Euro 2024

[Dan+]

38 minutes ago, Spike said:

England would draw every game

They're qualifiers. We'd rack up a goal difference of about 40. We'd then draw to Slovenia in our opener.

[Spike]

Just now, Dan said:

They're qualifiers. We'd rack up a goal difference of about 40. We'd then draw to Slovenia in our opener.

Also two red cards, but only one of red carded players would receive death threats till the next world cup

[Gunnersaurus]

21 hours ago, Devil-Dick Willie said:

You lost to Switzerland in euro 2012 qualifying because James Milner is a donkey and always was. IIRC

No we didn't we drew 

[ScoRoss]

 

Edited October 9, 2022 by ScoRoss

[ScoRoss]

Ideally hoping for some combination of Iceland, Faroe Islands and Gibraltar. Fully expecting Sweden / Norway, Greece / Turkiye and Slovakia.

[Azeem]

Haaland should play in this

[Stan]

Italy and England in same group. Ukraine and North Macedonia too. 

[Stan]

Scotland drawn with Norway and Spain in Group A. 

Republic of Ireland get Netherlands and France in Group B. 

Wales with Croatia and Turkey as their main opponents. 

 

[Michael]

57 minutes ago, Stan said:

Italy and England in same group. Ukraine and North Macedonia too. 

Bloody hell, Ukraine have been drawn in perhaps one of the hardest groups, with both England and Italy to contend with. North Macedonia should be beaten both home and away really, but they could perhaps get some shock results against England, Italy and Ukraine respectively. However, all those 3 teams will want to try and get maximum points in their matches against North Macedonia. Malta are there to be thrashed by the big teams, where goal difference could be a factor in deciding who qualifies for the Euros.

[Michael]

Group A-- Spain should probably win the group, with either Scotland or an improved Norway team finishing 2nd to qualify alongside Spain. Georgia and Cyprus can be stubborn opponents on their day for the stronger teams in this group, but they are no way as strong as Spain, Scotland and Norway. 

Group B-- France and the Netherlands should definitely qualify from this group, although Ireland and Greece could provide some tough matches for them. Gibraltar will almost certainly lose all their matches in this group and likely concede many goals in every match that they play.

Group C-- England and Italy will be favourites to qualify, but Ukraine should provide very stiff competition for the 2 qualifying places that are up for grabs. North Macedonia are strong at home, but don't have anywhere near the quality that the top 3 teams in this group possess. While Malta are the whipping boys of this group.

Group D-- Croatia and Wales should qualify pretty comfortably from this group. Turkey are perhaps the next strongest side in this group, but I don't think they've got enough strength to threaten the current Croatian and Welsh national teams. Armenia and Latvia are very unlikely to trouble Croatia and Wales, although they could prove testing opposition for Turkey.

Group E-- Again, Poland and the Czech Republic should win this group quite easily. Albania are the only other side in this group that could potentially be awkward for Poland and the Czech Republic, but really Albania do not have the quality players that the top 2 teams in this group have. The Faroe Islands and Moldova will very likely both finish in the bottom 2 places of the group, as they are really too weak to pose any real trouble for Poland, the Czech Republic and even Albania.

Group F-- This will be a competitive battle for all of Belgium, Sweden and Austria to qualify. Belgium will be the slight favourites, but Sweden and Austria are both very strong national teams who should make this very competitive. So, any of those 3 sides could potentially finish in the top 2 positions in this group. Azerbaijan and Estonia who make the other 2 teams in this group are likely to occupy the bottom 2 places in this group, as they will lose most of their matches.

Group G-- Hungary and Serbia will almost certainly qualify from this group. Hungary have proven themselves to be a really strong national side in recent years and they have beaten some of the best teams in Europe. As for Serbia, they have the talent to qualify alongside the Hungarians. Montenegro and Bulgaria are not as strong as they used to be and shouldn't pose much of threat to Hungary or Serbia, while Lithuania are more than likely going to finish bottom of this group.

Group H-- Denmark should win this group, while I am tipping Slovenia to finish 2nd in the group, ahead of Finland. Finland are the 2nd seeds for this group, but I feel that Slovenia have the talent to perhaps finish above the Finns in this group. Northern Ireland and Kazakhstan will be tough opponents for both Slovenia and Finland though, so we could have some interesting results in this group. However, we can't expect many surprise results from San Marino, as they are almost certainly going to lose all their matches and lose heavily in these matches at that.

Group I-- Switzerland should win this group pretty easily. I think Romania could potentially finish 2nd in the group, just ahead of Israel. Belarus and Kosovo could test Romania and Israel, but they still seem a little bit weaker than Romania and Israel. Andorra are the weakest team in this group and will certainly finish bottom.

Group J-- Portugal look like they will win this group, while any one national team from Bosnia, Slovakia or Iceland could finish in 2nd place. As for Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, they are clearly the 2 weakest teams in the group and we can expect them to finish in 5th and 6th place in this group.

 

Edited October 9, 2022 by Michael

[Tommy]

[Stan]

 

 

[Machado]

I randomly just noticed Greece are not in the competition. What happened @Fusion

I know your group was tough, but what about the play-off? Not so great generation of players or just a bad game? Do you think you will be fine for 2026?

[Michael]

1 hour ago, Machado said:

I randomly just noticed Greece are not in the competition. What happened @Fusion

I know your group was tough, but what about the play-off? Not so great generation of players or just a bad game? Do you think you will be fine for 2026?

I know your questions was to Fusion, but just to help answer, the current Greece national team are relatively decent. It wasn't that long ago that the Greece national team was losing to teams like Estonia, Belarus, Luxembourg and the Faroe Islands. In their attempt to qualify for Euro 2016, Greece infamously lost both home and away to the Faroe Islands in their qualifying group, something that was a new low for them.

The Greece national team today is much improved. The main reason they didn't qualify for these Euros is because they were drawn in a tough qualifying group alongside both France and the Netherlands. Obviously France and the Netherlands finished in the top 2 positions in the group and qualified for the Euros. Greece however, still managed to draw with France on home soil in Athens(Although the French had already qualified at that point) and Greece also beat the Republic of Ireland both home and away. Needless to say, they also thrashed the other team in the group Gibraltar both home and away.

This meant that Greece finished 3rd in their group and faced a play-off match against Georgia. However, they could only draw 0-0 with Georgia in Tbilisi and they then lost on penalties to them and got knocked out. Greece have some decent players like Douvikas, Tzolis, Pavlidis, Tsimikas, Giannoulis, Mavropanos and Vlachodimos. So hopefully they'll have better luck in their quest to qualify for the next major international tournament, namely the next World Cup.

[Azeem]

Greece hasn't qualified for anything since 2014

[Fusion]

10 hours ago, Machado said:

I randomly just noticed Greece are not in the competition. What happened @Fusion

I know your group was tough, but what about the play-off? Not so great generation of players or just a bad game? Do you think you will be fine for 2026?

Yeah basically what @Michael said is spot on.

I would also add that in the last few years there has been a big shuffle of players with the new coach that brought a lot of young and technical players and wanna switch from the 'defensive' mindset that the national team had for like 2 decades.

We missed not being in the competition because of a tough group and like 2 bad results that costed us which could have been easily avoided. Also because the coach was very stubborn and didn't picked for a couple of games a few of our best players just to show some 'discipline'.

I think there are key positions that the team lacks good players (especially in center midfield), we are very good with attacking wide players if they are getting picked like Konstantelias who has been fantastic for the past 2 years and is very young, probably our most talented and biggest threat. I do think in 2026 we will be fine as long as we won't suddenly change coaches and staff in the last second.

Edited June 20 by Fusion

[Tommy]

10 hours ago, Machado said:

I randomly just noticed Greece are not in the competition. What happened @Fusion

I know your group was tough, but what about the play-off? Not so great generation of players or just a bad game? Do you think you will be fine for 2026?

They didn't give Christos Tzolis enough playing time. 

[Machado]

1 hour ago, Fusion said:

Yeah basically what @Michael said is spot on.

I would also add that in the last few years there has been a big shuffle of players with the new coach that brought a lot of young and technical players and wanna switch from the 'defensive' mindset that the national team had for like 2 decades.

We missed not being in the competition because of a tough group and like 2 bad results that costed us which could have been easily avoided. Also because the coach was very stubborn and didn't picked for a couple of games a few of our best players just to show some 'discipline'.

I think there are key positions that the team lacks good players (especially in center midfield), we are very good with attacking wide players if they are getting picked like Konstantelias who has been fantastic for the past 2 years and is very young, probably our most talented and biggest threat. I do think in 2026 we will be fine as long as we won't suddenly change coaches and staff in the last second.

Not the same without the Greeks and their fans.

Hope you're doing well mate.

[Fusion]

Tzolis too, nice one Tommy haha.

 

1 hour ago, Machado said:

Not the same without the Greeks and their fans.

Hope you're doing well mate.

Thanks mate, likewise. And good luck to your country at Euro!

Edited June 20 by Fusion

[Stan]

This Euros has been pretty decent so far.

Some fairly good games, some quality strikes, last minute drama and plenty of goals. 

[Devil]

5 hours ago, Stan said:

This Euros has been pretty decent so far.

Some fairly good games, some quality strikes, last minute drama and plenty of goals. 

I've enjoyed it, it's not a classic yet but it's had a few drama moments and I think the ball is contributing to the goals. I heard Kane saying its fantastic for striking and it moves a lot for the keepers.

It's just a shame he's not managed a shot other than he's goal.

[patoriku66]

I regularly watch the Bundesliga.

I don't know what the Germans do with their pitches but they seem to always tear up. I never see that in the Prem.

It's no wonder players are falling over.

[Tommy]

On 22/06/2024 at 23:58, patoriku66 said:

I regularly watch the Bundesliga.

I don't know what the Germans do with their pitches but they seem to always tear up. I never see that in the Prem.

It's no wonder players are falling over.

Tbf It's only Frankurt and Dortmund that are shite. Dortmund always had problems with their pitch because of how their stadium is built. 

[Stan]

1 hour ago, Tommy said:

Dortmund always had problems with their pitch because of how their stadium is built. 

Elaborate?

[Reluctant Striker]

I noticed the Frankfurt pitch looked really bad. Chunks of turf coming up like when it's a freshly laid pitch. Most pitches now have undersoil heating & a drainage system. I would guess those with chunks coming up are a bit behind on drainage.