UEFA Euro 2021?: Some thoughts on the postponement of the UEFA European Championship and Copa America

Been a small while since I've written about football, and with no foreseeable live football for a while (except for viewers in Belarus) I thought I'd just spitball here and provide a few thoughts on the postponement of Euro 2020 to the summer of 2021.

First off, we all know why. The Coronavirus pandemic is awful, and the sooner we can get past it the better. I won't go into details because we all know what's happening. I will say that football pales in comparison with all of this, but we do need these things to distract us from the wider world right now and keep us all sane. In the meantime, stay at home and practise safe social distancing, stay safe and hopefully we can all get back to our regular lives sooner rather than later. 

Secondly, I think it was the right decision to postpone Euro 2020. Outright cancelling it would have been a terrible decision, and cost UEFA a lot of money. Furthermore, we all need things to look forward to when this is all over and done with, and Euro 2020 is a major one on many people's lists, including my own. Also importantly allows the domestic leagues a chance to finish their seasons when this is finished with. 

Or to cancel them, and move onto next season. Belgium is the first to do so, awarding the title to Club Brugge, and it looks like the Netherlands may follow suit. I'm more in favour of the season being called off and the final places being as they are, but swings and roundabouts. And no, that's not just because my own Dundee United are on the verge of being promoted. I'd rather earn that on the pitch, but who knows when that'll be possible to do so again. 

Onto brighter things. I'm looking forward to attending two games next summer. I'll be at Hampden for Croatia versus Play-Off Winner C, which will be one of Scotland, Israel, Serbia and Norway, and I can say with complete bias that I hope it's Scotland. Because of the venue being in Scotland as well, I think Scotland v Croatia probably has the most appeal of the four possible games. Croatia v Serbia would be interesting albeit quite terrifying to be at for a neutral, Croatia would probably hammer Israel (they might hammer Scotland too, but it being at Hampden at least gives it more of an interest for home fans.) If it's not Scotland, I hope it's Norway as Croatia v Norway would be a good game for the neutral. But obviously, I hope it's Scotland. 

The other game I have a ticket for is the last 16 game also at Hampden. The winner of Spain's group (Spain, Sweden, Poland and Play-Off Winner B - so, probably the 2008 and 2012 European Champions then? Although that is a tough group to be fair. Bosnia, Slovakia, Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland will make up the final place depending on the playoffs) will face the third place team in Group A, B, C or D. So no Germany, France or Portugal at Hampden then. Shame. 

Now I think about it, Group E might be the toughest group outside of the obvious France, Portugal and Germany Group F (Playoff Winner A (or D if Romania win Path A!), you're in trouble here). Spain, Poland, Sweden is a tough out for whomever makes it from Path B. 

I wrote some more detailed words on the playoffs themselves, but I'll put them up when we have an actual confirmed date on when they're being played. Impossible in the current climate.

Speaking of Croatia, this might be their last chance to win a trophy with the current generation with a lot of their talents close to or the wrong side of 30. I fully say that as someone the wrong side of 30, but I'm not expecting a Scotland call up anytime soon. Well, you never know? Back to Croatia though. After coming so close to the World Cup trophy in Russia two years ago, you feel they might have to make this one count. 

See also: Belgium. Third Place in Russia, Quarter-Finals in France and Brazil. This Golden Generation of Belgian football is running out of time. For both of these teams, the postponement of the tournament may be a disaster. We'll see. 

On the flip side, England will get most of their starting forwards back now, including Captain Harry Kane, Wales will have Joe Allen back in time, and Scotland will have John McGinn fit for the playoffs. Excellent. 

Hard to know when the playoffs will actually be played. At earliest, later in the year, but you have to fit it round the Nations League and the World Cup Qualifiers for Qatar. March 2021 might be the shout. 

Going back to the title, what will the name of the tournament be? UEFA "accidentally" sent out a tweet confirming the name as Euro 2020 still, but then deleted it saying that it wasn't confirmed. This isn't as easy as it sounds, just calling it UEFA Euro 2021. This would require a rebranding that would cost UEFA a lot of money to do. We'll see if they want to make the effort to do so. 

The other day, I learned that the 1962 FIFA World Cup Ball was called Crack. The ball was replaced by a European ball at halftime in the opening game, as the referee was unimpressed with it. The tournament saw the use of several different balls, as rumour has it the European teams were unimpressed with the Chilean effort. 

Slazenger provided the 1966 FIFA World Cup Ball, then it was switched to Adidas as it has been ever since. For the record, Adidas have provided the official ball of every European Championship since 1968.

The Uniforia has a low bar to clear. I quite like it, I like the design and the name of it. Adidas have done well here. As long as its better than the Jabulani, the 2010 World Cup Ball which was compared to one of those floaty balls you'd buy from a petrol station back in the day. 

I just used the term "back in the day." I feel old. 33 this month. Welp. 

Three of the four last European Championship Finals have been decided by a 1-0 scoreline - 2016 saw Portugal beat France in extra time in Saint-Denis, 2008 saw Spain beat Germany in Vienna, and 2004 saw the shock of all shocks, Greece beating Portugal 1-0 in Lisbon. The exception? Spain's 4-0 win over Italy in 2012 in Kiev. 

Interestingly two of the last three World Cups were decided by a 1-0 win in extra time, with Germany's win over Argentina in Rio and Spain's win over the Netherlands in Johannesburg. France of course won the Final two years ago in Moscow beating Croatia 4-2. On a delayed note, Algeria won the last African Cup of Nations to date, the 2019 version, with a 1-0 win over Senegal in Cairo. 

Copa America has also moved back, following the same dates as Euro 2020/21, June 11 to July 11, 2021. That tournament is due to be co-hosted by Argentina and Colombia. Always found it interesting that Copa America is 12 teams when CONMEBOL has 10, so they invite two teams to join the tournament. It's often teams from CONCACAF but Qatar took part in 2019, and 2020 will see Qatar and Australia join the ten CONMEBOL Teams. 

This has been the case since 1993, and in 2016, for the Centenario tournament, six teams were invited to join from CONCACAF - Costa Rica, Panama, Haiti, Mexico, Jamaica and the United States of America. Interestingly, the tournament took place in the United States of America, and was won by Chile. No guest team has ever won Copa America, although Mexico were runners up in 1993, to Argentina, and 2001, to Colombia. 

In 1999, Japan were the first non North American to be invited to join the tournament. No team from Europe or Africa has ever participated in Copa America, which is a shame as I always wanted Scotland to take part once. Pretty much impossible now for a European team to be involved with the move to the same 4 year cycle as the European Championships. 

Anyway, I believe that shall do it for now. I may make this kind of column a weekly or bi-weekly effort, along with an upcoming project for Go For It On Fourth that I'm excited to begin next week. Keep yoir eyes peeled on both for that. 

In the meantime, stay safe, stay home if you can, and wash your hands. And look after each other in this tough time for us all. 

Much love. 

Stuart.