Euro 2012 provided a high quality of play. Only two teams embarrassed themselves — Ireland and Holland. And the Dutch embarrassed themselves by falling far short of their normal standard, not by being objectively bad.
Unfortunately, the European soccer bureaucrats, following Mae West’s view of “too much of good thing” rather than the traditional, correct view, have decided to expand the tournament from 16 to 24 teams. So, the overall quality of play at the Euros will never again be as good as it was this year. Instead, it will probably resemble the mediocre fare served up at the bloated World Cup.
Here are my all-star selections for Euro 2012:
First Team
Casillas – Spain
J. Pereira – Portugal
J. Alba – Spain
Pepe – Portugal
Agger – Denmark
Pirlo -Italy
Xavi – Spain
Khedira – Germany
Iniesta – Spain
C. Ronaldo – Portugal
Ibrahimovic – Sweden
Second Team
Buffon – Italy
Boateng – Germany
Coentrao – Portugal
S. Ramos – Spain
Terry – England
Veloso – Portugal
Gerrard – England
Fabregas – Spain
Blaszczykowski – Poland
Dzagoev – Russia
Mandzukic – Croatia
Best Player – Iniesta
Runner-up – Pirlo
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