Xavi had a couple of quiet games.I would have gone for Senna.
Also kudos to Marchena who was tipped to be exposed by a lot of commentators before the Tournament started.
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Xavi had a couple of quiet games.I would have gone for Senna.
Also kudos to Marchena who was tipped to be exposed by a lot of commentators before the Tournament started.
Agree 100%. Xavi was good, but Senna was the key ingredient for Spain. He was the best player in the tournament IMO. He was great at marking the oppositions creative midfielders out of the game (Arshavin, Ballack etc didn't really get a look in). He would also burst forward and create attacks, and hardly ever gave the ball away (and he passed the ball forward, unlike other holding players like Carrick). Overall a great player and IMO the difference for Spain in this tournament. Thought Silva was good for them too and Casillas was dependable when called on.
I got to go the Final in the end and the Spanish fans very loud and colourful, fair play to them, they had great support even though numerically there were more Germans in the actual stadium. I was sitting in and amongst the Spanish support and they were all very friendly and passionate and always singing (except in the last few mins when, naturally, they were very nervous and could hardly even look at the pitch). The stadium was actually really good, I thought it might be dodgy due to the big spaces from the edge of the pitch to the front of the seating, but they've designed it very well and the view is good from all over the stadium.
Iniesta was hospitalised with gastroenteritis shortly before the tournament started and you could see in the first few games that he wasn't 100%, but he was man of the match against Russia. Etoo rates him as the best player at Barça, above even himself and Messi.
I think over Spain's entire campaign Senna and Xavi were the key players. Hard to choose between them for player of the tournament; as Xavi's contributions are more eye-catching I suppose that helped him get the nod over Senna (UEFA may not have liked the idea of naming a Brazilian best player).
Silva did very well considering he (like Iniesta) was playing out of position and the suspect centre-half paring stood up to scrutiny (Senna is also partially to thank for this), with Marchena in particular standing out. He's not the most subtle of players and his rashness tends to get him into trouble, but he was uncharacteristically restrained here.
All in all a great team performance, everyone played their part and no prima donnas moaning because they weren't getting a game.
Nice pictures of the winning scenes back in Spain here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...in/7482511.stm
.....Cocoa Butter?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxX3KCqN9S0
Have you told her that ;)?