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Spain have the spine and talent to thrill and triumph
Kevin McCarra in Zurich
The European Championship is a tonic so strong that drug testers would
put it on the prohibited list. There can scarcely be another tournament
capable of stimulating supporters who have just come staggering out of
the domestic programme. Unlike the World Cup, it has no room for infirm
teams, so long as the hosts have made use of their time to get into shape.
Even if this year's competition should happen to go awry, the irritation
will end a mere three weeks tomorrow, with the final in Vienna. So far
Uefa has resisted the bleating of nations such as Scotland and Ireland
to increase the numbers from 16 to 24, an expansion that would lead to
lifeless qualifiers.
Ideas as bad as this are almost doomed to occur, so we ought to make the
most of this tournament and the 2012 edition. In its present format, it
gets down to serious business instantly. Imagine how Italy, the World
Cup holders, and Holland feel about starting, on Monday, with a fixture
against one another. The remaining members of Group C are France, who
were finalists in the 2006 World Cup, and dark horses Romania. The latter,
with a clean-living Adrian Mutu to lift them, finished above the Dutch
in the qualifiers.
Poland and the Czech Republic, who are similarly disregarded, happen to
be here after topping their groups ahead of, respectively, Portugal and
Germany. Of the players appearing at this tournament, the highest scorer
in the qualifiers was not Fernando Torres, Cristiano Ronaldo or Luca Toni,
but Poland's attacking midfielder Ebi Smolarek, who had a total of nine.
While Germany, at 4-1, are tipped to prevail, they are not hot favourites.
Indeed, they have not had a victory at the European championship finals
since winning Euro 96. The calculation is that they can come out on top
this summer because they are a mature side who happen to be improving
under Joachim Low's tutelage. Then again, a 38-year-old Jens Lehmann will
be in goal with Christoph Metzelder at centre-half following a season
spent rusting on the sidelines at Real Madrid.
No supporter anywhere is all that exuberant and a world-renowned manager
can be equally tentative. Fabio Capello, asked who might win Euro 2008,
replied, "My favourites are France, Germany, Italy and Spain. And
Portugal possibly." There was a reluctance to exclude virtually anyone,
although he most likely does not hold a betting slip for Austria, whose
recent improvement has brought them within sight of mediocrity.
The co-hosts get underway tomorrow against Croatia, the team Capello will
study most closely since England face them once more in the 2010 World
Cup qualifiers. So far as this summer's competition goes, Slaven Bilic's
players have a disturbing habit of stressing how much they are diminished
by the loss of Eduardo da Silva.
Every side, if it wanders off into introspection, will have its misgivings.
France might have to depend more than they would like on up-and-coming
players. The doubts over Patrick Vieira were no shock and neither was
the word that Thierry Henry's sciatica is playing him up. The contribution
of a 35-year-old Claude Makelele is hard to predict over a relentless
tournament. Italy, too, will depend on a line-up composed largely of men
in their 30s.
Attempting to make sense of this, Capello is very nearly at as much of
a loss as the rest of us. His fallback is the natural one of depending
on the Germans to outdo themselves while others are falling short of expectation.
"When the players play with the national team they are very strong,"
he said, before noting that, in Austria and Switzerland, Germany are "almost
playing at home".
Singling out the footballers who will dominate is a less troubling exercise.
"I think Franck Ribery for the French," said Capello. "I
like him. Cristiano Ronaldo for Portugal. Fernando Torres for Spain. And
also, for Italy, Gigi Buffon, Andrea Pirlo and Luca Toni."
The tally of individual talents in a squad is not a trustworthy guide
to the outcome of a match or a competition. Germany, getting the best
out of themselves, are the antithesis of the England that Capello has
inherited and they also stand in contrast to Spain.
"There is some kind of fear when [they] arrive and have to be competitive,"
he said, remembering how the topic of the national side's anticlimax used
to crop up during his stints at Real Madrid. "I think Spain is the
team with the most technical quality. It is incredible. They have the
best midfield in Europe: Cesc Fabregas, Xavi, [Andres] Iniesta..."
It is with a sinking feeling that anyone salutes Spain as champions-elect
for any tournament but there is no avoiding such a prediction, even if
you could be left looking a gullible fool in a matter of days. With a
spine that runs from the goalkeeper Iker Casillas to Torres, via Xabi
Alonso and Fabregas, Luis Aragones is in possession of an upright team
that can hold its head high. Their group, containing Greece, a Russia
who will lack the suspended Andrei Arshavin when Spain meet them on Tuesday,
and Sweden, is eminently negotiable, although they are likely to encounter
France or Italy in the last eight.
Aragones, like the rest of us, will take nothing for granted. Greece,
after all, are the holders and Capello was indifferent to the groans over
the triumph of Otto Rehhagel's drab methods. "I know, I know,"
said the England manager. "But they won. It is important. Always."
It is up to others, with better natural talent, to show that there is
a more thrilling way to succeed. Above all, in view of the resources,
it is up to Spain.
Guardian.co.uk,
June 7 2008
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