Euro 2008-Night of the Under-Achievers-Glorious night for Spanish football

UEFA EURO 2008 was, even by the harshest and most demanding of standards, a huge success. During the course of a tournament that saw a welcome return to open, attacking football as Spain ended a 44-year wait for silverware, a total of 77 goals were scored in 31 matches, an average of around 2.50 goals per game.Spain's success underlined the quality of the work carried out at the country's training academies. Essentially made up of young players, the team has grown up together and now laid down a marker for the next FIFA World Cup finals. Marcos Senna, Xavi and their midfield cohorts form a technically gifted unit that produces simple, one-touch football based on inspiration rather than perspiration, a formula that allowed the Spanish to go unbeaten throughout the tournament. In doing so La Furia Roja extended their unbeaten run to 22 matches and booked a place at the FIFA Confederations Cup South Africa 2009..

There were plenty of surprise exits as some high-profile teams paid for their reluctance to go on the attack. Defending champions Greece limped out of the tournament with three defeats and only one goal to their name, while Germany 2006 runners-up France failed to deploy their attacking artillery effectively and registered a single point in their group matches, scoring just one goal and conceding six. Evidently the successors to Zinedine Zidane have yet to emerge from his shadow.

Another side to come up short were Italy, who fell victim to the penalty-shootout lottery. Shorn of stalwarts Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Nesta, the Italians must now wait for a new breed of talented defenders to develop.

Czech Republic are facing a transitional phase of their own after bowing out in the group phase, and Romania could have negotiated their way out of a testing group had they shown a little more audacity.

Finally, co-hosts Austria and Switzerland failed to make the most of home advantage, both departing before the knockout rounds.

Helping the Spanish light up the continent during an entertaining three weeks were losing semi-finalists Russia and Turkey, not to mention Croatia and the Netherlands, both knocked out in the quarter-finals. And another interesting aspect of the competition was the fact that the four teams who reached the semis all featured a high proportion of home-based players. While France's 23-man squad contained just 10 players from Ligue 1, Russia's featured only one man who plays his club football outside the country, with Germany, Spain and Turkey boasting 19, 18 and 17 domestic performers in their ranks respectively.

The Russians, who went from strength to strength once Andrei Arshavin returned from suspension in their final group game, produced arguably the performance of the tournament in dispatching the Dutch at the quarter-final stage. Just weeks after Zenit St Petersburg claimed the UEFA Cup, the compelling displays that Guus Hiddink coaxed from his side confirmed the emergence of a golden Russian generation.

With the passionate Fatih Terim working his magic from the sidelines, Turkey revealed an amazing will to win, making light of their considerable injury and suspension problems to conjure up a string of stunning comebacks. That committment came at a price, however, as the Turks received more cards than any other team - 16 yellows and one red - during the course of their five-game rollercoaster ride through Austria and Switzerland.

As for the classy Croatians, they were in flawless form in the group phase, winning all three of their matches and disposing of Germany with ease to prove that their qualification at the expense of England was no fluke. And losing finalists Germany were the only semi-finalists from the last FIFA World Cup finals to reach last four this time, an achievement that has bolstered their status as one of the giants of European and world football.the burning question now is whether Spain can go on to win their first ever world cup in South Africa 2010. Finally below are some pictures which captured the magic of the 08 EUROS. Hope you enjoyed my round up of the EUROS. look forward for my next hub coming out soon see ya!!!

AND FINALLY THE CHAMPIONS

VIVA ESPANYOL!!!

VIVA ESPANYOL!!!

VIVA ESPANYOL!!!