Tag: Germany

Braving hurricane style flash storms, I headed up to Hell’s Kitchen for the Euro 2008 final at Lansdowne Road. Starting up at 2:30 we all had a full Irish breakfast (I usually pass on the congealed pigs blood aka black pudding but the rest is great hangover food) and after a few pints we switched to a beertower of stella when the first kick was tapped.

This year it was an exciting tournament. I watched many of the group stages with the French the surprise losers and Croatia and Turkey the surprise winners through the quarterfinals. The Spanish swept through their group and after a shoot out with Italy in the quarterfinals, they didn’t have any trouble taking out Russia again. Germany on the other hand were tournament favorites, even through they lost to Croatia and just taking out Portugal in the quarterfinals. Even though Turkey had several players hurt or on suspension, Germany struggled to close them out until the end.

The final was set. Germany, the tourny favorites vs. Spain, the team of superstars, but could they come together as a team. Not being part of Europe, I selected Portugal and Spain early on. The English aren’t fans of the Germans, to say the
With several Spaniards draped in their country’s flag and pogoing through the bar, there was a great energy for the match and as Torres scored the first goal, the bar erupted with cheers and stiff fists in the air. The match was tense as the Germans picked up their play, as they usually do in the second half and it was a great final match as +3 minutes after official time, the horn was blown and Spain won their 2nd ever Euro 2008.

So much for Enrique Iglesias’ “Can You Hear Me” as a motivating song for the Euro 2008:

More Euro 2008 photos

UPDATE: Deadspin’s put together some good highlights including a reference to the “unofficial anthem” for this year’s tournament which was hummed for almost every match when the players took the field.