Like all major soccer tournaments these days, Euro 2000 will struggle to live up to its hype.
There’s such buildup to events like the World Cup, European Championship and Copa America that it’s hard to imagine the games ever meeting the expectations of the media and fans.
It’s a particular problem for the European Championship, which has a history of great teams but few great tournaments.
The Soviet Union ’60 team, the first Euro champion, will go down as the greatest Soviet team in history with the likes of Lev Yashin, Valentin Ivanov, Igor Netto and Slava Metreveli.
West Germany ’72 and France ’84, as we chronicled last week in our Euro 2000 Preview, are probably the greatest teams in their respective countries’ history.
The ’88 Dutch team, with Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard, may not evoke the same magic of the ’74 Dutch team, but it did win.
I’ve followed the last five European Championships, attending the 1980 finals in Italy, listening to the ’84 tournament from France on short-wave radio and watching the last three on television.
Just my bad luck: Only Euro ’84, the only tournament I couldn’t actually see, will be remembered for the number of outstanding games.
Like the World Cup and Copa America, the European Championship suffers from the exhausting club schedules players must complete these days.
Familiarity is another big problem. Players have played with or against most of their opponents on the European club circuit. There are few secrets these days.
Finally, European soccer at the national team level suffers because coaches insist on packing the midfield.
The European game at the club level has prospered because more and more coaches allow their teams to play.
It may be wishful thinking to ask national team coaches to do the same.
by Soccer America managing editor Paul Kennedy