Premier League Ponderings: Euro 2016 welcomes new contenders
With the Premier League taking
a break for the final leg of the qualifying
rounds for Euro 2016, the
only news coming out of England is
the ongoing party surrounding Jürgen
Klopp’s appointment as Liverpool
manager. As a result, this week
we’re casting our view across the
continent where the most interesting
tournament in recent memory is
taking shape.
One of the largest contributors to the heightened anticipation surrounding the tournament is the new format of 24 teams, up from the 16 that have been the norm since 1996. In the old format, the group winner would advance directly to the tournament finals, with the runner-ups entering a play-off round for the remaining places.
Now both of those teams directly advance with the remaining third placed teams contesting the playoff round.
Many of the continents’ usual powerhouses have already secured qualification. The usual suspects of England, Spain, Italy and Germany, all of whom won or could still win their respective groups, will join France, who is the host, in the tournament. Other qualified teams include Poland, buoyed by Robert Lewandoski’s record-matching 13 goals, Portugal, aided by Cristiano Ronaldo and Austria, who managed to win what was arguably the weakest group of the bunch.
Where the real excitement lies is in the newcomers, and this tournament has quite a few of them. Chief among them is Iceland, who were utterly written off after being drawn against perennial powerhouses Turkey, Netherlands and the Czech Republic.
Iceland has always managed to produce a few good players, but the national team has never had the strength to compete on the world stage. This year however, helped by government-level changes to coaching and training methods, the team stormed to the top of the group with nine victories and a single defeat. Home wins against Turkey and the Dutch were massive, and the collapse of Netherland’s team aided in the dominant position Iceland finds themselves occupying.
Another newcomer is Albania, entering the tournament on the back of a big win against Portugal and a fortunate decision in their favour by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
It’s never a pretty thing when politics and football mix, and it happened in the worst fashion during their match versus Serbia away in Montenegro.
Albanian fans were already subjected to searches upon entering the stadium, banned from entering if they were carrying any nationalist paraphernalia and tensions were high with objects being thrown from the home crowd and some truly disgusting racist chants. Events erupted when an Albanian flag was flown over the pitch by a drone and a Serbian player ripped it down, only to have it taken back by the Albanians.
All of a sudden the crowd surged onto the pitch, joined by security in attacking the away team, leading to the match being abandoned, and after a series of appeals, a 3-0 victory being awarded to the away team.
Other notable new entrants in the tournament are Northern Ireland and Wales. Unfortunately, the Republic of Ireland eliminated hopes of all four home nations being in a single tournament when they beat Scotland.
One of the largest contributors to the heightened anticipation surrounding the tournament is the new format of 24 teams, up from the 16 that have been the norm since 1996. In the old format, the group winner would advance directly to the tournament finals, with the runner-ups entering a play-off round for the remaining places.
Now both of those teams directly advance with the remaining third placed teams contesting the playoff round.
Many of the continents’ usual powerhouses have already secured qualification. The usual suspects of England, Spain, Italy and Germany, all of whom won or could still win their respective groups, will join France, who is the host, in the tournament. Other qualified teams include Poland, buoyed by Robert Lewandoski’s record-matching 13 goals, Portugal, aided by Cristiano Ronaldo and Austria, who managed to win what was arguably the weakest group of the bunch.
Where the real excitement lies is in the newcomers, and this tournament has quite a few of them. Chief among them is Iceland, who were utterly written off after being drawn against perennial powerhouses Turkey, Netherlands and the Czech Republic.
Iceland has always managed to produce a few good players, but the national team has never had the strength to compete on the world stage. This year however, helped by government-level changes to coaching and training methods, the team stormed to the top of the group with nine victories and a single defeat. Home wins against Turkey and the Dutch were massive, and the collapse of Netherland’s team aided in the dominant position Iceland finds themselves occupying.
Another newcomer is Albania, entering the tournament on the back of a big win against Portugal and a fortunate decision in their favour by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
It’s never a pretty thing when politics and football mix, and it happened in the worst fashion during their match versus Serbia away in Montenegro.
Albanian fans were already subjected to searches upon entering the stadium, banned from entering if they were carrying any nationalist paraphernalia and tensions were high with objects being thrown from the home crowd and some truly disgusting racist chants. Events erupted when an Albanian flag was flown over the pitch by a drone and a Serbian player ripped it down, only to have it taken back by the Albanians.
All of a sudden the crowd surged onto the pitch, joined by security in attacking the away team, leading to the match being abandoned, and after a series of appeals, a 3-0 victory being awarded to the away team.
Other notable new entrants in the tournament are Northern Ireland and Wales. Unfortunately, the Republic of Ireland eliminated hopes of all four home nations being in a single tournament when they beat Scotland.
