Opinion: Boring, boring Euro 2016

With teams prioritising winning over playing good football, it’s the sport that is suffering

KARACHI: The first day of the round of 16 of this year’s European Championships highlighted the dark side of such competitions where the stakes are so high and the pressure is so immense that it forces teams to follow a Jose Mourinho-esque brand of football rather than the one which got these teams to the Euro finals in the first place.

While many would have hoped that the boredom was limited to the Wales v Northern Ireland match, they were in for a rude awakening as Portugal and Croatia literally made Louis van Gaal’s brand of football under Manchester United look like the best thing that ever happened to football.

Their match was the first game in any major competition since 1980 that did not see a single shot on target in normal time, while Wales needed an own goal by Northern Ireland defender Gareth McAuley to get past the round of 16.

PHOTO: AFP



The most excitement anyone got on the day was from the spirited Switzerland side, who propelled by the industrious Xherdan Shaqiri, gave Poland a run for their money and had it not been for Granit Xhaka’s missed penalty, the party in Switzerland would not have stopped till the quarter-finals this weekend.

Poland took the lead in the 39th minute through Jakub Blaszczykowski and what a deserved lead that was as the Poles had played remarkably well throughout the first half. Except for the confused skipper Robert Lewandowski, who could be forgiven for maybe trying to do too much, the entire Poland team was having the game of their lives. They were confident on the ball, were passing well and even got the goal to show for their efforts.

Simply put, they were well above their Swiss counterparts in terms of the quality of football they were displaying and had no reason to adopt the ‘park the bus’ strategy they adopted in the second half.



The result of this anti-footballing strategy? A hapless display by Poland, who by opting not to play their natural brand of football, gave Switzerland the chance to get comfortable on the ball and really dictate the game.

While it can be argued that the Swiss found the equaliser through Shaqiri’s individual brilliance and that had it not been for that otherworldly strike Poland would have gone on to win in normal time, this can’t be farther from the truth.

PHOTO: AFP

The Swiss were getting closer to finding the net and would have found it based on the sheer determination and quality football they were displaying.

The Poles could have avoided that had they opted to play their brand of football but instead they chose to follow a tried and tested path for success, the Greek way of getting their hands on a major trophy.

While this strategy may certainly achieve results, it is incapable of leaving behind a legacy.



The same was the case in the Portugal-Croatia game where both sides were comfortable with letting the other team play with the ball while they sat back and waited for a mistake from their opponents for an opportunity to counter.

The point is that both Croatia and Portugal have enough quality at their disposal too woo everyone with their game. Yet, their respective managers opted to not fully utilise their team’s talents and the result was one of the worst footballing displays in recent history.

This year’s European Championships have provided some breathtaking moments of football but they have been extremely rare. Teams are more interested in playing the ‘Beautiful Game’ with a more chess-like mindset, based on moves and counter moves, rather than the way it was meant to be played — pervaded with passion, determination and a desire to enthral all.