It's So Over...

And so we come to the end of what's been a fab few weeks. Spain were worthy winners but who could fail to feel sorry for the Italians (and who ever thought they'd find themselves doing so?) after going down to ten men through injury rather than Balotelli blowing a gasket? From the first minute it was clear it was a game too far for Italy and that Spain were not going to lose, but a 4-0 win was entirely unrepresentative of how good Italy are and how much they were in the game at times. Dearie me; I can't believe I like the Italian football team. Whatever next? Spain were superb though and it's got to the point that they're so good, it's just taking the piss really. They might have to be disqualified for the next few tournaments to give everyone else a chance and let this generation of Spaniards retire. Mind, the kids look quite handy too...

 A word on the anthems: What Buffon lacked in tunefulness, he certainly made up for with commitment. And Spain: how can you not love an anthem with no words? Avoids all those embarassing sporting events with your competitors either singing badly or forgetting the words. Brilliant. Shame Eamonn Dunphy misinterpreted the non-singing as a political gesture, the chump...Do your research pal.
Without further ado, I give you a few suggestions for awards for the tournament:

HAIR OF THE TOURNAMENT:
Has to be Pirlo of course. Even after 120 minutes and penalties in the game against England, it looked immaculate. Respect.

PLANK OF THE TOURNAMENT:
A close one this as for a while I felt Ronaldo might steal it from Nasri, but then the revelation that it was manager Bento's idea for Ronaldo to take the final penalty against Spain, coupled with the fact that plankness is surely just Ronaldo's natural state meant I have to give it to the breakout star of the tournament, Samir Nasri. He's been working steadily at it for the past couple of seasons, but he surely reached a new level this summer.

GAME OF THE TOURNAMENT:
For comedy value it has to be Sweden v England. Anyone could have won by any margin, such was the ineptitude of all concerned. Entertainment aplenty.
In pure footballing terms it was probably either the Spain v Italy game from the group stages or Germany v Italy in the semis for me.

PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT:
That Pirlo's quite good isn't he? And he wasn't too macho to cry like a big girl after losing to Spain so fair dos. Mind, he can't be that good if Phil Brown hasn't heard of him.

PAST FOOTBALLING HERO WHO'S NOW MAD AS A BOX OF FROGS AWARD:
Michel Platini, take a bow. The insane idea to stage the tournament across a number of countries; mental. When challenged by incredulous journalists as to the impact financially on fans, he replied that there are plenty of budget airlines now. That's ok then. Still not cheap mate and have you heard of a carbon footprint?

DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE TOURNAMENT:
Russia. Promised so much, gave so little.

REVELATION OF THE TOURNAMENT:
I know I keep banging on about this, but I really am still in shock at how much my opinion of Italy has changed. They always played football, never parked the bus and the diving and shirt-pulling of yesteryear seem to have been irradicated almost completely. Great value.

 And this, dear friends of Totally Skill, is a graphic representation of July. NOTHING!!!! NOTHING to keep us entertained but the grim saga of painful transfers played out on Sky Sports News. So with that I bid you adieu for now.