Spain's triumph at UEFA EURO 2008™ is seen by many technical experts in the game as the result of the country's outstanding work at youth level. "Some of us are not all that surprised about the outcome here, because for more than a decade now, the top youth teams in Europe have been Spanish," said UEFA technical director Andy Roxburgh.

Youth excellence
"We have been watching this squad since they were a very young age, " he added. "People like [Iker] Casillas and [Fernando] Torres – who scored the winner in a UEFA youth final. [Cesc] Fàbregas first starred as an Under-17 player in one of our youth final rounds. We've seen the Spanish team win the last U17 competition in Turkey, and it was one of the best performances that I've ever seen from a youth team. The Spanish are continuing to try and develop the next generation.

Credit to Spain
"It is a credit to the Spanish Football Federation and the work that they have done and investments they have made in developing players," continued Roxburgh. "Last night, they stuck to their philosophy – they didn't try to be something different. If you're not big in stature, then you have to be quick, clever and technically gifted. And Spain underlined that. And the way they played is wonderfully creative. It's about technical quality, possession play, brilliant combinations, keeping the ball even under immense pressure."

Key trends
Roxburgh outlined some of the key trends prevalent in an outstanding tournament, saying: "It's been very high quality – and interesting things have happened. For example, there has been a drop in the number of goals from set plays – only one goal was scored direct from a free-kick, for example. One reason for this is clever defending, with teams now trying to avoid giving away free-kicks on the edge of the penalty box. We had exactly the same number of goals as in Portugal [in 2004] – but more have come from open play. This tells us a lot. First of all, there has been the combination play epitomised by the Spanish, and not only in central areas – there has also been brilliant combination play on the flanks and wings.

Brilliant counterattacking
"The counterattacking has been quite breathtaking at times," Roxburgh went on. "In the past, they used to say that if you were a counterattacking team, you were negative – but top teams now in the UEFA Champions League and EURO have to have counterattacking as part of their game, because it's sometimes the only time when there is space – and you have to exploit it."