The Champions League left a hint of doubt. If all but unbeatable Barcelona and Real Madrid couldn’t make the final, perhaps Spain’s reign as European and world champion might be nearing its end.
But there is no doubt about where the world’s best soccer is played after Spain’s matador-style 4-0 demolition of Italy in the 2012 European Championship final.
There was no waiting to see how many “tiki-taka” passes — too many — would lull the 2006 World Cup champions into allowing an opening. Instead, the through balls to Cesc Fabregas, setting up the first goal, and to Jordi Alba, rewarding a 50-yard run for the second, were both clinical and unstoppable.
When Fernando Torres scored Spain’s lone goal in the final four years ago against Germany, there was a sigh of relief for the perennial underachievers. When he slotted home the third Sunday, it was merely an exclamation point for a dissertation on how the beautiful game got its name.
Spain’s singular achievement — three straight major international titles — sets it apart in the pantheon of the greatest national soccer teams the world has seen.
The Brazilian and West German teams of the early 1970s certainly were great. The French team captured the imagination of a generation as well as the 1998 World Cup and 2000 European Championship. But the historical and sustained dominance of the Euro 2008, World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012 trophy holders shows no signs of dissipating.
The biggest question that arises from the complete and criticism-quieting triumph in Kiev, Ukraine, isn’t when it will but if.
— Craig Stouffer
