With Euro 2008 just around the corner, whats the best international tournament you have seen?

This will be my 9th starting all the way back at Italia 90 which remains the best World Cup ive seen.

Overall though it was Euro 2000 which was quality.

The worst by far were USA 94 and Greece 04.

Im sure the older lot have watched tournaments previous to 1990 so they are welcome to name them

Yeah I'd say the 1990 for me, that Holland/Germany game, Cameroon turning over the holders in the first game, Rudi Voller's hair... 1986 was my first one, good memories of that too with Lineker making his name worldwide.

1988 euro's was very good too, capped with those two iconic goals in the final, flipping awesome partnership.

Whether or not you were caught up in it back in 1996, the buzz surrounding that tournament is a nice summer memory too.

1994 was lame, it had a hard act to follow and it felt like there was something missing from the 2002 tourn.

Euro 96, football quality wise wasnt the best but the buzz around the country that summer was great.

How England do in tournaments play a part in how crap you think a tournement is?

Their absense form USA 94 was a reason why i thought it was so poor although barring a couple, the matches were poor as well.

One that usually gets forgotten is Euro 92.

Euro 2000 was incredible, especially the Spain-Slovenia group match.

Dont remember much about that game but the Slovenia v Yugoslavia and Spain v Yugoslavia games were brilliant

3-3 and 4-3 respectively.

Both games having astonishing comebacks.

The semis were really good as well with Portugal being the bad losers they are in their defeat to France and Holland missing 2 penalties during the game and to lose out to 10 men Italy on penalties at home was the biggest bottle job in history.

World Cup 2002

Haven't seen a decent full international tournament yet I think, although I've seen some good games. Too young for the olden ones and international footy is shite nowadays. <_<

How many have you seen?

Euro 2000.

Even the final was pretty good and you don't say that too many times about International tournaments these days.

Let's break 'em down, based on ones that I know I have seen from start to finish. I certainly remember seeing some of Italia 90 from my Captain's bed at the age of eight - in particular being haunted Itv's ghastly sub-Subbutteo intro sequence, but what I actually saw at the time juuust falls off my radar. So here we go:

Euro 92 - Started for me in tears due to having to miss the first half of the opening matchup (France - Sweden) due to our sodding school fete. And continued in tears too, mainly due to it being shockingly negative throughout (CIS - Holland was a specfic horror), and very little great moments. Denmark - Holland was a keeper, and the final was nifty too. Otherwise only notable for the feelgood outcome!

USA 94 - Have probably still got some videos somewhere of the 3.30am kick-offs. Didn't really get going until the second round - the heat clearly played a part in the torpid group stages - then the shackles came off. Would like to see Germany - Belgium, Romania - Argentina and Romania - Sweden again in particular. Semis and final however...: :crying:

Euro 96 - Difficult to assess in 'real' terms due to the ubiquity of all things England, and indeed I'm struggling to recall much else. A few "impact moments" aside - Suker's chip, the shocking refereeing of Germany - Croatia - to this day it all seems to be about "the heroes dressed in grey" ( :wacko: )....

France 98 - The first one I'd say I was able to 'analyse' to any great level, this wasn't all that great. It was an inexorable creep to the final we all knew we were going to get. That said, Holland - Argentina struck gold - despite me missing most of it live by the bus from Plymouth to Liskeard not turning up for two hours!! - and Denmark's losing performance against Brazil dserved many plaudits. And of course: "I think Trevor Brooking's alongside me. Oh he is alongside me" :haha:

Euro 2000 - Deserves its reputation and then some. Gripping bold stuff throughout, with the classic games just falling off the tongue ( Spain - Yugoslavia of course, Portugal - England, the oft-forgotten France - Holland group decider). Both semi-finals were all over the place -in a very good way, totally unpredictable - and the final more than delivered too. Thumbs way up!

Japan/South Korea 2002 - This could be best summed up with "what the?!". Frankly unfathomable at times - Vince Russo could have been booking Croatia - Italy it made so little sense - with again 'moments' overriding the actual contests..Blah

Euro 2004 - Again, all seemed a little too much on the back foot to really be great, but certainly an improvement. Holland - Czech Rep rubbed shoulders with France - Brazil 86, and watching Portugal gradually grow in confidence was a nice barometer to work from. Triumph for industy over flair it may have been, but it was totally refreshing to see Greece carry it off and leave the apple cart for scrap, so there!

Germany 2006 - The opposite of 94 really. Started off like a house on fire, yet clicked out of life as soon as the knockouts kicked in(though Argentina - Mexico was a cracker). The battles of Nuremburg and Berlin told their own story. Then there was the Germany - Italy semifinal (overrated actually), then the patchy final.... Maybe I should dig out the DVDs I made of the BBc highlights of every match, as I'm sure I remember liking it more at the time

Phew..

98. 2000. 2002. 2004. 2006

Netherlands - Portugal from World Cup '06 was hilarious, not quite on the scale of Battle of Santiago but funny all the same.

And Rors...respect to your memory, I can't remember that much at all.

:blink:

And you thought 2002 was better than 2000?

Each to their own i guess

Euro 96, my first tournement. Loved every minute of it, everyone was on such a high and England were class.

I hope we get the 2018 World Cup.

Mostly because the Brasilian team was just so good.

I think Euro 2000 was the best I remember

1996~2000>2006~1998>2004

:goodpost:

Games of the tournaments ive seen imo

Italia 90 - Argentina v Cameroon - Only one goal but it went to Cameroon and of course what they did to Caniggia was great.

Euro 92 - Germany v Sweden semi

USA 94 - Romania v Argentina, absolute poor tournament but this was a great game with the right team winning again

Euro 96 - England v Holland, didnt watch it all though

France 98 - Holland v Argentina, right team won again with the goal from Bergkamp

Euro 2000 - Every game bar Norways

Japan/Korea 02 - Brazil v Costa Rica. No defending at all

Euro 04 - Holland v Czechs, Czechs coming back from 2 down.

Germany 06 - Argentina v Mexico, Wrong team one but only after Mexico scared them to death

Only remember 2002 onwards, so I'd have to say 2006.

:goodpost:

+ the italy -- germany SF in '06.

Favourite was 1990, fantastic tournament, everything about that was quality (and i was over there too)
First one that a real impact on me was 1978 Argentina, all the ticker tape and the fanatacism was spell binding for an 11 year old !

the Marios Kempes World Cup, Bergy?

bloody hell mate, you're showing your age!

Aye that was the one, and a great dutch team aswell.
Yep a bloody long time ago !

Thats a surprise.

Most of the people i ask about Italia 90 say it was incredibly dull.

Its one of my favourites as its what got me in to football. Cant really remember the quality

if you can't remember the quality then why did it get you into Football?

Ahh, got it..hot, sweaty men in shorts and tight kits did it for you didn't it. :rolleyes:

Cos England reached the semi.

Thats what really kept my interest in it

yeah, yeah. :rolleyes:

I remember 1998 vaguely, i saw Anelka score vs. Newcastle in the final, and remember the joy and and watched parts of the WC to see Vieira pass to petit and then the headline the next day - 'Arsenal win World Cup'...that summer of football basically got me into the sport. Euro 2000 was brilliant.

I am told I watched most of Spain 82. But being between 2 and 30 days old during it, I'm having to rely on the reliability of others to confirm that.... That said, I bet even my incoherent gooing and gurgling summed up Cerezo's pathetically suicidal backpass for Rossi's second in THAT game better than most..!

Italians had a really good side, as did Yugoslavia and Germany. Baggio was fantastic in that tournament as was Toto Schillachi. The final was awful though

Most of them are

:goodpost:

'90 final was terrible but Germany-Holland made up for it at least.

The only exciting finals are in the Copa America.

I guess I'm older than anyone else who has posted in this thread which means I've got more to choose from.

My favourite tournament was undoubtedly Euro 1988 because Ireland had actually done the unthinkable and qualified for the finals. Then they did something even more unthinkable. They actually did quite well when they got there. It was my first taste of a major international tournament and also my first taste of German beer. :beer:

However, the highest quality tournament I can recall was the 1974 World Cup. I was only nine but I recall a host of players who would go on to become legends of the game, not least Cruyff and Beckenbauer.

Next best is probably Euro 1984. I can remember there was some controversy in the UK because BBC and ITV hardly broadcast any of it but in Ireland we saw the whole thing and it was brilliant. Platini's performance in particular was memorable. Only Maradona in 86 could claim to have bossed a tournament more completely.

1990 has been mentioned a bit and I was certainly interested as Ireland got to the quarter finals but the tournament as a whole was poor with lots of negative football. In fact it was the 1990 World Cup that led FIFA to change the backpass rule because of all the negativity. I thought 1994 had a much higher standard (and hardly any scoreless draws) but people tend to forget that because the final was so dull. 1996 was a disappointment as well.

I think the last truly great tournament we've seen was Euro 2000. Great final too which always helps.

Also I must mention the worst performance ever by a well known player at a major tournament: Eric Cantona at Euro 1992. He was so bad most people have forgotten he was there.

Was too young for 1984.

Why wasnt it shown here?

England hadn't qualified so the TV companies jumped to the conclusion that nobody would want to watch it. In the end, after the tournament had received some fantastic reviews, BBC showed the final live.

French had a very good side in that tournament. Platini got the plaudits but Giresse and Tigana were also quality. They had a fantastic midfield.

1. Euro 2000 far and away the best. It helps that I was rooting for Arsenal France.

2. WC 2002. En buyuk Turkiye. U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! (And I loved that the US qualified at the expense of the Portugirls.)

3. WC 1998. The one that turned me into a soccer fan -- b/c of the French team and b/c of the England-Argentina game with Michael Owen's crazy-ass run.

The best tournaments that i have seen are the 1986 WC, Euro 84 and and Euro 88. Of the more recent ones Euro 2000 is worth mentioning. WC 94 and 02 stands out as the worst i have seen.
The buz that 82 world cup created was good, but did not watch/remember too many matches. I have since seen some of the recordings on TV and i must say that 82 is up there.
Oh cripps and others who are wondering why many people dislike Italia 90 - I think it was because of a change in culture in the game in the world cups. 90 onwards started being more cautious and delibrate in attack. The previous world cups were played with gay abandon.