It's a Shame Spain Faced Italy in the 1st Round
Had Iceland not pulled off the impossible and knocked off England, the soccer headlines around the world would have been about Spain's early exit at the hands of an increasingly confident Italian team. No matter what the FIFA World Rankings say, Spain is a top 5 team in the world. Over the last 10 years they have accomplished more than any other team in international soccer, yes, even Germany.
Soccer fan's have short memories though, and many felt that Spain's reign of terror from 2008-2012 (2 Euro titles and a World Cup victory) was over after they failed to advance out of the group stage in Brazil in 2014, but you would be foolish to bet against La Roja. Spain benefits from having 60% of its roster play in it's domestic league, with most players starring for perennial European giants Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, and Atletico Madrid. The non-La Liga players on the roster play for the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Manchester City, and Juventus. Spain actually suffers from an embarrassment of riches in terms of their player pool, as they left Isco (Real Madrid), Juan Mata (Manchester United), Santi Carzola (Arsenal), Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid), and Diego Costa (Chelsea) off the roster. If Spain's roster wasn't intimidating enough, their tactics cater perfectly to their players' tactical skill set. Their ticky taka style of possession control and team passing is a nightmare for opposing defenses, who spend most of the game chasing the Spaniards around the edge of their own 18 yard box. Spain kicked off Euro 2016 in stride, taking 6 points from their first two games against Czech Republic and Turkey, outscoring them 4-0 in the process. They continued their hot start by scoring less than 10 minutes into their third game against Croatia, before the feisty Croatians fought back to steal a near post, Ivan Perisic, goal off the counter in the 87th minute to win the game, and group, and send Spain into second place. Spain had held their opponents scoreless for the first 225 minutes of Euro 2016, and were just 3 minutes away from securing the top spot in group D until ultimately conceding a tournament-altering goal. Perisic's cruel strike altered Spain's Euro destiny and set them up for a titanic tilt with resurgent Italy.
The Azzurri looked fantastic during the group stage, only suffering a slip up in the 85th minute of their final group game (Italy has already clinched the group) against a desperate and tenacious Ireland team. Admittedly, I had pretty much written off Italy as a contender before the tournament started. Following their abysmal performance in Brazil 2 years ago and the decline in the prestige of Serie A, minus Juventus, over the past few seasons, I lacked confidence in the Italian's chances to challenge for a title this summer. I was sorely mistaken. Led by their impassioned and temperamental gaffer Antonio Conte, the Italians have propelled themselves into championship contention through their devotion to lock-down team defense, founded upon supreme communication and their squad's unique familiarity. Anchored by legendary keeper Gianluigi Buffon, and his rugged 3 center back Juventus trifecta of Barzagli-Chiellini-Bonucci in front of him, Italy has only conceded 1 goal all tournament. A hybrid "park the bus" approach to winning, future Chelsea boss Conte has preached 'defense first.' They seem to get everyone back behind the ball and move as one united shield in front of Buffon. The Italian midfield are true box to box players, albeit with more defensive tendencies, and their wing players are also defensive minded, but look to press up the field to generate chances on the counter attack. Conte's leadership and tactical prowess have given this Italian side the tools and attitude to compete with, and beat, anyone in the world.
Italy followed their blue print to success and withstood the Spanish attacking assault to sneak out a draining 2-0 win, but it feels like soccer fans also lost. The Euro knockout round seeding failed soccer fans. We watched a rematch of the 2012 Euro final in the first round of the knockout stage and that is simply not right. This Italian team versus this Spanish team is a match up worthy of a tournament round with the word 'Final' in it. My hat is off to Italy for taking down the Spanish beasts, but we deserved to see La Roja play at least one more time.
