European Football Championship 2008 / Spain
This article covers the Spanish national team at the 2008 European Football Championship . After beating the German national soccer team 1-0 in the final, she became European champion and, with David Villa, was also the tournament's top scorer (four goals).
qualification
Group F was rated as quite strong with a total of four participants in the 2004 European Football Championship . The Spaniards disappointed at the beginning, lost their first two away games against Northern Ireland and Sweden and for this reason were only in third place for a long time, which would not have been enough to qualify. The team, which was at times under strong criticism from the media, achieved eight wins in the last nine matches with only one draw and thus ended Group F in first place, two points ahead of Sweden.
Another reason for Spain's success was the 4-1-4-1 line-up introduced by coach Aragonés. A game system with four attacking midfielders did not actually exist before. In the course of the qualification, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi, Cesc Fàbregas and David Silva earned the reputation of Die fantastischen Vier (Spanish Los Cuatro Fantásticos ). Marcos Senna played as a defensive midfielder. During the finals, Aragonés relied on a more conventional line-up with two strikers in most games, but when top scorer David Villa injured himself in the semi-finals, Spain returned to 4-1-4-1 and won the European Championship.
Final table group F
Pl. | team | Sp. | S. | U | N | Gates | Pt. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Spain | 12 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 23: 8 | 28 |
2 | Sweden | 12 | 8th | 2 | 2 | 23: 9 | 26th |
3 | Northern Ireland | 12 | 6th | 2 | 4th | 17:14 | 20th |
4th | Denmark | 12 | 6th | 2 | 4th | 21:11 | 20th |
5 | Latvia | 12 | 4th | 0 | 8th | 15:17 | 12 |
6th | Iceland | 12 | 2 | 2 | 8th | 10:27 | 8th |
7th | Liechtenstein | 12 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 9:32 | 7th |
Game results
The winner is in bold.
|
Details: European Football Championship 2008 / qualification
Team selection and preparation
In 2008, Spain took part in a European Championship finals for the eighth time.
In the squad were Fernando Navarro , Santi Cazorla , Rubén de la Red , Sergio García and Andrés Palop, five players who had not yet made their debut in the national team. On the other hand, the Spanish record scorer Raúl was absent , as was Barcelona's young star Bojan Krkić , which led to great discussions in the Spanish public. With four players each, Valencia CF and Liverpool FC made up the largest contingent.
Before the start of the finals, you played two preparation games; on May 31, the Spaniards won 2-1 against Peru in Huelva . Villa and Capdevila met on the side of the Spaniards, and Rengifo achieved the interim equalization of the Peruvians . On June 4th, the Selección celebrated a 1-0 win against the USA in Santander . The only goal scorer was midfielder Xavi .
Spanish contingent
No. | Surname | Club before the start of the European Championship | birthday | Games | Gates | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
goalkeeper | |||||||||
1 | Iker Casillas | real Madrid | 05/20/1981 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
13 | Andrés Palop | Sevilla FC | 10/22/1973 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
23 | Pepe Reina | Liverpool FC | 08/31/1982 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Defender | |||||||||
2 | Raúl Albiol | Valencia CF | 04.09.1985 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
3 | Fernando Navarro | RCD Mallorca | 06/25/1982 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
4th | Carlos Marchena | Valencia CF | 07/31/1979 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
5 | Carles Puyol | FC Barcelona | 04/13/1978 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
11 | Joan Capdevila | Villarreal CF | 02/03/1978 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
15th | Sergio Ramos | real Madrid | 03/30/1986 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
18th | Álvaro Arbeloa | Liverpool FC | January 17, 1983 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
20th | Juanito | Betis Seville | 07/23/1976 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
midfield player | |||||||||
6th | Andrés Iniesta | FC Barcelona | 05/11/1984 | 6th | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
8th | Xavi | FC Barcelona | January 25, 1980 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
10 | Cesc Fàbregas | Arsenal FC | 05/04/1987 | 6th | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
12 | Santi Cazorla | Villarreal CF | 12/13/1984 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
14th | Xabi Alonso | Liverpool FC | 11/25/1981 | 4th | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
19th | Marcos Senna | Villarreal CF | 07/17/1976 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
21st | David Silva | Valencia CF | 01/08/1986 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
22nd | Rubén de la Red | Getafe CF. | 06/05/1985 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
striker | |||||||||
7th | David Villa | Valencia CF | December 3rd, 1981 | 4th | 4th | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
9 | Fernando Torres | Liverpool FC | 03/20/1984 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
16 | Sergio García | Real Zaragoza | 06/09/1983 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
17th | Daniel Güiza | RCD Mallorca | 08/17/1980 | 4th | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
Trainer | |||||||||
Luis Aragonés | 07/28/1938 |
Crew quarters
The Spanish national team started their training camp on May 26th in the Ciudad del Fútbol , the sports center of the Spanish Football Association , in Las Rozas .
On June 5th, the team moved into their EM quarters in Neustift in the Stubaital, Austria .
Games of Spain
Preliminary group D
rank | country | Gates | difference | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Spain | 8: 3 | 5 | 9 |
2 | Russia | 4: 4 | 0 | 6th |
3 | Sweden | 3: 4 | −1 | 3 |
4th | Greece | 1: 5 | −4 | 0 |
Spain started the tournament with a convincing 4-1 win over Russia . Man of the game was Villa , who contributed three goals to the success. The Selección's second encounter was more even , with a Torres goal quickly taking the lead against Sweden , but Ibrahimović equalized in the first half. The Iberians fixed the victory only in stoppage time with a goal from Villa. Before the last group meeting against Greece , Spain was mathematically determined as group winners, which is why coach Aragonés spared most of the regular players. Nevertheless, the third victory was achieved with a 2-1. On the side of the Selección , de la Red and Güiza each scored their first goals for the national team, previously the Greeks had taken the lead through Charisteas .
Spain finished the group stage in first place, but had the reigning world champion Italy , who had reached second place in preliminary round group C, as opponents for the quarter-finals .
Tuesday, June 10, 2008, 6:00 p.m., in Innsbruck | |||
Spain | - | Russia | 4: 1 (2: 0) |
Saturday, June 14, 2008, 6:00 p.m., in Innsbruck | |||
Sweden | - | Spain | 1: 2 (1: 1) |
Wednesday, June 18, 2008, 8:45 pm, in Salzburg | |||
Greece | - | Spain | 1: 2 (1: 0) |
Details: European Football Championship 2008 / Group D
Quarter finals
In a game marked by great caution on the part of both teams, no goal was scored in regular time. On penalties, Spain goalkeeper Casillas was able to save De Rossi and Di Natale's shots , while his opponent Gianluigi Buffon only managed a save against Güiza , while all other Iberians scored. Thus, the Selección finally moved 4-2 into the semi-finals.
Sunday, June 22, 2008, 8:45 pm, in Vienna | |||
Spain | - | Italy | 0: 0 a.d., 4: 2 i. E. |
Details: European Football Championship 2008 / final round # quarter-finals
Semifinals
No goals were scored in the first half of the pouring rain game between Spain and Russia. In the 50th minute, Xavi finally used a template from his club colleague Iniesta to make it 1-0 for the Selección . As a result, the Spaniards repeatedly came up with top-class chances, mostly via fast counterattacks. Güiza used one of these in the 73rd minute, after a presentation by Cesc Fàbregas , for the second goal. The final point to 3-0 was set by Silva in the 82nd minute. Thus, after 1964 and 1984 , the Spaniards made it into a European Championship final for the third time in history.
Thursday, June 26, 2008, 8:45 p.m., in Vienna | |||
Russia | - | Spain | 0: 3 (0: 0) |
Details: European Football Championship 2008 / final round # semifinals
final
The Spanish national team won the European championship in 2008 with a 1-0 goal from Fernando Torres in the 33rd minute. This was also the first title in a major tournament in 44 years.
Sunday, June 29, 2008, 8:45 pm, in Vienna | |||
Germany | - | Spain | 0: 1 (0: 1) |
Details: European Football Championship 2008 / Final round # Final
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Article at rp-online ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Article at fussball-em-total
- ↑ Article at ruhrnachrichten.de ( Memento of the original from September 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.