With the conclusion of the African Cup of Nations today, I must say I can't remember enjoying a continental cup more than I did this one. Was just wondering what everyone else thought about the continetal cups.
Well, you can see the Gold Cup and the European Championships in the US. And probably the Copa America. That's as much as anyone else in the world gets to see.
For the most part, the Euro 2004 was only on PPV. Not much of an option. Then again, neither the Gold Cup nor Copa America was available in English. I went with the Gold Cup since I went to the final last year. Can't do that with the others.
The Gold Cup would be a lot better with some adjustments. First hold it every four years, ditch the irregular schedule its on now. Second rotate the host nations. I realize theres probably only 3 nations capable of hosting so rotate the host country between the US, Canada and Mexico. Personally I'd like to see guest nations completely done away with, but if we must have it, limit it to one. As of now the tournament is pretty much a joke, but theres no reason it can't be improved. Current favorite is the Euros.
Well, I was responding to the sentiment of the post above, which was that because the poster was in the US, he had less access to these tournaments than people in other countries. That's not really the case from what I see. You could conceivably see 3 of those in the US. That's about as good as it gets anywhere. All Euro 2004 matches were shown in bars where I was. Not the best, but PPV certainly counts. And the language of the Gold Cup and Copa America is irrelevant. They were on. I don't understand the hang up some people here have on English commentary. The announcers aren't saying anything you need to hear. It's like not watching a Swedish porno because you don't speak Swedish.
I'm just saying I can't make a "fair" judgement when not being able to see the other competitions.. That's all..
I disagree with you, Copa America is usually a good competitive tournament but it seems to always lack the support from the people, they simply cant afford to travel and show their support and its not only until around the quarter finals taht you see the stadiums full and the croud getting into it but even then the venues do not compara or come close to what Europe has to offer !!!! To me the Eurocup has to be the next best thing after the World cup, the Venues are top notch, the teams really take it serious unlike Copa America where in some ocasions teams just dont take it serious or even withdraw from the cup such as Argentina back in Copa America 99. Also the support from the crowd is just amazing, the way fans travel to support their national teams and this just adds color and intensity to the entire tournament. After watching Greece upset some of the best teams in Europe and in the world to take the last Eurocup i just completely fell inlove with this cup, there were some great matches such as the game between Portugal and England which is one of the best games i have ever seen and its clear that there is really no favorite ever in this cup, the competition is fierce and intense and the team that usually wins the cup is usually the one least expected to win. I believe the 2009 Copa America to be played in Mexico will be one of the most memorable ones and one of the best Copa Americas in past years but even then I can almost guarantee that it will come down to 3 teams who are just much superior then all the other ones out there, Brasil, Argentina and Mexico....Not exactly the kind of competition that you have in Europe with the Eurocup, thats why i put the Eurocup in first place....
Ok - so who voted the Oceania Nations' Cup as their favorite? Not getting enough Nouvelle Caledonie-Tahiti matches? In all seriousness, Euro #### is the best. It's the only one where each nation brings its A team and they don't sully it by inviting outsiders. For me, The Gold Cup is about 10% as relevant as World Cup Qualifiers.
Not on television, but there are numerous places to follow it on the internet, whether it be radio, streaming videos, or bittorrent downloads of the match from stations who do cover the games... it's pretty hard to not be able to watch (or at least listen to) the cup if you actually try. I was able to watch every single team in the African Cup play at least one match, and got to see every match in the knockout round (from quarterfinals to the championship) except the 3rd place match... all from my apartment in East Lansing.
The UEFA Championship--men or women--is and will always be as exciting as the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games combined. I saw some of the games on FSC back in June/July 2004. Nothing, not even Copa America or the Gold Cup can compete with Europe