The Final

We knew it had to come to an end. Let's go out in style.

Germany vs. Spain

Yesterday, Nicholas Kiefer (Germany) played Rafael Nadal (Spain) at Wimbledon. It was a Spanish route with Nadal winning in 3 sets. Today, it's Michael Ballack vs. Xavi Hernandez; Miroslav Klose vs. Carles Puyol; Bastian Schweinsteiger vs. Andres Iniesta; Jens Lehman vs. Iker Casillas; bratwurst vs. Paella. It's a great matchup of the Germans, who always seem to win when it matters, versus the Spanish, who always seem to lose.

Spain thoroughly deserved their victory over the Russians. Buffet-Lite still doesn't understand why Russia looked so scared and tentative. Andrei Arshavin barely touched the ball - certainly not looking like a player who should be a hot transfer to Chelsea or Barcelona, as rumored.

Germany managed to squeak by the Turks with a last-minute goal by defender Phillip Lahm - Turkey's heroic run coming to an end.

Germany is not missing any key players for today's game. Spain is missing the tournament's top goalscorer, David Villa. Not that this is necessarily a fatal injury - spain has many capable goalscorers, including Cesc Fabregas. I still can't put Danny Guiza in that category though, despite his goal in the semifinal. He seems so awkward.

I think the German aerial superiority will win this game. I expect a goal be Sebastian Schweinsteiger and Miroslav Klose and a goal from Spain by Fabregas to make it interesting, but Germany will win 2-1 in the 90 minutes.

There is something about Spain's play in this tournament that doesn't allow me to believe that they will beat Germany. They do a lot of short passing that doesn't really go anywhere and I think the Germans are such a good tactical team that they will be fine letting Spain pass the ball at midfield and wait for their chances.

Germany is also playing this game with heavy fan support since they are much closer to home than the Iberians.

The oddsmakers have Spain as a slight favorite and believe it will be under 2 goals. I like Germany and the over.

Buffet-Lite is now officially signed-off from the world of blogs. See you in 2010.