UEFA Euro 2008

This is the first time the tiki taka was played to its fullest, spain simply grew stronger as the young less experienced players gained confidence in themselves and in the team. Germany was dominant as usual with the german style consolidated by a mix breed between the old and new payers.

The 2008 UEFA European Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the European men's national teams. It took place in Austria and Switzerland from 7 to 29 June 2008.

Since the expansion of the final tournament in 1996 to sixteen teams, only two teams have managed to win the European Championship while not qualifying for the World Cup in the same year - Denmark in 1992 and Greece in 2004. Conversely, no team has managed to qualify for the World Cup while failing to qualify for the European Championship.

The format of the competition was changed for Euro 2008, with the final tournament expanded from sixteen to twenty-four teams. The team format was changed from that used in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, with the sixteen teams split into four groups of four instead of the traditional group of six format used in past World Cups and European Championships. The top two teams in each group advanced to the knockout stage, where the winners of each group played the runners-up of a different group in the quarter-finals. The knockout stage was played in a new format, with the quarter-finals and semi-finals played as two-legged home-and-away ties and the final played as a single match at a neutral venue.

Superior than Euro 2004, this edition of the world's best soccer delivered expectations.

Powerhouses like Italy, France, Portugal, and the Netherlands let down their fans; specially France with a horrible performance in the first round.

Netherlands after a spectacular first phase that gave their fans new illusions, didn't manage to impress and fell in hands of King Hiddink's Russia that ended as the sensation team of the Euro with players such as Arshavin and Pavlyuchenko.

Portugal spoke a lot before the tournament and were easily defeated by the Germans that with plenty of self-love and mentality reached the final after beating the tough Turkish team that couldn't have 9 regulars on the semi-final.

Spain demolished the malaria they suffered in previous tournaments when they always failed in the important moments and this time, after beating Italy on penalties, were clear favorites to win the tournament because they had the best players and the best collective play.

Torres, Villa, Iniesta, Xavi, and Casillas were the star players of the champion team.

Cristiano Ronaldo demonstrated he's not at the level of Zidane and Maradona to become a single super star player of an important tournament. Instead, newcomers stole the show and collective play again demonstrated it's the best method to win important matches.

Overall, this tournament was spectacular and very well played, with a few surprises like Turkey and Russia and few disappointments like France and Czech Republic.

Something to notice were the last minute ties or wins by Turkey and Croatia specially.

Also, there were many polemic situations like Polish press throwing insults and more to Germany who with Austria and Croatia formed the political group of the tournament.

An excellent tournament that is considered as the best Euro of all time.