What did we learn from Tuesday night’s football? Featuring Cristiano, John O’Shea and the spectre of militant nationalism.
It was another amazing night in the feast of football that is UEFA’s new and improved International Week 2.0, but what were the outstanding impressions left on us?
5) Germany are a “team in transition.”
They are the world champions, they have a squad jammed to the reserve list with young talent and, well, they’re German; so nobody could blame you for enjoying a little schadenfreude. The loss of Per Mertesacker, Philip Lahm and Miroslav Klose has affected Germany’s balance, and injuries to key players like Bastian Schweinsteiger have not helped. They will still probably walk the group in the end, but every game between now and Euro 2016 is important for them now, as they seek new identity and new leaders.
4) 100m can’t be wrong: Cristiano Ronaldo is amazing.
Well we didn’t really learn it tonight so much as have it reaffirmed. On the same day that the man reached 100,000,000 (count those zeroes) Facebook fans, he also jumped ten feet into the air in the 90th minute to head home a vital winner for Portugal, who seem determined, as always, on qualifying the hard way.3) England are better than Spain.
… At this moment in time, at U21 level, according to results, etc, etc. England battled to a 2-1 win in Croatia to secure their path to the Czech Republic, while Spain lost in Serbia. Will Hughes played well for England, although there are some players in that team who look unlikely to make the step up to the seniors. See the player ratings from that game here.
2) International football isn’t dead.
The expansion of the Euros to 32 teams has been ridiculed, rejected and reviled since its inception, but over the last few days we’ve seen what UEFA’s “week of football” concept really means. A week of football. Sure it’s a cynical decision to get more games onto TV, but who cares? Now you get to watch all of the manic glory of the home nations and their fight for qualification rather than England grinding 1-0 wins away in Latvia.
1) Nationalism isn’t dead either, unfortunately.
The British Isles seem to have been brought closer together than ever in the last few days by universal footballing joy, but events in Serbia were a stern reminder that nationalism still rears its violent head regularly across the continent. The abandoning of Serbia-Albania because of a “drone carrying a political message” is undoubtedly a bizarre headline, but the human tragedy that lies behind the tension in the Balkans is no laughing matter.