How Spain Won Euro 2024 In Grand Style
By Emmanuel Uffot
The Spanish National Team known as La Roja on Sunday July 14, 2024 won the 2024 edition of European Football Championship Trophy in Berlin, Germany.
Spain coached by former Spain Under-21 team handler Luis Fuente defeated England also known as Three Lions by 2-1.
In the encounter which was dominated by Spain in the first half, the La Roja made up of teenage sensation and a revelation of the tournament Lamine Yamal opened the scores in the 47th minute when the 17 year old Yamal, assisted another youngster Nico Williams to put Spain one- nill up.
However, another substitute from the English Squad Cole Palmer drew level in the 73rd minute only for Mikel Oyarazabel, who also came in as a substitute ensured Spain went home with the Cup by scoring the winning goal in the 86th minute.
For football pundits, Spain truly deserved winning the trophy given their flawless run to the final by winning all the seven matches at stake enroute carrying the cup.
Spain in Group B regarded as the Group of death had defending champions Italy, 2018 FIFA World Cup runners- up Croatia and football minnows Albania. The Spanish side spanked Croatia 3-1, Italy 1-0 and Albania 2-0 to garner the maximum 9 points.
In the round of 16 knock out stage, the La Roja side defeated the surprised round of 16 qualifiers Georgia. Went on to beat host Germany 2-1 in the quarterfinals and beat World Cup defending champions France 2-1 in the semi-final.
For England that was also a pre- tournament favourite given the array of top strikers in the squad led by Harry Kane, their performance in the championship enroute the final was anything but good.
The team tutored by Gareth Southgate, struggled and manoeuvred to the final before succumbing to Spain in the final.
Placed in Group C which was relatively bereft of football power houses, yet the Three Lions struggled to qualify even though they top the group.
The team defeated Serbia 1-0, drew with Denmark 0-0 and Slovenia.
In the round of 16, England also managed to defeat Slovakia. In the quarterfinals against Switzerland, England was trailing by 1-0 and on the brink of elimination and only needed a stoppage time brilliant goal from Bukayo Saka to send the match to extra-time and penalty shootout which they eventually won.
In the semi- final clash with Netherlands (Holland), England also came from one goal down to win the match.
Instructively, this is the second consecutive time England has lost in the final.
In the last edition at Wembley stadium in 2021, the cup refused to come home as in their parlance as the team lost on penalties to Italy.
Similarly, this is the fourth time Spain has won the cup.
On record, since 2023 when Fuente took over from Luis Enrique, the Spanish side has won 15 matches out of 19 in European football tournament.
Made up of a mixture of youngsters and experience war horses, the team has experience resurgence in different tactical approach to matches featuring quick passing and wing play with the help of youngsters like Yamal and Nico Williams.
For the Spanish team, the young Yamal who only turned 17 last Saturday July 13, 2024 is their hero.
The young who broke the record as the youngest player in the tournament, and the youngest ever to score in a major European and World Cup tournament at 16 years plus when the competition began, scored one goal and gave 7 assists to help his country win the trophy.
He is already a regular player with Real Madrid.
The competition which ended last Sunday recorded few upsets as Belgium lost to Slovakia 0-1 and Switzerland beat Italy 2-0.
Again this year’s edition of the tournament may be the last for top stars like Christiano Ronaldo of Portugal, Luka Modric of Croatia, Harry Kane of England,Romelu Lukaku of Belgium and Germany keeper Manuel Neuer if their age is anything to go by.
