Euro 2024

[Silver Fox]

With Wales playing Turkey Croatia must be favourites, which is a shame

[LUX]

Luxembourg just beat Bosnia 4-1, pretty happy and impressed.with that. I did not go, too much rain

OTOH the qualification dream is over, Slovakia also won and that’s it

[Clyde1998]

Luxembourg just beat Bosnia 4-1, pretty happy and impressed.with that. I did not go, too much rain

OTOH the qualification dream is over, Slovakia also won and that’s it

I think Luxembourg will be in the play-offs through their Nations League performance.

[LUX]

Apparently you are correct, but it looks a long shot as it seems they have to win in Georgia and then in Greece.

In the meantime, kerpow, they won again tonight.

Ok, it was Liechtenstein, but, er, you can only beat what’s in front of you.

[Stranded]

The big game tonight is in Prague.

Moldova - currently ranked 157th in the world head there tonight for what is essentially a cup final. If they win, they will qualify for their first ever tournament, if they draw or lose they are out as they won't qualify for the play-offs.

[WestYorksRoyal]

Ukraine robbed in the last minute against Italy. Goes down easily but still a clear pen.

[Hendo]

Yeah, that was an absolute shocker.

[Sanguine]

Yeah, that was an absolute shocker.

It's been both appalling and reassuring to see that European referees are as bad as ours in England. The ref in North Macedonia seemed determined to do his best to dick everything up. And that decision in Italy's favour was an absolute shocker. Other way around, Ukraine defender is penalised, no doubt.

[Sanguine]

Scenes in San Marino last night. Having scored their first goal in two years against Denmark last month, they also got one in Kazakhstan on Saturday night. That was the first time they had scored in consecutive games for 18 years.

Pandemonium last night after the hosts converted a 97th minute penalty against Finland to score for a third consecutive game for the first time in their history.

[Stranded]

Wales will play one of Finland, Ukraine or Iceland in the play off semi. Winner will likely face Poland unless Estonia pull off a mighty shock.

[Sutekh]

Scenes in San Marino last night. Having scored their first goal in two years against Denmark last month, they also got one in Kazakhstan on Saturday night. That was the first time they had scored in consecutive games for 18 years.

Pandemonium last night after the hosts converted a 97th minute penalty against Finland to score for a third consecutive game for the first time in their history.

Can't help but feel there's something wrong with qualifying if the most some "countries" can hope for is scoring a goal.

[RG30]

Wales will play one of Finland, Ukraine or Iceland in the play off semi. Winner will likely face Poland unless Estonia pull off a mighty shock.

Poland have been truly awful this qualifying campaign and are very fortunate they still have a chance to qualify. Sousa was a disaster and Michał Probierz hasn't fared much better, although granted it is still very early days.

[Stranded]

Naturally opens up the pre-qualifying argument again.

Was reading an article earlier this week, I think on The Athletic, about countries in Asia who are already out of the World Cup after 2 games due to a pre-qualifying round. It was interesting* to read. Essentially, for countries like Sri Lanka where football isn't #1, they look forward to these games as they are often the only competitive games they get to play, even friendlies are hard to come by.

As a result, they struggle to build an infrastructure around the game to help it grow. A couple of the interviewees were asked if they would benefit from playing in a group stage straight off but the answer was no, the costs would be too high due to the travel even if it was just a pre-quali group - for example, if 5 groups of 4 happened - Sri Lanka could be drawn against Maldives, Timor Leste & Mongolia.

So yes in Europe it may seem lopsided if the most certain teams can hope for is just a goal but the fact San Marino have now scored in 3 games in a row, equalising against Denmark, shows improvement that playing these games bring. The Faroe Islands now regularly win games, Luxembourg could make the Euros still, going back further, the likes of Turkey would often get stuffed.

It goes the other way too, 30 years ago Bulgaria made the WC semis, in this set of Euro qualifiers, they only managed 4 points.

So as costs/travel is not prohibitive and these games do help the smaller nations to develop (and also financially) then the format should continue, after all it is only 2 games for the bigger nations and, if they choose, a great opportunity to try out fringe players in a competitive setting.

[Stranded]

Wales will play one of Finland, Ukraine or Iceland in the play off semi. Winner will likely face Poland unless Estonia pull off a mighty shock.

Poland have been truly awful this qualifying campaign and are very fortunate they still have a chance to qualify. Sousa was a disaster and Michał Probierz hasn't fared much better, although granted it is still very early days.

Yep, they are fortunate to have the Nations League safety net and the fact that they were in League A - as only 2 sides from League A didn't make it, they could have lost all their games and still been top seeds in the play-offs as they finished 3rd in the group that saw Wales relegated.

Their "reward" is what should be a walkover against an Estonian side that managed 1 point and 2 goals from their qualification campaign.

[Sutekh]

Naturally opens up the pre-qualifying argument again.

Was reading an article earlier this week, I think on The Athletic, about countries in Asia who are already out of the World Cup after 2 games due to a pre-qualifying round. It was interesting* to read. Essentially, for countries like Sri Lanka where football isn't #1, they look forward to these games as they are often the only competitive games they get to play, even friendlies are hard to come by.

As a result, they struggle to build an infrastructure around the game to help it grow. A couple of the interviewees were asked if they would benefit from playing in a group stage straight off but the answer was no, the costs would be too high due to the travel even if it was just a pre-quali group - for example, if 5 groups of 4 happened - Sri Lanka could be drawn against Maldives, Timor Leste & Mongolia.

So yes in Europe it may seem lopsided if the most certain teams can hope for is just a goal but the fact San Marino have now scored in 3 games in a row, equalising against Denmark, shows improvement that playing these games bring. The Faroe Islands now regularly win games, Luxembourg could make the Euros still, going back further, the likes of Turkey would often get stuffed.

It goes the other way too, 30 years ago Bulgaria made the WC semis, in this set of Euro qualifiers, they only managed 4 points.

So as costs/travel is not prohibitive and these games do help the smaller nations to develop (and also financially) then the format should continue, after all it is only 2 games for the bigger nations and, if they choose, a great opportunity to try out fringe players in a competitive setting.

Perhaps the "haves" should help more by arranging summer friendlies/tours against more of the "have nots" outside of their region. Rather watch England games against some of the Asian region teams than another dull UEFA friendly.

[Silver Fox]

the likes of Turkey would often get stuffed.

Wahey!!!

[Clyde1998]

Can't help but feel there's something wrong with qualifying if the most some "countries" can hope for is scoring a goal.

That's where the Nations League comes in for these nations. If you look at San Marino's results against the traditional smaller nations they're not too bad. San Marino have not lost nine matches; four are since the Nations League came into existence and were regularly playing weaker nations.

They're not horrifically bad on a global level, it's just the other very weak nations aren't in Europe - they're typically in the Caribbean, Oceania or Asia.

Naturally opens up the pre-qualifying argument again.

Was reading an article earlier this week, I think on The Athletic, about countries in Asia who are already out of the World Cup after 2 games due to a pre-qualifying round. It was interesting* to read. Essentially, for countries like Sri Lanka where football isn't #1, they look forward to these games as they are often the only competitive games they get to play, even friendlies are hard to come by.

As a result, they struggle to build an infrastructure around the game to help it grow. A couple of the interviewees were asked if they would benefit from playing in a group stage straight off but the answer was no, the costs would be too high due to the travel even if it was just a pre-quali group - for example, if 5 groups of 4 happened - Sri Lanka could be drawn against Maldives, Timor Leste & Mongolia.

So yes in Europe it may seem lopsided if the most certain teams can hope for is just a goal but the fact San Marino have now scored in 3 games in a row, equalising against Denmark, shows improvement that playing these games bring. The Faroe Islands now regularly win games, Luxembourg could make the Euros still, going back further, the likes of Turkey would often get stuffed.

It goes the other way too, 30 years ago Bulgaria made the WC semis, in this set of Euro qualifiers, they only managed 4 points.

So as costs/travel is not prohibitive and these games do help the smaller nations to develop (and also financially) then the format should continue, after all it is only 2 games for the bigger nations and, if they choose, a great opportunity to try out fringe players in a competitive setting.

As I understand it, the reason UEFA doesn't have pre-qualifying is due to the financial benefit the smaller countries get from the broadcasting deal. Having pre-qualifying would mean countries like San Marino wouldn't get any meaningful broadcasting revenue and would be even weaker as a result; they wouldn't be able to fund leagues, youth coaching, etc. to the same level.

As with my point above: the Nations League is highly important for the smaller nations, as it allows them the opportunity to regularly play against teams of a broadly similar standard. CONCACAF brought in a Nations League themselves and it appears to be helping their smaller nations get meaningful matches against sides of a similar standard. Would be good if the Asian and African confederations brought something similar in; especially if the Asian confederation could get Oceania's nations involved.

[Clyde1998]

In other news, the seeding for the Euro 2024 finals have been confirmed:
Pot 1: Germany; Portugal; France; Spain; Belgium; England
Pot 2: Hungary; Turkey; Romania; Denmark; Albania; Austria
Pot 3: Netherlands; Scotland; Croatia; Slovenia; Slovakia; Czech Republic
Pot 4: Italy; Serbia; Switzerland; Play-Off Winner A (Poland; Wales; Estonia; TBD); Play-Off Winner B (Israel; Bosnia; TBD; TBD); Play-Off Winner C (Georgia; Greece; Kazakhstan; Luxembourg)

The teams to be allocated to a play-off path are Finland, Ukraine and Iceland.

Some pretty brutal groups could be formed: any Pot 1 side; Austria/Hungary/Denmark; Netherlands/Croatia; Italy would be insane.

On the flip side: any Pot 1 side; Romania/Albania; Slovenia/Slovakia; Play-Off Winner A/C would be almost as straight forward as you could get in the group stage.

[Hendo]

Wales will play one of Finland, Ukraine or Iceland in the play off semi. Winner will likely face Poland unless Estonia pull off a mighty shock.

Tough route if they get Ukraine/Iceland and then Poland.

[WestYorksRoyal]

In other news, the seeding for the Euro 2024 finals have been confirmed:
Pot 1: Germany; Portugal; France; Spain; Belgium; England
Pot 2: Hungary; Turkey; Romania; Denmark; Albania; Austria
Pot 3: Netherlands; Scotland; Croatia; Slovenia; Slovakia; Czech Republic
Pot 4: Italy; Serbia; Switzerland; Play-Off Winner A (Poland; Wales; Estonia; TBD); Play-Off Winner B (Israel; Bosnia; TBD; TBD); Play-Off Winner C (Georgia; Greece; Kazakhstan; Luxembourg)

The teams to be allocated to a play-off path are Finland, Ukraine and Iceland.

Some pretty brutal groups could be formed: any Pot 1 side; Austria/Hungary/Denmark; Netherlands/Croatia; Italy would be insane.

On the flip side: any Pot 1 side; Romania/Albania; Slovenia/Slovakia; Play-Off Winner A/C would be almost as straight forward as you could get in the group stage.

Are the seedings based upon world rankings? Amazing that Albania can be pot 2 while Croatia are pot 3 and Italy pot 4. Definitely a group of death in there.