By Matt Anderson

Spain's dominating Euro 2012 win confirmed that we've witnessed the greatest international football team ever.

I need to preface this piece with an admission of bias: As an ardent supporter of FC Barcelona, I am a huge Spain fan, since most of Barca’s players play for La Roja. That being said, and understanding the impulse to anoint everything in our lifetime the “greatest ever,” we have just witnessed the greatest international football squad ever. Spain just won its second straight European Championship, sandwiching a World Cup title in between for good measure. No team before them has repeated as Euro champions, or won three straight major tournaments.

In truth, Spain have been the best in the world since 2008, toppling many records along the way. No team has scored on them in a knockout round since France at the 2006 World Cup (more than 16 hours of football, for those keeping track). After allowing a goal against Italy in the opening match of this tournament, they didn’t concede again, shattering not only the record for scoreless minutes played (well over 500), but also record for fewest goals allowed in the Euro Championship (formerly 3, now 1).

Contrary to popular belief, Spain get it done at the offensive end as well. Fernando Torres won the Golden Boot with three goals and one assist, benefiting from the tiebreaker of fewest minutes played to snatch the top-scorer title away from from Germany’s Mario Gomez. And as a team, La Roja were ruthless in pulling apart an Italian team known for its defense.

This past week was especially indicative of just how good Spain is compared to its biggest rival, Germany. In their semi-final match against Portugal, Spain faced a team determined to frustrate them by disrupting their metronome-like passing with fouls and feigned injury. Yet Spain stayed calm, persevered and found a way to win in penalties. 

Compare that performance to Germany’s against Italy. Germany controlled the game early on, while the Italians were content to revert to their old form of stout defense and opportunistic counter attacks. The tightly packed Italian defense frustrated Germany. They began to force passes, providing Italy with chances to turn the tables and go on the offensive. Italy capitalized, and won more easily than the 2-1 score might have indicated. Germany couldn’t handle things not going exactly as planned; Spain could. Spain has trophies; Germany doesn’t.

Spain displayed that ability to adapt early on in the Euro final. They surprisingly did not enjoy a majority of the possession in the first half. But instead of forcing their traditional style onto the match, they took advantage of its natural flow. Spain upped their tempo when in possession, throwing the Italian defense off-kilter, an approach that paid off when Xavi threaded an inch-perfect ball to Jordi Alba. A defender on a blazing run from deep in his own half, Alba took the pass with only keeper Gigi Buffon to beat. The finish was clinical, and provided Spain with an adequate cushion. 

The Spanish did benefit from two injuries that left Italy with 10 men for the final 30 minutes, but by then they had long outclassed their opponent. Their passing and movement had Italy spinning, and Spain's midfielders routinely found space by maneuvering their way out of double and triple teams. By the end, Spain had set a new record for margin of victory, thanks to final goals that looked eerily similar to their second one: perfect through balls leaving the defenders baffled and the keeper on an island. It’s as if they heard all of the critics calling them boring and used the final as a big “eff you” reminder of just how devastating their “death by a thousand passes” game can be.

In their last two games, we saw two different Spains: one with nothing going their way, one with everything going their way. It didn’t matter, the results were the same. The hallmark of a true champion is gutting out a win when things aren’t easy and punishing opponents when they are, and Spain did just that. 

The question now is how long this can continue. Historically, European teams don’t win World Cups held in South America. Yet, as this Spanish team has shown, history means nothing to them unless they are writing it.

Matt Anderson is Began in '96's Richmond correspondent. He also writes about sports here, when he's not keeping track of the bro-est Olympians on the planet.

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By Adam Cancryn

As group play at Euro 2012 enters its final days, a number of teams will soon be headed home. For them, it's a disappointing and quick end to a tournament they've spent at least two years training for. For the fans of those teams, it's a crushing end to a tournament they've apparently spent five deranged minutes at the local craft store preparing for. 

Either way, their efforts should be honored in the best way we know how— with a collection of the lowest moments so far in Euro 2012. So here, presented without comment, are 20 of the saddest fans or players captured by photographers and screencappers over the past week:

Photos via 30fps.mocksession.com, Daylife and SBNation.

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By Ryan Hollm

Four years after Spain's offense propelled it to the Euro 2008 championship, the team once again a favorite. But as its tepid showing against Italy demonstrated, this is a completely different, duller team.

A lot of the discussion during Spain’s opening 1-1 draw with Italy revolved around the fact that Spain did not look like the Spain we expected to see.

There was little of the fluid, high-octane offense and controlling style that propelled the team to the Euro title in 2008. The pitch conditions and Italy’s tactical midfield crowding seemed to slow Spain’s attackers, disrupt their play and turn the match into a tedious slugfest. 

But for those who have watched the national team evolve in between tourneys, the performance was much less surprising. Since coach Luis Aragones retired, Spain have abandoned their aggressive approach, opting instead for the kind of depressingly workmanlike style that they displayed on Saturday.

Judging from press coverage and early expectations, you’d never suspect that Spain have undergone a complete transformation. La Roja have lived off of romanticized nostalgia since their 2008, famous for being the squad that introduced offensive possession-based football to the international community. 

At a time when bigger was better, and midfielders were growing larger and more physical, Aragones  in 2008 opted to start Cesc Febregas, Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez, three players well south of six feet. The team soon won over both the pragmatists and the passionate. It proved that results and beauty could coexist, a philosophy far afield of cruder teams like Italy and England. Fans envisioned a golden generation of Spanish football that would serve as the heir to Brazil’s Samba Soccer era. 

But Spain’s heyday lasted a mere 24 hours. Luis Aragones retired right after the tournament, and former Real Madrid manager Vicente Del Bosque took control.

via Mirror Football

It seems odd that the transition from the crotchety Aragones to protoypical Spanish gentleman Del Bosque would snuff out the national team’s innovation and creativity. Yet Del Bosque is notorious for both his conservatism and his success, and the team he built for 2010 mirrored his sensibilities. 

Del Bosque’s teams rely on a “double pivot,” or two defensive midfielders who support a back line of four defenders. This system subtracts one offensive midfielder or forward in favor of reinforcing the defense. By comparison, Spain in 2008 employed just one defensive central midfielder, along with two attack-minded defenders. The results in both cases were predictable: Spain scored 12 goals in six Euro 2008 matches, and just eight goals in seven World Cup 2010 matches.

Nevertheless, the team adjusted and rode Del Bosque’s conservative approach to a World Cup. Buoyed by that success, Spain saw little need to change its tactics. But injuries leading up to Euro 2012 have exposed the team’s offensive deficiencies. With center back Carlos Puyol out, Sergio Ramos must move into his position, leaving right back to pure defender Alvaro Arbeloa. 

Up top, David Villa’s broken leg has forced Fernando Torres into action. In the first match alone, the shaky Torres blew a series of scoring chances. By the time Spain salvaged a 1-1 tie, the team’s scoring futility had been laid bare.

The scoring juggernaut myth that Spain have enjoyed for the past few years is finally dead. Now, the question is whether it can prevent its Euro Cup chances from dying with it.

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