2018 World Cup Qualifiers

[Kaney]

No, really. Fuck off.

[GA!]

Does anyone actually get what this UEFA Nations League bollocks is all about?

[9 to 5]

No.

[MDK]

1 hour ago, Kaney said:

No, really. Fuck off.

To be honest I think it is a good idea. He could probably get the best out of the squad and imagine how much stick you could give when Scotland beat England in the final of Euro '20.

 

54 minutes ago, GA! said:

Does anyone actually get what this UEFA Nations League bollocks is all about?

Kind of. But I don't really like it. The idea of 3 team groups makes it easier to "fix" games in a way. 

[GA!]

So, in the Nations League, are four jobbers from League D going to qualify for Euro 2020?

[MDK]

2 minutes ago, GA! said:

So, in the Nations League, are four jobbers from League D going to qualify for Euro 2020?

Actually after reading it a bit more I feel like I know less than I did before I read it.

 

[Meacon Keaton]

Bruce Arena resigned. Thank God. 

[Adam]

On the Nations League, it's quite straight forward...until you get to the Euro 2020 Play Offs that make no sense. If they didn't have them it would be fine.

Nations League is simple promotion/relegation within each group, and the A League group winners play to be champions, fair enough. Then you do Euro 2020 qualifying like normal, with the top two in each group qualifying for the tournament. So far, so good.

THEN, it all goes daft. Basically, the remaining 4 qualifying slots for Euro 2020 are contested in a last-chance Play Off in March before the tournament, where 16 teams compete in knock-out football for 4 spots. The problem is, they claim this will be four from each League but it won't, because the majority of the 20 teams already in will obviously be from League's A/B. So what you will get is some diabolical nations making it to Euro 2020 because you'll have something like a "League A Play Off" featuring Armenia, Macedonia, Cyprus & Latvia, and the knock-on effect will see the 'League D Play Off' place go to someone utterly shambolic like Liechtenstein or Gibraltar.

What it does also mean that any big nation who fails to qualify the traditional route will surely get through in this Last Chance Play Off, so there's no excuse for teams who are halfway decent to miss out anymore.

[The Lusophone]

2 hours ago, GA! said:

Does anyone actually get what this UEFA Nations League bollocks is all about?

Yes. It's an answer to the 'pointless friendly' criticism of a lot of the international break.

1 hour ago, GA! said:

So, in the Nations League, are four jobbers from League D going to qualify for Euro 2020?

No. A minimum of one team from League D is going to qualify for Euro 2020. The teams that come top of the four groups play each other in a play off (semi + final) the winner of the final will qualify for Euro 2020. If one of the teams that topped the group have already qualified for the Euros, the next best finishing team in that group goes into the playoff.

As an example

Spain top their Nations League group, but have already qualified for the Euros, so England who have come second instead go into the playoffs. If England have also already qualified then it will be given to the third place team, Holland. If all three have qualified, it will be given to any other team in League A that hasn't already qualified, and if all those have qualified, it'll be given to the highest ranked team in League B that hasn't qualified for either the League B play offs or the Euros.

The winner of each play off gets a place at the Euros.

I think. 

[Adam]

As I said, in theory that works fine but the reality is, most if not all 12 of the teams in League A will qualify for the Euros before this through the normal route, meaning the places will drop to League B teams and the knock-on when half or more of them have also qualified already is going to render it a bit silly.

[Gazz]

I'm all for anything that could potentially end up with San Marino playing Gibraltar for a Euro spot.

[Bobfoc]

I was going to say that it would at least increase the prestige of the more difficult qualifying process for the World Cup, but then I remembered that we'll soon have 48 teams in that. I hope all you Panini sticker collectors are saving some cash.

[Lineker]

Both Ireland's are unseeded, along with Sweden and Greece, so no risk of them drawing each other. 

[Benji]

On 06/10/2017 at 22:03, GoGo Yubari said:

I would adore Iceland qualifying. They'd probably be the team I root for the hardest next year.

I have to be a big fan of them - my favourite customer is Icelandic, and after they beat us last year he sent me a simple e-mail with the scoreline in bold massive letters. It was hilarious.

[Lineker]

Northern Ireland v Switzerland
Croatia v Greece
Denmark v Republic of Ireland
Sweden v Italy

[Bobfoc]

Those are probably the best draws the two Irelands could have hoped for.

[MDK]

Be quite a shock if Italy don't qualify 

[Lineker]

Hopefully Northern Ireland can get some sort of result tonight. 

[Kaney]

Scotland have actually looked decent against the Dutch, only conceding an offside goal so not bad at all.

[GoGo Yubari]

2 hours ago, Lineker said:

Hopefully Northern Ireland can get some sort of result tonight. 

it's not going so well.

on the plus side, Croatia are dropping a bridge on Greece.