The following article appeared in the programme for Racing Club Warwick v Cradley Town on 7th September 2004.
In the final part in the series “What have you been
doing with yourself during the long summer months since Racing Club’s last game
of last season?” this instalment of close season footie covers Euro 2004.Like
most people, I watched Euro 2004 from the discomfort of my armchair or,
occasionally, on the big screen at the pub. That said, my interest in the
tournament was high as I had secured myself a voucher for a ticket for the
Final itself via the FA’s englandfans club, but only if England got there. This
just made the sudden death games against Croatia and Portugal all the more
excruciating.
All Englishmen should, by rights, expect the worst at every International tournament. The catalogue of heroic and not-so-heroic failures is a long one stretching right back to the final whistle at the World Cup in 1966. Those of you who are old enough to remember Mexico 1970 will probably never forget Peter Bonetti’s ‘keeping gaffe in the quarter final against the Germans. Then there were the fallow years where we didn’t even qualify and had to look on whilst the Scots failed to cover themselves in glory in both West Germany 1974 and Argentina 1978. Spain 1982 will be forever remembered for Keegan’s 27-minute cameo performance in the game which we simply had to win and score twice against Spain. Mexico 1986 saw cheating Diego’s “hand of God” and Italia 1990 proved for the first time that we can’t take penalty kicks (although we do make excellent pizza adverts!). A “Do I not like that” moment in Rotterdam ensured that England did not take the trip to the US for the 1994 tournament and then there were those penalties again in Euro96 and again in France 1998. What with KK’s tactical “genius” in Euro2000 and a poor showing against Brazil in Japan, I want to know why we always forget our track record and get carried along by the hype? The press write it and we all seem to lap it up and before you know where you are, the streets are empty at kick off time, Sainsbury’s have been cleared out of lager and half of us have added tasteful flag tribute to the boys onto our cars.
This year’s quarter final against Portugal fitted perfectly into the aforementioned litany of failure. We also have a new hate figure in the guise of Mr. Urs Meier, the strangely-bearded Swiss referee. In the cold light of day, I’ve yet to meet anyone who thinks that England were the better team on the day (they weren’t) but it is amazing how the one inexplicable refereeing decision will live in the memory long after we have forgotten that the Portuguese had England on the rack for virtually the entire match.
Aside from England, there was plenty of good football to be enjoyed in a tournament that was dramatic from start to finish. Did you understand what was going on? It was all Greek to me! Wasn’t it good to see the traditional powerhouses exiting the tournament relatively early on? International football is probably the only area of the game left where money counts for little. OK so you can hire the best coach and stay in the swankiest hotel but, when the chips are down, you have to rely on your country being fortunate enough to have been the birthplace of top class players who will gel well together as a team. That’s a bit of a lottery isn’t it? And the Greeks bought the winning ticket this year!
I was irritated by the TV pundits who seem to think that trophies must be won with style and in a flourish. I thought that the Greeks were magnificent. In their 6 matches they were never outclassed and their tactics meant that opponents found it extremely difficult to break them down. Having beaten the hosts comprehensively in the opening game of the tournament, they went and proved it was no fluke by doing it again in the final having disposed of Russia, Spain, France and Czechia (a much better name than the Czech Republic don’t you think?) along the way.
Anyway. That’s last season out of the way. It’s on with 2004-2005. Come on Racing!
Keep the faith!
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