Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League 07:37 - Oct 16 with 5414 views | GeoffSentence | Top of their group, nine points out of twelve, goal difference plus nine. Living the dream in Luxembourg City. | |
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Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 09:09 - Oct 16 with 5312 views | Ftnfwest | UEFA have finally put the countries into divisions which should have happened ages ago. I'm sure Luxembourg are reaping far more benefit, as are the other smaller countries, from being competitive rather than losing every game 5-0 and not getting out of their half. | | | |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 09:55 - Oct 16 with 5243 views | Reuser_is_God | I think it's excellent & it's making international football relevant more often than for 1 month every 2 years. For England specifically it's a great thing. We always say 'we never beat the good teams when it matters' but now we're playing competitive games against proper team a lot more often we're going to improve immeasurably. It's no good to anyone if we beat Maltese butchers 6-0 then turn up & expect to do well in the Euros. | |
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Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 10:01 - Oct 16 with 5223 views | Kieran_Knows | Indeed, I think the idea of the Nations League is a good one on the whole. | |
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Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 10:02 - Oct 16 with 5224 views | SomethingBlue | And now if they beat Belarus at home they're in the play-offs for Euro 2020. I went to their game with Moldova last month as it happens, they won 4-0 and actually have some very good players there at the moment — lots of good second-generation talents with Portuguese/Balkan/African ancestry. Really liked seeing a country with little football reputation look really engaged and excited about what was going on. Nations League is a winner for me. | |
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Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 10:55 - Oct 16 with 5135 views | Binner | Likewise Finland. Never previously done much but now 12 points from 4 games. I was sceptical about this tournament but am warming to it | |
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Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 11:09 - Oct 16 with 5109 views | Reuser_is_God |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 10:55 - Oct 16 by Binner | Likewise Finland. Never previously done much but now 12 points from 4 games. I was sceptical about this tournament but am warming to it |
Don't they have Norwich legend Teemu Pukki to thank for that? | |
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Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 11:10 - Oct 16 with 5105 views | SomethingBlue |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 11:09 - Oct 16 by Reuser_is_God | Don't they have Norwich legend Teemu Pukki to thank for that? |
Went off injured early on yesterday so they can't claim that one, though I'm sure they'd try. | |
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Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 11:13 - Oct 16 with 5097 views | Reuser_is_God |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 11:10 - Oct 16 by SomethingBlue | Went off injured early on yesterday so they can't claim that one, though I'm sure they'd try. |
Oh excellent. | |
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Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 12:31 - Oct 16 with 4972 views | RobTheMonk | Gibralter getting their first win as well! | | | |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 13:03 - Oct 16 with 4899 views | Superfrans |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 10:01 - Oct 16 by Kieran_Knows | Indeed, I think the idea of the Nations League is a good one on the whole. |
Personally, I think the whole thing is a mess. I'm totally confused how anyone qualifies for the European Championships - which games are friendlies, which are competitive? Also, do Luxembourg qualify if they win their Nations League group? If so, do they then also participate in the qualifiers next year? If not, do they just play friendlies? If they do play, but are already qualified, what is their incentive to treat the qualifying matches seriously? Meantime, the national team is totally off free-to-air television, taking it away from casual fans, who don't subscribe to Sky. England played Spain last night (arguably one of the biggest matches we could play) and I didn't even realise until yesterday morning. UEFA is pushing football into obscurity, just like cricket. Eventually, only die-hards will care. The rest of us will consider it utterly irrelevant. And, btw, I write this as someone who has seen plenty of England games in the past, who has even seen them play abroad. | |
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Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 13:08 - Oct 16 with 4880 views | TractorCam |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 13:03 - Oct 16 by Superfrans | Personally, I think the whole thing is a mess. I'm totally confused how anyone qualifies for the European Championships - which games are friendlies, which are competitive? Also, do Luxembourg qualify if they win their Nations League group? If so, do they then also participate in the qualifiers next year? If not, do they just play friendlies? If they do play, but are already qualified, what is their incentive to treat the qualifying matches seriously? Meantime, the national team is totally off free-to-air television, taking it away from casual fans, who don't subscribe to Sky. England played Spain last night (arguably one of the biggest matches we could play) and I didn't even realise until yesterday morning. UEFA is pushing football into obscurity, just like cricket. Eventually, only die-hards will care. The rest of us will consider it utterly irrelevant. And, btw, I write this as someone who has seen plenty of England games in the past, who has even seen them play abroad. |
That's the 1 bit that confuses me about it all still, how it all links to euro 2020. From what I gather, in Luxembourg's case, it means they move up a seed so will have an easier group for qualifying as oppose to actually qualifying for the whole tournament itself, that would just be silly. I think nobody qualifies to the actual euros, but I really don't know! | |
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Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 13:12 - Oct 16 with 4864 views | SomethingBlue |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 13:08 - Oct 16 by TractorCam | That's the 1 bit that confuses me about it all still, how it all links to euro 2020. From what I gather, in Luxembourg's case, it means they move up a seed so will have an easier group for qualifying as oppose to actually qualifying for the whole tournament itself, that would just be silly. I think nobody qualifies to the actual euros, but I really don't know! |
The four group winners in each league enter a play-off for Euro 2020 — but that doesn't happen til after the *actual* qualifiers, thus keeping them competitive. So if a team qualifies in the meantime (unlikely for those in league D), the play-off spot goes to the next-best. [Post edited 16 Oct 2018 13:16]
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Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 13:27 - Oct 16 with 4813 views | TractorCam |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 13:12 - Oct 16 by SomethingBlue | The four group winners in each league enter a play-off for Euro 2020 — but that doesn't happen til after the *actual* qualifiers, thus keeping them competitive. So if a team qualifies in the meantime (unlikely for those in league D), the play-off spot goes to the next-best. [Post edited 16 Oct 2018 13:16]
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I presume that means the four "Group A" winners? | |
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Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 13:33 - Oct 16 with 4794 views | uefacup81 |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 13:27 - Oct 16 by TractorCam | I presume that means the four "Group A" winners? |
Nope. Essentially the four Group A winners play off for one place, the four Group B winners for another place, and so on and so forth. As it currently stands, you could end up with Portugal, Bosnia, Israel, and Luxembourg qualifying for Euro 2020 through the Nations League. | |
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Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 14:02 - Oct 16 with 4726 views | GeoffSentence |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 13:33 - Oct 16 by uefacup81 | Nope. Essentially the four Group A winners play off for one place, the four Group B winners for another place, and so on and so forth. As it currently stands, you could end up with Portugal, Bosnia, Israel, and Luxembourg qualifying for Euro 2020 through the Nations League. |
But not Scotland. Chuckle. | |
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Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 14:13 - Oct 16 with 4712 views | TJS | One good thing about the Nations League is that it is showing up some of these total time wasting sides like San Marino and Gibraltar when they are comfortably beaten by Luxembourg who they probably never got to play before. The bottom 4 teams in group D should then enter a knockout preliminary qualifying round for the next major tournament like all continents other than Europe have. | | | |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 14:17 - Oct 16 with 4701 views | GeoffSentence |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 14:13 - Oct 16 by TJS | One good thing about the Nations League is that it is showing up some of these total time wasting sides like San Marino and Gibraltar when they are comfortably beaten by Luxembourg who they probably never got to play before. The bottom 4 teams in group D should then enter a knockout preliminary qualifying round for the next major tournament like all continents other than Europe have. |
Gibraltar is a good example of why it is a good thing. They have won a game and are only bottom on goals scored, and missing out on second place on goal difference. This format makes games competitive for everyone. | |
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Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 14:21 - Oct 16 with 4690 views | TJS |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 14:17 - Oct 16 by GeoffSentence | Gibraltar is a good example of why it is a good thing. They have won a game and are only bottom on goals scored, and missing out on second place on goal difference. This format makes games competitive for everyone. |
Fair enough - if they don't finish bottom they have earned their right to go through to the qualifiers. But as it stands there is no penalty for finishing bottom of a D group unlike relegation from A, B and C groups. | | | |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 15:05 - Oct 16 with 4646 views | SomethingBlue |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 14:13 - Oct 16 by TJS | One good thing about the Nations League is that it is showing up some of these total time wasting sides like San Marino and Gibraltar when they are comfortably beaten by Luxembourg who they probably never got to play before. The bottom 4 teams in group D should then enter a knockout preliminary qualifying round for the next major tournament like all continents other than Europe have. |
Gibraltar won in Armenia — Mkhitaryan etc — the other day. The Nations League should, in most cases, help these sides improve their levels and get used to playing on their own terms. | |
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Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 16:30 - Oct 16 with 4567 views | Superfrans |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 13:12 - Oct 16 by SomethingBlue | The four group winners in each league enter a play-off for Euro 2020 — but that doesn't happen til after the *actual* qualifiers, thus keeping them competitive. So if a team qualifies in the meantime (unlikely for those in league D), the play-off spot goes to the next-best. [Post edited 16 Oct 2018 13:16]
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As I say, it's an utter mess. Totally confusing and completely pointless. They have turned something very simple into something extremely complex. It's baffling - but not as baffling as "why" they have changed it in this way. | |
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Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 19:19 - Oct 16 with 4477 views | Kievthegreat |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 14:21 - Oct 16 by TJS | Fair enough - if they don't finish bottom they have earned their right to go through to the qualifiers. But as it stands there is no penalty for finishing bottom of a D group unlike relegation from A, B and C groups. |
This, I think they should be relegated from Europe and another country take their place. Maybe an African country? | | | |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 19:23 - Oct 16 with 4472 views | Reuser_is_God |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 14:02 - Oct 16 by GeoffSentence | But not Scotland. Chuckle. |
Scotland wouldn’t qualify even if they hosted the event. | |
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Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 21:45 - Oct 16 with 4360 views | GeoffSentence |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 14:21 - Oct 16 by TJS | Fair enough - if they don't finish bottom they have earned their right to go through to the qualifiers. But as it stands there is no penalty for finishing bottom of a D group unlike relegation from A, B and C groups. |
And Gibraltar got their second win tonight. | |
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Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 07:45 - Oct 18 with 4137 views | Stewart27 |
Luxembourg must be loving the Nations League on 16:30 - Oct 16 by Superfrans | As I say, it's an utter mess. Totally confusing and completely pointless. They have turned something very simple into something extremely complex. It's baffling - but not as baffling as "why" they have changed it in this way. |
It’s really not that complicated. You should read up on it. | | | |
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