Now that the Copa America and Euro 2024 action has officially kicked off, football fans are finding ways to juxtapose the competitions. Naturally, bias tends to take over, so let’s look at some facts right now.
The grass is greener in Europe
Is it more than just a grass quality issue?
In Europe, the grass is greener. There’s no doubting that one so far. The pitches across the United States have been sub-par. Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez slammed the Mercedes-Benz Stadium pitch after the team’s 2-0 opener against Canada.
“The state of the pitch was a disaster,” said the World Cup winner. “Very bumpy. We must improve in this aspect; otherwise, Copa América will always appear at a lower level than the European Championship.”
The newly laid “natural” grass on NFL turf fields could be an issue. Witness the injuries to Mexico’s Edson Alvarez (hamstring) at NRG Stadium in Houston and Peru Luis Advíncula (Achilles tendon) at Dallas’s ATT Stadium.
Some coaches like Lionel Scaloni are moving on from the complaints.
“No, I haven’t seen it (the pitch) yet, and I already said what I needed to say. I believe that’s in the past,” the Argentine boss said on Thursday ahead of the clash against Chile at MetLife Stadium.
He added: “Now we have to adapt to what’s there. Because I don’t want to influence that. It’s the same for everyone, and that’s it. But, no, I haven’t seen it yet.”
The US is enduring a heat wave
It’s hot as hell stateside, at least in the East. Uruguay defender Ronald Arajudo came out of the opener at halftime complaining of heat and dehydration. It was 83°F (28°C) at 9 p.m. when the match started.
Daily temperature records continue to be broken, with the 100-degree heat index occurring in some hosting stadiums across the USA. Luckily for Brazil, which takes on Costa Rica tonight, the weather in Inglewood, California, will be a cooler 76°F.
The Euros fill seats
The stadium atmosphere in Hamburg, Germany, for #74 FIFA ranked Georgia and #34 FIFA ranked Czech Republic, was rocking. Unfortunately, attendance for the Venezuela-Ecuador game looked like Saudi Pro League levels, with stacks of empty seats.
While the USMNT opener impressed with 47,873 in attendance, that’s just more than half to fill the 80,000-capacity stadium. Conversely, the Argentina-Canada opener sold out at 70,556 seats. Surely, the Messi effect is in motion.
It’s also true that Germany benefits from its mere geographical location. Georgia is the furthest country away at 1,800 miles, a 4-hour plane ride, while Chile is approximately 4,200 miles from the United States, an 8-hour flight. Germany is also 27 times smaller than America, so navigating between cities via train is logical and more affordable.
Germany’s stadiums also seat 50k people on average, a compactness that lends well to raucous crowds.
So which is better, the Copa or the Euros?
Minus the hard data for attendance and TV viewership, it all comes down to the quality of the competition. Masked man Kylian Mbappe has already stated that the Euros are more challenging to win the World Cup. Yet, France qualified for the knockout stages without scoring a single goal. They defeated Austria on an own goal in the opener. As of last weekend, there have been six own goals at the Euros.
Despite having more goals (so far), the Copa America is not on the same level as the European tournament. Other than Times Square, where are the stateside fan zones? But if we combine the two tournaments, the Copa and Euros could be on par with the World Cup. Sorry, Mbappe.
Photos: Wikimedia Commons/FernandoMartello + VRT
