By David Owen
June 29 – Puma continues to punch above its weight at the 2012 European Championship in Poland and Ukraine, with the artistry of Andrea Pirlo and “Super” Mario Balotelli enabling the brand of the cat to keep pace with adidas, which had three times as many teams at the start of the tournament.
Puma’s Italy will now take on adidas’ Spain, the reigning world and European champions, in Sunday’s (July 1) final in Kyiv, with the victor likely to be perceived as the winner of this battle of the big sporting brands.
Puma, however, could plausibly claim the crown already, given that it went into the competition with just two teams – Italy and the Czech Republic – against adidas’ six.
Both Puma sides made it to the knock-out phase, with the Czechs exiting the tournament in the quarterfinals.
Their conquerors, Portugal, were left as the last team sporting Nike shirts at Euro 2012 after France lost their quarterfinal to Spain.
But Spain went on to jettison the Portuguese on penalties, after their tight semi-final ended goalless in Donetsk.
England had been Umbro’s last surviving representative when they went out to Italy in the quarterfinals, also on penalties.
Many had expected an all-adidas final between Spain (pictured above) and Germany, who had contested a high-class semi-final, won 1-0 by the Spaniards, at the last World Cup in 2010 in South Africa.
But the inspired Italians tore up that script, beating Joachim Löw’s men 2-1 in Warsaw last night, in a victory that was far more convincing than the scoreline implies.
Balotelli (pictured top), enjoying a night of majesty, scored both Italian goals in the first half.
The finalists have already clashed once in the competition, on June 10, drawing 1-1 in Gdansk.
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June 2012: Puma leaps ahead in Euro 2012 battle of the brands