German-Spanish final caps Euro 2008

Keystone

After years of planning and weeks of excitement, Spain meets Germany in the final of the 2008 European football championships, in Vienna on Sunday.

Specialists see it as an opposition of styles, between the creativity of the Spaniards and the relentless realism of the Germans.

“We have reached the final, that’s all well and good, but now we have to win it,” said Spanish coach Luis Aragones, summing up the situation in one sentence.

One of his star strikers, Fernando Torres, takes it even further.

“No one remembers the finalists. We want to win, we want people to talk about us until the next European championships,” he said.

The record so far

There is all the difference in the world between winning a euro final and losing it. Both teams have felt both kind of emotion.

It is Germany’s sixth final. So far they have won three – in 1972, 1980 and 1996 – and lost two, in 1976 and 1992.

Spain have had one victory at home in Madrid in 1964 against the Soviet Union, and one loss against France in 1984 after a huge error by the Spanish goalkeeper Luis Arconada which has not been forgotten to this day.

Spain doubtless need to win the tournament more than Germany do. Teams from its domestic league dazzle the rest of Europe during the season, but the national side has known little but failure over the past 44 years.

The two teams have never faced off in the final of a major competition before. In their 19 previous meetings, Germany have won eight games and Spain five.

The last time they played was in 2003, a match that saw the Spanish defeat the Germans 3-1.

Prospects

Germany’s coach, Joachim Löw, has called the Spaniards “unpredictable” and “impressive”.

“Since the beginning of the tournament, they have been playing at a very high level and are very good technically,” he said. “It is a team that has even more variety in its game than Portugal.”

Spain have won nearly all their games at Euro 2008 easily. They thrashed the Russians 4-1 in their first group game, followed by 2-1 wins against Sweden and Greece.

Their quarter-final against Italy saw them go goalless for the first time in the tournament, but they managed to qualify after a penalty shoot-out. The semi-final against Russia was 3-0 win, with all three goals scored in the second half.

Germany have been less impressive, only convincing specialists they had the right stuff with their quarter-final victory over Portugal. Defeated by Croatia and with two narrow wins against Poland and Austria in their group matches, the Germans did not look like finalists.

But Germany’s realism has surfaced once again. In their semi-final against Turkey, they managed to score three times from the only three real opportunities they were given, the last goal coming in the 90th minute against Euro 2008’s comeback kings.

So will Spanish creativity have the last word against German realism? Football fans will have to wait until Sunday evening.

Only one thing is sure: the captain of the winning team will get to brandish a brand new cup made of pure silver – a precious trophy in more ways than one.

swissinfo, Mathias Froidevaux

Previous Euro finals

1960 Paris USSR – Yugoslavia 2-1 after extra time (0-1, 1-1)
1964 Madrid Spain – USSR 2-1 (1-1)
1968 Rome Italy – Yugoslavia 1-1 after extra time (0-1, 1-1)
Replay: Italy – Yugoslavia 2-0 (2-0)
1972 Brussels Germany – USSR 3-0 (1-0)
1976 Belgrade Czechoslovakia – Germany 2-2 after extra time (2-1, 2-2),
5-3 penalty shoot-out
1980 Rome Germany – Belgium 2-1 (1-0)
1984 Paris France – Spain 2-0 (0-0)
1988 Munich Netherlands – USSR 2-0 (1-0)
1992 Göteborg Denmark – Germany 2-0 (1-0)
1996 London Germany – Czech Republic 2-1 after extra time (0-0, 1-1)
2000 Rotterdam France – Italy 2-1 after extra time (0-0, 1-1)
2004 Lisbon Greece – Portugal 1-0 (0-0)