Boston Sports Writer Bob Ryan Is So 2010

PTI Guest host Bob Ryan chimed in on Spain's Euro 2012 victory over Italy:

"Spain did it without their two best players."

Referring to Villa and Puyol. I don't know who's feeding him information (probably the gosh awful, frighteningly poor Alexi Lalas) but that person is stuck in 2010. Spain's best players were in the line-up - Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez. While Puyol was a staple on the Spanish defense he was replaced quite ably by Ramos and Pique in the back line. Keeper Casillas is another player that ranks ahead of Puyol and Villa.

Obviously, Ryan is not that into soccer. I don't think ESPN guys are in a position to determine whether Spain is the greatest team ever. Me? What do I think? Nice of you to ask.

Not that I'm into comparing teams of other eras, I would say they do merit being in the discussion but I don't think they're the best ever. Brazil 62-1970, Hungary c. 1950-57 and a couple of other teams were dominant longer. Spain is impressive no doubt about it, but win back to back World Cups and then let's see. As for their style, Argentina and Brazil have played this way for decades so I'm not sure Spain is reinventing the wheel here.

Where Spain is unique, I feel anyway, is its relentless "forecheck" as it's called in hockey, that is, their strong pursuit of the ball and are in excellent physical condition with a very good defense.

The defense was so good it beat the record for not conceding a goal last held by Italy back in 1980.

And of course, a fluid midfield led by the likes of Iniesta, Silva, Busquets, and Xavi.

Mr. Ryan, you can reach me at 555-...

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Spain's 4-0 drubbing of Italy was the country's first win over the Azzurri in regular time in a competitive game since...1920 back at the Olympics.

That's, like, a long time.

Well worth the wait I reckon.

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As for the Azzurri, them goes the breaks. It was weird Prandelli would start an injured Chiellini over Balzaretti who had a great game against Germany. As if that wasn't bad enough, he opted to substitute Montolivo for another player battling an injury in Thiago Motta. Nocerino would have been a better (scoring threat) option I suppose. Motta sealed Italy's fate after leaving in the 60th minute. By that time, coach Prandelli had used up all his options (Di Natale came in for another less than fit player in Cassano) and Italy was forced to play the last 30 minutes a man down.

With Bonucci also struggling with an injury, the Spanish looked to build on their 2-0. The scoreline was a tad misleading given all I described up here. Up until the 60th, Italy was hanging in but after that point, simply fell apart.

I'm not necessarily a fan of "sending a message" in sports but sometimes it's called for. After Fernando Torres scored the third goal, and with the game out of reach, and Italy laboring, Spain looked to pile on. As is the case in football or hockey, some guys don't like that and react in kind.

I was surprised the Italian defense didn't crack some slide tackles to make the Spanish second guess coming into the box. Instead, it was open season.

It's a shame really. Italy wasn't expected to go far in this tournament and managed to reach the finals. They clearly weren't ready for prime time but losing in this manner to a superior team was unfortunate.