Worst international tournament ever?

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e17
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Worst international tournament ever?

Post by e17 »

Forgive me if I come across like Walthamstow's Victor Meldrew, but watching the comedy penalty shoot out last night between Germany & Italy, me & my lot were discussing how very few standout games or moments this tournament has had, as well as individual stars lighting up games.

We sort of agreed that the addition of extra knockout games & the 3rd placed qualification had messed up all the final group games, & appeared to have added a level of low scoring, safety first matches, that this tournament has so far not recovered from.

Although it was agreed the Wales & Iceland adventures have been great to watch, generally none of my lot have enjoyed much about this tournament at all - we sort of agreed though that there's been a few poor Euros since 1996 - but none quite so lacking as this one. & compared to the amazing excitement of the opening of the World Cup games in Rio, it's been championship levels at best.

Disagree?
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Re: Worst international tournament ever?

Post by fjthegrey »

I'll have to reserve my full judgement until I've had a chance to do a more thorough assessment against other tournaments but I'm inclined to agree.

It's not so much the standard but the quality of matches and the tactical vogue right now of being defensive and hard to beat. These things are cyclical though. We've still got 4 games (I don't count 3rd place playoff, if there even is one) and those 4 games could turn things in its favour, but it'll likely be sitting alongside World Cup 2010 rather than Euro 2008, which I hold as the worst and best tournaments of recent times.
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Re: Worst international tournament ever?

Post by The Old Man of Storr »

Try the grapes out of my bag , lads , they're a lot sweeter than the ones you're eating .
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Re: Worst international tournament ever?

Post by Puff Daddy »

I expected more from Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller, Zlatan and Cristiano Ronaldo . Considering the number of goals that lot have scored all over Europe for club and country , they have managed just three between them at these finals. Ronaldo and Muller still have an opportunity to address this, but this has not really been a tournament of a stand out striker
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Re: Worst international tournament ever?

Post by Thedogsbilic »

South Africa 2010 was by far the worst international tournament I've seen, for the record I can remember back to the 1978 World Cup when the Dutch should've been World Champions.
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Re: Worst international tournament ever?

Post by Rio »

Sweden 92, Portugal 04, World Cup 2010 all far worse.. Let's face it Italia 90 wasn't much cop either. That's been hidden through misty eyed reminiscing of us reaching the semis & a pretty rank New Order song.
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Re: Worst international tournament ever?

Post by simon hammer »

USA 94, Portugal 04, South Africa 10 and the last Euros were all poor. This one is only good in the sense that smaller nations are doing/have done relatively well.

In general though, the standard of international football is poor.
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Re: Worst international tournament ever?

Post by Rio »

You're right, the only tournament I can remember being outstanding was Spain 82. Thar had everything and more.
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Re: Worst international tournament ever?

Post by fjthegrey »

Euro 2008 was excellent. Its just most people didn't watch it because we didn't qualify.
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Re: Worst international tournament ever?

Post by The Old Man of Storr »

Tournaments are only great when you're winning - is there a season or a year that goes by without someone mentioning the 1966 World Cup for instance ?
Every World Cup that comes along , some pundit or other has bigged up England to win it , Jimmy Hill God rest his soul was as guilty as any man for this and while I admired Jimmy's enthusiasm it was always and still is about England . Wales were about to play Belgium in what was the most important match in the country's history but Lineker and Co. still managed to talk about why England had failed to get as far , no mention of Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland for that matter - it's always about England .
And you wonder why the Welsh celebrated the Iceland victory ?

I'm sorry , lads and lasses , I realise that most of you on here are English and I honestly love you all to bits , each and every one of you but listen to the BBC after this competition is over and see which footballing country is mentioned the most , listen to the Sky pundits , they will be discussing the new England Manager's job or why England failed so miserably , there won't be a mention of Scotland , Wales or Northern Ireland - we will always be regarded as ' plucky ' and not worth discussing .
Then you will understand why the Welsh celebrated like they did .
The BBC which goes out to all 4 corners of the British Isles - all they ever mention is the England international team or the England international cricket team , we have to wait until the Regional News comes on before any of our respective countries are given a mention - it was pathetic to hear Naga Munchetty trying to say ' Good Luck and Good Morning ' in the Welsh language the other day , if the BBC cannot find someone who can pronounce the words properly then don't bother or get a Welsh presenter to do it !


If Wales by some miracle win the 2016 European Championship I for one will be mentioning it for years to come . Every day .
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Re: Worst international tournament ever?

Post by The Old Man of Storr »

To be fair to the BBC they did let James Bradfield sing a song about the Welsh Football Team on the Andrew Marr Show , bless them . :thup:
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Re: Worst international tournament ever?

Post by Iron Mark »

People asking about the quality of the tournament turns into a Welshman hating England, again. 1966? I'm sure that Wales will never mention the tournament where they got further than England again. Last census had there being 50m more people in England than Wales, maybe that is why the focus on the British media is on them. Remember that Wales also have their own tv stations where I'm sure Wales will be the focus. Scotland didn't qualify so won't get mentioned about this tournament at all.

For Wales the tournament is great. For everyone else though, it's not been good to watch. There are still games to go, but are there any games that we will look back on as a classic in the future? Not that I can think of. The change of how the tournament works encouraged teams in the group stage to defend instead of attack.
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Re: Worst international tournament ever?

Post by e17 »

TOMOS, you're my favourite poster on here mate, & I can see why from a Welsh perspective it's been a vintage tournament - but you can't tell me the rest of it hasn't been dogshit - it's been a tournament straight out of the Tony Pullis school of management, rather than the Kevin Keegan....

On the comments here about Italia 90 - I don't buy that being **** at all - Baggio, Schilachi, 60 year old Roger Milla & his dance, that lot crippling Canigia, Lothar owning games, Gazza running rings around players
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Re: Worst international tournament ever?

Post by Clucking Bell »

I went to Spain '82, Mexico '86 (although I only saw the 'hand of God' game) and Italy '90 and I thoroughly enjoyed all of them. Also went to the Holland and Scotland games at the '96 Euros ..... I had a ticket for the Germany game but, I gave it to a German buddy of mine (quite glad I did actually)

In truth, the '96 Euros was the last one I enjoyed ...... probably because it was the last one where England played reasonably well.

As far as this one's concerned, the football has been pretty **** but, I am pretty happy with the results. It's great to see Wales do so well (I think they can win it) and it's even better to see the big teams implode. Germany missing penalties is quite funny and I wouldn't let Hodgson pick his nose, let alone a football team.
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Re: Worst international tournament ever?

Post by fjthegrey »

The Old Man of Storr wrote:Tournaments are only great when you're winning
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.
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Re: Worst international tournament ever?

Post by The Old Man of Storr »

Iron Mark wrote:People asking about the quality of the tournament turns into a Welshman hating England, again. 1966?

For Wales the tournament is great. For everyone else though, it's not been good to watch. There are still games to go, but are there any games that we will look back on as a classic in the future? Not that I can think of. The change of how the tournament works encouraged teams in the group stage to defend instead of attack.

But you've missed my whole point , Mark I DON'T HATE ENGLAND , I don't hate the English people I think they're some of the most tolerant people on this planet !! I married an English girl , I worked in England for 10 years and made loads of mates there , I loved the fact that England won the World Cup in '66 , I saw it on the telly and cheered them on , so did my Welsh Dad !!
I stood up for my English speaking mates who were refused service in a ' Welsh Speakers Only ' pub in Bangor - I haven't got a molecule of anti English blood in my body !!
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Re: Worst international tournament ever?

Post by Iron Mark »

The Old Man of Storr wrote: I stood up for my English speaking mates who were refused service in a ' Welsh Speakers Only ' pub in Bangor - I haven't got a molecule of anti English blood in my body !!
Question was "Worst international tournament ever?" and you are the first person to mention England. You go into a long rant about them. No anti English blood? That post in your own words suggest otherwise.
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Re: Worst international tournament ever?

Post by The Old Man of Storr »

e17 wrote:TOMOS, you're my favourite poster on here mate, & I can see why from a Welsh perspective it's been a vintage tournament - but you can't tell me the rest of it hasn't been dogshit - it's been a tournament straight out of the Tony Pullis school of management, rather than the Kevin Keegan....

On the comments here about Italia 90 - I don't buy that being **** at all - Baggio, Schilachi, 60 year old Roger Milla & his dance, that lot crippling Canigia, Lothar owning games, Gazza running rings around players

I am truly truly flattered by that , E17 , honestly I am .

OK I haven't seen every match as I find that unfair on my Mrs and we've only got one telly in the house . To be fair to her she has never complained about the footie being on and will always say ' Watch the football if you want ' but I believe in fairness and I'll never hog the screen unless West Ham are on .

England have disappointed as have Spain and Portugal but Belgium played well in fits and starts and the Germans have......ok maybe you're right ! :D

But hey , you can only play what's in front of you and it's only the European Championship , some countries that existed in the 70s and 80s have split to become smaller countries etc but if England had got through to the Final and won it would anyone be complaining ?
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Re: Worst international tournament ever?

Post by The Old Man of Storr »

Iron Mark wrote:
Question was "Worst international tournament ever?" and you are the first person to mention England. You go into a long rant about them. No anti English blood? That post in your own words suggest otherwise.

Dear Mark ,
My point though it may have been put across badly was about 1966 , a competition that England won , which is still talked about till this day .
Do you think the people of Portugal thought it was a good tournament , do you think the people of Uruguay thought it was a good tournament , do you think that the people of the Soviet Union thought it a good competition ?
Probably No .
The winners will always think it was a good competition and if Wales win this one I will think it the best European Championships that ever were .
My rant was aimed at the publicity the England football team get from the BBC and Sky NOT an anti England rant - I hope I've explained it better this time .
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Re: Worst international tournament ever?

Post by The Old Man of Storr »

Clucking Bell wrote:I went to Spain '82, Mexico '86 (although I only saw the 'hand of God' game) and Italy '90 and I thoroughly enjoyed all of them. Also went to the Holland and Scotland games at the '96 Euros ..... I had a ticket for the Germany game but, I gave it to a German buddy of mine (quite glad I did actually)

In truth, the '96 Euros was the last one I enjoyed ...... probably because it was the last one where England played reasonably well.

As far as this one's concerned, the football has been pretty **** but, I am pretty happy with the results. It's great to see Wales do so well (I think they can win it) and it's even better to see the big teams implode. Germany missing penalties is quite funny and I wouldn't let Hodgson pick his nose, let alone a football team.
:thup:
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