UEFA Nations League 2020-21

osarusan

Either the video ref just got it wrong, or the law itself is f**ked.

You play a video of that to 1000 fans, 1000 players, 1000 refs, and ask them 'should that be offside?', and 99.99% will say yes.

I actually thought the law had been changed about a year ago after something very similar, but I must be remembering it wrongly.

citytillidie

Third Place Play-off Result

Italy 2 V 1 Belgium

Final Result

Spain 1 V 2 France

dubrov

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118002495#Comment_118002495

Exactly.

Either that was offside or the rule needs to be changed

greendom

Excellent tournament. Certainly brings an added interest to international football

jacool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118002280#Comment_118002280

Lewandowski has scored over a 100 more goals in the same time span, twice as many for his country.

greendom

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118003645#Comment_118003645

For years, Benzema played the support role to Ronaldo at Real Madrid. For years he didn't play at all for France

thebaz

Courtois was dead right mouthing of against UEFA and FIFA and the ever expanding international calendar - players never get a break - introduce more international tournaments and talk now of a WC every 2 years - too much of anything kills the joy - my love of interrnational football has waned with so much, that and Ireland been so poor these days.

~Rebel~

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118002495#Comment_118002495

We've seen that exact situation occur more than a few times now, and it's always given as onside because of the defender's action, so I don't think the refs are wrong - it's just a really stupid rule, which has been stupid for 2 years or so now. Obviously the defender is impacted by the presence of the offside attacker.

One of the previous times this issue came up, the clarification from refs was that it's an 'active' touch from a defender that plays the attacker on - so if it just bounces off the defender, it doesn't count, but a conscious move to make a tackle or touch the ball seems to restart the phase in their rules. Which again is dumb, as the 'active' touch only comes because of the offside players presence.

jacool

When Spain come out and play the offside line - then Mbappe is offside and the flag should be raised.

He is offside as per the rules of football.

VAR should go and look and see that he was offside, and it should be a free out. That is the first thing that occurred in this play.

Are we on the verge of doing away with offside, as it is not being called as such? For this to decide a final is farcical (I refuse the obvious pun)

As Rebel said above "Dumb".

citytillidie

It is like they are trying to make offside an automated thing

greendom

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118003996#Comment_118003996

I get what you and he are saying. But if this tournament continues to provide games of this intensity and enjoyment then what's the harm? The teams would be playing the same number of games, just now less irrelevant friendlies. More international competition between the best teams should be good for the game.

thebaz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118005642#Comment_118005642

I assume what Courtois was talking about was burnout - players need adequate rest to perform at highest level - A World cup every 2 years will dilute its value and lead to top quality players become average due to never-ending football calendar.

greendom

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118005790#Comment_118005790

yes I do understand that. Perhaps international football needs to be split into divisions. The likes of San Marino, Andorra etc shouldn't be playing top tier international teams just like Exeter or Stevenage would only rarely get to play a premier league team. Neither side really benefits and it just adds to an already congested season.

citytillidie

Still 2 ties to go in this run of Nations League

Moldova V Kazakhstan

Estonia V Cyprus

Winners will be in League C and Losers in League D for next round of Nations League.

Draw for the next set is in December Seeding is

League A

Pot 1 - France, Spain, Italy, Belgium

Pot 2 - Portugal, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany

Pot 3 - England, Poland, Switzerland, Croatia

Pot 4 - Wales, Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary

League B

Pot 1 - Ukraine, Sweden, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland

Pot 2 - Finland, Norway, Scotland, Russia

Pot 3 - Israel, Romania, Serbia, Ireland

Pot 4 - Slovenia, Montenegro, Albania, Armenia

League C

Pot 1 - Turkey, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Northern Ireland

Pot 2 - Greece, Belarus, Luxembourg, North Macedonia

Pot 3 - Lithuania, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kosovo

Pot 4 - Kazakhstan/Moldova, Cyprus/Estonia, Gibraltar, Faroe Islands

League D

Pot 1 - Kazakhstan/Moldova, Cyprus/Estonia, Liechtenstein, Malta

Pot 2 - Latvia, San Marino, Andorra

jacool

League B

Pot 1 - Ukraine

Pot 2 - Norway

Pot 3 - Ireland

Pot 4 - Slovenia

You read it here first :)

citytillidie

Nations League Play-offs 1st Legs

24th March

Estonia V Cyprus - (17:00) - Live on Sky Sports Premier League

Moldova V Kazakhstan - (17:00) - Live on Sky Sports Football

citytillidie

Nations League Play-off 1st Leg Results

Estonia 0 V 0 Cyprus

Moldova 1 V 2 Kazakhstan

Nations League Play-off 2nd Legs

29th March

Kazakhstan V Moldova (Agg 2-1) - (15:00) - Live on Sky Sports Premier League

Cyprus V Estonia (Agg 0-0) - (17:00) - Live on Sky Sports Football

citytillidie

Nations League Play-off 2nd Leg Results

Kazakhstan 0 V 1 Moldova (Agg 2-2) - Kazakhstan win on pens 5-4

Cyprus 2 V 0 Estonia (Agg 2-0)