The summer of 2021 will quite possibly forever be remembered in our collective memory as the summer of football. For the first time ever the Eurocup, the America Cup, and the Concacaf (now the Gold Cup) coincided in the same year. Due to the covid pandemic traveling restrictions, the Eurocup that had been planned for 2020 was postponed for a full year. For many football fans, this might have been the worst moment of last year’s confinement. Luckily, the Eurocup had only been delayed, not canceled, and this year we got a triple dose of national anthems, cheering fans, booing hooligans, incredible saves, dirt fouls, last-minute bangers, etc, … in short, glorious football in its purest form!
Messi’s Argentina end 28 years of trophy drought
First things first, we need to talk about the incredible performance by Messi in the America Cup. Argentina has won its first America Cup and major trophy in 28 years, a very long drought for a country that boasts being one of the world’s greatest football nations. Their first trophy in almost three decades cannot have been possible without the unique genius of Lionel Messi. Even though his last game performance against Brazil might not have been his best, he was simply unstoppable during the entirety of the tournament. He was clearly a man on a mission. After losing the World Cup finale in 2014 to Germany and losing the America Cup finale twice to Chile in 2015 and 2016, it was finally his time to shine with the ‘albiceleste’ jersey. Every football fan out there knows this man truly deserved to have won at least one major tournament with his national team in his career. Messi’s photo holding up the America Cup trophy has quickly become the most ‘Liked’ sports-related post in Instagram history, with over 19 million ‘Likes’ so far.
Brazil came in a close second, fighting bravely until the last minute. Neymar Jr. is still young enough to lead his national team to victory in the next South American tournament. The picture of him hugging the champions Messi is possibly one of the most heart-warming images in recent football history. Honorable mentions go to Ecuador, Uruguay, Chile, and Colombia for not making things easy for the two football giants and making this year’s Latin tournament more thrilling and entertaining than ever.
Eurocup 2020 / 21 the Euros with the biggest surprises
The Eurocup has come and gone and what a wonderful tournament full of surprises it has been! From the beginning, every betting man was putting their money on France, Portugal, and Germany. ‘How the mighty have fallen’ one might say as none of these teams even made it to the quarter-finals. The most excitement we got from them is when Germany beat Portugal 4 – 2 still in the group stages. Soon after that, Germany lost to England for the first time in recent memory and got eliminated much sooner than anyone had anticipated. A truly disappointing effort for a team that usually always makes it far in every tournament it takes part in. Portugal lost to Belgium in a very tied game. Both teams have excellent players in every position, but this time even Cristiano Ronaldo’s dribbles and shots didn’t save the Portuguese. Finally, France lost to small but feisty Switzerland when the french national team didn’t know how to close out a game. France was winning 3 – 1 most of the match, but the Swiss team, ever believing in themselves, managed to score two goals in the last minutes of the game, thus forcing extra time and penalties. This might have been the biggest shocker in all of the Eurocup as Daniel Sommer, the Swiss goalkeeper, became a national treasure by saving multiple penalty shots and single-handedly (pun intended) pushed Switzerland to the quarter-finals by eliminating the 2021 favorites.
A special mention to Spain for giving viewers two of the most entertaining games of this year’s Euros. Even though their first two games were a display of everything going wrong with ‘La Roja’ from forwards that can’t finish, to defenders that can’t even take on a single enemy striker and a goalkeeper who accidentally let the ball in own goal when receiving a pass. The Spanish national team under Luis Enrique’s leadership took the tournament by the horns after those first two bad games and scored five goals against Slovakia and another five goals against Croatia. Making them the highest-scoring team of the Eurocup without even winning it.
The insultingly young and incredibly talented lads of the English national team faced the old but robust Italian ‘gli Azzurri’ (the Blues) in a finale in which both team coaches had a major role in the outcome. Not to undermine the player’s extraordinary skills and herculean feat to reach a Eurocup finale but it must be said that Roberto Mancini completely transformed the Italian national team. England’s head coach Gareth Southgate also did a fantastic job taking his team of boys so far. The finale itself had a rather unexpected script. Both teams were showing clear signs of fatigue and fear of losing by playing defensively, too defensively one might say. It is even more surprising that England’s head coach decided to keep Manchester United’s goal-scoring machine Marcus Rashford and Aston Villa’s skillful Jack Graelish on the bench for most of the game when they could have offered their team that touch of rebellious energy in the offense. In the end, it came down to a penalty shoot-out in which the older and more experienced Italian side did not get cold feet. Gianluigi Donnaruma did a fantastic job saving two penalties, then turned his back to the goal and walked away calmly as he knew that his teammates were euphorically running towards him to celebrate Italy’s first Eurocup trophy in over fifty years.