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Whitecaps’ captain Ryan Gauld: “It’s different to the last World Cup; it’s been unbelievable, every game. The atmosphere of every single game has been electric.”
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Published Jun 22, 2024 • 4 minute read
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Alessandro Schöpf of Austria celebrates scoring his team’s first goal during the 2016 Euros, against Iceland. Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images /PNG
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Alessandro Schöpf doesn’t remember trying to take his shirt off or what, exactly, was going through his mind.
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All he remembers is sliding on his knees, looking up at the endless summer sky above the Stade de France in Paris, then bringing his gaze back down to see the endless sea of 40,000 red shirts celebrating his goal against Iceland.
Half of the 81,000 at the stadium — all the Austrians in attendance — had erupted in joy, basking in what would be their country’s only goal in the 2016 Euro tournament.
“It’s not possible to describe it. There was just like just exploding of feelings. Just happy and screaming all out,” the Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder said, reminiscing over his national team moment.
“I didn’t even know where to run. The crowd was going crazy. And so was I. It was amazing for a young player; I was 22 years old when I played my first my first European Championship.”
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Schöpf scored six goals in 32 international appearances, his tally against Iceland the highlight — though he might bug Whitecaps teammate Ryan Gauld it was his 82nd minute equalizer against Scotland in a 2022 friendly.
The European Champion holds a special place of veneration in the soccer world. Europeans would say it rates second only to the World Cup; the South Americans among us would say the Copa America gets that distinction. But both tournaments are being played this month, simultaneously.
It affords players like Schöpf and Gauld a chance to be like the rest of us: fans.
The Whitecaps did their usual on-field practice sessions this week to prepare for their Cascadia Cup matchup with Portland on Saturday. But when training and gym time was done, it was up to the cafeteria in the training centre, where the games were on TV.
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Who’s that masked man? Whitecaps midfielder Alessandro Schöpf, celebrating his Euros goal against Iceland in front of David Alaba. Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images /PNG
Schöpf watched Austria send Poland crashing out of the tournament with a 3-1 win on Friday. Coach Vanni Sartini got to see the underwhelming throwback game of Italy vs. Spain at Wembley Stadium. And earlier this week, Gauld watched the Scots tie Switzerland 1-1. Just don’t ask him about Scotland’s other game.
“We missed the Germany game. Good thing,” he said of his team’s 5-1 basting to kick off the tournament.
“We were flying (back from New England), so we missed the full game. During random parts of the flight I’d get a signal again and notifications would pop up. It was a tough start.”
“Seeing the amount of fans that Scotland brings over … it’s unbelievable,” he added. “If you’ve seen the anthem before the game in the stadium, the atmosphere seemed incredible. I think it’s different to the last World Cup; it’s been unbelievable, every game. You watched like Romania-Ukraine and you see how good the fans were. That’s definitely one of the best parts of the Euros for me; the atmosphere of every single game has been electric and makes it even more fun to watch.”
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The Copa América is technically the South American championship, but teams from the Caribbean, North and Central America have been included since the 1990s. It also had a large presence at the Caps’ training centre this week, with several players away at the tournament. Midfielder Andres Cubas was called up by Paraguay and Ali Ahmed to Canada, who kicked off the tournament with a 2-0 loss to World Cup champs Argentina on Thursday.
But it wasn’t just the players; player operations coordinator Ken Biffi showed up to training in a crisp white Peru jersey, ready to rep his country before they took on Chile Friday night.
“It’s nice to sometimes be just a fan. There’s an international tournament on, so you wake up in the morning and there’s a game. It’s beautiful,” said Sartini. “This week, also, there’s been the fact that Wednesday every team played in MLS and we didn’t. So we had to watch also all the MLS games — especially the Portland game and the St. Louis game; they’re our next two opponents — so I watched basically both entire games and the highlights of the others.
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It’s always a good thing because one of the things that I miss the most from when I wasn’t a head coach … is I was able to study everything. Now, of course, I have less time to do it. So when it happens organically that there’s games on times that normally there aren’t mid-week or whatever, it’s nice also to see new trends and different things too, that other teams do.”
And some bad news for Canada soccer fans: when asked which tournament he’d rather play in, Gauld poured cold water on the theory he’ll be playing for Canada one day.
“Obviously the Euro, just being Scottish. I think it’s back-to-back Euros Scotland has made now. And seeing how big a deal it is to everyone (in Scotland). I think a tenth of the population or something is in Germany (for the Euros) right now. It’s unbelievable to see.”
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Courtesy : https://theprovince.com/sports/soccer/mls/vancouver-whitecaps/euro-copa-america-tournaments-give-whitecaps-the-chance-to-be-fans