UEFA Nations League

Mr.Nice Guy

1-0 Italy. Poor keeping from Pyatov as he allows Bernardeschi's long strike to slip through.

Update: 1-1. Malinovsky with a volley.

Full-Time: It ends 1-1. Disappointing result for Mancini's Italy as they're now without a win in 5 games. They did have the better chances and Pyatov made good stops before his howler. Ukraine forced some good saves from Donnarumma in the final twenty minutes. Speaking of Ukraine, they're unbeaten in 2018. Shevchenko's doing a good job with them.

Excited for Poland vs Portugal tomorrow. Hope we get to see Piatek and Lewandowski up front for the Poles.

Mr.Nice Guy

Team news for Poland vs Portugal, which is live on Virgin Media Sport (kick-off 7:45):

Poland XI: Fabianski; Bereszynski, Glik, Bednarek, Jedrzejczyk; Zielinski, Klich, Krychowiak, Kurzawa; Piatek, Lewandowski.

Portugal XI: Rui Patricio; Cancelo, Pepe, Ruben Dias, Mario Rui; Pizzi, Neves, William Carvalho; Rafa Silva, Andre Silva, Bernardo Silva.

This game features the leading scorer of Serie A, Krzysztof Piątek, as well as the second top scorer in La Liga, Andre Silva. Plenty of other great attacking talents on show as well - Lewandowski, Bernardo Silva, Zielinski, Neves. Also two in-form keepers in the Premier League in Fabianski and Rui Patricio. Can't wait for this one to get under way.

Portugal come into the game on 3 points, with Poland currently on 1.

Mr.Nice Guy

Piatek! 1-0. Man's on fire.

Banjaxed82

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Piatek! 1-0. Man's on fire.

Ridiculous goal stats this season.

What a strike force to have :eek:

Harry Palmr

Friendly Wales V Spain, Ramos just scored from the most appallingly defended free kick

ERG89

Easier scoring here for Alcacer than the pound shop level defenders in the bundesliga

Mr.Nice Guy

And Andre Silva equalises. He's on fire too!

Mr.Nice Guy

2-1 Portugal. Own Goal from Glik as he tries to stop Rafa Silva scoring.

Portugal deserve this lead. They've played some lovely stuff.

And that's Half-Time. Very impressed with Portugal, looking so clever and pacy in attack and that's without Ronaldo or Guedes playing. Bernardo Silva looking dangerous as usual, and Cancelo causing problems down the right. Andre Silva's positional play good too. If they can get that CB partnership solid they must have a decent shout at retaining their title in two years.

Banjaxed82

Iceland 1 nil up against France in France. They'll bottle it though...cause they don't have the players.

Mr.Nice Guy

BERNARDOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Portugal so good. 3-1.

citytillidie

Banjaxed82 wrote: »

Iceland 1 nil up against France in France. They'll bottle it though...cause they don't have the players.

That is a friendly game not a nations league game

Banjaxed82

citytillidie wrote: »

That is a friendly game not a nations league game

So.

The Talking Bread

Kosovo flying in their group, should win it now. Does that mean they are promoted to League C if they do? And does that mean we will be competing against them possibly next Nations League if (or likely when) we get demoted??

Mr.Nice Guy

3-2. Poland pull one back through Blaszczykowski who had come on as sub to become Poland's most capped player. Great moment for him.

Update: It ends 3-2 to Portugal. Very enjoyable game, played at a pace I don't think would have been there in a friendly encounter. Bernardo Silva, Cancelo, William Carvalho and Andre Silva the standout performers.

Mr.Nice Guy

France fought back to get a 2-2 draw with Iceland. Mbappe involved in the first goal which was an O.G., and he scored a penalty to level it.

I haven't seen the game but I'm attributing the comeback to my man Ndombele who came on at 67 minutes when they were 2-0 down. :cool:

Brussels Sprout

The Talking Bread wrote: »

Kosovo flying in their group, should win it now. Does that mean they are promoted to League C if they do? And does that mean we will be competing against them possibly next Nations League if (or likely when) we get demoted??

Yes, they will be promoted if they win the group.
If that happens they will also compete with the other 3 group D winners for a place at Euro 2020 (assuming they don't qualify directly via next year's qualifiers)
Yes, there is a chance that we could end up in the same Nations League group C group with them should we get relegated in this iteration.

loyatemu

Brussels Sprout wrote: »

Yes, they will be promoted if they win the group.
If that happens they will also compete with the other 3 group D winners for a place at Euro 2020 (assuming they don't qualify directly via next year's qualifiers)
Yes, there is a chance that we could end up in the same Nations League group C group with them should we get relegated in this iteration.

Kosovo must be among the favourites to take the Euro20 place from group D - their ranking is artificially low due to their only recently joining UEFA.

Mr.Nice Guy

Was gonna give Croatia vs England a look but the empty stadium is a turn-off. Gonna watch Austria vs NI instead. Interested to see how the Swiss get on away to Belgium tonight. I thought the Swiss were very impressive in the last round of games.

Update: Just been a backpass involving NI as the keeper picks up Evans' pass. Arnautovic takes the indirect free but strikes it into the wall.

Half-Time: 0-0 at the break. NI have dealt with Austria well. Been impressed with the LB Jamal Lewis. Never seen him before but looks a good prospect.

Seems to be a low-scoring evening across the Nations League. Just two goals in the 7 games tonight after 45 minutes.

johnnyryan89

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Was gonna give Croatia vs England a look but the empty stadium is a turn-off. Gonna watch Austria vs NI instead. Interested to see how the Swiss get on away to Belgium tonight. I thought the Swiss were very impressive in the last round of games.

Update: Just been a backpass involving NI as the keeper picks up Evans' pass. Arnautovic takes the indirect free but strikes it into the wall.

Half-Time: 0-0 at the break. NI have dealt with Austria well. Been impressed with the LB Jamal Lewis. Never seen him before but looks a good prospect.

Seems to be a low-scoring evening across the Nations League. Just two goals in the 7 games tonight after 45 minutes.

Was really impressed with Lewis in the game against Bosnia which was his competitive debut. Still only 20 and seems to be Norwichs first choice LB the last 12 months.

Kirby

Rashford missing TWO absolute sitters....

ERG89

I only really want to watch the Irish games in these breaks(only due to my nationality), which is as grim an assessment as you'll get of the Nations League. You can even see it at major tournaments a lot of it is rubbish.

Kirby

Disagree completely.

It's a great change. No more friendlies involving Spain v Andorra, England v San Marino, France v Malta. Competitive games from top to bottom between teams near each other in the rankings.....all for a chance to qualify.

Best thing they've done in years.

Mr.Nice Guy

Arnautovic makes it 1-0 to Austria. He bursts through on goal and finishes well. NI appealing for offside but looks like Lewis played him on. Pity for the young lad as he's had a good game.

Update: Grigg, on as sub, very unlucky as his good header comes off the post. Five minutes plus stoppage time remaining.

Full-Time: Austria win 1-0. Harsh on O'Neill's side who held their own and went very close through Grigg. Bosnia now top on 6 points, Austria 2nd with 3, and NI bottom with 0 points. Bosnia play NI on Monday with NI needing to win.

ERG89

Kirby wrote:

It's a great change. No more friendlies involving Spain v Andorra, England v San Marino, France v Malta. Competitive games from top to bottom between teams near each other in the rankings.....all for a chance to qualify.

Whenever I watch matches I don't see this huge difference. Its made worse when the number of good teams is very low.
Dead crowds, players not overly bothered & just wanting to get it over with much like most fans.

Mr.Nice Guy

I prefer the Nations League format too. The game last night between Poland and Portugal was very enjoyable and played at an intensity you just wouldn't get with a friendly. I think the games are far more competitive now and it's nice to not get to the hour mark and see about 7 subs come on.

mickmackey1

Lukaku with 34 goals in his last 36 internationals.

NIMAN

mickmackey1 wrote: »

Lukaku with 34 goals in his last 36 internationals.

Yet cant hit a barn door for Utd.

Deeper Blue

mickmackey1 wrote: »

Lukaku with 34 goals in his last 36 internationals.

At the rate he's going he'll surely be up there with Puskas, Ronaldo, etc by the time he retires

kksaints

Gibraltar managed to beat Armenia 1-0 away. That's a surprise. I wonder will there be a match-fixing investigation into this in the near future?

ERG89

kksaints wrote: »

Gibraltar managed to beat Armenia 1-0 away. That's a surprise. I wonder will there be a match-fixing investigation into this in the near future?

Or more likely they probably just weren't that bothered.

Mr.Nice Guy

Just looked up the stats for that Armenia/Gibraltar game. Armenia with 35 shots; Gibraltar with 6. Armenia with 78% possession too. Embarrassing for Mkhitaryan.

Pity the Netherlands vs Germany game is on at the same time as Ireland's as that looks tasty. Interested to hear how De Ligt and De Jong get on. Also Depay up top.

Loafing Oaf

kksaints wrote: »

Gibraltar managed to beat Armenia 1-0 away. That's a surprise. I wonder will there be a match-fixing investigation into this in the near future?

This justifies their existence. Never rejoining Spain now.

Mr.Nice Guy

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Pity the Netherlands vs Germany game is on at the same time as Ireland's as that looks tasty. Interested to hear how De Ligt and De Jong get on. Also Depay up top.

3-0 to the Netherlands. Van Dijk, Depay and Wijnaldum with the goals.

The Dutch are back.

Minderbinder

​The thing that makes it a nonsense is that nobody knows if it'll even be relevant for their own country or not. It'll only start to become relevant when teams are uncertain of or unlikely to qualify for the Euros around next Autumn. Until then it's just not seen as relevant. Fans generally like to know where they stand or else it's hard to get excited by something.

Personally I would rather the old format with a more drawn-out qualification group and friendlies in between where you could be playing teams from different continents and there might be a freshness to the atmosphere. There are too many games where European countries are playing each other. And for Ireland, we're not going to be playing the likes of England, Spain, France etc for a long time, maybe never in this format. We'll be playing against Denmark, Norway, Serbia and these kind of teams and for the most part they'll probably cancel each other out and it'll be boring and we'll be sick of the sight of each other.

Collie D

I'm already sick of the sight of Wales and Denmark to be honest and we've still two games against them to go. By the time this wraps up in just over five weeks our last seven competitive games will have been against these two.

However, I do like the idea of a league type format with promotion and relegation issues. The playoff is nice but gaining qualification via the traditional method should still be the main goal for countries in the A and B leagues.

And anything that does away with friendlies is a good thing IMO. Sure, we'll only be playing against European opposition but the vast majority of our friendlies are against European teams anyway. Since the move back to Lansdowne and the glamour tie opener against Argentina we've only been at home to Uruguay, Oman and the US - twice each.

The Talking Bread

Has it been confirmed whether the UEFA Nations league will be used "during" the traditional World Cup qualification. Friendlies against Oman and USA can be played during that period then?

EDIT:

For the 2022 World Cup, the same principles will apply to both the UEFA Nations League and the European Qualifiers, but will be adapted to the number of slots available and final tournament dates. Europe has 13 spaces available so it will be a lot of chopping and changing. I doubt the "League winners" will be be offered a place through that format. ie a team from each of Group A, B, C and D guaranteed a place regardless of how they do in the actual traditional qualifying process

Collie D

15 teams, isn't it?

FIFA would probably want to apply their own criteria for their competition.

IMO for World Cup we should stick with the traditional group winners and runners up playoff method and give no places to Nations League.

I do like the idea of giving a Group D team a chance of qualifying for the Euros and with 24 places up for grabs between 55 teams the countries that deserve to get there will.

But I don't think a place in a World Cup should be reserved for a team qualifying on the basis of beating San Marino or Andorra in a mini group over the likes of a team coming second in a tough "proper" qualifying group.

ArmaniJeanss

Minderbinder wrote: »

​The thing that makes it a nonsense is that nobody knows if it'll even be relevant for their own country or not. It'll only start to become relevant when teams are uncertain of or unlikely to qualify for the Euros around next Autumn. Until then it's just not seen as relevant. Fans generally like to know where they stand or else it's hard to get excited by something.

Personally I would rather the old format with a more drawn-out qualification group and friendlies in between where you could be playing teams from different continents and there might be a freshness to the atmosphere. There are too many games where European countries are playing each other. And for Ireland, we're not going to be playing the likes of England, Spain, France etc for a long time, maybe never in this format. We'll be playing against Denmark, Norway, Serbia and these kind of teams and for the most part they'll probably cancel each other out and it'll be boring and we'll be sick of the sight of each other.

Well if we avoid relegation from Division 2 then the next iteration will definitely include one of Germany/Holland/France and one of England/Croatia in Div2, so we can potentially play them. Italy being relegated from Div1 is a decent chance also.
If we do get relegated then we hardly deserve to be playing them anyway.

mickmackey1

It really shouldn't be beyond the wit of man to make every match a qualifier for either the Euros or World Cup.

riffmongous

Even if some games aren't great they are still better than friendlies, the semblance of competition means you can't just write off a bad result afterwards and I think the chance of relegation will provide more of a drive than winning, much like in the GAA leagues, as big countries won't want to be playing at the 2nd level

Mr.Nice Guy

Issues with flares in the Romania vs Serbia game calling a short halt to proceedings. Hope there's not going to be trouble in this one. Game is back under way now.

Hoping for a few goals from Mitrovic.

Update: He just went very close. Shot just wide.

The Talking Bread

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Issues with flares in the Romania vs Serbia game calling a short halt to proceedings. Hope there's not going to be trouble in this one. Game is back under way now.

Hoping for a few goals from Mitrovic.

Update: He just went very close. Shot just wide.

Why, necessarily?

Mr.Nice Guy

The Talking Bread wrote: »

Why, necessarily?

I think he's one of the most exciting strikers around at the moment. Still fairly young as well.

Update: pen to Serbia for a high boot. And it's a straight red card for Tamas.

And Tadic blazes it high and wide! Shocking pen. One of the worst you'll see.

Full-Time: It ends 0-0. Good point for Romania given the circumstances.

Bridge93

How the hell are Serbia in the C league given the muck form of some teams in B league over the last two years?

citytillidie

Match Day 3 Results
League A
Group 1
Netherland 3 V 0 Germany

Group 1 Pl W D L F A GD Pts
France 2 1 1 0 2 1 1 4
Netherlands 2 1 0 1 4 2 2 3
Germany 2 0 1 1 0 3 -3 1


Group 2
Belgium 2 V 1 Switzerland

Group 2 Pl W D L F A GD Pts
Belgium 2 2 0 0 5 1 4 6
Switzerland 2 1 0 1 7 2 5 3
Iceland 2 0 0 2 0 9 -9 0


Group 3
Poland 2 V 3 Portugal

Group 3 Pl W D L F A GD Pts
Portugal 2 2 0 0 4 2 2 6
Poland 2 0 1 1 3 4 -1 1
Italy 2 0 1 1 1 2 -1 1


Group 4
Croatia 0 V 0 England

Group 4 Pl W D L F A GD Pts
Spain 2 2 0 0 8 1 7 6
England 2 0 1 1 1 2 -1 1
Croatia 2 0 1 1 0 6 -6 1


League B
Group 1
Slovakia 1 V 2 Czech Republic

Group 1 Pl W D L F A GD Pts
Ukraine 2 2 0 0 3 1 2 6
Czech Republic 2 1 0 1 3 3 0 3
Slovakia 2 0 0 2 1 3 -2 0


Group 2
Russia 0 V 0 Sweden

Group 2 Pl W D L F A GD Pts
Russia 2 1 1 0 2 1 1 4
Turkey 2 1 0 1 4 4 0 3
Sweden 2 0 1 1 2 3 -1 1


Group 3
Austria 1 V 0 Northern Ireland

Group 3 Pl W D L F A GD Pts
Bosina and Herzegovina 2 2 0 0 3 1 2 6
Austria 2 1 0 1 1 1 0 3
Northern Ireland 2 0 0 2 1 3 -2 0


Group 4
Ireland 0 V 0 Denmark

Group 4 Pl W D L F A GD Pts
Denmark 2 1 1 0 2 0 2 4
Wales 2 1 0 1 4 3 1 3
Ireland 2 0 1 1 1 4 -3 1


League C
Group 1
Israel 2 V 1 Scotland

Group 1 Pl W D L F A GD Pts
Scotland 2 1 0 0 3 2 1 3
Israel 2 1 0 1 2 2 0 3
Albania 2 1 0 1 1 2 -1 3


Group 2
Greece 1 V 0 Hungary
Estonia 0 V 1 Finland

Group 2 Pl W D L F A GD Pts
Finland 3 3 0 0 3 0 3 9
Greece 3 2 0 1 3 2 1 6
Hungary 3 1 0 2 2 3 -1 3
Estonia 3 0 0 3 0 3 -3 0


Group 3
Norway 1 V 0 Slovenia
Bulgaria 2 V 1 Cyprus

Group 3 Pl W D L F A GD Pts
Bulgaria 3 3 0 0 5 2 3 9
Norway 3 2 0 1 3 1 2 6
Cyprus 3 1 0 2 3 5 -2 3
Slovenia 3 0 0 3 2 5 -3 0


Group 4
Lithuania 1 V 2 Romania
Montenegro 0 V 2 Serbia

Group 4 Pl W D L F A GD Pts
Serbia 3 2 1 0 5 2 3 7
Romania 3 1 2 0 4 3 1 5
Montenegro 3 1 1 1 2 2 0 4
Lithuania 3 0 0 3 1 5 -4 0


League D
Group 1
Georgia 3 V 0 Andorra
Latvia 1 V 1 Kazakhstan

Group 1 Pl W D L F A GD Pts
Georgia 3 3 0 0 6 0 6 9
Latvia 3 0 2 1 1 2 -1 2
Kazakhstan 3 0 2 1 2 4 -2 2
Andorra 3 0 2 1 1 4 -3 2


Group 2
Belarus 1 V 0 Luxembourg
Moldova 2 V 0 San Marino

Group 2 Pl W D L F A GD Pts
Belarus 3 2 1 0 6 0 6 7
Luxembourg 3 2 0 1 7 1 6 6
Moldova 3 1 1 1 2 4 -2 4
San Marino 3 0 0 3 0 10 -10 0


Group 3
Faroe Islands 0 V 3 Azerbaijan
Kosovo 3 V 1 Malta

Group 3 Pl W D L F A GD Pts
Kosovo 3 2 1 0 5 1 4 7
Azerbaijan 3 1 2 0 4 1 3 5
Faroe Islands 3 1 0 2 3 6 -3 3
Malta 3 0 1 2 3 7 -4 1


Group 4
Armenia 0 V 1 Gibraltar
Macedonia 4 V 1 Liechtenstein

Group 4 Pl W D L F A GD Pts
FYR Macedonia 3 3 0 0 8 1 7 9
Liechtenstein 3 1 0 2 4 6 -2 3
Armenia 3 1 0 2 2 4 -2 3
Gibraltar 3 1 0 1 1 4 -3 3

ArmaniJeanss

Bridge93 wrote: »

How the hell are Serbia in the C league given the muck form of some teams in B league over the last two years?

Their disastrous 2014/15 would still be impinging on their co-efficient when the draw was made for this - they managed (by some distance) to not qualify for the 24 team Euro 2016, even the playoffs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2016_qualifying_Group_I

Mr.Nice Guy

Not a Nations League game but Scotland are losing 1-0 at home to a largely second string Portugal. Don't look like they're going anywhere under McLeish.

Update: 2-0 now as Eder scores. Fifteen minutes to go.

And now it's 3-0 as Bruma emphatically finds the top corner. Five minutes to go.

3-1: The Scots get one back through Naismith. Last kick of the game.

Full-Time: No shame in losing to Portugal in normal circumstances but when it's basically the B team of Portugal then it's a real kick in the teeth.

Collie D

Russia 2-0 winners against Turkey. Top spot for them unless Sweden win both of their remaining games away to Turkey and home to Russia.

Mr.Nice Guy

Poland vs Italy coming up with both sides currently on a point. Teams:

Poland XI: Szczesny; Bereszynski, Glik, Bednarek, Reca; Syzmanski, Goralski, Linetty; Zielinski; Milik, Lewandowski.

Italy XI: Donnarumma; Florenzi, Bonucci, Chiellini, Biraghi; Verratti, Jorginho, Pellegrini; Bernardeschi, Insigne, Chiesa.

Was hoping to see Piatek unleashed on more Italian defenders but Milik is preferred to him.

Half-Time: 0-0 at the break. Szczesny's been fantastic this half. Italy could be two or three in front without his saves. Italy playing some good stuff in attack. Poland hanging in there.

Collie D

I'm too old to be amused by Italy bringing on a player called Lasagna but nonetheless I'm amused.