The teams in the final are now settled in Euro 2008, and I am disappointed. Like many neutrals this summer, I have grown very fond of Russia. That is probably helped by my Slavic heritage, but it is the quality of the Russian team's play that has won me over most.
Unlike so many teams in these ever-more-negative times in soccer, the Russians are unafraid to attack. And, more than that, they not only do it well, but they do so based on the promptings of a true soccer throwback, Andrei Arshavin.
Anyone who saw Arshavin against Sweden and the Netherlands would have been impressed by him. Increasingly, star players are marked out by power, pace and flash. Not Arshavin. His game is all about a brain more complex, sophisticated and outrageously creative than those of mere mortals. Soccer players are often falsely described as artists, but with Arshavin in control, the game is a truly beautiful canvas.
He is infused with the aura of genius. How else can you explain his near-psychic ability to know where everyone else on the field is? He doesn't have Pele's feet, but it's difficult to imagine the great Brazilian's brain was much different from that of the Zenit St. Petersburg playmaker.
The final will be full of talented individuals. Michael Ballack, Germany's captain, has two feet capable of putting the ball wherever he pleases, and the muscle, temperament, and class to influence games without being seen. For Spain's best player, Xavi, like Arshavin, the game is as much in his head as it is at his feet, but he is an engineer, not an artist, constantly calculating the likeliest ball to retain possession and maintain his side's advantage. It will by no means be a poor show.
But I, for one, will miss the swashbuckling, vigorous Russians. So here's to them.
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