Summer Tourneys Time
Also a programming note
The leagues have ended and we have our champions — including that of Europe. Incisive Pass watched but didn’t write as we were adjusting to the schedule. We are still organizing ourselves around the idea of the most repeatable version of this publication. We will have so,e thoughts on the end of the league season as the summer comes.
Folks, I said to my wife “this is the last club game of the European season. Now we have to wait a couple of days until we dive into the international tourneys.”
“It never ends,” she said. She is right.
This first week saw Germany destroy the Tartan Army (Scotland) in the opening to Euro 2024, France barely survive, Belgium get upset (replete with misses from Lukaku) and the “lesser” games become the must-watch games of the tournament. I mean Turkey and Georgia had nothing but bangers throughout.
Twitter/X has been full of “proper football” comments. It is a reminder that the overly perfected and over-rehearsed can remove the spontaneity and fun from a performance. You need a bit of “let me just try this” to make special moments or else you have a bunch of guys looking to maximize their xG and some boring. Look at baseball and basketball and see a couple of sports that have suffered from over-analysis and over optimization.
Meanwhile, getting a bunch of talented guys together for a few short weeks and boosting them with just the right amount of national pride can result in some magic. Well, this time. The truth is that international tournaments can go a bunch of different ways. We have seen plenty with overly cautious and defensive football. All of these bangers results in the kind of commentary that can encourage risk-aversion. “Can’t give that up”, “What are they doing there”, “too exposed” and so on and so forth.
Really these things go in cycles and it is probably best to simply enjoy the football while it happens.
This applies to the coming Copa America as well. The pressure on the United States and Mexican teams is heating up, coming off some so-so performances next to (for each) a Brazil game that looked better. Brazil, of course, looked disjointed but no one really cared … outside of maybe Ronaldinho? Well he walked back his comments and his “I will not watch this Brasil” statements were attributed to both an advertisement and also just simple motivation.
The thing is … he (or whoever was behind the statements) was kind of right. Brazil vs the US looked like a series of individuals lining up to get a one versus one and a highlight against the Americans. There is (always) talent on the Brazilian side, but unquestionably their rivals Argentina are the favorites. Messi’s group are the reigning Copa American holders and of course the World Cup champions as well. Uruguay looks dangerous with Bielsa in charge … but he’s only had a handful of trophies and one runner-up trophy in this tournament to his name. His Chile side never won this, and it was his replacements that got the glory in 2015 and 2016 (Sampaoli and Pizzi respectively).
The Copa will be held in the US again, which is unfortunate, as we will lose the color and passion of South America, but the 2016 version broke attendance records and will make a lot of money so what do I know. Euro 2024 is getting high praise for the scenes — and it make me think of 2006 and how Germany is probably just a good host.
In keeping with the previous recommendations I will try to simply enjoy the football.
PS — My favorite goal so far? Probably the golazo from Arda Güler. Sensational.