Jokers and no hopers
The allure of yet another financial windfall, combined with the complex politics of football means that tournament organisers; from the African Nations Cup to the World Cup are ever willing to downgrade their demand for quality if just to accommodate the chaff that guarantee that extra 20 or even 100 million viewers.
Now the Euros have followed suit; adding eight more teams to the 16 from the last two decades, so that Northern Ireland, Hungary and Albania have a chance to play regular international tournament football. Those three teams, with a combined zero appearances in the 10 Euro championships, are the obvious choices for my first grouping of participating teams; the no hopers. For these teams to win a game at the championships would be astounding; to get out of their respective groups would be a miracle.
Faring only slightly better in the sense that they might not entirely embarrass themselves are the teams that look good only because they manage to never look terrible. Think Sweden, Ireland, Russia, Turkey, Romania, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Ukraine, Slovakia and Poland. This is a group I would tip to have a shock result or two in them, but never really go anywhere.
Pretenders; England, Belgium
The most deceptive cluster, however, is the one with teams like Belgium, England and Italy. They may be names big enough to earn some respect and boast squads seemingly good enough to warrant attention, but the evidence from recent tournaments as well as present realities hint at them not being as durable competitors as they seem. Take England; a decent forward line is certain to be undone by the calamity waiting in a back line that has a combination of John Stones, Chris Smalling and Gary Cahill. With such options in defence, a team would need to outscore all its opponents. Tournaments, as England fans will find out shortly, are rarely won that way.
Italy’s case is slightly more complicated; a big name with not so good players means success for Antonio Conte’s men can only happen by chance—which rarely happens. Belgium’s case is even more complex, because it’s all in the head—there is a decent amount of talent, but perhaps not enough character. So what we know now is that not one of England, or Italy, or Belgium will win the Euros. Only that man that wants to be separated from his money will bet on any of those teams.
*Next week; the dark horses and the favourites.
essekalo@matookerepublic.com