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| Silva strikes gold to set Spain on their way. |
Only a few months ago Mario Balotelli put in a negligible, petulant performance as Man City went down 1-0 to Arsenal at the Emirates stadium. He was given a red card late on which summed up his efforts that day. He was roundly castigated for his lack of fight, intelligence and passion. His performance had contributed greatly to City's defeat which, at the time, looked as though it had cost them the Premier League title. The Italian front man was self destructing in front of our eyes during the entire game before his deserved dismissal. It was to no ones surprise. The young man's attitude had been in question for much of the season and that day in London he reached his lowest ebb. Fast-forward to last night and, with Italy on the ropes against a numerically and technically superior side, many would have been expecting a similar response from 'Mad' Mario. From the start of the game Ramos and Pique were obviously intent on testing Balotelli's temperament. Both of Spain's centre halves were physical when dealing with Balotelli and several fouls and several more words were exchanged. Indeed, at one point Ramos did manage to provoke a small reaction from the Italian but the anger from the forward thankfully dissipated quickly. Forced to chase, press and harry his opponents more than he would have liked throughout the match and especially in the tortuous final half hour when Italy were down to ten men, Balotelli worked like a trojan. He tracked back, he tackled and he kept trying. Even if the majority of his efforts were wayward punts from range and ultimately ineffective, it was impossible to ignore the fact that Balotelli was still giving it his all and the anguish of Italy's impossible task was written all over his face which was encouraging for his supporters given the all to oft repeated notion that Balotelli just doesn't care enough about his football. Given all the attention and pressure heaped on his young shoulders last night, it felt significant that we saw little of the petulance and lack of effort that has been all too prevalent in his career previously. In its place was a young man battling until the bitter end and, while his two goal salvo against Germany will be his defining moment from this tournament, last nights performance from Balotelli could eventually prove to be his most significant as it hinted at a maturity that we hadn't previously seen.
Prandelli refuses to abandon philosophy
Perhaps in hindsight, Italy should have played more like England. If they had defended in numbers and boycotted any attacking ambition then perhaps they would have been more effective in their efforts to blunt a razor sharp Spain who looked unbelievably threatening whenever they countered Italy's forward forays. When Italy were attacking near the end of the first half and playing pretty well, Jordi Alba all but killed the game in the blink of an eye. The Italians were left light at the back as they threw caution to the wind and they were duly punished by Spain. That goal demonstrated clearly why teams seldom try to attack against the world champions: If you leave even a tiny amount of space, Xavi, Iniesta and co will punish you. It is to Cesare Prandelli's credit then, that his Italy team refused to take the easy option that so many teams have done against Spain over the past few years. Italy tried to beat Spain by sticking to their own style of play rather than simply 'parking the bus' and trusting to hope (Hello, Roy). They attacked at every available opportunity and for 60 minutes, despite Spain's obvious superiority, Italy did manage to carve out some decent chances and were a lucky bounce away from a goal on several occasions. Iker Casillas was called into action several times and while Spain looked awesome on the break, an Italian goal was not out of the question. Even in the second half, if Antonio Di Natale hadn't squandered a wonderful opening, Italy could have had a route back into the game. Despite the ultimate failure to win the trophy and the demoralising scoreline at the end of the game, the Azzurri must return home with immense pride. They have restored their reputation after a dismal World Cup and have inflamed interest in Italian football because of the way that they have played. Perhaps there has never been a more progressive and attractive Italy team and Prandelli's cycle is still in its infancy. Catenaccio seems a long way away when you're watching this incarnation of Italy and that is to be celebrated.
Spain finally have their defining performance
Forget the drivel about Spain being boring, they needed a performance of this magnitude for another reason. For all their excellence and their previous triumphs at the World Cup in 2010 and Euro 2008, Spain have never had a performance against top class opposition on route to those triumphs that has completely demonstrated their undoubted superiority over this extraordinary period. Last night they delivered. Big time. In a first half where Italy actually performed well, Spain still had enough in their armoury to destroy them with two beautiful, clinical goals. By the nights end, they had made the scoreline harsh on Italy's deflated and fatigued ten men but it is hard to deny Spain the empathic scoreline, for their play had merited it. They beat a very good Italian side by a huge margin and finally displayed their astounding brand of football consistently in a huge game at a major tournament. In the future, the people who will argue that Spain are the greatest national side of all time now have their Exhibit A in their evidence log. It's taken a while to arrive but Spain's defining moment was worth waiting for. They now truly belong to the ages.
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| We've seen this before somewhere...... |
Italy's legs couldn't last
Football is often cruel and it was difficult not to sympathise with the men wearing Azzurri last night. After giving the tournament so much and exceeding every expectation along the way, the Italian players didn't deserve to the humiliation that was belatedly handed to them last night. Despite battling manfully throughout, it seemed that footballing fate had gone against them last night. Giorgio Chiellini, injured earlier in the tournament, had to depart after just 20 minutes. Antonio Cassano, who has lit up the tournament with his guile and demonstrated a remarkable hunger and desire to return from his health issues, seemed leaden footed. The diminutive forward has regularly departed the play after 50-60 minutes during this tournament due to his conditioning following his mini stroke and last night seemed like a bridge too far for him. He left the match at half time Italy missed his brand of genius which was absent even when he was on the pitch. Thiago Motta's pulled hamstring eventually extinguished any hope the Italian's had when his departure created a numerical disadvantage but tired legs were evident throughout. Daniele de Rossi and Leonardo Bonucci were limping at various stages and there could not have been a worse team to play against with tired legs in the ranks. Spain ruthlessly exposed Italy's physical deterioration further in the closing stages to give the scoreline a harsh look for those in blue.
Xavi makes the difference
It's amazing that a player who has achieved so much and been hailed for so long still feels under appreciated. From an Italian and neutral viewpoint, prior to the final all the talk was of Andrea Pirlo's wonderful passing master-classes against England and Germany. From a Spanish point of view the focus was mainly on Andrea Iniesta, the man voted player of the tournament. Iniesta was again fantastic and instrumental in the opening goal as his ball to Fabregas opened up Italy's defence but it was his mentor, Xavi, who controlled the game throughout and made the difference. It was the Barcelona metronome whose exquisitely weighted through ball released the rampaging Jordi Alba to give Spain their 2-0 lead when Italy were still in the match and he repeated the trick twice more releasing Fernando Torres on both occasions in the dying minutes to give the scoreline some added gloss. As age and injury have slowly crept up on Xavi over the past year or two, it was heartening to see a modern great at his best on the biggest stage. He has been the brain behind this Spanish team during their reign of dominance and it was a sight to behold this tiny, slight man showing the world once more that size and power and no match for touch and technique.
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