This Euro is poor and boring

Wonderful tournament, great football. Albania would beat most of the teams in the fake Copa Centenaria, organized by people that are now in jail.

rincon wrote:You should have been watching Copa before. 100% this is the worst Copa America in terms of atmosphere in south america. Its in north america, its only 1 year after Chile's Copa, it doesn't actually make you a champion of the continent as Chile will be at the confed cup regardless.

Agreed. Watched USA-Ecuador the other day. Felt like watching a random MLB game tbh in what looked like some baseball stadium with some empty stands. Zero atmosphere all round

Now I know you're lying. The atmosphere for USA Ecuador was absolutely electric

I'm fine with the Euro. Switzerland is in the Last 16 and my favourite Swiss goalie was only defeated once by a penalty

I've enjoyed the Euros and the Copa in equal measure. These players are clearly rather tired, the coaches are pragmatic and I think we're forgetting that group stage matches just tend to be far less eventful than the knockout rounds. I recall a few people (not here) saying the group stages of the WC were boring too. It's going to happen. I prefer not to dwell on it. I do think this 24-team format is rather odd though. Despite the even number, it still feels uneven.

rwo power wrote:I'm fine with the Euro. Switzerland is in the Last 16 and my favourite Swiss goalie was only defeated once by a penalty

Your favourite Swiss goalie? How many Swiss goalies do you fancy?

S wrote:

rincon wrote:You should have been watching Copa before. 100% this is the worst Copa America in terms of atmosphere in south america. Its in north america, its only 1 year after Chile's Copa, it doesn't actually make you a champion of the continent as Chile will be at the confed cup regardless.

Agreed. Watched USA-Ecuador the other day. Felt like watching a random MLB game tbh in what looked like some baseball stadium with some empty stands. Zero atmosphere all round

Have to agree, in terms of atmosphere this copa is the worst in history. That being said, the worst copa atmosphere is probably still better than the best eurocup atmosphere, except when Turkey or the balkans play probably.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:

S wrote:

rincon wrote:You should have been watching Copa before. 100% this is the worst Copa America in terms of atmosphere in south america. Its in north america, its only 1 year after Chile's Copa, it doesn't actually make you a champion of the continent as Chile will be at the confed cup regardless.

Agreed. Watched USA-Ecuador the other day. Felt like watching a random MLB game tbh in what looked like some baseball stadium with some empty stands. Zero atmosphere all round

Have to agree, in terms of atmosphere this copa is the worst in history. That being said, the worst copa atmosphere is probably still better than the best eurocup atmosphere, except when Turkey or the balkans play probably.

The Irish teams have been pretty good. Wales and England also. Balkan teams are awful. It's not great atmosphere to be hostile. Albania vs Serbia is still a huge disgrace.

Freeza wrote:Your favourite Swiss goalie? How many Swiss goalies do you fancy?

The Swiss part is there to differentiate Yann Sommer from Manuel Neuer and Gigi Buffon

BarrileteCosmico wrote:

S wrote:

rincon wrote:You should have been watching Copa before. 100% this is the worst Copa America in terms of atmosphere in south america. Its in north america, its only 1 year after Chile's Copa, it doesn't actually make you a champion of the continent as Chile will be at the confed cup regardless.

Agreed. Watched USA-Ecuador the other day. Felt like watching a random MLB game tbh in what looked like some baseball stadium with some empty stands. Zero atmosphere all round

Have to agree, in terms of atmosphere this copa is the worst in history. That being said, the worst copa atmosphere is probably still better than the best eurocup atmosphere, except when Turkey or the balkans play probably.

Tbh i thought the best in game atmosphere was in the Iceland-Hungary game. The most colorful, loud and vibrant atmosphere i have seen this tourney except that the quality of football dint match that.
Both Hungarian and Icelandic supporters have been unbelievable this EURO.

I felt Turkey's support was kinda disappointing actually. Probably a reflection of how their team performed.

It is kinda poor, but as pointed out: such is what happens in the group stages.

It is usually the case when you don't have the need to actually win all games, but grinding out draws and playing it safe actually does a good enough job without exhausting your players, or having any needless injuries. This 24 team system just cries for it. Not the coaches' or teams' problem the tournament is setup this way.

I know the knockout rounds will have much better footballing quality, such is the case of any tournament football.

Not really. WC2014 had the best group stage of any recent tournament and yet a very disappointing knockout stage. WC2010 had a poor knockout stage and group stage. There's really no guarantee the KO will be any better.

I've been really pleased with the tourno.

The football hasn't been particularly sexy, but it's been competitive. If people watch the Euros expecting Premier League level football, their expectations are simply too high. Furthermore, the expansion to 24 teams was a correct one, imo. The added excitement of having the knock-out stages start from round-of-16 instead of round-of-8 is greater than the drop in average quality - because the drop hasn't been that big. We're seeing competitive matches.

Oh Christ, here we go with this bullshit again.

None of the tournaments have been lame, honestly. The "little teams" are simply tougher to be beat nowadays simply because they are more tactically adept and physically enhanced (no steroids).

I might be wrong, but I think guys expect player A or team A to pwn all the B and C teams composed B & C players (basically what some of you guys call shit teams and players) like it's the pre 2010's. I think competition is better than just watching the elite teams win all the time. To me soccer, both on NT and Club level, is much more interesting nowadays and I'm happy with both tourneys bar Mex 7-0.

It's probably worth mentioning that the most important thing in this entire discussion is that this is all very premature...

World Cup 2014 aside, most tournaments don't become that interesting until the knockout rounds. This group stage has been relatively par for the course tbh

i think NT football isn't what it used to be, hasn't been what it used to be since say post 2006, whilst i did enjoy the last world cup, so far this euro has been a bit of a snooze fest for me, i hope it picks up. didn't care for the last euros neither....it just feels like there are no stars/stars get afraid to play for their national team

You guys are romanticizing the past, and then the present doesn't live up to the mental hype.

These Euros are fine.

And the British fans, no matter from which country, are a delight. With their chants. Less, with the hooliganism. Looking at you, the English.

Lord Awesome wrote:

The "little teams" are simply tougher to be beat nowadays simply because they are more tactically adept and physically enhanced (no steroids).

little teams have always been tough to beat at major tournaments (not talking about confederations cups or qualifiers). i'd say since the early 90s its been the case, big teams may have won, but there have been many little team upsets. my issue isn't with the euro in particular, but national team football in general.

Tonight showed further evidence that this new format isn't helping. Not blaming Slovakia at all here but they parked the bus and played for a point just so they could go through as a 3rd placed team, when a win could have won them the group potentially.

It's not like we're a powerhouse, either. We're a beatable team, yet Slovakia didn't even try.

Jay29 wrote:Tonight showed further evidence that this new format isn't helping. Not blaming Slovakia at all here but they parked the bus and played for a point just so they could go through as a 3rd placed team, when a win could have won them the group potentially.

It's not like we're a powerhouse, either. We're a beatable team, yet Slovakia didn't even try.

I honestly don't think Slovakia were capable of much better. I prefer this new format to the old one.

Doesn't matter of what they're capable of (and they are more capable than today), it's about the fact that Slovakia didn't really try to attack much during the game.

In the old format, if they want to progress, they would have had to. It would have been open and exciting.

We'll see what they do in the next round, though.

It would have been an easy England win if Slovakia had to win. There's excitement in this new format just as much as there was in the old one, teams still have to get a favorable result to progress. There may just as well be games in the old format where a draw is enough to progress and a team plays for it.

There were, but this format emphasizes draws as a way to get to the next round, and it's bland.

Saying it would have been an easy England win is a bit presumptuous...we've seen bigger upsets in tournaments. Hell, Ghana nearly made it to the semifinals of a World Cup. I hope the do or die format of the knockout rounds encourages more positive football, but I think we might see teams like Slovakia sit back again hoping to go through on penalties :/

People are making too big an issue of this supposed playing for draws. In club football if Deportivo get a draw against Real Madrid or Burnley get a draw against Man City or Augsburg get a draw against Bayern Munich we say "well done" to them and are happy about the minnows holding their own. Now it's the Euros and people are getting upset about the same thing.

Having a bunch of 3rd place teams go through has damaged the quality of football immensely.


Teams who are 3rd in a 4 team group parking the bus content with 3rd place

pathetic decision. Might as well let every team advance to the knockouts next season, gotta include everybody because that's what's important here.

Art Morte wrote:People are making too big an issue of this supposed playing for draws. In club football if Deportivo get a draw against Real Madrid or Burnley get a draw against Man City or Augsburg get a draw against Bayern Munich we say "well done" to them and are happy about the minnows holding their own. Now it's the Euros and people are getting upset about the same thing.

Because every single game barring Italy-Belgium has been a case of one obviously superior team struggling to break down a parked bus and scoring a late goal when their opponents eventually tire. It's boring and repetitive and yet the teams that do it are being rewarded by this format.