Tournament rating

As we near the end of Euro 2012 I was wondering how the fine folk on here would rate the tournament as a whole?

I was worried that the competition would be marred by outbreaks of hooliganism and ridiculous racist chanting but whilst there have been incidents it's not been as half as bad as what I expected, or was led to believe anyway eh BBC?

Whilst there have been numerous good team performances - Italy in particular - I don't think there has been one truly outstanding match entertainment wise. England/Sweden and Portugal/Denmark were both decent games with plenty of goals but there hasn't been one absolute gem of a match. Of course we have the final tomorrow but nobody is expecting a humdinger in that one!

I would give the tournament a 6/10 myself. What do you guys think?

On a side note I'd like to thank Duty for all the effort he has put in by creating day to day threads and I'm sure I speak on behalf of others in this too. Top man.

Cheers guys.

6 seems harsh, only 2 0-0s so far.

8/10 for me tournaments pretty much had everything.

Thanks for the praise Freekshow, it's been my pleasure.

I'd rate the tournament 7/10. It's hasn't been dull, only 2 0-0s so far but there also haven't been any classics (although England-Sweden and Denmark-Portugal were close). It will be bad for football if Spain win tomorrow, it sends out the message you can win an international tournament playing 4-6-0 so I hope Italy win.

You've been a breath of fresh air on these boards Duty and I love your enthusiasm.

I have to say that I came into this tournament being a big Spain admirer, and still am to an extent, but I can't for the life of me understand why they - or more specifically Del Bosque - continue to start matches without a striker.

If they do indeed get beat playing this way tomorrow then it'll be a shame because they would have been on the verge of something special. Only time will tell.

They'd play with a striker if Torres was in form.

Graeme Swann's Cat wrote:They'd play with a striker if Torres was in form.

He did, to a degree, find some kind of form towards the end of the season at Chelsea. I just wonder whether Del Bosque is on some egomaniac/power trip in trying to convince the world he's some kind of tactical magician?

He has 2 CLs, 2 La Ligas and a WC on his resume, don't think he has much to prove.

More his best striker has little form to speak of the past 2 years and his has an abundance of ball players.

Graeme Swann's Cat wrote:He has 2 CLs, 2 La Ligas and a WC on his resume, don't think he has much to prove.

More his best striker has little form to speak of the past 2 years and his has an abundance of ball players.

Fair point but if there ever is a coach/manager that has been in the right place at the right time its Del Bosque. Jose Mourinho he ain't.

People say the same about Guardiola. I don't buy it.

Guardiola was blessed inheriting that squad. We'll only know how good he is when he goes to Chelsea, which he will in due course.

3/10, deciding it on penalties tomorrow would reduce that to a 2/10.

kwinigolfer wrote:3/10, deciding it on penalties tomorrow would reduce that to a 2/10.

And I thought I was a hard judge. Troll on....

Just didn't feel as if it was that interesting or entertaining, almost as if half the players were only half-fit, or knackered after a long season. Not merely England, but Holland, Germany, even Portugal in their semi.

Loads of build-up but no compelling stories really, very few terrific goals, all a great big anti-climax.

Agree to a degree but 3/10?

Let me apologise for the troll remark firstly because in fairness you have made some valid points but 3/10?

I would not say it's been a vintage tournament but it has been okay.

Freek

Would just say that, by 2008 standards, it's been pretty dull stuff. Loads of disappointments and of course I should have added France as well - bunch of prima donnas.

Guardiola inherited that squad and then turned them into an all time great team. His fingerprints are all over the way they play, and all their successes

I think compared to the World Cup this is has been an excellent tournament. I've watched every game and will be disappointed when it's over, the World Cup put me off watching football because so many of those matches bored me to tears.

I thought it started strongly and slumped in the middle slightly, but overall I haven't enjoyed a tournament as much in my life time so I'd give it 8/10.

Freek,
Excellent final and vindication that the best team won. Good goals and plenty of them too!
Rating therefore raised from 3/10 to 4/10, almost a 5!!

A bit of a mixed bag of a tournament - perhaps lacked an absolute classic match in the knock-out phase, and had a few teams not perform as well as was hoped (Netherlands particularly). Disappointing as well that results and a late goal went against Russia to eliminate them from the group stage.

Spain were worthy winners, although even they were poor against Portugal. Superb in the final though, when they remembered that there has to be an end result to their pretty passing patterns.

England v Italy and Spain v Portugal were the two really disappointing matches, and unfortunately were consecutive (if a coupe of days apart), so meant there was a bit of a flat feeling to the tournament at the time when it should have been building to its climax. Fortunately a great performance from Italy saw them surprisingly beat Germany, and then Spain played near their best in the final.

Probably a 7/10 tournament overall.

I thought it was a good tornument, mind you, I had to do exams while they were on so that probably distortes my view. For instance, I found the world cup 2010 in South Africa boring probably because I was waiting for the matches everyday.

kwinigolfer wrote:Freek,
Excellent final and vindication that the best team won. Good goals and plenty of them too!
Rating therefore raised from 3/10 to 4/10, almost a 5!!

A 4 and a half would have been nice.

For me it has to be 7/10 as a minimum. Some of the older members of the forum will recall over time tournaments that have been dominated by really negative, boring matches and/or high degrees of cynicism where any half decent ball player is taken out the game.

I wouldn't rate it too highly but being Irish has tainted my view of the whole thing. I'd probably give it 5 or 6/10. As has been said there weren't many, if any, great matches. I thought most of the groups stages were interesting enough but the end of the quarters and the start of the semis took any interest out of it for me.