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Goalies beware! New mindset producing plenty of excitement in Euro 2000
Posted: Tuesday June 27, 2000 04:29 PM
Goals make games, and at Euro 2000 so far there've been a glut of them. 79 in 28 matches to be precise, with only a quarter of those games having featured one goal or less. The current average of 2.88 goals per game well surpasses that of the last European Championship, when the average was 2.06. Tactically it seems Europe's top coaches have reconsidered the fundamental nature of the game. Winning is still everything, but entertainment has also become of paramount importance. It must have taken considerable courage to adopt such a gung-ho attitude to the game on such a major stage. Either that or extreme stupidity. Whatever the case, time and again at this championship we've seen teams working on the principle that defense is a dispensable luxury as long as at the end of the day you score more goals than the other side. The now departed Spain typified that attitude, when they compensated for a leaky defense with that sensational comeback against Yugoslavia that earned them their place in the quarterfinals. Holland served notice of their attacking flair in their final group game, when they twice came from behind to beat the world champions France 3-2. That of course was only the appetizer as far as Dutch attacking prowess was concerned. Their 6-1 thrashing of Yugoslavia matched an all-time high for the biggest margin of victory in European Championship history.
And talk of Yugoslavia is also a reminder that even in defeat teams at this competition have been determined to go down firing. Not only did the Yugoslavs score their one and only goal against the Dutch in the final minute, but it also came from Savo Milosevic, who could still conceivably end up as the tournament's joint top-scorer despite playing two less games than the eventual finalists. Sometimes of course the quest for goals has really cost teams. England's refusal to put their defensive duties ahead of their desire to go forward proved the road to ruin against Portugal. Coach Kevin Keegan's determination to see his team press home a point in a game they'd already won eventually cost them the victory and set them on a slippery slope that ended in Charleroi with elimination at the hands of Romania. And there was a similar example in Group-C, when Slovenia led the Yugoslavs 3-0, then listened to the little voice in every footballers head that says "score, score, if you get one you'll get more", and promptly ended up handing the Yugoslavs a 3-3 draw. Whatever the outcome however, the result for the fans has been one of the most open and entertaining championships in recent memory. And now comes the semifinals, which Italy will start with 8 goals to its name, France and Portugal 9 apiece, while Holland leads the way with 15 from their four games. How many more goals will be added before the final whistle in Sunday's final? Well, based on what's gone before, all I would say is goalkeepers beware.
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