Worst international tournament ever?

[The Old Man of Storr]

Incorrect. I'm basing it on the objective quality of games and the competition overall.

How England do has no baring on my enjoyment of a tournament.

OK , I may have let my pro Welsh team feelings get the better of me in this argument .

[The Old Man of Storr]

Lads , I took the ' Worst Tournament ' thread to be a dig against the success of the Wales team in Euro 2016 and I reacted badly , I see now it wasn't anything of the sort and perhaps if England were in the semi finals the same question would have been asked - but I guess we'll never know .
I hope you can see where I'm coming from , had England got through to the Final and I had started a thread ' What A Poor Competition this has been ' maybe some of you would have bitten the same way I did ?
Hope you can accept my apologies .

[JerseyHammer]

Hope you can accept my apologies .

Fair one mate

Wales' performances haven't surprised me as much as they have surprised some, this of all seasons has shown what a team can do.

As for the tournament itself, I would say it's not as bad as people make out. If anything it is certainly memorable, not for the right reasons if you're English.

['Appy 'Ammer]

World Cup 94 was the best I have seen. After pub games, the Irish swearing and unbelievable goals

[Burnley Hammer]

96 was the last good one I remember. My interest in England and international football took a nosedive after that and never recovered. Could have been because I was young and enthusiastic back then but old, anti-social, and grouchy now.

[Moxy]

This tournament gave me one of the greatest moments of my life, I was in the stadium when Robbie Brady scored late on against the Italians to put us through, I cried with tears of happiness (the only time footballs made me do that). For that reason alone from a selfish point of view il always love euro 2016.

[szola]

I love this tournament

[richneal]

I've enjoyed it. Seen a few cracking goals, players I've never seen or heard of before, some interesting tactics, and lots of both better-than-expected performances and far-worse-than-expected performances. Always enjoy seeing underdogs make a good go of it and almost equally enjoy seeing the higher ranked teams implode every now and again.

So for me it's a no, far from the worst international tournament ever.

[Jumby]

Every international tournament people say this and it's usually because England have been crap.

[iLoveLasagne]

I had been thinking that this was quite a mediocre tournament for some time and was waiting for it to pick up. I am struggling to see who really deserves player of the tournament so far. None of the expected top players are really hitting form, besides Bale perhaps. As mentioned, the emphasis on defending in some cases has lowered the entertainment value. Yet as the same time I have enjoyed Wales and Iceland battle away doggedly. But it is nowhere near as enjoyable as seeing star performers do the business. There hasn't been any unknown gem rising through the ranks either. The theme has been on organised teamwork triumphing over individual brilliance.

[rare as rockinghorse shat]

1990 and 1994 reign supreme.
It was just edging towards the end of the proper footballer, then slowly phased out by 1998 and it's a huge shame that people jump to criticising both these tournaments.
They were both sensational.

What we've had since is idols of Nike and Adidas; people interested in Messi's boots and Naymar & Ronaldo's haircut, rather than Redondo's sublime short passing, Stoijkovic's ability running at defenders and Abel Balbo's movement off the ball.

World Cup 2010 was absolute toilet.

[Mega Ron]

I've enjoyed all of Euros and World Cups since I've been a kid but for me 1994 was the best.

I've enjoyed this one as well, mostly because there have been more games, but there has been a lack of quality all round.

Teams, even the better ones, are getting by with a handful of very good players.

Although I have liked watching the games I would prefer if all the group games were played at the same time. I think it makes it much more competitive for everyone fighting it out not knowing what is needed.

[simon hammer]

Love your posts TOMOS...but if wales win you'll bang on about it every day? Really?

That makes you just as bad as us English!!!

[Slacking student]

2008 was the tournament that I enjoyed the most. Mainly because England weren't in it and I just watched and enjoyed the level of football on display. The Russians and Arshavin in particular were great to watch.

This is an article discussing the very subject

http://www.espnfc.co.uk/blog/espn-fc-un ... ll-history

[James P]

I also thought 1994 was hugely entertaining. That was the last 24 team World Cup. I was young at the time but I don't remember as much playing for draws in the groups then. There were plenty of shocks and wins. Euro 2016 might just be an outlier on that front.

[Puff Daddy]

World Cup England 1966 was a pretty diabolical tournament. Don't be fooled into thinking it was great, , because England won it. Believe me, as somebody who still remembers it well, just like it were yesterday, it wasn't, it was pretty goddam dire. No decent football, a load of crap teams taking part and short on entertainment. Only 16 teams actually participated and none at all from Africa, the Middle East and only one team ( of which more later) from the whole of Asia. There was no Round of 16, the top two teams from each group making it straight through to the quarter finals: Here ware the 16 teams who took part:-


Group 'A' Group 'B' Group 'C' Group'D'

England West Germany Brazil Russia
France Switzerland Portugal North Korea
Uruguay Argentina Bulgaria Chile
Mexico Spain Czechoslovakia Italy

[szola]

Actually here are the groups w/results

Group A

England 5 pts
Uruguay 4 pts
Mexico 2 pts
France 1 pts
__________________

Group B
West Germany 5 pts
Argentina 5 pts
Spain 2 pts
Swiss 0 pts
___________________

Group C
Portugal 6 pts
Hungary 4 pts
Brazil 2 pts
Bulgaria 0 pts
___________________

Group D
Soviet Union 6 pts
North Korea 3 pts
Italy 2 pts
Chile 1 pts

[Puff Daddy]

... and watch how Pele was deliberately targeted and quite literally how he was booted out of that World Cup, but warning, don't play this before the 9:00 pm watershed. Proper x rated stuff. http://www.dailymotion.com

[The Old Man of Storr]

Love your posts TOMOS...but if wales win you'll bang on about it every day? Really?

That makes you just as bad as us English!!!

I still remember watching England play West Germany in '66 with my old Dad - I was as happy as any English person that they won - I even went out on to the football pitch of Amlwch Town to re-create Geoff Hurst's 3rd goal - it was a fantastic achievement by a lovely bunch of gentlemen and quite rightly English folk will talk about it still - I still talk about it !
If Wales get to the Final I will talk about that achievement every other day , if by some footballing miracle they win I will talk about it every day !

There was that song about ' 30 years of Hurt ' - well it's been far longer than that for us - we've had to live in England's shadow for decades , yes we've come close on occasion but close isn't good enough . To be in the semi finals of the European Championship is a fantastic group achievement by a country that has to scrape around for players from England who qualify through birth of their grandparents so that they can get a squad together , England wouldn't have given Vokes , Robson-Kanu or Ashley Williams a second glance but we treasure them ! Then someone started a thread deprecating the quality of Euro 2016 !
Red Rag To An Old Welsh Bull I'm Afraid .

Thanks for the compliment , Simon , I hope you understand where I was coming from when I went off on one .

[Sloffy]

Back in the old days, it was exciting to watch a rare live game, on a grainy picture with crackling commentary, seeing mysterious players you'd never heard of, or only heard of but never seen - as a kid I was mesmerised by Mexico 86. Even the score on the screen flashed up with the country names in a foreign language - we were Angleterre or Anglia !! Each national team was made up of players from the own leagues, and everybody - yes everybody - was proud of their own nation and wanted them to do well.

Now, its like a Champions League group game. Boring. The players are all mates who play for elite clubs, theres no mystique, no excitement, just another game. No pride from the players, its not worth their while to play for England. No pride from the fans either. Over the years, Liverpool fans slagging off Rooney, Man U fans slagging off Gerrard etc etc. And in charge of it all, the biggest, fattest most corrupt organisation out there.

Its overkill and gone pop. Football has created its own monster. Its still trendy at the moment but it will all burst, mark my words.