Euro 2020 General Discussion

[wpdavid]

I think the UEFA president's right. Too much travel for some teams has been a problem. But it's also increased the cases of home advantage being a factor. With one, or at most two home nations, you put them in relatively weak groups where the non-qualifying teams wouldn't have been serious contenders anyway and if the host teams aren't good enough then they soon get eliminated in the knock-out rounds. But this time there were too many cases of teams having home advantage and I cba to work out which teams were penalised by that. Portugal the obvious example maybe.

 

[JOJOXI]

I think the UEFA president's right. Too much travel for some teams has been a problem. But it's also increased the cases of home advantage being a factor. With one, or at most two home nations, you put them in relatively weak groups where the non-qualifying teams wouldn't have been serious contenders anyway and if the host teams aren't good enough then they soon get eliminated in the knock-out rounds. But this time there were too many cases of teams having home advantage and I cba to work out which teams were penalised by that. Portugal the obvious example maybe.

I guess the main thing is with 1 or 2 host nations you can set up camp in the host nation and have minimal travel - in the case of 1 host nation some teams may have less travel than even the host nation depending on the location of the team base. Belgium's first 4 games saw 2 in St Petersburg, 1 in Copenhagen and 1 in Seville - at least if it was in 1 host nation you would still have home advantage with the crowd but a team could set up base in one country and not have to travel hundreds and thousands of km for each game.

 

[Howe_zat]

The impact of travel on players who go to Skopje or wherever on a Thursday and then play in the Premier League three days later is a bit overstated imo.

I do agree with sledger that big tournaments being in one place gives them some character

 

[grecian]

It is alright for us watching on telly, but as a fan experience, I.e. being there it really wouldn't feel the same, and some of the places they've put matches in seem bizarre.

In the end it gives a massive advantage, to the teams playing home matches, more so than normal, as the other teams have to travel. All four semi finalists were mainly based at home, but the Danes did have to travel to Baku, for some bizarre reason.

 

[Uppercut]

The idea was to give some games to countries that would never be able to host a full tournament, so if anything Baku is the most logical of the venues.

I think it's worked well enough as a one-off but yeah it shouldn't be repeated.

 

[GIMH]

Should do it for the World Cup IMO. Have the Argies in Melbourne one game and Helsinki the next.

England at Wembley and maybe the odd game at Old Trafford in the interest of fairness

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Tomorrow is a good thing about this tournament as there's no 3rd/4th place play off. The World Cup should take note.

 

[GIMH]

I’ve enjoyed a few of them over the years mind you. Seem to recall 2010 being particularly great

 

[BoyBrumby]

Tomorrow is a good thing about this tournament as there's no 3rd/4th place play off. The World Cup should take note.

Definitely agree. Most pointless games ever.

 

[sledger]

Don't think ever bothered to watch one.

 

[Furball]

The impact of travel on players who go to Skopje or wherever on a Thursday and then play in the Premier League three days later is a bit overstated imo.

Disagree. Travelling from Baku to play at Wembley 3 or 4 days later will have been a huge factor in why the Danes looked done physically after about 70 minutes.

Travel across time zones is fatiguing and will interfere with recovery.

 

[speirz]

It's definitely turned out better than I anticipated, but I do miss the atmosphere that's generated by a tournament being in a single nation (though to all intents and purposes for England it has been lol). Helps to give each tournament a distinct identity.

Massively agree with this, especially as a neutral. Before the tournament I would've definitely been happy to see it spread around more and more, and maybe it just is the impact of covid, but I certainly got sick of seeing the inside of the same studio with the same commentators for the build up of every game. You're always going to get a fair bit of that but it's usually broken up a bit more with coverage from the host cities.

 

[mr_mister]

Disagree. Travelling from Baku to play at Wembley 3 or 4 days later will have been a huge factor in why the Danes looked done physically after about 70 minutes.

Travel across time zones is fatiguing and will interfere with recovery.

I feel like as long as your flight isn't a red eye it's not that bad. Like Baku to London is a similar distance from Perth to Sydney. You make that flight during the day and your day is wasted sure but you're not missing out on rest and sleep

 

[sledger]

I feel like as long as your flight isn't a red eye it's not that bad. Like Baku to London is a similar distance from Perth to Sydney. You make that flight during the day and your day is wasted sure but you're not missing out on rest and sleep

Haha wat

 

[mr_mister]

They're a similar distance

 

[Uppercut]

It is true. Playing on a 3-day turnaround after a trip to western Asia in the Europa league would be common enough. Although it’s known to be a disadvantage, especially against a team with a week’s rest, most of the time it isn’t even commented on. A 4-day turnaround against a team that also had an away fixture in Rome is almost nothing.

 

[sledger]

They're a similar distance

Yeah granted, but flying, travelling through airports and customs etc. as well as to and from airports at either end, is ****ing tiring at the best of times. Let alone when you have to play top level sporting contests at either end.

 

[Uppercut]

Yeah granted, but flying, travelling through airports and customs etc. as well as to and from airports at either end, is ****ing tiring at the best of times. Let alone when you have to play top level sporting contests at either end.

England did all of this too.

 

[sledger]

Haha yeah I know, I was just making a general observation

 

[Furball]

England did all of this too.

Not nearly to the same extent Denmark did. Amsterdam to Baku to London is a lot more draining than London to Rome and back.