BEHIND THE PLAY #26

Well that was pretty great. 30 days of the best of UEFA, CONMEBOL and CONCACAF via the Euro and the Copa America. I really didn’t think I’d watch as much as I did as I became fascinated by watching the European games in the morning and the Copa games in the evening and noting just how different the tempo, temperment and overall approach to winning games was.

And now its over. Both on the same day. That’s some serious cold turkey being served. All I’m left with is thoughts on what was amazing, odd, weird and surprising.

Noted below, frantically typed and negligently edited, are some thoughts that I think warrant mentioning.

CONTRAST: If you’d been told one of the two Finals yesterday would not start on time due to crowd issues, you’d almost certainly have bet on it being the Copa. The Euro is a thoroughbred while the Copa is a bucking bronco. It’s national pride vs national passion. The Euro is a study in composure and cerebral play while the Copa is manic, unpredictable and spectacular in how it combines these two qualities in various measures. It would really have been off-brand for the Copa final to not have loads of people jam their way in without tickets and create an eighty minute kickoff delay.

I’ve only been to one competitive game between two South American countries but it was a doozy. The 2014 World Cup game in Rio de Janeiro between Uruguay and Colombia in the second round was definitely had the most action going on in the crowd. Just in our vicinity there must have been ten occasions where stewards and/or fully outfitted riot police came in to break up incidents ranging from groups of opposing fans screaming at each other in close proximity to actual fights. Definitely didn’t help that there was no separation of the two country’s fans. It was a yellow and baby blue patchwork quilt all around the Maracana that day. And it was awesome.

Anyone who went to the Qatar World Cup will know that there’s no way anyone was gate-crashing stadiums there. You had multiple (like 6-8) check points starting up to a 15 minute walk from where you’d enter the stadium. Perimeters around the stadium had a ridiculous volunteer and security presence. You’d never have got within 500m of a stadium gate if you didn’t have a game ticket and a Hayya card (combo Visa, transit pass and proof of being a ticket holder). Miami did not have that. From what you can see in the video above they decided to substitute considerably overwhelmed and occasionally over-weight police officers for a proven, workable process.

COMMITMENT: Was great to see Jesse Marsch giving a quick ‘not interested’ to USSF in the wake of them firing Gregg Berhalter and beginning a search for a new manager. Klopp apparently said no to overtures as well but Marsch’s was done very unambiguously at a press conference (see tweet below). Layer this on top of playing subs galore against Uruguay when the CSA must have been really hoping for a full strength starting eleven to have a better chance at the additional $1m in prize money and this guy has very smartly shown the players he’s with them and is no company man. The team-building that has happened in the last six weeks in extraordinary and he’s forcing me to get past the fact that we hired an American to coach this team. Now if he can just get past starting his answer to every question asked of him by the press with “Yeah…”

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: Subs and their goals (often late) really were a thing at both the Euro and Copa.

• Spain v Germany: Wirtz comes on as a sub at half time and ties the game in the 89th minute before Merino wins it in the last minute of extra time.

• Netherlands v Romania: Malen comes on for the Dutch at half time and scores two late goals to make sure Holland cruise into the quarter finals.

• England v Netherlands: Ollie Watkins come into the game in the 81st minute and scores the winner in the first minute of injury time sending them to the final.

• Spain v England: The final had Cole Palmer come into the game in the 70th minute and take just three minutes to level the game. Mikel Oyarzabal, subbed on two minutes before Palmer then one-upped him by scoring the goal to win the Euro in the 86th minute.

• Argentina v Canada: Lautaro Martinez comes into the game in the 76th minute and puts the game out of reach with a goal in the 88th giving Argentina a 2-0 and ultimately win

• Ecuador v Venezuela: Edourd Bello came in at half time and scored the winner in the 74th minute.

• Ecuador v Jamaica: Alan Minda scored a late one to be the game out of reach for Ecuador. 93rd minute notcher after coming on in the 64th.

• Panama v USA: Jose Fajaro came in at the half and scored a late winner to effectively put the US out of the Copa

• Panama v Bolivia: Cesar Yanis outdid everyone in the late sub, late goal department (excpe Lautaro Martinez - see below) coming on in the 90th minute and scoring the third for Panama in a 3-1 win.

• Argentina v Ecuador: Kevin Rodriguez threw a scare into Argentina scoring in injury time after coming into the game in the 76th minute. Ultimately Argentina prevailed in penalties in this quarter final game.

• Canada v Uruguay: A fresh one in the mind of my fellow Canadians as Luis Suarez entered the third place game at half time and then levelled the game at 2-2 in the 92nd. Uruguay went on to win on penalties.

• Argentina v Colombia: Lautaro Martinez again. This time to win the Copa with the extra time goal in the 112th minute after entering the game just five minutes prior.

Naturally when this happens managers are either lauded as geniuses for their substitutions or have critics saying, “See, he scored. That’s why I’ve been saying he should’ve been starting!”

PARTY CRASHERS: Canada made the semi-final! Felt good typing that.

UNPOPULAR OPINION: The refs were better in the Copa America. There were far too many yellows given in the Euro. Refs were more lenient in the Copa but in the games that I watched there was also more consistency and common sense to their decision.

PATHWAYS: Spanish manager Luis de la Fuente wins the Euros having only managed a professional team for three months. That was Deportivo Alaves in 2011. Since then he’d coached youth teams for Spain.

FUTURE OF COPA AMERICA: Despite multiple scoldings from Bielsa, Jesse Marsch and many other participants regarding really poor organization, don’t think for a second this experiment won’t be repeated. Going forward, I’m quite certain that this format for Copa America will exist and the Gold Cup will turn into a secondary tournament for CONCACAF teams that don’t qualify for the Copa. And yes, it will predominantly be played in the USA. Attendance begets revenue and revenue begets continuity. The 2019 Copa in Brazil had seven games with less than 20,000 in attendance including two under 10,000. Only one game in the group stage had over 50,000 (note that the 2021 Copa was played in empty stadiums under COVID restrictions.) This Copa had only three games with fewer than 20,000 in attendance and none under 10,000. There were also 11 group stage games with more than 50,000. You can also safely assume that the average ticket price was much higher and with 16 teams instead of the 10-12 that Copas usually have, the gross is clearly always going to be much higher. It’s just a matter of negotiating who gets what share of it now that the financial model has proven to be solid.

QUICK CHANGE ARTISTS: So many of these South American players are Clarke Kent’s at the club level and then step into phone booth on their way to national team games. Enzo Fernandez was a 21 year old who’d played 24 games at Benfica before the last World Cup. All of a sudden Chelsea drop US$132 million on him. Fotmob had him rated ninth best of the team last season.

CABLE CUTTER: TSN. No thanks. I haven’t had cable for well over a decade now but I pay over $100/month for streaming channels. I’ve never understood the bizarre online rants about not being able to watch the men’s and women’s national teams “for free” on channels like TSN. Yes, you can get CBC for free but they seem to have given up on soccer entirely so it’s moot. You don’t get TSN or Sportsnet for free. You pay for them either as part of a cable package or as a standalone add-on. I paid $20 for a one month pass that allowed me to watch both the Euro and the Copa America. I have no complaints about the quality of the broadcast and the Caldwell, Kilbane half-time stuff grew on me. Was good to see a rotation of former players added to the panel through the month as well. But the number of ads (and so incredibly repetitive) on a channel you’re paying a subscription for was way more than anything I’ve ever experienced on other streaming services. Their decision to farm out pre-game and half-time Copa America work to Fox, whose commentary feed they were also using, was annoying as well. I’d have paid another $20 to not have to listen to ego-maniac rage-farmers like Alexi Lalas building their ‘brand.’ TSN view soccer as event driven and only put serious money into buying rights for events that position them as ‘big time’ like the World Cup, Euro and Copa.

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