It’s the hope that kills you. Every football fan begins a campaign with optimism; if you don’t, what’s the point in following the sport? Even if your side doesn’t have all too strong a chance of lifting the trophy, there’s always a small point of every fan that believes, however secretly, that success could come their way. Alas, there can only be one winner. And that means that the majority of football fans will be heartbroken at some point during the tournament.
Thankfully, we’re on hand to help you navigate the crushing blow of defeat. In this blog, we’ll guide you through some useful tips of what you can do when — OK, if — your team crashes out of the biggest tournament of the year.
Choose Another Team
You’ll have shed blood, sweat, and tears in your support for your country, and now that they’re no longer in the competition, things may feel a little, well, empty. To get yourself back on board the train of tournament excitement, you’ll need to look at investing in other ways.
You could look at temporarily transferring your allegiance to another team still in the competition, for instance. If you find that this approach is just a little too emotionally taxing, then how about backing a team to win? Find today’s best bets here, place your stake, and see if your bet comes in. You may not get the satisfaction of your team lifting the trophy, but at least you may get some joy from the tournament via other means!
Cry a River
There’s no value in denying the pain of defeat. Your feelings are valid, so rather than trying to sidestep them and returning to your usual, cheery self too quickly, allow yourself to embrace the feelings of defeat. Things only become problematic if you’re still a jumbled mess several days after the game has ended. If you find yourself in that position, then repeat the four golden words — “It’s Only A Game” — to yourself until you feel better. You’ll get there!
Post-Tournament Analysis
Now’s not the time to point fingers and blame people for the underwhelming tournament performance. But also, let’s be real, this is exactly what this time calls for. We discussed how to embrace the sadness of defeat above.
What about embracing the anger? Perhaps your coach got everything wrong, or perhaps your star player has been unsettled by rumours. Get your friends together, and let it all out. Just make sure to keep it among your friends; players and coaches will feel bad enough about the defeat without having to read about it on social media and so on. Be cool about it.
Chess Battles
Many football fans focus solo on the primary narrative of a football tournament. That is, which teams are winning, who the top scorer is, who missed a decisive penalty, and so on. This is the normal way to watch football, but it’s not the only way. You can also watch matches with a more analytical eye. It might not always seem like it (especially for fans of teams who always get beat), but a lot of preparation goes into organizing the side, tactics, and so on.
Freed from the emotional burden of backing your team, you can watch the rest of the tournament’s games with a detached, critical lens. The players usually get all the attention, but there are some outstanding coaches at Euro 2020. How does Luis Enrique set up his teams? How does Roberto Mancini use his substitutes, so they have the biggest effect? Most people miss these details; you won’t!
Enjoy the Carnival
You might have been kicked out of the party, sure, but the fiesta is still pretty poppin’. Just because you’re no longer the star of the show doesn’t mean that you can’t admire the carnival action from afar. Who knows, you might even find that if you dig deep (we mean really deep), you can even muster up the strength to join the fans of teams still in the competition as they enjoy the fun. This will be all the more straightforward if you’re living in or near one of the host cities.
A major international football tournament always creates an atmosphere unlike anything else, so enjoy it while you can. The world will fall back into its normal, non-tournament rhythm soon enough, after all.
Give Up On Football
It’s an option! If the pain is too much, say goodbye. At least until the next tournament….