Euro vs. World Cup

Hey, look at us!

That seemed to be the message yesterday from UEFA as it held the draw for the European Championship that will be held in Switzerland and Austria in 2008.

The draw comes a little more than a month after the World Cup draw and one can’t help but think that the timing is done to move the spotlight away from Germany 2006 at least for a few days.

With yesterday’s draw, there came the inevitable comparisons between the two tournaments.

“The level of the Euro is higher than the level of the World Cup,” said Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

“To say a tournament is better without Brazil, Argentina or South Korea is going a bit far,” France coach Raymond Domenech countered.

“Both tournaments have a high standard. It would be wrong to compare them,” German coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. “You have the same mindset. You want to do well in both. … You don’t want to make a bad impression, no matter what.”

I happen to be a huge fan of both tournaments. But to me there is no comparison. The World Cup is better.

Not only do you get to see 14 of the top teams from Europe but you get to see the various styles from regions throughout the world. For that reason alone I find the football a lot more compelling.

There will always be complaints that teams from Africa or CONCACAF are inferior to some European or South American teams that don’t qualify for the World Cup and because of that the Euro is better.

But to me that is one of the most beauty things about the tournament. The shear possibility, small as it might be, that Togo might beat France or T&T will topple England makes for a drama that can’t be found anywhere else is sport.