THE PRESENT AND FUTURE, CA (smt) -- It's May 12, 2021, yes nearly 9 years after Spain won its third straight major title in routing Italy 4-0 in Kiev, Ukraine.  That's Euro 2008, World Cup 2010, and now Euro 2012.  So my memories are coming from the live blog post and mostly facts from that day...

1C-Spain (4-0-2) scored early in the 14' and then added another run-of-play goal before halftime (41') to keep 2C-Italy (2-1-3) from thinking of any heroics, especially when ITA had to play the last 30 minutes with 10 men due to an injury (no subs left).   ESP's Fernando Torres came in the 75' and promptly scored (84') and assisted (88') to punch the final score of 4-0.  ESP's GK Iker Casillas has tended to 10 knockout matches in the 5-year Spain reign and has posted 10 shutouts (990 minutes with three extra time matches).  For being called boring (ESP had 2 shots on goal in regulation (5 total) in scoreless PSO win over Portugal in semifinal), ESP let loose with 5 shots on goal in just the first half (finished with 14 shots with 9 of them on goal).

SalsaKing was one of 12 to pick ESP and the 14 points propelled him to the first HWCI Euro Pool title.  Thecomebacker (pick: 9) won the total goals tiebreaker (7) over Russo (pick: 13.5) to take 2nd place.  The Mighty Mobelfakta moved from 6th into the 4th place prize position. SalsaKing was the only one to hit 100 points (148 possible).

The winners list (total points in semifinals and final:  7):

   1st Place =  $ 190 Salsa King (Ricardo A), 100 pts
   2nd Place =  $  95 Thecomebacker (Edmund L), 98 (wins tiebreaker)
   3rd Place =  $  65 Russo (Alex R), 98
   4th Place =  $  40 The Mighty Mobelfakta (David F), 97

Don't forget to read Albert Perez's column "A to the Z SPORTS!" and Eric Foster's "Foster's Football Brew".  So enjoy them and please +1/Like/Share/Tweet anything and everything on our blog or Facebook page.  You can join in discussions by commenting on any post on the blog or Facebook page. 

    SIDES 'N KICKS:  ESP's captain Iker Casillas didn't allow a goal in the last 509 minutes (Euro record)... Cassilas also won his 100th game with Spain... ENG is the only other team who went undefeated (2-0-2)... ESP first team to score 4 goals in EURO final... Torres is first to score in 2 EURO finals... ESP beats ITA in regulation for the first time in last 8 tries (since 1920) in major tournament competition... Before Flying Elvi, Mike W's Walleye (12th, 78) led/tied for the lead for the first 8 days with Bix Pix (29th, 64) leading for a single day... Flying Elvi had a 93.8% chance to win money (30 of 32) before the FRA-ESP match and ended up empty-handed... ITA was the only team to score a goal against ESP this tourney in the first group C match... GER tied for the most wins (4) with ESP... ESP is the only team to record five shutouts and UKR, POR, and FRA are the only teams to be shut out twice... when scoring the first goal, teams are 22-2-5 (2 nil-nil draws)... when leading at the half, teams are 14-0-3 (14 scoreless/tied at the half)... total goals: 76 (17 shutouts, 2 0-0 ties), 2.45 per match... red cards: 3; with advantage: 1 GF-1 GA...  PKs: 4-for-5... PSOs: 12-for-18... ESP's manager Vicente del Bosque became the 2nd to win a Euro and World Cup (GER's Helmut Schön) and 1st to win both plus a UEFA Champions League title... Mikenjo finished last in the pool (49)... Torres' 6th goal tied with five others but his 88' assist and less playing time gave him the Golden Boot... the trophy is the Henri Delaunay Trophy (named after the 1st General Secretary of UEFA)... no David Villa, no problem for ESP...