A moment like this

Written by Angela Asante

Congratulations to Luis Aragones ’ side! They came a long way to be crowned as the new Champions of Europe.

On Sunday night in Vienna , it took 90 minutes for Spain to defeat history.

A single goal by Torres and a defensive resistance were all what the team needed to write a new page in their country’s football history.

24 years have past since Spain appeared in a European Championship final and 44 since it last lifted the trophy.

Yesterday was the perfect moment to end this lack of success’s curse and the Spaniards did not fail to do so.

In the first quarter of the match, they struggled to play their fluid passing game due to Germany ’s aggressive attacking style.

But they did not take long to claim their superiority; with a country like Spain that plays tactical soccer, loosing possession as the Germans did always turns out as a punishment.

In the whole of the match, Spain had several chances which they could not convert. And among them all, only one proved to be decisive.

The Golden Goal

In this tournament, Fernando Torres looked very calm and was left in the shadow of the competition’s top scorer David Villa . However, the Valencia striker’s fate was to miss Sunday’s grand finale which give Torres the opportunity of playing as a lone forward in Spain ’s 5-1-4-1 formation.

He certainly wasn’t as good as he can be but the 33^rd minute of the game was the golden moment of his life:

Fernando Torres combined pace and skill to strike the ball past Lehman and score probably the most important goal of his career.

He might have got only two goals in this tournament, but the nominated man of the match showed up when it was needed the most – which makes him a true number 9 player.

Iglesias with the official Euro 2008 song, a coincidence?

One can think that Spain ’s victory is also due to the fact that Spanish Pop Star Enrique Iglesias sang the official Euro 2008 track before the match.

Perhaps did it help the Spanish crowd to feel in the mood of a premature party but on the other hand, this could have nothing to do with the support Spanish fans generated behind their team. 4 years ago, Nelly Furtado – of Portuguese origins – sang the official Euro 2004 song “Forza” at the final but it surely had no effect on the Portuguese squad as over anxiety contributed to their 1 – 0 loss to Greece.

Either way, it looks like the final was made for Spain to win it.

Iglesias seemed to have started the party with his dynamic soundtrack and celebrations indeed continued as Spain triumphed over Germany.

Like Enrique, many of the Spanish fans had to wait a lifetime for a moment like this.

Spain has won the European Championship for only the second time in their entire history.

Angela Asante

Euro2008TV.com

Tags: euro 2008 final, Germany, Spain