European Cup

There are so many superlatives that can be used to describe the Spanish football side who have won the European Cup tonight.

Many football games are often quite boring to watch  and it’s only the tribal madness that seems to make many football fans virtually incoherent and totally blind towards what their teams are actually doing on the pitch.

The English Premier League is an example of what happens when money overwhelms the game and we have a media driven, market orientated substitute for the real thing.  Russian oligarchs, oil rich sheiks and business savvy Americans run the game over here, paying ridiculous wages to moderate talent. We fail to understand that talent is only the starting point for a great team. 

A great team such as the Spanish and the Germans have a deep understanding of the” contract” they have with each member of their team, they play as a team, they live to serve each other  with the opportunity to score.

Pass, run and receive and pass again. Mesmerise the opponent with the speed and accuracy of your commitment to repeat and repeat and repeat again the interlinking movement of the ball between all of the team members. Eventually the space opens up and the way forward to the goal is clear to score. The Spanish play with no one nominated as centre forward, unique, they are all potentially goal scorers !!

The decision to play the games in Ukraine,  a decision much derided, especially in this country  has proven groundless. 

Prior to the tournament the fans were warned about the brutality of the police and to expect hostility from the locals, Nothing could have been further from  the truth the  reception given to the travelling fans was full and hospitable and the venues first class. From an old tired, potentially xenophobic country like England it all seems a bit rich.

There is of course the question of politics and the arrest of the former Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko.   Our Government  made it clear that no one from our political apparatus would visit Ukraine during the Group Stage of the tournament but left the gate open if England were to get to the final stages. How crass was that ?   I suppose they must have gambled on the fact that there wasn’t much of a chance of that happening.  It’s noticeable that they had no such qualms about going to China !!