Lasting Impressions

Victories are likely to be remembered better if the final match is eventful

How the picture changes in sport. It seems only yesterday that every mention of the Spanish football team was prefixed by the phrase ‘perennial underachievers’. For a long time, Euro 1964 was the only major title to Spain’s name. But now, they can’t get a single note wrong. In 2008, they ended their 44-year title drought by winning the Euro. In 2010, they won the World Cup. Now, they’ve won the Euro again.

While Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010 were huge triumphs, the finals were somewhat bland 1-0 verdicts. The World Cup final, against Holland, was plain scrappy. Fans and experts accepted Spain were effective, but they also felt they were boring, and so not yet the same level as some of football’s all-time great sides, like the Brazil of 1970, or the West Germany or Holland of 1974. But at Euro 2012, Spain signed off with a flourish. The 4-0 obliteration of Italy eliminated any doubts about Spain’s ability to thrill. It wasn’t just the tiki-taka that took your breath away, but also the blistering pace with which Spain swarmed the Italian goal time after time.

Spain’s emphatic win proved one thing. How you win a final matters in how fondly, and how long, a performance is remembered.

For example, Czechoslavakia’s triumph in Euro 1976 still holds resonance. One, it was an upset. Czechoslavakia defeated the mighty West Germany. Two, in the penalty shootout, Antonin Panenka gave football one of its milestone moments—the Panenka penalty, an off-pace chip that catches a goalkeeper by surprise. What made Panenka’s kick even more special was that he had the guts to try it in a major final, and against the legendary West German keeper Sepp Maier.

Similarly, mention Euro 1988 and eyes light up even 24 years later. Holland finished off an excellent campaign with a rousing performance against Russia at Munich’s Olympic stadium, and the signature moment of the match was Marco Van Basten’s first-touch volley from a tight angle. The goal is among football’s most improbable ever, up there with Diego Maradona’s second against England in the 1986 World Cup (actually, even the first), and Zinedine Zidane’s left-footed volley against Leverkusen in the 2002 Champions League final.

The World Cup too has many such examples. We’ll get to them during Brazil 2014. Till then, felicidades, La Roja. You truly belong.

About The Author

Akshay Sawai