Why the Euros is a football throwback
Morning! It's June 11th, and we're telling you why the Euros are the best even though Americans aren't really buying all the tickets. Enjoy!
Just three days to go to the start of the Euros with Germany v Scotland on Friday and everyone seems to be producing lists.
ESPN ranks the Euro kits -which are a solid collection of traditional shirts with a few ‘creative’ away kits thrown in. Although quite how Germany comes out on top we’ll never understand…..
The Athletic, for some bizarre reason, decides to rank the Euro managers by how good they were as players but also do a handy Top 50 players to watch in the tournament.($)
So here is our list. Five Reasons Why the Euros is the Best
Unlike far too much European club football - the outcomes are unpredictable. As Jonathan Wilson puts it Nobody is perfect. Nobody can just go out and buy a balanced squad, while the lack of time available means systems are far less sophisticated than at club level. If anything, the flaws add to the spectacle. Yep.
Eastern Europe gets to play: Once upon a time, in the days before the Champions League, Eastern European clubs were involved in the latter stages of big European competitions and in some cases, like Red Star Belgrade and Steaua Bucharest, even became champions of Europe. Now the Champions League is essentially a West European competition. Euro 2024 has 11 teams from the former Eastern Bloc involved including, for the first time, Georgia. Good.
Managers take a back seat for once: There’s no Pep, no Klopp and no Mourinho and with most national team coaches being relatively low-profile, the focus is where it should be - on the players. It also means there is much less obsessing about styles and ‘philosophies’ and much more attention on - things that win football matches.
Atmosphere: Those East European teams will bring their East European fans along with them and that means, ultras, noise, flags, drinking and maybe a bit of misbehavior now and then. It’s not going to be the sanitized atmo of most Premier League grounds. Of course, UEFA will hand out some fines for letting off flares or excessive nationalism and the Guardian will run a column about how awful it all is but ultimately it will be football fans being football fans.
It’s not about money - sure the wealthier federations can build the nicest training centers and spend the most on sports science and all the rest but ultimately, budget and investment, are words that are generally absent from discussions around the Euros and so, thank goodness is ‘Financial Fair Play’. It’s about talent, organization and finding a way to win. There’s no Gulf oil owned teams and no private equity either - at least not yet. The Euros are about as close to a level-playing field as you will find in European football these days.
Your Daily Soccer Round-up….
EURO 2024: 27% of all tickets to the finals in Germany have been bought by Americans according to World Soccer Talk citing ticket reseller ViaGoGo’s press release as their source of truth.
Yes - more Americans than Germans will attend the Euros in Germany according to this story.
Hmm, that doesn’t sound quite right?
Last week we waxed somewhat lyrical about the impact EURO 2024 and Copa America could have on MLS, but not because there’d be a mass exodus of American soccer fans rushing off to Europe to outnumber the hosts.
World Soccer Talk also rehash their claim that 22% of all tickets to the Qatar World Cup were snapped-up by Americans, which would mean 748,935 (and a half) of them went to Qatar based on the total attendance of 3,404,252.
But, official Qatar organisers were disappointed with only 765K visitors during the first two weeks of the competition after expecting 1.2M with an overall attendance during that initial fortnight of 2.65M. (Reuters)
If we’re being extremely delusional charitable, and suggest the additional 750K who attended the final two weeks of the tournament came from the US, that would mean 50% of attendees were American according to WST.
While we wouldn’t count ourselves as numerical savants, we also wouldn’t count ViaGoGo as much more than your average reseller having been fined 23M (Euros) in Italy for inflating concert ticket prices, fined in France for selling unauthorized Rugby World Cup tickets, and having to apologise for illegally selling tickets to the recent England vs Iceland friendly.
TL;DR: it’s bollocks!
COPA AMERICA: Being a wonderkid obviously doesn’t cut it these days if your parents aren’t able to get a US visa. Sixteen-year-old Moisés Paniagua, who ironically plays for Club Always Ready, has been omitted from the Bolivia squad for the upcoming tournament due to not getting the relevant paperwork ready. (Globo.com)
Carlo Ancelotti has walked backed his comments on Real Madrid shunning the FIFA Club World Cup due to a paltry prize fund: “In my interview with Il Giornale, my words about the FIFA Club World Cup were not interpreted in the way I intended. Nothing could be further from my interest than to reject the possibility of playing in a tournament that I consider could be a great opportunity to continue fighting for big titles with Real Madrid.” (@MrAncelotti)
Hmmm. Did Florentino give him a call?
The Daily Soccer Quote of the Day
“If we don’t win, I probably won’t be here any more. So maybe it is the last chance. I think around half the national coaches leave after a tournament — that’s the nature of international football."
- Gareth Southgate effectively resigns?