Word: spanishness
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Iker Casillas to strikers Torres and David Villa, Spain was superb in every area of the pitch, a paragon of possession, of knife-edge passing, and, for once, capable of imposing its style on everyone. The notable exception was the quarterfinal match with Italy, but that, too, marked this Spanish team as special - locked into a defensive mud-wrestling match, Spain resisted its historical urge to attack at any cost, even at the risk of committing the cardinal sin for a Spanish footballer: being boring. In its semifinal against Russia, Spain had sat back for the first half, maybe...
...That was a message to Germany: Be prepared to play our game. Be prepared to chase the ball all over the pitch while the spectacular Spanish midfield led by Xavi and Andrés Iniesta played one-touch, or took a rest while the fullbacks Sergio Ramos and Joan Capdevila pressed the attack. The Germans were very well prepared - when aren't they? - but the men in the white shirts were not up to the task of stopping Torres, who torched Philipp Lahm for the Spanish goal, and had Germany's back four dreading the thought of defending...
...Despite his team's best efforts, German coach Joachim Löw could see that a new standard was being set. "We have to recognize the high quality of the Spanish players," he said. "They played very well during the whole tournament. When it comes to ball possession they are extremely strong.when they do have opportunities they are really dangerous...
...Spanish bring the rest of Europe along? Löw seems to think so. "We've been able to show that we, too, are fast and capable of combinations," he noted. And hinted that an uptempo German team will on display in the qualifying campaign for the 2010 World...
...Despite being twice-trounced by Spain, Russia had been the tournament's other bright light, and it too played the high-tempo attacking game of the Spanish. A ghost of its CCCP past, this team announced that once again Russia was ready to play on the world soccer stage. Guus Hiddink's men, led by its striking partnership of Roman Pavlyuchenko and Andrei Arshavin, had the wannabe oligarchs in attendance contentedly puffing on their Havanas. The only pity was that the Russians had to play Spain twice...