that the Swedish girls are sad and he wants to do party as soon as possible. He just made another foul.

35': More on the 'Azzurra Effect'. Did you know Spain can beat Italy in an official game for the last 88 years?????

Before Kick Off: Here we are!

With Spain already comfortably through to the next stage of the tournament, and Greece heading home after this match, there is the distinct possibility that the squads could get a run out tonight, and the stars get to rest on the bench. One of the incoming players should be Cesc Fabregas, who in his brief periods of play so far has had a goal, an assist and has run his little heart out for his country. A quick glance at his Castrol Index heat map below for the 32 minutes he played against Sweden shows that he covered virtually every area of the pitch, particularly midfield.

One man hoping to put himself in the shop window (if selected tonight for the Greek side) is Vassilis Torosidis, the flying Olympiakos player. Already clocked as the fifth fastest man at the tournament (well, joint fourth actually with Turkey’s Nihat Kahveci at 31.11 km/h), he’ll be looking to prove himself a worthy transfer target for the European managers watching. What? The tournament’s about the football, not the deals? Someone should have a word with Big Phil….

Click here in the MatchCentre to follow my live commentary for this game. 

Stats powered by Castrolindex.com

Spain starts Euro in some minutes and one question come to my mind: How far can they go?

If you think of Fabregas and Torres. If you think of Casillas and some other players, you could put them between the favourites to Euro title. But this is Spain. They usually play very well but always loose.

So, here is the question again. How far can Spain go?

Robinho precisava de uma manhã destas, destaque nas capas dos jornais. Quem sabe o 10 não desencanta a partir de agora