This sentence, which appeared in a popular TV guide magazine, describing the final of last night’s Euro 2012 football tournament, between Italy and Spain, held in Kiev, which is in the Ukraine, next to Poland, is one of, the, clumsiest, sentences, I’ve ever seen, in, a, prin,ted mag,a,zine.

Look:

After 23 days of competition, consisting of 30 matches, just two teams remain from the 16 that had aspirations of not only competing in the conclusion of the tournament held in Poland and Ukraine, but of triumphing.

I’m assuming that the objective of the sentence is to emphasise the importance of the match: having played 30 matches over 23 days, only 2 teams remain.

This is not an unusual concept for a knock-out tournament.

The final of Wimbeldon could be similarly described*, a conclusion to a tournament consisting of a lot of matches.

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