Could this turn out to be the worst tournament ever?

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Very often, we end up judging a tournament by what happens in the last three games. USA '94 would be remembered differently if the final had ended up 3-2 (or even better 3-3 before the pens).

[Jah Womble]

Judging tournaments by their finals is much like judging a book by its cover. The 1994 World Cup was great, its anti-climactic final only the third goalless draw in what was otherwise a very competitive and entertaining tournament.

[Ray de Galles]

Exactly, USA 94 is remembered as a fantastic tournament by most people - I don't know what Rogin is on about.

[Sheep]

Another thing that Euro 2020 has going for it is that very few teams stunk out the place. Turkey were really woeful, but every other country brought at least something to the table. North Macedonia played much better than a D League team could be expected to, Russia weren't very good but at least ground out a win, Finland played relatively well within their limited means (and could have achieved more if it weren't for that one goalkeeper howler), Poland didn't achieve much but managed to entertainingly turn the game against their group winners Sweden, Hungary made group F really interesting, it's all pretty good.

[diggedy derek]

Exactly what Sheep said. There are very few teams who seemed hopelessly outclassed. Turkey should have been better than they were, but there wasn’t a situation of small teams getting regularly battered

[Nocturnal Submission]

Exactly what Sheep said. There are very few teams who seemed hopelessly outclassed. Turkey should have been better than they were, but there wasn’t a situation of small teams getting regularly battered

Has that happened a lot in previous Euros?

[Patrick Thistle]

I didn't see the semi-finals of USA 94. I remember the final being awful and failing to live up to the hype hype hype. It's probably what sparked my long running cynicism/antipathy about Brazil (and Italy to an extent).

But Bulgaria knocking out Germany? I will remember Letchkov's diving header until my dying day.

[Patrick Thistle]

This has also been an entertaining Euros with the big names coming unstuck against the middleweight nations in the knock outs. France, Netherlands, Germany...

[Ray de Galles]

I didn't see the semi-finals of USA 94. I remember the final being awful and failing to live up to the hype hype hype. It's probably what sparked my long running cynicism/antipathy about Brazil (and Italy to an extent).

But Bulgaria knocking out Germany? I will remember Letchkov's diving header until my dying day.

Argentina v Romania was one of the greatest international matches of all time.

[ursus arctos]

It certainly was

And Italy-Ireland will always be iconic

While the Italy-Bulgaria semifinal was a Baggio master class

[Satchmo Distel]

USA 94 had the best QF phase of any World Cup I have seen.

[nmrfox]

USA 94 had the best QF phase of any World Cup I have seen.

The last 16 has some crackers too. Ray has already commented on Romania and Argentina, Germany v Belgium and Italy v Nigeria were great too. And then there was Kevin Keegan trying to defend Leonardo's red card for fracturing Tab Ramos' skull.

[Simon G]

Then there's the Netherlands-Brazil game and the aforementioned drama of Spain-Italy.

It also had great moments - Al Owairan's amazing goal against Belgium, Oleg Salenko's 5 goals against Cameroon.

USA 94 was amazing - though it was the first tournament I fully remember.

[Jah Womble]

...and the final was actually an improvement on the previous final. (I appreciate that this is damning by the faintest of praise.)

Other memorable aspects: South Korea's late, late show against Spain - almost repeated against the Germans; Hagi surprising the Colombians; great Nigerian finishing; Sweden proving a very tidy side throughout; Baggio dragging Italy through...

[imp]

USA 94 was so long ago that I watched a lot of it on a portable black and white TV. Or when working evening shifts at BBC Monitoring - I watched it on the newsroom TV that was supposed to be showing... news. Then some bastard complained that I was reacting too loudly to the games and putting him off his work and management ordered we switch back to... news. Saw a fair few games down the pub, my last summer in London, my last tournament before fatherhood, no British teams involved, just loads of great games and brilliant individuals like Stoichkov, Hagi, Romario and the Brolin-Dahlin axis.

Fifa fucked the final by stipulating the midday kick-off in LA, so everyone was too knackered to run. Fuckwits. An evening kick-off in New England would have been fine.

[hobbes]

Someone sabotaged the Hannington transmitter near Basingstoke during the 94 world cup final.
Luckily we had a double ariel so could pick up TVS as well as LWT so we ended up with about 20 people in my Mum's front room watching it.

[jwdd27]

Excruciating memories of the 94 final.

There was a girl who I was getting very close to, but hadn't actually managed any quality alone time with - I was in Leeds and she was back home in Scunthorpe, so there weren't many opportunities. Plus she was Irish, with six tough looking older brothers and 20 or 30 cousins who were always watching from across the pub or club wherever we went.
But I was back home for the final of the tournament, with my parents conveniently away. So I invited her over to "watch the final", she readily agreed, it was going to be a great match.
But... there was more than one 120 minute stalemate that night, I can tell you. It just didn't happen for us, Clive. I think the occasion got to us, and we just weren't on the same wavelength. There was barely a single scoring opportunity for either side. Gave up and took her to the pub in the end.
The next chance I had she was coming to visit me in Leeds, but just as I was finalising where we would meet, my housemate ran past and tripped over the phone line, tearing the phone socket out and breaking the phone. Mobile phones were yet to be a thing, and I'd not got her number. No meeting.

While I'm in the chair, fast forward 4 years and I'm looking forward to a night in alone for the World Cup Final, when I get an unexpected call from a woman, an ex of a friend, who invited me round to hers to watch the game, with her making it clear that that wasn't all we'd be doing. I turned her down, leasons having been learned.

Anyway, 1994 World Cup - worst World Cup ever.

[danielmak]

The atrocious final certainly tainted 1994 for me, but there were some wonderful games. The other thing that irritated me was my first experience watching the US play the shirt instead of the team. The US had a man advantage for nearly 45 minutes against Brazil but seemed uninterested in playing football. The same thing played out in 2002 against Germany.

I thought for sure this Euro was going to suck but it has been fabulous. I agree with JV that the rotation of cities has worked and perhaps could be used again to integrate some smaller nations. The main criticism I have links to where the games were played. Having Scotland and England in the same group, for example, meant that Croatia-Czech were playing in a nearly empty stadium with Scotland away to England. The same thing happened with Russia at Denmark while two other teams were playing in an empty Russian stadium. I know a lot of planning needs to happen with these tournaments, but some perhaps finalizing stadia after the draw or coordinating the schedule so the parallel games aren't happening in two countries. I don't know how to solve this since one host country still means that the day the host plays, the other teams are stuck. Obviously, doing this again outside the context of a pandemic will help to some degree, but maybe not with games in Baku or Russia.

[Duncan Gardner]

I judge a good football tournament by whether

a) Norn Iron are in it, and

b) personal circs and unusual kickoff times allow me to watch lots of games without disrupting everything else

So, the top 6

1 2022- look to the future baby, it's only just begun

2 1982

3 2016

4 1986

5 1978

6 2002

[Jah Womble]

I thought for sure this Euro was going to suck but it has been fabulous. I agree with JV that the rotation of cities has worked and perhaps could be used again to integrate some smaller nations. The main criticism I have links to where the games were played. Having Scotland and England in the same group, for example, meant that Croatia-Czech were playing in a nearly empty stadium with Scotland away to England. The same thing happened with Russia at Denmark while two other teams were playing in an empty Russian stadium. I know a lot of planning needs to happen with these tournaments, but some perhaps finalizing stadia after the draw or coordinating the schedule so the parallel games aren't happening in two countries. I don't know how to solve this since one host country still means that the day the host plays, the other teams are stuck. Obviously, doing this again outside the context of a pandemic will help to some degree, but maybe not with games in Baku or Russia.

Unless co-hosts are geographically close, one country hosting is the only real way it can work. If it's a one-off, fine, but fans having to pay for and organise countless flights to matches here, there and everywhere is not the way forward. It isn't much good for the teams and their vast entourages, either.

Aside from this, it makes the tournament unfocused and, as you suggest, conflicting. (The issue of hosting nations not necessarily qualifying is also highly unwieldy.) This multi-nation format was mainly a vanity/cash project for Platini: the fact that it has been really good has been in spite of the structuring, rather than because of it.

[diggedy derek]

This has been a fabulous tournament, but I've loathed the games being played in different countries (for aesthetic reasons alone, let alone environmental ones). There has been no ability to appreciate any local colour from each area. It's just 'here's a game in Spain. Here's a game in Azerbaijan. Oh, I had no idea Switzerland and Italy were playing at Wembley tonight'.

I do think multi country tournaments can work, but only if for instance Nordic countries, England & Ireland, Spain & Portugal, etc, where they share long borders.

jwd – ouch!

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Idea: Euro 2028 on the Danube. Games in Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava, Belgrade, Ingolstadt, Linz. Maybe allow the Sava to host a couple of games at Zagreb and Ljubljana.

Teams and fans shuttling back and forth on boats. Epic.

[delicatemoth]

It's playing havoc with my depression, but unless it prompts a full on nervous breakdown it won't be as bad as Euro 96.

Living in a city that is hosting a major sports tournament is fucking horrible. They should build a big island in the middle of an ocean and have all the Olympics, World Cups, Euros etc. there.

[Sporting]

I think Scandinavia deserves a go.

[Tactical Genius]

[

While I'm in the chair, fast forward 4 years and I'm looking forward to a night in alone for the World Cup Final, when I get an unexpected call from a woman, an ex of a friend, who invited me round to hers to watch the game, with her making it clear that that wasn't all we'd be doing. I turned her down, lessons having been learned

Sorry, I cannot let this one pass, what lesson did you learn here.
She invited you around for 90 minutes of action, extra time and penalties (if required) and you did a Michael Laudrup in Euro 92?