Favourite Euros

[GIMH]

Inspired by the mini discussion with the jock and the Irishman in another thread

Obviously the answer is 96, but let's see why you're all wrong about which one was best.

 

[Uppercut]

I'm already thinking it's this one, but if I'd been alive in 1988 that would be hard to top.

 

[GIMH]

I'm already thinking it's this one, but if I'd been alive in 1988 that would be hard to top.

Are both of those along the same lines as me voting 96, ie the performances of your teams?

From a neutral perspective I thought 2000 was pretty great.

 

[wpdavid]

2000 was one of the greatest tournaments ever - better than most WC's, never mind euros.

1984 was great, with France and Denmark both playing wonderful football over much of the tournament.

1988 was OK. Van Basten was terrific, of course, but in truth the Dutch were lucky to make it through the group stage ahead of Ireland thanks to that weird goal at the end of their match. I wouldn't rate it all that highly, and not only because England were shocking.

 

[Furball]

Euro 2000 easily. Best major tournament of my lifetime by an enormous margain. Two great teams in France and the Netherlands, and a generation of great European players at the peak of their game. Almost every side was commited to playing attacking, adventurous football and those that weren't (Germany, Norway and England) were swiftly knocked out before they stunk the tournament up.

Euro 96 was great in amongst all the pop culture stuff that was going on (height of Britpop and the rise of New Labour) but the actual tournament is over-rated as ****. The knockout stages, with the exception of the England v Germany semi, were absolutely dreadful.

 

[GIMH]

Euro 2000 easily. Best major tournament of my lifetime by an enormous margain. Two great teams in France and the Netherlands, and a generation of great European players at the peak of their game. Almost every side was commited to playing attacking, adventurous football and those that weren't (Germany, Norway and England) were swiftly knocked out before they stunk the tournament up.

Euro 96 was great in amongst all the pop culture stuff that was going on (height of Britpop and the rise of New Labour) but the actual tournament is over-rated as ****. The knockout stages, with the exception of the England v Germany semi, were absolutely dreadful.

That late 90s Holland team was ace.

 

[Uppercut]

Are both of those along the same lines as me voting 96, ie the performances of your teams?

From a neutral perspective I thought 2000 was pretty great.

Partly yeah. It's also a lot to do with what I'm doing with my life at the time. I remember 96 really fondly too because it's the first one I was old enough to properly experience. In 2000 I was in a phase where I was a little bit less obsessed with football than usual, so I didn't watch so much of it after England went out. Which is a shame because it was objectively so good.

Likewise my Dad says his life peaked at the 1988 Euros, because Ireland beat England the day after my sister was born.

 

[Furball]

That late 90s Holland team was ace.

I reckon they were better than the France team which went back to back in 98 and 2000. They were the best side at the tournament in 1998 but got knocked out by Brazil on penalties, and they had an inexplicable **** up in the semi agsinst Italy in 2000. As well as Italy played all tournament and in the final, I reckon we were robbed of a final for the ages with the Dutch team's failure in 2000. The group game between the two was a classic.

 

[wpdavid]

Even England were pretty entertaining in 2 of their 3 games in 2000. It was just a shame that they couldn't defend against Portugal or Romania and lost both games despite scoring twice each time.

 

[Pothas]

Remember being so angry when France won in 2000, really shows how Italian football dominated my early years of watching football.

96 the first I remember though.

 

[GIMH]

I remember bits of 92. England losing to Sweden, parts of the semis and watching the final with my mate who supported Man U so was roaring Schmeichel on

Crazy to think of an eight team tournament but I suppose the number of countries in Europe rocketed just before it

 

[Furball]

Yugoslavia would have absolutely pissed 1992 if the country hadn't fallen apart.

 

[GIMH]

Would have had some cracking teams throughout the 90s tbh.

 

[Furball]

Would have had some cracking teams throughout the 90s tbh.

Would still be the case now to be fair, I'm sure I've posted something similar about what a combined Yugoslav side might look like in one of the previous tournament forums. What's also interesting is not only looking at what a combined Yugoslav side might look like, but we've also got a generation of players coming through who are Serb/Croatian/Bosnian descended that now represent other European sides. Granted, some of them like Rakitic and Pjanic are still representing their parent's nation (in fact quite a lot of Bosnia's side is made up of players who either emigrated as children or who were born and grew up abroad) but Switzerland and Austria in particular seem to have been the main beneficiaries of the Yugoslav diaspora that would have fled the war of the early 90s.

 

[sledger]

I seem to remember really enjoying 2008 actually. Probably because England weren't in it.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

I remember bits of 92. England losing to Sweden, parts of the semis and watching the final with my mate who supported Man U so was roaring Schmeichel on

Crazy to think of an eight team tournament but I suppose the number of countries in Europe rocketed just before it

Prior to 1980 it was a four team tournament. 8 teams qualified from the groups but the quarter-finals were two legged. This is why it's not quite true to say Wales hadn't qualified for anything since 1958. In 1976 they made the quarter-finals but lost over two legs to Yugoslavia.

 

[Furball]

Yeah Spain were at their most attractive in 2008, partly I think because teams hadn't yet adopted the 'stick 10 players across the 18 yard line and watch Spain pass it about' tactic en masse, the Dutch slaughtered their way through a tough group before getting hammered by a Russian side playing great football, and Germany proved their performance at the previous World Cup wasn't a fluke as their initial golden generation started to take shape.

 

[sledger]

The Euros are almost always really good I think. More consistently high quality than the World Cup for me. I remember really enjoying 2012 as well, but I wonder if that's just because I associate it with a really easy/enjoyable time in my life haha.

 

[sledger]

Also, funny looking back at England from 2012. Seems barely anyone from the squad for that tournament is still around just 4 years on. Nearly all of it has retired (Gerrard, Lampard, Terry) or been booted out (Young, Walcott, Carroll, Johnson, Defoe, Lescott, Downing, Barry). I wonder how many other squads at the tournament this time round have undergone such a transformation in the last 4 years.

 

[Uppercut]

9 of Ireland's starting XI have changed and I barely noticed. Last time we had Richard Dunne starting at CB. Hoolahan didn't make the squad. 4 years is a longer time than I thought...