Euro 2012 - The Final (Spain v. Italy)

After almost a month of exhilarating football we have reached the final of Euro 2012. Spain and Italy, two deserving finalists, will battle for the premier crown in European international football. Similar to Euro 2004, where Greece and Portugal had a rematch of their opening group match in the final match, Spain and Italy meet for the second time to decide the title.

Spain - Italy

In their opening match against Italy, Spain lined up in a 'false nine' formation. The 'false nine' implies that the team plays without an out and out striker, and in Spain's case they left Fernando Torres on the bench opting to play Cesc Fabregas as the furthest player forward. Surprisingly, Spain struggled to unlock the Italian defense in the first half and only with the introduction of Fernando Torres were they able to play more direct and grab the equalizing goal.

So will Spain line-up without a forward in the final against Italy or will Torres lead the line? Even with Fernando's struggles in the past calendar year I still do not see how Del Bosque leaves him on the bench given his success against Italy in the opening match. While Spain's mantra is ultimate possession football, they do need at times a direct approach to proceedings thus the inclusion of Torres from the onset is absolutely vital to their success.

From a defensive stand point, Spain have not allowed a goal in a knock-out stage in the past two international tournaments. Think about that for a second, that is just unbelievable. While the infatuation with Spain's attacking flair grabs all the headlines it really is their defensive resilience that has led them to successive Euro and World Cup titles.

The rise of Italy at these championships has been quite remarkable. Mario Balotelli, Andre Pirlo and Daniel de Rossi have all had their moments in the tournament but the true heart of the Italians is in net with Gianluigi Buffon. Take a second before today's match and watch Buffon belt the lyrics to the Italian anthem and you will see the passion that has been the driving force for Italy during this tournament.

From a tactical standpoint, Italy will play reactive and counter-attacking football, soaking the Spanish pressure and then using the speed of Super Mario and vision of Pirlo to grab the initiative. In their match against Spain, De Rossi dropped back to play just ahead of the Italian back three, almost at times acting as a sweeper. In the final, one would assume Italy to use De Rossi in a similar manner.

Italy will drop eight men behind the ball, congesting the middle of the park and be perfectly content with Spain attempting to cross the ball into the box. This strategy works perfectly for the Italians because the if Spanish play without a true striker there is absolutely no height in their starting eleven and thus crosses into the penalty area are futile.

As for a fearless prediction for the final, I am honestly torn. But really, I have not had the best of luck predicting matches during this tournament. 

While I am enjoying the Super Mario show, the chance to see Spain win two successive Euros with a World Cup title slotted in between is truly remarkable. Furthermore, would it not be great to see multiple goals in the final and the match to not be decided by penalties? Let's surely hope so . . . .

Spain - Italy (2-1)

OVERALL RECORD

14-16