Its the Final Countdown

Sorry for the delay, and leaving you blogless, but I was at the beach for a few days, and with a predictable effort from Deyan in picking up the slack, well, here we are. Not that you will anytime soon, but if you ever get a chance to watch Daniel Cabrera hit its quite comical. The guy is 0 for 13 with 13 strikeouts in his career.

Anyway, back to the real deal. What a performance from the Spaniards! They straight up dominated Russia, I couldn't really believe it. Ramos looked awesome, Xavi was his usual self, and Fabregas had a huge impact as a sub. Its a blow that Villa will miss the final, but they have ample options for Aragones to choose from. The same can't really be said of the Germans. So Kudos to Spain and Germany for seeing through their halves of the draw. Spain has been tested by trickier opponents, and been forced to play a little better football, but unfortunately, they don't give trophies for that.

It obviously wasn't the same Russian team Thursday night that disposed of the pick of the litter Dutch in the quarter finals. With no other obvious explanation, I think credit is due to Aragones. He's outfoxed the supposed mastermind Hiddink twice now, both by a healthy margins. He's been one of the many who've kept with the theme of silencing their critics this tournament. (Ibrahimovic, Fatih Terim, Croatia) On that note, I'd like to offer some players, who in my opinion, have opened the doors for criticism, I give you, the First Team All-Dissapointment.

I'm excluding anyone from Spain or Germany, because as bad as Mario Gomez was, you can't really be too disappointed when your country is in the final.

Goalie - Petr Cech - A number of candidates did their best to claim this spot (Ricardo, Rustu, Lehmann), but it was Cech's nightmarish gaffe that handed Turkey their biggest gift and kickstarted their amazing run to the semis. I like Cech, but let's hope he saves some of those blunders for the Premiership.

Defenders - Eric Abidal - Not only his sending off against Italy got him here, but his performance was weak against Romania as well. Granted he was out of position, but if he stopped and thought about who he was tackling, (LVP of the tournament Luca Toni) he might have saved France some blushes.

Paulo Ferreria - Let's face it, he's never been that good, as evidenced in the days when Essien was preferred to him at right back under Mourinho. But he inexplicably seems to hang around and win caps, and at this case at left back?! Whenever I see him, I'm always amazed that there's no one better.

Willie Sagnol / Lillian Thuram - We could have put the entire French backline in here, but these two aged veterans looked out of sorts, and overmatched on numerous occasions. Thuram's subsequent retirement on the day after their defeat with Italy was imminent.

Materazzi - Tough to feel bad for this chump. Call it out of form, but he had a terrible season at Inter from what I understand, and Donadoni's decision to drop him was the right one after that torching at the hands of the Dutch

Midfielders - Genarro Gattuso - He was largely ineffective in the games he played. Maybe its the end of an era in Italy, but with AC Milan's crashing out of Champions league, and the Italians following suit to Spain, it may symbolize the end of Gattuso's mainstay in both midfields.

Massimo Ambrosini - I chose Gattuso's countrymen, not only because I don't like him, but because he too was largely inconspicuous for the Italians. Its easy to laud his performances when they win, but when they lose, you really see what he gave you, and most of the time its nothing.

Simao - Lets hope Scolari keeps his terrible selections coming after failing to choose Ricardo Quaresma over this clown. Normally he's bright, reliable, industrious, but he just had a stinker of a tournament, no two ways about it.

Forwards - Luca Toni - See this entire blog...

Henrik Larsson - He played better than I thought he would, but I think it was his failure to be on the same wavelength as Ibrohimovic that cost the gutsy Swedes. It was also his first major tournament he failed to score in...ever. But what can we expect from a 37 year old.

Old Horsey Face - I know this is a bit harsh, and he had a great tournament. But that game versus Russia was there for the taking. He missed a couple of chances that he usually finishes 10 out of 10 times, that would put the Dutch through. Sure he shouldn't be held entirely accountable, but I was looking to him that game to stick the nail through the Russian coffin and it simply wasn't to be.

Coach - Raymond Domenech - This debacle looks like it will claim his job. I'm not saying that it shouldn't France were atrocious. But sometimes, coaches are kept on too short of a leash, but I don't think anyone will be too sad to he the professor go.

Let me know if I missed anyone...

The final promises to be entertaining. One thing is for sure, we can throw out all the record books. This Spanish team doesn't care about history, and this German team could care less what type of football they play. I don't see them coming out all tentative like they did against Turkey, its definitely an advantage to the Germans that they are in fact the underdog. Its all about finding a way to win, even if you aren't playing that well, that's all we will remember in the end. May the best team win.