Dour games, joy for underdogs at violence-marred Euro 2016
So-called heavyweights exit early
PARIS, July 12, (AP): The Portuguese party had just begun when a message briefly flickered on the Stade de France big screen: “Merci pour tout, Michel.”
It wasn’t clear what the absent Michel Platini was being thanked for at the end of the European Championship on Sunday.
A public show of support before UEFA’s banned president loses his title in September? An endorsement of the former France captain’s vision to expand the tournament by eight teams?
Whatever the sentiment of the message, supporters booed. Loudly.
Few fans viewing the 51 games over the last month objectively will have been engrossed by the action.
The first 24-team continental showpiece required perseverance from fans to stick through many dreary games. Compensating for the tedium, though, was the enriching march of the minnows, something Platini could never have anticipated by adding eight teams.
Newcomers like Wales and Iceland didn’t just make up the numbers. They had so-called heavyweights who went home early — from England to Spain — watching in awe at their progress.
Wales, whose only previous appearance on the international stage was the 1958 World Cup, made it all the way to the last four — the first British semifinalist in 20 years.
England’s campaign ended in huge embarrassment in the round of 16, providing newcomer Iceland with its greatest footballing moment. Iceland was the smallest nation ever to qualify for the tournament and its windfall from UEFA should help to keep the production line of talent rolling.
It took a potent display from host France to end Iceland’s glorious run, breaking through the resilient defensive unit to win their quarterfinal 5-2. But France couldn’t barge through another well-drilled side when it faced Portugal in Sunday’s final.
Even after the most theatrical and agonizing moments of the tournament — the
Portugal’s Raphael Guerreiro (right), challenges for the ball with France’s Bacary Sagna during the Euro 2016 final soccer match between Portugal and France at
the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, on July 10. (AP)