Unpleasant racism stain disfiguring Spanish face

Jun 30 2008 By Pat Murphy

Euro 2008 was immensely satisfying for all sorts of reasons – not least the absence of England’s footballers, their air of self-delusion and their preposterous WAGS.

Don’t let anyone ever tell you that an international tournament is devalued by the absence of England’s clodhopping players, riddled with self-doubt on the pitch and hamstrung by palsied tactics orchestrated by a manager worried what the media is saying.

Good luck with this lot, Signor Capello. You might even earn your £6 million a year if you can get them to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup. Judging by the smart tactics, insistence on passing the ball with accuracy and sheer verve of so many teams in Euro 2008, qualification for England is not a shoo-in.

Euro 2008 was a poke in the eye for those who resort to the stock truisms of modern football. Spain won it through sheer élan, ability to keep possession and nimble movements. This despite being smaller and lighter than every opposition side. So much for modern international football being dominated by the physical, functional units.

The Germans didn’t prevail, even though they were their usual unimaginative selves. They just weren’t very good. Don’t underrate the Germans? Don’t be conned by them.

The notion that tournaments are won by young, computer-literate coaches who have been illustrious players was blown out of the water by the success of Spain’s old grump, Luis Aragones, who’s 70 next month.

And the star players didn’t decide the key matches. Fernando Torres got the only goal in the final but Aragones substituted him, for the fourth time in the tournament. Cesc Fabregas was never certain of a prolonged run in Spain’s team, making way after an hour on Sunday.

We were reliably informed by media insiders that television ratings in the United Kingdom would be poor for a tournament lacking any of our sides. Yet both semi-finals were watched by more than seven million viewers and the audience for Sunday’s final peaked at around 12 million. Perhaps the public realised that the product was consistently attractive without the angst of watching England blundering on.

But would it be too much to resist attempts to deify Aragones? Granted, he turned out a fine and attractive team whose success should gladden the hearts of all fans. And it’s always reassuring to see someone from the Saga generation turn in a profound body of work.

But this is the man who has stubbornly refused to aplogise for a racist slur on Thierry Henry a couple of years ago, when he called the Frenchman ‘a black s…’ and then proceeded to blame the press for leaking the insult.

So we nodded sagely before Sunday’s final as the anti-racist banners were unfurled and the message of racial tolerance was disseminated. And we enjoyed the dominant performance of the Brazilian-born Marcos Senna in Spain’s midfield. But let’s never forget the stain on the name of Aragones, despite selecting the black Senna. Coaches such as Guus Hiddink, Fatih Terim and Slaven Bilic may have had to yield to Aragones in Euro 2008,but they remain better men.