Euro 2012 Soccer Matchups Mirror Eurozone Fiscal Showdowns

The Euro 2012 soccer tournament should provide welcome relief from Europe’s financial woes.

But many of the protagonists of the euro crisis are battling it out on the soccer field too.

Anchor Marco Werman speaks with The World’s William Troop about the parallels between Euro 2012 and the eurozone crisis.

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Marco Werman: Sports are always a good way to take one’s mind off serious matters like the economical crisis, but no such for luck for European soccer fans. They’re closely following the Euro 2012 tournament right now. The games are being played in Poland and Ukraine, but even there the Euro crisis narrative is hard to avoid. The World’s William Troop is following the tournament for us. So, William, we’re at the halfway point now in Euro 2012. Eight teams are moving on to the exciting knockout stages. What does the Euro crisis though have to do with all of this.

William Troop: Well, you have to remember that this is a tournament where nations are represented. Each team represents a country in Europe. And all the big players in the Eurozone crisis are there – Greece, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, I mean everybody. And so when you get certain match-ups it’s just really not to think of what else is going on in the life of these countries, and the big match-up coming up on Friday is Germany against Greece. I mean it can’t get any better than that.

Werman: Right. I mean it’s incredible. And there’s also Italy and Spain involved. This is turning into like the “Euro Crisis 2012 Cup”.

Troop: That’s right. That’s right. It’s really hard to avoid that narrative, as I said.

Werman: Is it different though on the soccer field? I mean does Greece really stand a chance in the knockout round?

Troop: Let me think about that. No. Actually Greece is very much the underdog. They are kind of the feisty team that has the battle really to advance, whereas Germany, it looks a little bit like they’re on cruise control and, like almost every tournament that Germany plays in, the question is “Can Germany be stopped?” But really you have to give the Greeks a little more credit than that. They are a disciplined lot out in the field and that kind of the reverse of the stereotypes that are common in Europe right now about Greece and the financial crisis. When Greece takes the field in a soccer match they’re actually quite efficient. They have very few chances and so far they have taken them and scored, so watch out Germany.

Werman: So what do the players make of all this?

Troop: Well, I’ll just quote one Greek player who spoke to the press yesterday and he said, “This is bad. We’re just players and we’re playing a game we love and all this hoopla about the Euro crisis being injected into this game is just counter to what it’s supposed to be about which is eleven guys out there trying to score a goal.”

Werman: Right. Well, let me put you out on a limb, William, and ask you whether you think the tough economic challenges in some of these countries are actually raising the game level on the pitch?

Troop: Well, actually they might be. So far this tournament has been pretty exciting with a lot of these interesting match-ups coming down to the wire where somebody has to score or they go home and there have been some surprises soccer-wise. The Netherlands, a big soccer power in Europe, they went home defeated three times in a row. So this tournament is kind of open for anybody to win, though everybody expects the big final to be the two best teams coming into the tournament, which is Germany and Spain – another match-up that has echoes of the Eurozone crisis.

Werman: Right. So that’s a conventional wisdom. Are you hoping for any particular final?

Troop: What I’m hoping for is surprises. I’m hoping that the teams that you expect to win don’t, and that we see kind of an unusual final like Portugal and Italy. I’m a big Italy fan, so I’m really hoping for Italy to make it to the final.

Werman: Well, whoever wins, one thing is for sure, they’re not going to have to bail anybody out. The World’s soccer connoisseur, William Troop. Thank you as always.

Troop: You’re welcome.

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