Italy Play Perfect Game to Dethrone Champions Spain

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: June 28, 2016

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The king is dead.  Long live the king.

Two-time defending European champion Spain have been eliminated from the 2016 UEFA European Championship by Italy, and in emphatic fashion.  

The Azzurri played the perfect team game and came away with a deserved 2-0 victory and a date with Germany in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

Both teams had come into the round of 16 having lost their group finale, although the circumstances of those defeats were different.  

The Italians had locked in the top spot in Group E with a game to spare and had put out a reserve lineup against the Republic of Ireland.  Even that team held defensively for more than 85 minutes before a good ball by Wes Hoolahan and a miscommunication between defence and goalkeeper gave Ireland the win and a place in the knockout rounds.

Spain, on the other hand, suffered a far more disheartening setback against Croatia.  Needing a point to advance as winners of Group D, La Roja played their starters but gave up an early lead and lost 2-1.  It was their first setback in the European Championship since being eliminated from Euro 2004 by France in the quarter-finals, and it dropped them into second place in the group—and into the juggernaut section of the bracket.

Spain did come into the game with history on their side, though.  They hadn't lost a competitive match to Italy since the 1994 World Cup, a game known for two things: Roberto Baggio scoring a late winner and Mauro Tassotti rearranging Luis Enrique's face with an elbow.

That streak has been thrown into stark relief over the last eight years.  Since 2008, the two teams had matched up eight times, with Spain winning three to Italy's one, with four draws.  In competitive matches, though, La Roja held a supreme advantage.

Officially, the record was one win and three draws, but two of those draws saw Spain advance past...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - International Football

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