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EURO 2012: Spain vs. Italy
Spain vs. Italy: Euro 2012 Final Preview and Prediction
Spain
coach Vicente Del Bosque must decide whether to stick with Alvaro Negredo after
the striker started the semi-final win over Portugal.Cesc Fabregas is favourite to start if Del Bosque opts against selecting an
out-and-out forward.Italy Ignazio Abate should be fit after missing the semi-final against Germany with a
hamstring injury.Strike duo Antonio Cassano (twisted knee) and Mario Balotelli (cramp in the
semi-final) are both expected to start.
Midfielder Daniele De Rossi completed 90 minutes against Germany, and
appears to have fully recovered from a sciatic nerve problem.With Abate missing against Germany,
Federico Balzaretti shifted from left-back to right-back. If Balzaretti returns
to his regular position, Giorgio Chiellini would move inside to centre-back,
with Leonardo Bonucci dropping to the bench.Napoli wing-back Christian Maggio is back
from suspension but is likely to be named on the bench.
MATCH PREVIEW:
Shameful Italy One of our ugliest national teams ever the end of a
generation and an illusion... we were champions of the world and now are the
laughing stock of the world.The Azzurri's exit to Slovakia
at the 2010 World Cup was, Italian newspapers agreed, their biggest humiliation
since losing to North Korea
at the 1966 tournament.On that occasion the squad were pelted with rotten tomatoes when they
returned home, but just two years later they were crowned European champions.
Could history repeat itself on Sunday or will reigning world and European
champions Spain break new ground by clinching a third consecutive major title?
Transformed under the refreshing tutelage of Cesare Prandelli, Italy have generated real momentum as they go to
Kiev in search
of their sixth major title.In previous rounds the Azzurri took heart from their track record against England and Germany, and it is a similar story
against their Mediterranean neighbours. The Spanish did beat them on penalties
at Euro 2008, but, excluding shoot-outs, you have to go back to the 1920
Olympics to find Spain's
only competitive victory in this fixture; irrelevant ancient history or enough
to sow seeds of doubt?
Germany's Miroslav Klose
admitted on Thursday "perhaps the fact that we had never beaten Italy was in
the back of our minds."It's a sign of how things have changed that free-scoring Germany are admitting to mental frailties while Spain continue
to grind out results relentlessly. The semi-final win against Portugal may not have been their
greatest display, but it certainly leaves Vicente del Bosque's side on the
verge of greatness. A hat-trick of titles would be unprecedented in the modern
era; the strongest competing claim actually belongs to Italy, who won the 1934 and 1938 World Cups,
plus Olympic gold in Berlin
in 1936.
West Germany are the only other side to reach three successive World Cup or
European Championship finals, winning the first two before losing to Antonin
Panenka's chipped penalty for Czechoslovakia in 1976.
Spain vs. Italy
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