Doc's Take On The EURO Cup Final

Well the time is finally here, the EURO Cup Final. This match-up involves Germany and Spain, which really is no surprise. Both teams were favourites to win the tournament and here they are standing here today. Spain will be going for their 2nd EURO Championship while Germany will be going for its 4th. With less than 24hrs until kick-off, I take a look at both teams.

Germany came out of the group stage being 2nd place in Group B behind surprising group winner, Croatia. With a record of 2-1-0, Germany played the Portuguese squad showing the exact same record. Many people thought this match would have been a semifinal game and not a quarterfinal. Despite efforts from the Portuguese squad to tie the game late, the Germans would hold on to win the game 3-2 in regulation and move on to the semis. Germany would play Turkey in the semifinal, which just came off a huge penalty shootout win against Croatia. The Turkish would make it interesting dominating the German squad most of the game, but a goal by Philip Lahm in the 90th minute propelled Germany to a 3-2 win and a berth in the finals.

Spain came out of the group stage 1st place in Group D with a record of 3-0-0. They played Italy who surprisingly stole the 2nd spot in Group C and Spain outplayed Italy for the entire game. The game would need a penalty shootout to decide the outcome with Spain prevailing 4-2 on penalties. Spain then went up against Russia, the only team in Group D that might have caused Spain some trouble. There was no trouble for the Spaniards though as they cruised to victory with a score of 3-0 and put themselves into the finals as well.

Spain come into the final with leading scorer David Villa but Villa is considered doubtful for the final with an injured hamstring. This does not give Germany an easier job though as team captain Michael Ballack is also doubtful for the game with an injured calf muscle. These players were crucial for their teams in the tournament and will be missed by their teammates.

Spain comes in as the stronger team defensively, allowing only 3 goals, but their competition was arguably not as hard as what the Germans faced. Spain and Germany come into the final leading the tournament in goals with 11 and 10 goals respectively so both teams do not have trouble finding the net.

The goalie position for both teams is really strong as well. Jens Lehmann will get the start for Germany while Iker Casillas will be the starting goalie for Spain. I would give the advantage here to Casillas because he has less goals allowed and has a stronger defence in front of him than Lehmann does.

With the absence of striker David Villa from the Spanish line-up, I believe Germany is the stronger team offensively. Even without Ballack, Germany will still get the edge for having their leading scorer, Lukas Podolski, in the line-up while having Bastian Schweinsteiger and Philip Lahm coming up huge in the last week. Just because I said the Spanish are weaker offensively without Villa, they still have threats from Fernando Torres and David Silva.

This game is going to be really close and will be an exciting game to watch. Will the Spaniards be able to take the title "underacheivers" off their backs after time and time again choking in the elimination round in the past few tournaments? Will the Germans be able to penetrate a tough Spanish defence and if they do, get it past keeper Iker Casillas?

In the end, I believe Spain will come out of this one with the victory but do not expect it to come easy. A penalty shootout is a huge possibility.