So there were many highlights of the European Championships, some serious footballing ones and some fun lighthearted ones. So without further ado, let's dive right in.
Players of the tournament - Andrea Pirlo without doubt was the standout player of the tournament. His movement was outstanding and his timing and passing were sublime. Beyond him, this was a tournament for the strikers. Mario Gomez put his Champion's League nightmare behind him and looked back to his best. Mario Balotelli and Antonio di Natale had their moments for Italy. In the early stages Mario Mandzukic and Michael Krohn-Dehli looked impressive. Veterans Zlatan Imbrahimovic and Andriy Shevchhenko both produced not only good goals but awesome moments for their teams and fans. I would also like to mention Theodor Gebre Selaisse and Vaclav Pilar for the Czechs who did really well up and down the flanks. Alan Dzagoev for Russia looked a good prospect to keep an eye on. Danijel Pranijic reminded us why Bayern Munich wanted him with a strong showing against Spain. Mats Hummels gave us a masterclass in defence. And of course the 'hairy legend' (thank you Simon) himself 'Martin' Jiracek. In footballing terms he worked tirelessly for the team and popped up absolutely everywhere on the pitch but also he seemed like a very cool guy, a worthy successor in the long line of awesome hardcore Czech men with beards.
Which brings me to the 'moments of the tournament' - One of the best moments of the tournament for me was when the Czechs won their final group game to go through into the quarter finals and all the players started celebrating and (injured) Tomas Rosicky came hobbling up to join in and Milan Baros picked him up (swept him up off his feet more like) so he could join in and just started jumping about with him. It was just such a sweet little moment of camaraderie and joy that it stuck with me. Another wonderful joyful moment was when Shevchenko sccored his second for Ukraine and the whole stadium just erupted. Fantastic. Another moment that struck me in its epicness was the Itallian side singing their national athem befor kick off in the final. I've never seen a national anthem sung with more pride and passion (particularly from Gigi Buffon and Daniele de Rossi) and it was wonderful to see. And of course we can't talk about moments of the tournament without mentioning the 2 penalty shootouts and all the the drama they encapsulated, but in particular the Bruno Alves farce and the two 'panenka' moments.
Then to finish I'd just like to mention all the funny little things that made me smile about these Euros. The Czech team growing 'victory beards,' Gigi Buffon wearing hair grips, Gigi Biffon keeping his hair grips on his captain's armband, finding out that Holger Badstuber has a baseball cap collection, the camerawork on the Spain team line up being like a rollercoaster ride, Nicky Bendtner's gonzo marketing that had me yelling "are his pants falling down?!" at the TV, watching the Greek team enter their hotel lobby all bouncing and singing in unison, Cesc Fabregas grabbing Fernando Torres' bum during a substitution, Jogi Loew's bizarre flirting with a ballboy in attempting to 'playfully' knock the ball out of his hands, Slaven Bilic kissing a fan and finally the pitch being overrun by adorable Spanish children after the final.
So there we have it Euro 2012. I realise this post is quite Czech heavy but then again so was my general approach to the Euros. Any additional comments or questions, you know what to do!
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