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Euro 2008: best tournament in living memory?

BillieTheBotBillieTheBot Posts: 8,721 Bot
edited January 2023 in General Chat
There have been, of course, a few borefests- what tournament doesn't? But by far the great majority of games have been truly great to watch.

I'm trying to think of a recent international tournament that was as good. World Cup 1994 was good I guess, but most of the others were rather so-so.

This one on the other hand has produced great game after great game. Why, it beats the Champions League hands down.

I'm not English but many English mates tell me the watching experience has been enhanced by not being distracted by England's antics. Is that the case with you?
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Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Hmm, I was agreeing with you, but then I though every game that Turkey was in was shit. Okay, they were always exciting at the end, but only after 85 minutes of ruining the game. Same with Spain vs. Italy. It's like the last World Cup, some absolutely brilliant football, but in the end, the dullest team wins. I hope Spain win it now for football's sake, and I've enjoyed Russia too. I wanted Man City to buy Arshavin before the tournament, because he was available, and now we don't have a chance of getting him. :grump:

    But yeah, much better than Euro 2004 and World Cup 06 with the exception of Argentina. And incidentally, both of England's qualifying rivals have played far better football, and have done far better than I expect we would've.
  • SkiveSkive Posts: 15,282 Skive's The Limit
    Aladdin wrote: »
    any English mates tell me the watching experience has been enhanced by not being distracted by England's antics. Is that the case with you?

    Yes.

    If England has been in it it would have been a short lived emotional rollercoaster that it always is. Been really impressed with Russia, Russia for the win now. :D

    Euro 96 was a good tournament.
    Weekender Offender 
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yep, most of the football has been brilliant. Mainly because the defending hasn't been.

    It's been nice not to have to worry about the big teams staying in so there was less chance of England winning it, and I'm glad we haven't had the usual constant updates from the England camp. But it's also pretty annoying how crap France and Italy were because I think if Scotland had had a tiny bit more confidence and conviction then we'd have qualified.

    Fingers crossed a proper footballing team win it now, i.e anybody but Germany.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Bri-namite wrote: »
    Fingers crossed a proper footballing team win it now, i.e anybody but Germany.
    Fine by me :D
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Best tournament for you Aladdin, and rightly so, but it wasn't really all that good. A lot of the goals were down to dodgy defending rather than scintillating attacking football.

    I think the best Euro championships in recent times was Euro 96.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kermit wrote: »
    A lot of the goals were down to dodgy defending rather than scintillating attacking football.

    are you alan hansen in disguise? i don't care if the teams focus more on going forward than stopping the other team play, if everyone defended as well as italy what an awful tournament it would have been. i think we like to romanticise about euro 96 because a) we were in it and b) we weren't completely shite...
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I wasn't even necessarily thinking of the England team, the Czech republic were a joy to watch that year and the final was a pretty good game.

    Football is more than about good attacking. I like good attacking and I like goals but I don't necessarily thyink that more goals make for a better game. I know I'm in the minority but I found the tactics in the Spain - Italy game fascinating.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kermit wrote: »
    I know I'm in the minority but I found the tactics in the Spain - Italy game fascinating.

    lol playing for penalties isn't fascinating tactics, imagine if italy had gone through what a kick in the nuts for the beautiful game, they'd probably have gone on to win it as well.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I watched nearly all the games for some reason and many of them were very impressive. There were, of course, exceptions, though.

    Not having England in the tourny made it more enjoyable for me. :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    euro 2008: very good tournament. turkeys comebacks stand out. russia v holland was a classic. and im happy spain won. germany would have ruined if they won cos they were pretty poor in all. turkey were better.

    wc 2006: rubbish overall. i can only remember the arg-mexico game being any good. too many cards. storybook stuff for italy though. ivory coast and ghana impressed me.

    euro 2004: decent tournament. greece breathed new life into football.

    wc 2002: my personal fav. i remember loads of games from this. senegal beating france in the opener. ronaldo (the original one) scoring classic goals, south koreas perfomance, turkey and ireland did well.

    euro2000: was quite good. england were the worst there (barring germany). i remember it for a great final, and for the france - portugal game when xavier handballed it. and phil neville gifting a penalty to romania.

    wc 1998: good tournament. i remember nigeria beat spain and iran beating usa as some of the highlights. michael owens goal and croatia stand out.

    euro1996: i only remember bit of this cos i was a bit too young, but england/scotland and eng/holland stand out.
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