Eurovision ding-dong contest

The European Championships. Last night, as Porto claimed the club version of the continental crown, there was much talk of how appropriate this was when Portugal itself will host this summer’s finals. But in the 44-year history of a Euro final being played at both international and club level, only once has the same country provided both champions of Europe.

On 25th May 1988, PSV Eindhoven won a fantastic penalty shoot-out against Benfica at the Neckar (now Gottlieb Daimler) Stadium in Stuttgart. The Champions’ Cup final had been a dour 0-0 stalemate and the spot kicks provided relief for the neutral observer and a platform for Hans Van Breukelen to eventually show his goalkeeping prowess.

Exactly one month later, behind club-mate Ronald Koeman, Van Breukelen was saving another penalty in another part of West Germany. This time the taker was Igor Belanov of the Soviet Union and this time the Netherlands were winning the European Championship final in Munich’s Olympic stadium. Alexei Mikhailichenko played but Oleg Kuznetsov was suspended … as was the West Germany-Italy final everyone had expected.

But instead of the two historically brilliant semi-final defeats of Europe’s two most successful international sides, the 1988 European Championships are remembered for one thing. Marco van Basten’s 54th minute winner in that June 25th final. One of the greatest goals ever scored, his audaciously dipping, rasping volley from an impossible angle and imposing distance, past one of the world’s best keepers - Rinat Dasaev - proved that these tournaments can leave us with the kind of indelible football moment we’ll all take to the grave.

When the announcement came that England would host EURO 96 there was little doubt I’d have to get down there and take in as many games as possible. With the ever-expanding format up to the perfect size of sixteen teams in four groups of four - top two qualify for quarters and it’s all straight knock out til the final - (PERFECT! It’s still that format now. Please don’t mess with it UEFA!) I found myself buying up tickets for six group games, two quarter-finals a semi and the final before I even knew which teams would qualify. But, even if I hadn’t been at Wembley for that Germany-England semi-final I would still have watched it on TV along with millions of others and I’d still have a stat or two or the recollection of a goal, tackle, save or foul or three to embellish with blinding sentimentality for the rest of my puff.

For this reason major finals are a thing of beauty and a joy forever to the footie connoisseur/bore. The more anal amongst us don’t actually need particularly scintillating standards of play over the summer to make such tournaments memorable. Just the mere fact that these nations are fighting it out to grab or upholster their own particular spot in the fussball pantheon is gripping enough for yer average anorak. However, the casual fan (as opposed to the football casual - last seen ripping up half of Charleoi in June 2000) more often than not has good cause to pay attention to UEFA’s four-yearly carnival of Calcio. Even yer politely passing punter will remember a good two or three Euro Nations contests. The European Championships seem to have a greater rate of entertainment value that it’s older more esteemed cousin, the World Cup finals.

The West Germany of 1972 which lifted the Henri Delaunay trophy in Brussels was, by all accounts, far less prosaic than the Nationalmannschaft which went on to win FIFA’s top prize in Munich two years later. (In fact, if I can raise a point which I will certainly expand upon in greater detail over the next few days, I would actually posit the suggestion that Gerd Muller’s goal against the Soviet Union in the 1972 final was actually more spectacular - in its demonstration of team-work - than Brazil’s final goal against Italy in Mexico City two years previously. Muller making it 1-0 was preceded with far more devastating and aesthetically pleasing football than Carlos Alberto making it 4-1). It was, in fact, one of the greatest XIs ever seen on this planet. And it was down to much more than just Gunter Netzer … but anyway…

The France of 1984 did what they couldn’t quite manage in Spain 82 and Mexico 86 and made it past the semis - in THE MOST spectacular fashion (France 3 Portugal 2 - Greatest Euro Champs game of all time?) and brought their nation it’s first real trophy at club or international level. The exploits of Platini, Giresse, Tigana and the boys broke a duck which Zidane, Petit, Blanc and co used to spur them on to the greatst prize, again on home soil, in 1998. But surely Les Bleu’s triumph in EURO 2000 was executed with more conviction and class - if not always the same levels of excitement - than the World Cup win two years before.

The confined nature of the European Championships also makes it a sure-fire winner. There are arguments for saying that the 1976 tournament - back in the days when it was simply the last four teams left in the home-and-away qualifying competition adjourning to one country for little more than a weekend and playing two semis, a 3rd/4th place play-off and a final - is the greatest compression of top level football ever seen. A Holland team between losing two world cup finals to the host nations (more exciting than the 1988 Oranje but with a fraction less steel about their collective character) are drawing 1-1 with Czechoslovakia thanks to a goal for each side by the same man before the Dutch lose 3-1 in extra time. West Germany, in the other semi, are 2-0 down to hosts Yugoslavia in Belgrade with 25 minutes to go but win 4-2 after extra time. The Dutch then beat the Yugoslavs 3-2 over 120 minutes in the losers play-off before the Germans come back from 2-0 down again in the final. This time Hans Holzenbein equalises in the 90th minute only to see Antonin Panenka score the most memorable penalty of all time to give the Czechs the cup in a shoot-out. Four games which all go to extra-time, both teams score in every match, there’s a toal of 19 goals in the tournament and the least fancied side walk away with the cup! And we sat through six weeks and sixty-odd games of Japan and South Korea 2002 to get precisely one tenth of that entertainment.

But then, the Czech’s weren’t the least fancied side EVER to win this competition. When you haven’t even QUALIFIED for the finals it’s safe to say you’re probably rated as something of a long shot to win it outright. Yup, I’m talking about Denmark in 1992. You all know the story. But what it proves is that, unlike the World Cup and even - on most occasions over the last half century - the Champion Clubs’ Cup/Champions League - the European Championships CAN be won by a Dark Horse.

The two most massive favourites in the history of a World Cup finals - France and Argentina - failed to make it out their first round groups at Japan and South Korea. But the 2002 World Cup final was still contested by the two most sucessful sides in the history of the competition. Germany and Brazil and only five others have won a competition which has been around since 1930. But the European Championships - thirty years younger - has the name of EIGHT different nations on it’s roll of honour. The world Cup will only open its doors to a new member of the winner’s enclosure around once every twenty years - and, even then, its usually a host nation - but the younger tournament often provides that historic moment for all those countries which look like contenders going into World Cup tournaments but can never live up to their promise.

The Soviet Union, Spain, Holland, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, even France before 1998 - this is the tournament where a fancied outsider CAN triumph. I’m a big champion of exclusivity in tournaments - so that they’ll mean more when Scotland or Rangers eventually win them - but I’m also a big champion of teams who triumph WITHOUT the use of their reputation. England are the only World champs to have never won a European Championships, Italy have only won it once. A gold World Cup star or three on the shirt certainly eases the pain but they shine less brightly in opponent’s faces when it comes to this particular tournament.
This summer, when we say that the eventual champions can come from any one of France, Italy, The Netherlands, England, Germany, Spain, Portugal or the Czech Republic, not only do we mean it but we’re actualy doing a disservice to Russia, Denmark, Sweden and Bulgaria. And, I mean Otto Rehagel’s got Greece working wonders and Latvia did put out Turkey, bronze medalists at the last World Cup, in the play-offs …! Croatia and Switzerland - they’ve NAE chance … you’d think.

It’s pretty darned exciting when half the teams in a tournament have a chance of winning it and the other half have a chance of stopping them winning it… and it’s all live on the telly! Prepare for the unexpected, prepare for history - prepare for EURO 2004.

France are stick-on, though.

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Published:
05.27.04 / 11pm
Category:
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