EURO 2016: The good, the bad, and the ugly.
THE GOOD
The Underdogs
Regardless of who wins the European Championship on Sunday the tournament will most likely be remembered for the unlikely run of a plucky Welsh side. Despite a battling defeat to England in the Group stages the Welsh barely put a foot wrong beating Slovakia, Russia and Northern Ireland before putting a much fancied Belgium team to the sword in style. Gareth Bale was the obvious star man in the line-up and he stepped up to lead from the front but it was the other lesser known names around him who were ultimately responsible for sending a relatively unfancied international team to the very forefront of world football.
Although Wales stole the show much praise must also be given to plucky Iceland. It was impossible not to fall in love with the spirit and determination shown by those from the competition’s most remote nation. Even when Iceland embarrassed England in the last 16 I found it particularly difficult to begrudge them. However they ultimately fell in the next round torn apart by a ruthless French outfit. Special credit must be given to the islanders who continued to play their own brand of dogged and never say die football throughout, even despite finding themselves four down at the break against the hosts. Not bad for a country with a population of 320’000 or so…just in case you’d somehow missed that statistic.
Antoine Griezmann
The little prince of France has had an incredible season, and unlike the vast majority of other top players at this tournament he has continued his form well into the latter stages of these Euros. Griezmann is now the competition’s top scorer and unless something remarkable happens on Sunday he will claim the tournament’s golden boot. Labelled too small and skinny to play football growing up, the 5’ 7’’ superstar has lit things up for the hosts and now carries a nation’s hope and dreams on his shoulders as the French bid for a third European Championships win and their first major tournament success since 2000. A superb brace against Ireland, a delightfully chipped finish against Iceland and the high pressure penalty converted versus the Germans all proof that Griezmann is a class act who must surely be hailed as the tournament’s star player.
The Referees and team’s discipline
The quality of refereeing at this year tournament must be given great credit. On the whole the men in charge have done a great job in allowing proceedings to flow and there has been great use of the ‘Advantage’ rule. Of course there were a few debatable decisions most recently and perhaps importantly the one made by Nicola Rizzoli in which he awarded France a penalty in their semi final match with Germany. To ask for fifty matches without some sort of contentious decision being made is impossible and in the grand scheme of things I think the officials have done a cracking job. Further to this point there seemed a greater sense of discipline within the teams at this year’s tournament with only three red cards awarded. There still remains the tendency for players to go down easily in the search of fouls but it seems this is a darker side of football that will never really be removed; fortunately there has been nothing on the scale of Rivaldo’s famous fall.
THE BAD
England
Getting knocked out of the World Cup in the group stages was pretty dire but yet England found a seemingly impossible way to hit a new low. Russia, Slovakia, Wales and Iceland are four teams you would expect a multi million pound England team to beat with ease, perhaps we’d let them off with
one draw and three wins. Yet the Three Lions managed just one victory, which in all honesty was fairly fortunate. Roy Hodgson baffled many with his lineups and seemed uncertain of his own game plans, a fact that clearly spread to the players who for all their possession couldn’t even score from open play in 270 minutes against Slovakia, Russia or Iceland. I dread to think what the rest of Europe thinks about England right now; although having said that at least we qualified unlike the Dutch.
The Format
This has been a fairly mundane tournament in all honesty, lit up by the occasional bit of magic. I put this down to the competition’s rules that saw four of the best ranked third place teams advance to the Last 16. I think that it’s great that more of the smaller teams are allowed to compete in the finals but I am not a fan of the format used. Wales topped a group with England, Slovakia and Russia so clearly they're capable of competing against the rest of Europe. Iceland finished second both in their qualifying group (ahead of the Netherlands and Turkey) and then second in their pool (ahead of Portugal and Austria) definitive evidence that they can go toe to toe with bigger teams and triumph, there’s no need to make it easier for smaller teams to reach the finals.
The third place system also created much confusion about who would play who in the Last 16, a plethora of variants in a code like UEFA rule made it far harder to work out the permutations of the knockout stage than it needed to be. Furthermore it also meant that four teams who won their group would face third place teams, whilst two other group winners would have to face ‘harder’ second placed teams. Portugal are in the final despite having drawn all three of their group matches, in previous years they would have been eliminated at this stage but were given a second life courtesy of this new format. I also hold this rule responsible for the number of poor quality games, sides know that just one win is enough to get them through and that even with three consecutive scoreless draws there is a good chance they will advance.
Swiss Shirts
Xherdan Shaqiri said that he hoped that Puma didn’t make condoms after four Swiss players had their shirts ripped during a match against France in Group A. I have seen the odd shirt torn during a match before but four in one game was a new record. The French seemed to be fairly fond of tugging on the Swiss’ red jerseys but it was obvious something wasn’t quite right when even the slightest of touches resulted in a tear. At first I wondered if it was a deliberate ploy by the Swiss to get more fouls from the referee, especially considering the Swiss captain Lichtsteiner had had a penalty given against him in the previous match for jostling and pulling on the shirt of an opposition in the box. Whatever the reason it had little effect on the officials as Switzerland played out a goalless draw with the hosts and Puma pleaded their innocence by highlighting the fact numerous other teams sported their brand and had remained hole free during their games.
THE UGLY
Hooliganism
England’s opener against Russia was marred by fans fighting in the streets of Marseille, and both nations were threatened with an early exit should their supporters fail to behave themselves. There were similar incidents in other games including Croatia’s draw with Czech Republic. Fortunately things have since been more relaxed in the latter stages of the competition but it’s both embarrassing and disappointing to see full grown men acting in such a manner. Reports have told how Russian fans disguised themselves in the shirts of English club sides to infiltrate opposition supporters before attacking them with weapons including knifes, razors and baseball bats with military like
organisation. A family friend told how he was enjoying some light-hearted fun in a Marseille café before a group of sober Russian thugs armed with weapons, gum shields and protective headwear attacked the tipsy, vulnerable English fans completely unprovoked. He was so shaken by the whole experience he didn’t travel to the next England game despite having a ticket. I must unfortunately note that not all English fans were innocent bystanders and it is clear that there were some that involved themselves in similar disgusting actions tarnishing the good name of the everyday football fan. Perhaps UEFA should worry more about this, especially considering the location of the next World Cup, and less about how ‘dangerous’ it was that the Welsh players celebrated with their children on the pitch.
Joachim Löw’s wandering hands
During Germany’s 2-0 win over Ukraine manager Joachim Low was caught on camera putting his hands down his trousers and then sniffing them. Such was the publicity of his dirty deeds that the German coach had to apologise for his actions saying it was down to ‘adrenaline and concentration’. Some journalists then proceeded to jokingly question squad members if Low’s actions had affected their performances and preparations, forward Lukas Podolski told it how it is saying that ‘It’s not an issue. About 80% of you here have at some point scratched your balls’.
Zaza’s Penalty
With Italy-Germany heading for penalties in a crunch quarter final encounter, coach Conte made the decision to bring on Juventus striker Simone Zaza, effectively for the sole reason that he could supposedly place a ball in the back of the net from twelve yards out. Things did not go to plan as the substitute lined up to take Italy's second penalty which he then proceeded to blaze over the bar following one of the most ridiculous and unnecessary run ups I’ve ever seen. Germany went onto win the shoot out and progress to the semi finals, meaning Zaza’s bizarre penalty miss was rather costly, although there were a variety of other unsuccessful takers on both sides. The 25 year old has since apologised to the Italian fans taking the full blame for Italy's exit and saying his miss will haunt him for the rest of his life.
Henry Justice
The Underdogs
Regardless of who wins the European Championship on Sunday the tournament will most likely be remembered for the unlikely run of a plucky Welsh side. Despite a battling defeat to England in the Group stages the Welsh barely put a foot wrong beating Slovakia, Russia and Northern Ireland before putting a much fancied Belgium team to the sword in style. Gareth Bale was the obvious star man in the line-up and he stepped up to lead from the front but it was the other lesser known names around him who were ultimately responsible for sending a relatively unfancied international team to the very forefront of world football.
Although Wales stole the show much praise must also be given to plucky Iceland. It was impossible not to fall in love with the spirit and determination shown by those from the competition’s most remote nation. Even when Iceland embarrassed England in the last 16 I found it particularly difficult to begrudge them. However they ultimately fell in the next round torn apart by a ruthless French outfit. Special credit must be given to the islanders who continued to play their own brand of dogged and never say die football throughout, even despite finding themselves four down at the break against the hosts. Not bad for a country with a population of 320’000 or so…just in case you’d somehow missed that statistic.
Antoine Griezmann
The little prince of France has had an incredible season, and unlike the vast majority of other top players at this tournament he has continued his form well into the latter stages of these Euros. Griezmann is now the competition’s top scorer and unless something remarkable happens on Sunday he will claim the tournament’s golden boot. Labelled too small and skinny to play football growing up, the 5’ 7’’ superstar has lit things up for the hosts and now carries a nation’s hope and dreams on his shoulders as the French bid for a third European Championships win and their first major tournament success since 2000. A superb brace against Ireland, a delightfully chipped finish against Iceland and the high pressure penalty converted versus the Germans all proof that Griezmann is a class act who must surely be hailed as the tournament’s star player.
The Referees and team’s discipline
The quality of refereeing at this year tournament must be given great credit. On the whole the men in charge have done a great job in allowing proceedings to flow and there has been great use of the ‘Advantage’ rule. Of course there were a few debatable decisions most recently and perhaps importantly the one made by Nicola Rizzoli in which he awarded France a penalty in their semi final match with Germany. To ask for fifty matches without some sort of contentious decision being made is impossible and in the grand scheme of things I think the officials have done a cracking job. Further to this point there seemed a greater sense of discipline within the teams at this year’s tournament with only three red cards awarded. There still remains the tendency for players to go down easily in the search of fouls but it seems this is a darker side of football that will never really be removed; fortunately there has been nothing on the scale of Rivaldo’s famous fall.
THE BAD
England
Getting knocked out of the World Cup in the group stages was pretty dire but yet England found a seemingly impossible way to hit a new low. Russia, Slovakia, Wales and Iceland are four teams you would expect a multi million pound England team to beat with ease, perhaps we’d let them off with
 |
| England took the lead but lost 2-1 to Iceland. |
The Format
This has been a fairly mundane tournament in all honesty, lit up by the occasional bit of magic. I put this down to the competition’s rules that saw four of the best ranked third place teams advance to the Last 16. I think that it’s great that more of the smaller teams are allowed to compete in the finals but I am not a fan of the format used. Wales topped a group with England, Slovakia and Russia so clearly they're capable of competing against the rest of Europe. Iceland finished second both in their qualifying group (ahead of the Netherlands and Turkey) and then second in their pool (ahead of Portugal and Austria) definitive evidence that they can go toe to toe with bigger teams and triumph, there’s no need to make it easier for smaller teams to reach the finals.
The third place system also created much confusion about who would play who in the Last 16, a plethora of variants in a code like UEFA rule made it far harder to work out the permutations of the knockout stage than it needed to be. Furthermore it also meant that four teams who won their group would face third place teams, whilst two other group winners would have to face ‘harder’ second placed teams. Portugal are in the final despite having drawn all three of their group matches, in previous years they would have been eliminated at this stage but were given a second life courtesy of this new format. I also hold this rule responsible for the number of poor quality games, sides know that just one win is enough to get them through and that even with three consecutive scoreless draws there is a good chance they will advance.
Swiss Shirts
Xherdan Shaqiri said that he hoped that Puma didn’t make condoms after four Swiss players had their shirts ripped during a match against France in Group A. I have seen the odd shirt torn during a match before but four in one game was a new record. The French seemed to be fairly fond of tugging on the Swiss’ red jerseys but it was obvious something wasn’t quite right when even the slightest of touches resulted in a tear. At first I wondered if it was a deliberate ploy by the Swiss to get more fouls from the referee, especially considering the Swiss captain Lichtsteiner had had a penalty given against him in the previous match for jostling and pulling on the shirt of an opposition in the box. Whatever the reason it had little effect on the officials as Switzerland played out a goalless draw with the hosts and Puma pleaded their innocence by highlighting the fact numerous other teams sported their brand and had remained hole free during their games.
THE UGLY
Hooliganism
England’s opener against Russia was marred by fans fighting in the streets of Marseille, and both nations were threatened with an early exit should their supporters fail to behave themselves. There were similar incidents in other games including Croatia’s draw with Czech Republic. Fortunately things have since been more relaxed in the latter stages of the competition but it’s both embarrassing and disappointing to see full grown men acting in such a manner. Reports have told how Russian fans disguised themselves in the shirts of English club sides to infiltrate opposition supporters before attacking them with weapons including knifes, razors and baseball bats with military like
 |
| The Tournament was marred by constant violence in the streets. |
Joachim Löw’s wandering hands
During Germany’s 2-0 win over Ukraine manager Joachim Low was caught on camera putting his hands down his trousers and then sniffing them. Such was the publicity of his dirty deeds that the German coach had to apologise for his actions saying it was down to ‘adrenaline and concentration’. Some journalists then proceeded to jokingly question squad members if Low’s actions had affected their performances and preparations, forward Lukas Podolski told it how it is saying that ‘It’s not an issue. About 80% of you here have at some point scratched your balls’.
Zaza’s Penalty
With Italy-Germany heading for penalties in a crunch quarter final encounter, coach Conte made the decision to bring on Juventus striker Simone Zaza, effectively for the sole reason that he could supposedly place a ball in the back of the net from twelve yards out. Things did not go to plan as the substitute lined up to take Italy's second penalty which he then proceeded to blaze over the bar following one of the most ridiculous and unnecessary run ups I’ve ever seen. Germany went onto win the shoot out and progress to the semi finals, meaning Zaza’s bizarre penalty miss was rather costly, although there were a variety of other unsuccessful takers on both sides. The 25 year old has since apologised to the Italian fans taking the full blame for Italy's exit and saying his miss will haunt him for the rest of his life.
Henry Justice
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