There are few regrets in Spain at their national team not having taken the opportunity to eliminate Italy from Euro 2012 11 days ago.
Spain could have knocked Italy out of the tournament on June 18, by playing out a 2-2 draw with Croatia that would have seen La Roja finish top of group C and Croatia second -- and would have eliminated Italy regardless of their result against Ireland.
Instead, the reigning world and European champions knocked out Croatia with a late 1-0 win, thus allowing Italy to go through to the quarterfinals by beating Ireland 2-0.
Spain won praise throughout the world of football with their attitude, which contrasted starkly with the tame 2-2 draw played out by Denmark and Sweden at Euro 2004 which saw Italy eliminated.
Ironically, Spain will now face Italy in the final in Kiev on Sunday, and Cesare Prandelli’s tough team might deny La Roja what would be the unprecedented achievement of winning three straight major tournaments.
However, an online poll taken on Friday by sports daily AS -- just hours after Italy had beaten Germany 2-1 in the semifinals -- showed that there were few regrets in Spain.
When asked whether they would have preferred their team to have put Italy out through a “deal” with Croatia, 64 per cent of readers voted “no.” In addition, Spain manager Vicente del Bosque, when asked whether he regretted not having done such a “deal”, replied: “We will never regret not having draw with Croatia to put out Italy. That would not have been good for this sport.
“Italy are a team with an excellent attitude, based around (Andrea) Pirlo and (Daniele) De Rossi in midfield.
“In our group match against them possibly they were superior in the first half. They are the team that have given us most problems,” del Bosque said.
The veteran manager, who led Spain to World Cup glory in 2010, added: “There is no favourite for the final. Italy have been world champions four times, so we cannot talk about a favourite. It is a final and it will be fifty-fifty.”
