It’s been a great football feast over the past three weeks with some excellent individual and collective performances.
Some players have met expectations and some have failed to live up to the hype.
had selected 11 of them to compile into the Flops of the Tournament XI.
| Goalkeeper | Petr Čech |
AFP/Getty Images | One of the world's best goalkeepers made a schoolboy error by dropping a straightforward catch that allowed Turkey to revive and knock the Czech Republic out. So unfortunate for a player who has earned a reputation as the one you would never have picked to make such a mistake. | Appearances: | 3 | | Mins. Played: | 283 | | Goals conceded: | 6 |
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| Defender | Willy Sagnol |
AFP/Getty Images | Struggling for fitness in these finals, made just nine Bundesliga appearances for Bayern Munich this season because of knee and hernia problems. He was being left completely by Arjen Robben as the Dutch struck a third, only seconds after he finished celebrating an assist for Thierry Henry's goal. Lost his place to François Clerc against Italy.| Appearances: | 2 | | Mins. Played: | 187 | | Goals scored: | 0 |
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| Defender | Lilian Thuram |
REUTERS/Eddie Keogh | Had a difficult night against the Netherlands, making several uncharacteristic errors and involved in all four goals conceded by France. His case is a warning to all other ageing players, who fancy one more shot at the big stage. Once time has been called on an international playing career, the football is best left to the younger generation. | Appearances: | 2 | | Mins. Played: | 187 | | Goals scored: | 0 |
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| Defender | Roman Shirokov |
EMPICS | Never to be seen again after a mediocre performance in defence against Spain, pounded by four goals and all from counter-attacks. His assist in Roman Pavlyuchenko's goal slightly made up for his poor campaign. | Appearances: | 1 | | Mins. Played: | 94 | | Goals scored: | 0 |
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| Defender | Eric Abidal |
 EMPICS | Having been left out against the Netherlands, the versatile Barcelona defender returned in central defence and had an unhappy evening after he brought down Italy’s Luca Toni for a penalty and straight red card, which virtually meant au revoir Les Bleus. | Appearances: | 2 | | Mins. Played: | 118 | | Goals scored: | 0 |
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| Midfielder | Ebi Smolarek |
Sky Sports | Poland's qualifying hero with nine goals but had a very disappointing tournament, managed just 3 shots in the tournament. In the end, he was personally and publicly blamed by his coach for his team’s failure. EURO 2008 quick stats| Appearances: | 3 | | Mins. Played: | 226 | | Goals scored: | 0 |
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| Midfielder | Daniele De Rossi |
REUTERS/Michael Dalder | Daniele De Rossi was supposed to be the purring engine at the heart of the Italian midfield but instead operated like a Vespa on the wrong fuel. Voted Man of the Match against France, but was culpable for Italy's exit as he failed to score in the penalty shoot-out against Spain. EURO 2008 quick stats| Appearances: | 3 | | Mins. Played: | 310 | | Goals scored: | 1 |
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| Midfielder | Angelos Basinas |
AFP/Getty Images | Four years ago he was central to Greece's success but this time he was anonymous. Tried to be the missing link between defence and attack, but his efforts were not always successful. Looked jaded in the last match against Spain.| Appearances: | 3 | | Mins. Played: | 279 | | Goals scored: | 0 |
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| Midfielder | Florent Malouda |
EMPICS | Has not scored for France for 21 months despite earning 19 caps during that period. Reproduced the awful form he has been showing all season for Chelsea. Raymond Domenech's decision to choose Samir Nasri instead for the injured Franck Ribéry, reflects a disappointing campaign for the 28-year-old. | Appearances: | 2 | | Mins. Played: | 154 | | Goals scored: | 0 |
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| Forward | Mario Gómez |
AFP/Getty Images | Missed an open goal against Poland and Austria. After making three starts during the group phase but contributed next to nothing, coach Joachim Löw seeing sense in the quarter-finals to finally drop him to the bench, and didn’t re-emerge for the rest of the tournament. | Appearances: | 4 | | Mins. Played: | 215 | | Goals scored: | 0 |
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| Forward | Luca Toni |
AFP/Getty Images | Has completely lost his touch in front of goal. The statistics show that at least 75% of his shots were off target, only 2 were on target, and only 1 was blocked, from his total of 12 shots. Going from 40 goals in his brilliant debut season with Bayern Munich to zero goals at Euro 2008 surely deserves some criticism. EURO 2008 quick stats| Appearances: | 4 | | Mins. Played: | 403 | | Goals scored: | 0 |
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| Head Coach | Roberto Donadoni |
Sky Sports | Guided the Italians to a disappointing campaign in which the Azzurri were thumped 3-0 by the Netherlands in the opening match and spared a group-stage elimination by Gianluigi Buffon's penalty save against Romania in the second match. Has been sacked as Italy's coach for his team's defeat to Spain in the quarter-final. |
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