For the German national team, their dreams of a fourth European championship title were dashed. In Sunday night’s EURO 2008 final in Vienna, trainer Joachim Löw’s men were beaten 1:0 (1:0) by Spain. Werder Bremen’s Per Mertesacker and Torsten Frings were once again in the starting eleven which, on this occasion, failed to display the familiar effective style of football that had become their trademark. For a mere 20 minutes, the German eleven looked like threatening the impressive Spaniards – and that clearly wasn’t enough.
In the defensive midfield position, Torsten Frings did his best to make himself present in structuring the German game whilst using his physical strength to interrupt the Spaniard’s flow. The 31 year old was all too seldom successful in his efforts against the technically superior Spanish side and Frings was left with a lot of work on his hands.
The situation was similar for Per Mertesacker who didn’t get a real grip on Fernando Torres until midway through the second half. With the game drawing to a close, the lofty defender ventured forward in an attempt to use his aerial strength in search of an equaliser but was unable to provide. On the night, both Clemens Fritz and Tim Borowski were left to watch the match from the bench.
In retrospect, it would be fair to say that the four Werder representatives, with maybe the exception of Tim Borowski who made only a couple of brief appearances, played a major role in getting Germany to their first cup final since the 1996 European Championships.