Well, the Euro 2016 is now officially over. It was an exciting tournament, full of surprises and intense games, even if the final itself was a real buzzkill. We had mighty clashes between traditional powers, and we also had big upsets. We saw new teams and new faces, and a new form of celebration by tiny Iceland caught fire. Before long, Wales and France were emulating the Icelandic celebration, that strange clapping that starts off slowly, but picks up speed as it goes along.
So, I already mentioned my feelings about the final itself, how disappointed I was with it, and how I felt that the deciding goal should not even have happened.
However, there are other thoughts that seemed worth sharing, since the Euro is still on my mind.
First off, Iceland. I was really happy to see them qualify for the Euro, and then extremely happy that they qualified for the second round. Then, I was almost euphoric when they managed to knock off the prohibitive favorites, England, in the second round. Some have already suggested that it was the biggest upset in this sport's history, and it very well might have been.
Such a tiny nation, Iceland. Rarely do we ever hear about it. Yet, when we do, it usually is something that not only makes you wonder, but makes you almost want to be Icelandic yourself. I like that the tap water there is unfiltered, and still comes out clean, and how the hot water there comes naturally, directly from the hot springs. Most of the country is uninhabitable, and yet, there are people there, and they enjoy a very high standard of living. After the "Great Recession," they actually went after guilty parties and put them behind bars, as well as replacing the government in favor of one that looked out for the interests of the Icelandic people, rather than big corporations and big banks. Imagine that!
And now, we heard about them quite a bit in the last few weeks. Everyone loves an underdog story, and Iceland were the ultimate underdogs. Conventional wisdom had it that this team should not have even qualified for the tournament. Yet, they not only qualified, they advanced to the second round. And then to the quarterfinals! They acquitted themselves well, and their standings in the world rankings should jump much higher than they have ever been before.
Of course, their run ended, and it ended against the host country, France. Yes, France also had a solid tournament - easily their best performance in a major tournament like this in ten years, since they fell just short against Italy in the final. For people like me who root for France, you never know what to expect. They follow up their championships in the 1998 World Cup and the 2000 Euro with the worst title defense in history in the 2002 World Cup. They recover and have a strong performance in 2006, and then in 2010, they are the laughingstock of the World Cup in South Africa. In 2014, they were good, but hardly great. Then here in this tournament, they flirted with greatness, particularly in derailing the German behemoth, only to fall flat against Portugal.
It's frustrating to be a fan of the French side, for sure. Yet, their run was enjoyable, and I am glad that they did as well as they did, even if it ended in obvious disappointment.
They probably looked at their best against the tournament's biggest underdogs, Iceland, although there were other big underdogs who made some big noise. Northern Ireland and Wales both advanced to the second round, despite many people not believing that they would even qualify for the tournament. Well, they met one another in the second round, so while somebody had to lose, that meant that at least one of them would qualify for the quarterfinal.
It wound up being Wales, and they ended up pulling off one of the biggest shocks in this tournament in the next round by knocking off heavily favored Belgium, who had entered this Euro as one of the favorites to win it all.
Poland had a solid tournament as well, while Ukraine had a dismal, forgettable performance. But hey, at least they were in it, which is more than can be said for the Netherlands, a traditional powerhouse who were conspicuous in this tournament by their absence.
Now, one thing that bothered me were some of the uniforms. The English uniform was very plain, and Portugal's uniforms have looked better. So have the German uniforms. But far and away, the most disappointing uniform to me had to be the French uniforms. Not all that long ago, I thought they had the best, or among the best, uniforms. That was particularly true for the 1998 World Cup, although I really liked their uniforms for the 2006 World Cup as well, particularly their white uniforms for their run to the 2006 final. However, these uniforms were plain and bland, and the mixture of two different shades of blue looked....well, bad. Also, straight colors for shirts and shorts did not mix well with the red socks, and I wish they would return to blue jerseys, white shorts, and red socks, like the colors of the flag.
As for those other countries, their uniforms have looked considerably better in the past, as well. The German uniforms of the first half of the 1990's looked really cool, and I even liked their uniforms for the 2014 World Cup. These ones were a little strange, with too much emphasis on black. It almost made some of them look like they were wearing long pants, which was not a good look.
In any case, that's it for now! I enjoyed this Euro tournament, and it was a nice follow up to the World Cup two years ago, despite the very disappointing final match. But all in all, some great memories and great stories emerged, and that is why they have these tournaments after all, right?
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