So it's Germany against Spain in Sunday's final. Having just finished watching the Spain v. Russia game I'm going to have to go for Spain to eventually lift the trophy. They absolutely annihilated the Russians, dominating the match from start to finish in my view, and totally deserved the 3-0 scoreline.

Actually, looking back at the tournament Spain have played well throughout. We've all known that they've always had the potential but they've always failed to arrive at the party. I can't remember the last time they got to the final - or even the semi-final - of a major tournament.

So what's made the difference this time around? Well, they are a young team but at the same time they have plenty of big game experience, particularly in the Champions League. And of course they also have some lovely players such as Fabregas.

But of course, as everybody always keeps on saying - you can never write off the Germans. They have such a winning pedigree which is built into their system. You just expect them to be there or thereabouts.

I thought the Turks played really well in their semi-final against the Germans and were perhaps a bit unlucky. They had so many injuries and suspensions there was a concern that they might not be able to field a full team at one point. And of course, they managed to come back from the brink once again with a later equaliser, only for Germany to nick a winner in the dying seconds.

Overall I think it's been a fantastic tournament and UEFA will be very pleased with themselves. There's been plenty of goals and so many of the games have gone right down to the wire. On top of that I think they've been pretty clean games - we haven't seen any nasty incidents.

Some commentators have criticised aspects of the refereeing but I don't think that's fair. I agree there seems to have been a lack of consistency in some of the decisions but what you have to remember is that they would have been given guidelines from UEFA officials. They would have sat them down in a room before the tournament began and told them what would be acceptable and what isn't.

And I certainly don't think teams can blame the loss of a match on a referee. Sure, they are human and will make mistakes, but at the end of the day you've got to put the ball in the back of the net. It's a two-way street and before anyone starts blaming a ref, they could look back on a game and recall how many chances to win the game they missed.

* * *

And still on the subject of referees...

I was at the National Sports Centre on Sunday and must come to the defence of the ref. Everyone seems to think he was wrong for allowing Trinidad and Tobago to take that free kick, during the substitution but you have to remember, the ref's only responsibility is to make sure that the switch has been made and then to get on with the game. Once he's signalled a player on to the pitch, it's up to the player to get into position and the referee to get the game restarted.

So you can't point the finger at the ref - we have to first look at ourselves and of course, as others have said, that was a very naive time to make a substitution. You don't switch things around during a dangerous situation, such as a free kick just outside the box or a corner kick. The player coming on is totally cold and immediately is thrown into a difficult situation. The time to make a substitution is when you're in possession and in control. Perhaps the only thing we could have done was have a player stand over the ball to stop them taking the free kick.

But controversial decision or not, I generally wasn't happy about the way we played on Sunday. We had the lead from the first leg and we were playing on our own turf. It wasn't the most impressive Trinidad and Tobago teem I've seen, in fact I would say it was one of the worst - they were there for the taking.so why didn't we go out and attack more?

I think the attitude was far too negative. We just had the lone striker up front but he was never getting any support. I think we should have tried to stamp our authority on the game right from the start. I'm not blaming the players - they were probably doing what they were told - but I just hope that we can learn some lessons from this.

The crowd certainly played its part - it was probably the best atmosphere at the ground in years, but we have to keep it up - let's have everyone out there supporting our team.