There’s only one way to enjoy football and there’s only one sort of football that’s good. That’s if you believe David over at He Made Their Glowing Colours. Guess which sort of football he thinks is the one true path?
According to David, to have enjoyed the final of Euro 2004 (and by implication any game where there is anything other than total, uncontained attacking) one must be perverse or emotionally attached to the winners. It’s not the difference in taste that irritates, it’s the assumption that everyone in their right mind must agree.
“Just a bad game of football”? I was excited and pretty much spellbound throughout, but it’s more than that: one of football’s joys it that it can provoke all manner of reactions: why hobble your appreciation by only enjoying the rush of the attack? Learn to love your frustration!
I’ve read several accounts like David’s which, if you’d missed the game, would have you believe that Greece played with their entire team tucked snugly in their own penalty area. It’s not true, of course. Greece played a classic pressure-absorption-and-counter-attack game. When they did attack they did so quickly and seemed regularly to find points of weakness in the Portuguese side, they were enormously impressive.
Also, Christiano Ronaldo’s tears remain a high-point of the tournament for me.