Euro 2020 wakes up at the perfect time: Neil Humphreys
Jaded audience needs more open tournament now than ever before
Euro 2020 is proving to be everything that our pandemic-weary lives are not.
It's unpredictable, gloriously unpredictable, as if karma suddenly woke from a lengthy snooze - a bit like the tournament - and decided we all deserved better.
Covid-19 has made our lives predictable. We wear masks, avoid people, book vaccine appointments, check the latest case numbers and hope for a little light relief.
Globally, we are united in our shared, mundane existence.
Until the knockout stages, Euro 2020 was pretty much going the same way. Apart from the odd, unexpected statistic, it was mostly proceeding as planned in a humdrum fashion.
The heavyweights had gone through. The minnows had bowed out and there was a sense of obligation, rather than inspiration. From the sponsors to the ball boys - and everyone in between - Euro 2020's participants were going through the motions, like the rest of us. Game day was Groundhog Day.
And then someone flicked a switch and all hell broke loose.
The Netherlands started the mayhem, by essentially not turning up against the bouncing Czechs and allowing the insane narrative to take hold as they lost 2-0. While the cinemas got Fast and Furious 9, Euro 2020 got farcical and fabulous.
In the blink of an eye, France and Portugal were gone. The Euro 2016 finalists were written out of the picture before Cristiano Ronaldo and Paul Pogba even had a chance to further antagonise official drink sponsors.
The prince of football, Kylian Mbappe, turned into a bit of a pauper, paying the price for a coach displaying the kind of conservatism usually found in the deepest south of America.
Les Bleus' Didier Deschamps allowed a couple of defensive injuries to cloud the memory, convincing the cautious coach that he was in charge of Bishan Park pub battlers instead of the world champions.
As a result, France and Switzerland shared six goals and swopped identities in the silliest shift since John Travolta and Nicolas Cage swopped actual faces in Face/Off. Back then, the Hollywood blockbuster seemed preposterous. Now, it's a run of the mill contest in the knockout stages.
Suddenly, the Swiss looked like the French. The mesmeric captain Granit Xhaka of Switzerland looked nothing like the meandering Granit Xhaka of Arsenal. And he wasn't alone in the identity-swopping madness.
Spain reached the quarter-finals of a major tournament for the first time since 2012, by looking nothing like the Spain that won the Euros in 2012.
Back then, tiki-taka ruled. Short passing, dominance of possession and a rare, clinical breakaway were enough for the Spaniards.
No such pragmatism is allowed at Euro 2020. Spain coach Luis Enrique had obviously got the memo on perpetual daftness in the knockout stages, throwing away a two-goal lead against Croatia by removing a couple of defenders near the end.
Clearly, the game needed more goals and Enrique duly obliged. Croatia scored another two and then Spain scored another two in extra-time, as if they were playing a genial game of "pass the parcel" among toddlers.
So Luka Modric's Croatia, Karim Benzema's France and Ronaldo's Portugal are out.
Thomas Mueller's Germany joined them after losing 2-0 to England at Wembley this morning (Singapore time).
Either way, the changing of the guard pulls the circus into uncharted territory. Belgium and Italy remain, but only Roberto Martinez's men were considered real challengers before the tournament began.
As we head towards the quarter-finals, uncertainty reigns. After so many lockdowns and so much of our regular lives being closed off, the most open tournament in years feels like a reward.
It's not much of a reward, admittedly.
Predicting a winner from this giddy lot is hardly a substitute for the unrelenting grimness of the last 18 months, but we'll gladly take it nonetheless.
After almost three weeks of competition, no one has the foggiest idea who might eventually lift the trophy. And that is, by far, Euro 2020's greatest asset.
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