With Copa and Euro on TV at the same time, it's been interesting to see the difference. Copa teams (other than USA, who were largely flat) played fiercely even in games that didn't matter. But Euro, other than the small country games, seem somewhat jaded and cynical. It feels like teams are just trying to make it to the next round and because of the scoring system, just play for a draw. We'll see how things change in the knock out rounds, but it has surprised me - the subtle differences. What do you think? i feel Americans were really privileged to have hosted Copa 2016. With Chile in town twice and Argentina once, I had a chance to see incredible skill and pace on the ball. It's Just not the same as watching on TV.
I completely agree. The Euro games have been mostly a bore, and especially so compared with the Copa matches.
With 16 out of 24 teams making the knockout round there's little sense of urgency or drama. Look at Portugal or any of the teams that wound up third in their group but moved on nonetheless. Three ties was good enough for most teams to be content with, that made for a less entertaining group stage.
The Copa matches at Levi's were lots of fun, even with the bad luck of Uruguay and Jamaica both being eliminated before their match. We met lots of cool fans of many different teams in the stadium and, especially, on the Light Rail between the stadium and the VTA Park and Ride. Even Levi's is less of a drag for such a meaningful competition compared, to say, last year's Barcelona/Man U selfie taking, twitter/facecrack sending festival. I still hope the Quakes stay away, however.
Ha! Yes, I remember sitting with some Swiss fans back in WC 94 on the Cal train south from Stanford and Some bozo Yank blurted out "Hey, your Swiss? Can you yodel?" To which the Swiss guy shoots back "Can you rope a steer!?" The whole train was laughing at that one.
I have enjoyed watching both tournaments. It's great seeing some of the soccer minnows in Europe advance to the round of 16. There have been some very good games. But, as was mentioned, it was easier to advance out of the group stages in the Euro's, so, perhaps not the overall intensity of many of the Copa matches.
Come to think of it, he did have a moment of confusion where he repeated to himself, "can you yodel" while looking at his companions with an incredulous expression on his face, like he couldn't believe someone would seriously say that before he shot back, So, I'd give him credit for coming up with it on the spot and demote myself for not giving a better narrative of the event.
...brings back a joke I heard where I only remember the punchline. It was some guy yodeling, "I did your old lady too"!