Euro 2024 Qualifying thread [R]

[Real Mardin]

It seems to have flown under the radar in rss, but the Euro 2024 qualifiers get under way tomorrow (23rd March) when Kazakhstan host Slovenia in group H.

The qualifiers have also somewhat flown under the radar in the UK, perhaps because the broadcasting rights now belong to Viaplay. Now, if you live in Scandinavia Viaplay is no doubt a very well known name to you, but in the UK Viaplay is a newcomer who recently bought out the Premier Sport range of channels. According to Barb Audiences, Viaplay Sports currently has 0.03% of the UK's monthly viewing. By contrast the previous rights holder Sky Sports has a monthly share of 2.15%, Channel 4 (who will be broadcasting the England games) has a monthly share of 4.71% and the state broadcaster the BBC enjoys 32.88% of all monthly viewing. You can see the dilemma in terms of raising the profile of the qualifying tournament. It looks like some matches will be broadcast on Viaplay's free to air channel Viaplay Xtra (formerly Freesports) with the first match being Portugal - Liechtenstein in Group J.

Minus a Viaplay subscription, my viewing will be limited to games on the aforementioned free to air channel, England matches on Channel 4, Wales matches on S4C and possibly Turkey matches on TRT. Wherever you are I hope you get to enjoy a wider range of viewing.

Selected games from the first round of qualifiers:


Italy - England 23/3 Group C

Denmark - Finland 23/3 Group H

Sweden - Belgium 24/4 Group F

France - Netherlands 24/4 Group B

Armenia - Turkey 25/3 Group D

Croatia - Wales 25/3 Group D

Spain - Norway 25/3 Group A


RM

[Real Mardin]

23/3 FT:

Group C:

Italy 1 - England 2 (Harry Kane becomes England's top scorer with 54 goals.)

North Macedonia 2 - Malta 1


Group H:

Kazakhstan 1 - Slovenia 2

Denmark 3 - Finland 1 (Rasmus Hojlund hat trick)

San Marino 0 - Northern Ireland 2 (two goals from Dion Charles)


Group J:

Portugal 4 - Liechtenstein 0

Bosnia 3 - Iceland 0

Slovakia 0 - Luxembourg 0



RM

[Futbolmetrix]

On Thursday, March 23, 2023 at 6:31:53 PM UTC-4, Real Mardin wrote:
> 23/3 FT:
>
> Group C:
>
> Italy 1 - England 2 (Harry Kane becomes England's top scorer with 54 goals.)

Nice, but still a long way to go before reaching...

> Portugal 4 - Liechtenstein 0

...Cristiano Ronaldo, who further pads his stats with a brace against Liechtenstein.

[Ammammata]

Futbolmetrix pretended :
> Italy

the Italian record stands since 1973, that's almost 50 years old

https://web.archive.org/web/20160308034611/http://scoreshelf.com/gjbb/en/Italy/1974fwcITA_v_SUI

--
/-\ /\/\ /\/\ /-\ /\/\ /\/\ /-\ T /-\
-=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- -=- - -=-
........... [ al lavoro ] ...........

[Real Mardin]

Group G:

Bulgaria 0 - Montenegro 1


RM

[Binder Dundat]

We are already projecting FRANCE to win EURO 24.

[Real Mardin]

On Friday, March 24, 2023 at 9:14:31 PM UTC, Binder Dundat wrote:
> We are already projecting FRANCE to win EURO 24.

Yes, our sources confirm this is correct, with the super computer predicting a France - England final.

RM

[MH]

Not so fast - Lukaku is back ! 3 goals away to Sweden. I don't think
he scored any in 2022 for Belgium.

Austria and Czechia off to good starts, though the former had an
eminently beatable opponent. A little surprising to see the Czechs
(most of them far from household names) dispose of Poland that easily
(or at least the score suggests that - I did not see the game)

I am most curious to see how Spain do, since the new coach has done a
lot of chopping and changing.

[Real Mardin]

24/3 FT:

Group B:

France 4 - Netherlands 0

Gibraltar 0 - Greece 3

Group E:

Czech Republic 3 - Poland 1

Moldova 1 - Faroe Islands 1

Group F:

Austria 4 - Azerbaijan 1

Sweden 0 - Belgium 3 (Lukaku hat trick)

Group G:

Bulgaria 0 - Montenegro 1

Serbia 2 - Lithuania 0 (Tadic and Vlahovic for Serbia)

RM

[anders t]

Quoting MH in rec.sport.soccer:
>Not so fast - Lukaku is back ! 3 goals away to Sweden. I don't think
>he scored any in 2022 for Belgium.

Belgium were bad. But we were awful.
We're truly a C-nation now.


--
Manchester United FC - CHAMPIONS
Latest: England '13 (20th) Europa '17, UEFA '08, World '08

[Real Mardin]

Group A HT:

Scotland 1 - Cyprus 0

Scotland looking good value for their lead. The goal came on 21 minutes when Robertson's cross from the left took a deflection off a Cypriot defender and fell perfectly for McGinn to finish at the far post. Cyprus look content to sit back and try to create something on the break, not sure how viable that's going to be the longer Scotland keep their lead.

The Scotland kit looks like a retro one with minimal trim (just navy with a round white collar as far as I can tell). It's apparently a special kit for the 150th anniversary of the SFA.


RM

[Real Mardin]

FT:

Scotland 3 - Cyprus 0

Just as it looked like Scotland were struggling to "close the deal" McTominay pops up with goals in the 87th and 93rd minutes. Scotland's third was a well worked team goal.

Cyprus stuck with the counter attacking game plan for too long and never really looked like scoring.


RM

[Binder Dundat]

On Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 6:36:27 p.m. UTC-4, Real Mardin wrote:
> It seems to have flown under the radar in rss, but the Euro 2024 qualifiers get under way tomorrow (23rd March) when Kazakhstan host Slovenia in group H.

It flew under the radar for me to the extent that I thought the game between Ireland and Latvia was a qualifier. Which lead me to check the groups and discover that the DFB decided to withdraw the German national team from competing in this Euro, understandable after recent performances, until further research revealed they are hosting the thing.

>
> The qualifiers have also somewhat flown under the radar in the UK, perhaps because the broadcasting rights now belong to Viaplay. Now, if you live in Scandinavia Viaplay is no doubt a very well known name to you, but in the UK Viaplay is a newcomer who recently bought out the Premier Sport range of channels. According to Barb Audiences, Viaplay Sports currently has 0.03% of the UK's monthly viewing. By contrast the previous rights holder Sky Sports has a monthly share of 2.15%, Channel 4 (who will be broadcasting the England games) has a monthly share of 4.71% and the state broadcaster the BBC enjoys 32.88% of all monthly viewing. You can see the dilemma in terms of raising the profile of the qualifying tournament. It looks like some matches will be broadcast on Viaplay's free to air channel Viaplay Xtra (formerly Freesports) with the first match being Portugal - Liechtenstein in Group J.

Dazn have the rights here, but the service has gone downhill, now it is littered with ads. you cant switch between matches without minutes of ads and this is for apaid service.

>
> Minus a Viaplay subscription, my viewing will be limited to games on the aforementioned free to air channel, England matches on Channel 4, Wales matches on S4C and possibly Turkey matches on TRT. Wherever you are I hope you get to enjoy a wider range of viewing.
>

> Selected games from the first roiund of qualifiers:

>
>
> Italy - England 23/3 Group C
>
> Denmark - Finland 23/3 Group H
>
> Sweden - Belgium 24/4 Group F
>
> France - Netherlands 24/4 Group B
>
> Armenia - Turkey 25/3 Group D
>
> Croatia - Wales 25/3 Group D
>
> Spain - Norway 25/3 Group A

Can Haaland defeat Spain?
>
>
> RM

[MH]

This an interesting and dangerous group. Spain with a new coach and a
lot of new (and some very old like Aspas) faces. Will they settle in
fast enough or could they drop a few points early on ? Then there are
Norway with some genuine stars in Haaland and Ødegaard and Georgia with
their own superstar. I am pessimistic about Scotland's chances of
qualifying here, but at least they get another crack at it through the
Nations' League.
>
>
> RM

[Real Mardin]

Group D HT:

Armenia 1 - Turkey 1

This started badly for Turkey with Ozan Kabak , on his birthday no less, turning in a deep cross into his own net to put Armenia ahead. In all honesty I wonder would the Armenian player at the far post have tapped the ball in anyway, but still poor form.

However, Turkey grew into the game enjoying more attacking possession and found the equaliser with a low shot from outside the area from Orkun Kokcu (who apparently scores all his goals from outside the area). Turkey are racking up the yellow cards with three so far, whether that will make a difference time will tell.

Bit of an odd pairing, these two nations. I'm not overly a fan of the way UEFA segregates certain nations due to political sensitivities, but if that's the policy then two nations who won't enter into diplomatic relations with each other with a well documented history of enmity would seem to be obvious candidates for segregation.


RM

[Binder Dundat]

I find it interesting that belarus is involved in qualifying

[Binder Dundat]

i also find it interesting that israel is playing at home on the sabbathi also find it interesting that israel is playing at home on the sabbath

[Binder Dundat]

i guess it is saturday night now in israel. Turkei leading 2-1 now.

[Real Mardin]

FT:

Armenia 1 -Turkey 2

Turkey caught Armenia sleeping when a free kick on the half way line was played low for Kerem Akturkoglu to run onto, he was left one on one and put the ball past the keeper. A simpler goal you won’t see.

Armenia had their chances and might have got something out of the game if Haroyan had scored after a wonder run or if the Turkish keeper Mert hadn’t made a decent save in the second half.


RM

[Real Mardin]

25/3 FT:

Group A:

Scotland 3 - Cyprus 0

Spain 3 - Norway 0 (Haaland didn't play, two goals in the last 10 minutes from Joselu)


Group D:

Armenia 1 - Turkey 2 (nice little Soviet era stadium with a running track, albeit someone decided to cover it up)

Croatia 1 - Wales 1 (nice communist era stadium with a running track, uncovered this time - bliss!)

This was all Croatia, who looked embarrassingly better than Wales until an injury time long throw was headed on for Nathan Broadhead to tap in at the far post for an unlikely equaliser.


Group I:

Israel 1 - Kosovo 1

Andorra 0 - Romania 2

Belarus 0 - Switzerland 5 (cheers from those who think Belarus shouldn't be allowed to compete)


RM

[Real Mardin]

Group H FT:


Kazakhstan 3 - Denmark 2

Yes, Kazakhstan THREE Denmark TWO.

I'm afraid I didn't have the opportunity to watch this, but just looking at the overview a first half brace from Rasmus Hojlund put Denmark 2-0 up. Kazakhstan pulled a goal back with a 73rd minute penalty from Zaynutdinov, equalised with Tagybergen on 86 minutes, before Aimbetov got the winner in the 89th. Denmark bossed possession but shots were equal.

Sounds a crazy game, did any of you get to watch it? Jesper?

RM

[Binder Dundat]

I didnt even know it was on....and we projected Denmanrk to win the lawt Euro, but wee been drinkin, its sptring anf we got a nre polish girlfriend

[Binder Dundat]

I am wathing the Porto game to see if Ronaldo scores his 200the goal or whatever numbner he is at?

On Sunday, March 26, 2023 at 11:30:02 a.m. UTC-4, Real Mardin wrote:

[Binder Dundat]

On Sunday, March 26, 2023 at 2:50:09 p.m. UTC-4, Binder Dundat wrote:
> I am wathing the Porto game to see if Ronaldo scores his 200the goal or whatever numbner he is at?
> On Sunday, March 26, 2023 at 11:30:02 a.m. UTC-4, Real Mardin wrote:

Not only did he score his 200th, he scored his 250th in this game!

[Real Mardin]

26/3 FT:


Group C:

England 2 - Ukraine 0 (so boring)

Malta 0 - Italy 2


Group H:

Kazakhstan 3 - Denmark 2 (!!!)

Northern Ireland 0 - Finland 1

Slovenia 2 - San Marino 0


Group J:

Luxembourg 0 - Portugal 6

Liechtenstein 0 - Iceland 7

Slovakia 2 - Bosnia 0


RM

[LedZep IgaSwanTech]

On Sunday, March 26, 2023 at 4:23:00 PM UTC-5, Real Mardin wrote:
> 26/3 FT:
>
>
> Group C:
>
> England 2 - Ukraine 0 (so boring)
>
> Malta 0 - Italy 2
>
>
> Group H:
>
> Kazakhstan 3 - Denmark 2 (!!!)

I saw this. The coach needs to be fired. They were 2-0 up and things were getting dicey and he makes 4 subs at the same time! WTF!!! This is not a friendly.

[anders t]

Have a look at Sweden's 4-0 by Jesper Karlsson if you can.

Who da fcuk is Messi? C-Ron? Beckham?

[anders t]

Quoting anders t in rec.sport.soccer:
>Have a look at Sweden's 4-0 by Jesper Karlsson if you can.
>
>Who da fcuk is Messi? C-Ron? Beckham?

That said, this (#SWEAZE) was a lot closer than the final 5-0 tells.

[Real Mardin]

On Monday, March 27, 2023 at 9:36:33 PM UTC+1, anders t wrote:
> Have a look at Sweden's 4-0 by Jesper Karlsson if you can.

It was a great free kick.

RM

[anders t]

Quoting anders t in rec.sport.soccer:

>Have a look at Sweden's 4-0 by Jesper Karlsson if you can.

https://twitter.com/SwedeStats/status/1640452031994363905

[Real Mardin]

27/3 FT:

Group B:

Republic of Ireland 0 - France 1

Netherlands 3 - Gibraltar 0


Group E:

Moldova 0 - Czechia 0

Poland 1 - Albania 0


Group F:

Austria 2 - Estonia 1

Sweden 5 - Azerbaijan 0


Group G:

Montenegro 0 - Serbia 2 (Dusan Vlahovic with two)

Hungary 3 - Bulgaria 0


RM

[MH]

On 2023-03-22 16:36, Real Mardin wrote:
> It seems to have flown under the radar in rss, but the Euro 2024 qualifiers get under way tomorrow (23rd March) when Kazakhstan host Slovenia in group H.
>

> The qualifiers have also somewhat flown under the radar in the UK, perhaps because the broadcasting rights now belong to Viaplay. Now, if you live in Scandinavia Viaplay is no doubt a very well known name to you, but in the UK Viaplay is a newcomer who recently bought out the Premier Sport range of channels. According to Barb Audiences, Viaplay Sports currently has 0.03% of the UK's monthly viewing. By contrast the previous rights holder Sky Sports has a monthly share of 2.15%, Channel 4 (who will be broadcasting the England games) has a monthly share of 4.71% and the state broadcaster the BBC enjoys 32.88% of all monthly viewing. You can see the dilemma in terms of raising the profile of the qualifying tournament. It looks like some matches will be broadcast on Viaplay's free to air channel Viaplay Xtra (formerly Freesports) with the first match being Portugal - Liechtenstein in Group J.
>

> Minus a Viaplay subscription, my viewing will be limited to games on the aforementioned free to air channel, England matches on Channel 4, Wales matches on S4C and possibly Turkey matches on TRT. Wherever you are I hope you get to enjoy a wider range of viewing.
>

> Selected games from the first round of qualifiers:

>
>
> Italy - England 23/3 Group C
>
> Denmark - Finland 23/3 Group H
>
> Sweden - Belgium 24/4 Group F
>
> France - Netherlands 24/4 Group B
>
> Armenia - Turkey 25/3 Group D
>
> Croatia - Wales 25/3 Group D
>
> Spain - Norway 25/3 Group A
>
>

> RM
>
>
>

Watching Scotland Spain right now.

Spain have changed 8 out of 11 of their starting lineup from the Norway
game. They have been much the better team so far (HT right now), with
Ceballos in particular looking impressive. A very different type of
SPain - much feistier and more aggressive, and not much tikki-takka. A
slip from Porro (isn't that slang for a reefer or muggle ?) gave
Scotland an early opportunity which McTominay put away via a deflection,
so suprisingly the score is 1-0. It will not stay that way. Spain
have already hit the bar and missed some good chances. Scotland on a
couple of yellows as well. Dykes should have made it 2-0 on a breakway,
but under pressure from Garcia he clipped it over.

Will probably end 1-3 or something like that. It has been quite an ill
tempered game so far.

Elsewhere Georgia 1-1 Norway FT- which could end up being a very good
or very bad result for Scotland.

Switzerland 1-0 ISrael
Wales 1-0 Latvia
Turkey 0-2 Croatia
Romania 2-0 Belarus
Kosovo 0-0 Andorra

All HT scores

[Real Mardin]

28/3 FT:


Group A:

Scotland 2 - Spain 0

What a result! Two goals from McTominay again. Well done Scotland - top of the group!


Georgia 1 - Norway 1


Group D:

Turkey 0 - Croatia 2

It felt like I'd watched this match many times before. Turkey enjoyed all the attacking play and were being praised by the Viaplay Xtra commentator, then Croatia hit the counter attack out of nowhere and score with their first attack of the game. Another counter attack in first half injury time, aided by some soft goal keeping (softly palming away a shot into the path of the attacking player) gave Croatia a two goal lead. Both goals from Mateo Kovacic. Whilst Turkey continued to attack in the second half Croatia looked comfortable containing them. If Turkey are to ever take the next step up they need to find a way of consistently turning chances into goals.


Wales 1 - Latvia 0


Group I:

Kosovo 1 - Andorra 1

Stats wise it sounds like this was all Kosovo with them enjoying three times as much possession and shots than Andorra, but Andorra were equal where it mattered.


Switzerland 3 - Israel 0


Second defeat for Israel.


Romania 2 - Belarus 1


RM

[MH]

On 2023-03-28 15:10, Real Mardin wrote:
>
> 28/3 FT:
>
>
> Group A:
>
> Scotland 2 - Spain 0
>
> What a result! Two goals from McTominay again. Well done Scotland - top of the group!

Gutsy performance with Scotland who had a lot of players go off injured.
But the goals came from errors at right back by Spain, first Porro who
slipped to let Robertson, then his replacement Carvajal who put in a
half-hearted attempt to brush of Tierny and was shown a clean pair of
heels. Spain still the better team but frustrated and lacking cohesion,
and much chippier than usual. Good sportsmanship was not much in
evidence in this game from either side


Scotland went into these games with 3 uncapped GKs, and Gunn was given
the job. I wonder who was the last Scotland GK to manage clean sheets
in his first two appearances?

[Real Mardin]

Just when you thought European football was done for the summer(*) - the Euro 2024 qualifiers return tomorrow at 5pm GMT when Finland host Slovenia in Group H! There are four match days, with games Friday, Saturday, Monday and Tuesday.

UK broadcast rights holder Viaplay are currently doing a special offer on subscriptions - £59 for a whole year - considering a monthly Sky subscription can be more than £59, it seemed rude not to take this up. They also broadcast La Liga and Scottish football and you can watch the selected broadcast game via your Sky box (satellite) or stream any qualifying game online.

Selected fixtures:

16/6:

Greece - Ireland (Group B)

North Macedonia - Ukraine (Group C)

Latvia - Turkey (Group D)

Denmark - Northern Ireland (Group I)

Kosovo - Romania (Group I)


17/6:

Norway - Scotland (Group A)

Belgium - Austria (Group F)

Montenegro - Hungary (Group G)

Luxembourg - Liechtenstein (Group J)

Portugal - Bosnia (Group J)


19/6:

France - Greece (Group B)

Turkey - Wales (Group D)

Slovenia - Denmark (Group H)

Switzerland - Romania (Group I)


20/6:

Austria - Sweden (Group F)

Bulgaria - Serbia (Group G)

Iceland - Portugal (Group J)


(*) - Admittedly the UEFA Nations League is also being played this week, and if you really want to know Croatia beat Netherlands 4-2 AET and Spain beat Italy 2-1 to set up a Croatia v Spain final on Sunday, but being as there isn't even a thread about it on rss, perhaps the less said the better).

RM

[Real Mardin]

16/6 FT:


Group B:

Greece 2 - Ireland 1

Gibraltar 0 - France 3



Group C:

Malta 0 - England 4

North Macedonia 2 - Ukraine 3

Group D:

Latvia 2 - Turkey 3

The latest installment in the least likely rivalry in World football produced a 5 goal thriller in a stadium which would be regarded as 5th tier in some countries (the Skonto Stadium has a capacity of 8000 and one end is just a wall over which you can see into a car park). As in their last meeting, Turkey won with an injury time goal. Latvia had their chances to get more out of the game, with Turkey clearing a couple of shots off the line, although to be fair Turkey had what I thought was a fair enough goal ruled out VAR in the first half - Ferdi took the ball past the Latvia defender, who collapsed to the ground, before getting into the area and putting away a nice shot. The replay appeared to show contact between Ferdi's foot and that of the Latvia defender, but I got the impression this was one of those situations where if you replay a scene in slow motion enough times it can sometimes look like something that it isn't.

Wales 2 - Armenia 4


Group H:

Finland 2 - Slovenia 0

Denmark 1 - Northern Ireland 0

San Marino 0 - Kazakhstan 3


Group I

Andorra 1 - Switzerland 2

Belarus 1 - Israel 2

Kosovo 0 - Romania 0


RM

[Mark]

On Friday, June 16, 2023 at 11:28:38 PM UTC+1, Real Mardin wrote:

>
>
> Group H:
>
> Finland 2 - Slovenia 0
>

:-( What's gone wrong with Slovenia? 20 years ago my 15th favourite national team had a good enough team to qualify for the European Championship and the World Cup, and give the likes of Yugoslavia and Spain a good run for their money. Now they're losing against the likes of Finland! What's gone wrong?

[Real Mardin]

FT 17/6:

Luxembourg 2 - Liechtenstein 0

Daniel Sinani tapped in Gerson Rodrigues' low cross over the line for the opener, Rodrigues got the second.

Lithuania 1 - Bulgaria 1


RM

[Real Mardin]

HT:

Norway 0 - Scotland 0

The early pressure came from Norway but Scotland looked threatening at times on the counter.

The Scotland away kit looks nice, white with navy trim, the simple ones are the best.

I must say, all this international football played under bright skies is making me wish it was a World Cup or Euros year. We need a summer tournament, why did they waste a World Cup slot on Qatar? :(

RM

[Real Mardin]

FT:

Norway 1 - Scotland 2

Haaland was pulled down in the area and put the resulting penalty away to put Norway 1-0 up with 29 minutes to go. In truth Norway looked comfortable, Scotland didn't look a threat, the Norwegian manager presumably felt the same as he substituted Haaland and fellow striker Solbakken. Then with three minutes left a Norwegian defender mis-hit a pass, Lyndon Dykes ran onto the loose ball and poked the ball past the keeper for an unlikely equaliser. Two minutes later Scotland found themselves passing the ball around comfortably in the Norway area, Kenny McLean placed a sweet low shot past the keeper and into the bottom corner of the net to send the Scotland fans delirious with joy. In a crazy three minutes they had turned defeat into a memorable victory and continued their perfect start to the Euro 2024 qualifiers. Surely they've got one foot in Germany now?


RM

[The Doctor]

In article <f74c0ea8-05dd-4aa3...@googlegroups.com>,

Come on you Sots!
--
Member - Liberal International This is doc...@nk.ca Ici doc...@nk.ca
Yahweh, King & country!Never Satan President Republic!Beware AntiChrist rising!
Look at Psalms 14 and 53 on Atheism https://www.empire.kred/ROOTNK?t=94a1f39b
There is much to say, and little worth hearing. -unknown Beware https://mindspring.com

[The Doctor]

In article <68d4ddda-7221-4e9c...@googlegroups.com>,

Thank you! A big win!

[Real Mardin]

17/6/23 FT:


Group E:

Faroe Islands 0 - Czechia 3

Albania 2 - Moldova 0


Group F:

Azerbaijan 1 - Estonia 1

Belgium 1 - Austria 1

Watched some of this, Austria's opener seems to be credited to Gregoritsch even though it looked like an own goal from Mangala, who seemed to back heel Gregoritsch's shot past his own keeper. Lukaku equalised for Belgium but Austria had a lot of attacking play and in the second half looked the more likely to win. The match was played at the King Baudouin Stadium which has a 50000 capacity and a running track around it and just looks the part for a big football match.


Group G:

Lithuania 1 - Bulgaria 1

Montenegro 0 - Hungary 0


Group J:

Luxembourg 2 - Liechtenstein 0

Iceland 1 - Slovakia 2

Portugal 3 - Bosnia 0


RM

[MH]

This is Scotland, always capable of seizing defeat from the jaws of
victory. Great result, mediocre performance. Haaland was pretty static
and did not do much. Solbakken and Sørloth were bigger threats.
Ødegaard also good. Norway certainly have bigger stars than Scotland,
but possibly (unlikely though it may seem) have even less depth.
Bringing on Gimour, McLean and Armstrong certainly seemed to have a
positive effect. Too many yellow cards for the Scots, and referee
performance was a bit erratic. For a while I thought I was watching a
concacaf referee.

In theory, Scotland could now manage to lose to Spain away and draw with
Norway at home, but of course they will make life difficult for
themselves in their time honoured tradition by dropping points to
Georgia and/or Cyprus.


>
>
> RM

[Mark]

On Saturday, June 17, 2023 at 5:54:12 PM UTC+1, Real Mardin wrote:

> I must say, all this international football played under bright skies is making me wish it was a World Cup or Euros year. We need a summer tournament, why did they waste a World Cup slot on Qatar? :(
>

We've got 1. 2 in fact. The CONCACAF Gold Cup and the Women's World Cup. If they're not good enough for some reason, you can blame the Asians and the Africans!

[Blueshirt]

No, we'll blame FIFA... like we always do! ;-)

[Werner Pichler]

On Saturday, June 17, 2023 at 11:11:27 PM UTC+2, Real Mardin wrote:
> 17/6/23 FT:
>
>
> Group E:
>
> Faroe Islands 0 - Czechia 3
>
> Albania 2 - Moldova 0
>
>
> Group F:
>
> Azerbaijan 1 - Estonia 1
>
> Belgium 1 - Austria 1
>
> Watched some of this, Austria's opener seems to be credited to Gregoritsch even though it looked like an own goal from
> Mangala, who seemed to back heel Gregoritsch's shot past his own keeper.

I think they finally settled on own goal, which sounds about right.
Although it's funny how Gregoritsch only succeeded because his soft shot attempt
must have appeared quite harmless to both Mangala and Courtois.

> Lukaku equalised for Belgium but Austria had a
> lot of attacking play and in the second half looked the more likely to win. The match was played at the King Baudouin
> Stadium which has a 50000 capacity and a running track around it and just looks the part for a big football match.

Tielemans thundered a trademark shot off the crossbar in the last minute of stoppage
time, we'll take the point, thank you very much.

Sweden at home on Tuesday will be a big match.


Ciao,
Werner

[Werner Pichler]

On Saturday, June 17, 2023 at 12:28:38 AM UTC+2, Real Mardin wrote:
> 16/6 FT:

>
>
> Group D:
>
> Latvia 2 - Turkey 3
>
> The latest installment in the least likely rivalry in World football produced a 5 goal thriller in a stadium which would be
> regarded as 5th tier in some countries (the Skonto Stadium has a capacity of 8000 and one end is just a wall over which you
> can see into a car park). As in their last meeting, Turkey won with an injury time goal. Latvia had their chances to get more
> out of the game, with Turkey clearing a couple of shots off the line, although to be fair Turkey had what I thought was a fair
> enough goal ruled out VAR in the first half - Ferdi took the ball past the Latvia defender, who collapsed to the ground, before
> getting into the area and putting away a nice shot. The replay appeared to show contact between Ferdi's foot and that of the
> Latvia defender, but I got the impression this was one of those situations where if you replay a scene in slow motion enough
>times it can sometimes look like something that it isn't.

That this is a genuine decade-long rivalry never ceases to amuse me.
Although it appears that with those last two stoppage time wins you've finally exorcised
the Latvian demon.

Ciao,
Werner

[Werner Pichler]

I'm wondering what you're expecting, since they are a small country of just 2.1 million people that has
punched above their weight for quite a while. They used to have World Class goalkeeping, but
Handanović has long retired, and Oblak is currently injured. It absolutely can't be expected that they
churn out one Golden Generation after the other.

Also, for such a small population, they excel at other team sports, too (much like their bigger neighbours Croatia) -
their basketball NT (led by Luka Dončić) finished 4th at the last Olympics, their handball NT won a bronze at the
2017 World Championship and reached the semifinal at the 2020 Euros, and their volleyball NT finished 4th at
the World Championship and runners-up twice in a row at the Euros. Not to speak of winter sports, or their
World Class cyclists Pogačar and Roglič.
So football has quite the competition in Slovenia, too.

Ciao,
Werner

[Real Mardin]

I missed Cyprus 1 - Georgia 2 (Group A)!

RM

[Real Mardin]

19/6 FT:

Group A:

France 1 - Greece 0

Ireland 3 - Gibraltar 0


Group C:

England 7 - North Macedonia 0

Ukraine 1 - Malta 0


Group D:

Armenia 2 - Latvia 1

Saw some of this, a draw would have flattered Latvia but then neither was it nice to see Armenia win with a 91st minute handball penalty where the Latvian defender's body position was surely natural in the context of a player who's had the ball shot at him?


Turkey 2 - Wales 0

This was practically played in Wales' penalty area, particularly in the second half. In the first half Morrell was sent off for a high challenge that caught a Turkey player around the thigh area and after that Wales went to 5 at the back and just sought to contain Turkey. For a while it looked like they might get away with it, with Turkey not creating many clear chances. When Turkey did get the ball in the net, VAR overruled their efforts - twice! The first was an own goal which looked in real time like the attacker might be offside, but as far as I could make out the replay showed a Welsh defender level with the Turkish attacker. VAR took forever to review the position before sending the ref to the video monitor to rule the goal out. The second was a tap in goal from Umut which Turkey had already celebrated, again for what seemed like forever, before some eagle eyed person at VAR Towers noticed the ball had deflected off Umut's hand before it fell to him to score. Completely accidental and given his proximity to the deflected ball I don't see how it could have passed the "unnatural position" test, but it was ruled out. Oh, and in between those two incidents Turkey had a penalty (again, Ramsay's handball was completely accidental and given how close he was to the player kicking the ball I don't see how his hand was in an unnatural position) but Ward saved Calhanoglu's penalty. Just as it looked like Turkey would never score, Umut headed in a cross on 72 minutes to give them the lead and eight minutes later Arda Guler curled in a wonderful strike from outside the area to put the result beyond doubt.


Group H:

Finland 6 - San Marino 0

Northern Ireland 0 - Kazakhstan 1

Abat Aimbetov with the late winner on 88 minutes. So now Kazakhstan have defeated two United Kingdom teams (they've already beaten Scotland)

Slovenia 1 - Denmark 1


Group I

Belarus 2 - Kosovo 1

Israel 2 - Andorra 1

Switzerland 2 - Romania 2

The stats suggest Romania were completely dominated but earned a point with goals in the 89th and 92nd minutes from Parma winger Valentin Mihaila.


RM

[Real Mardin]

Interesting scenes at Hampden Park. Scotland - Georgia was suspended after 6 minutes with Scotland leading 1-0 due to a waterlogged pitch. There was a torrential downpour before the game and I wonder whether starting in those circumstances was the right thing to do.

Cue scenes of ground officials valiantly brushing the water off the pitch as best as they could with brooms and handheld roller devices. Some comic genius played "Why does it always rain on me?" by Travis over the tannoy and the whole ground sang along.

This was about an hour and a half ago.

It was then reported Georgia were refusing to come out to play the game, presumably they thought if the game is re-started it should restart with the scores at 0-0. The Scotland goal came about due to water on the pitch causing the ball to fall to McGregor in a position which gave Scotland a good shot on goal, suspending the match was sort of an admission that the pitch wasn't fit to play on, so I can kind of see where Georgia are at.

Anyway, looks like Georgia have realised they'll lose the game by default if they don't play, so have just come out.

Kick off is in 10 minutes, so by my estimate the match should finish at about 11.15pm local time.


RM

[Real Mardin]

20/6 FT:

Group A:

Norway 3 - Cyprus 1


Group E:

Faroe Islands 1 - Albania 3

Moldova 3 - Poland 2


Group F:

Austria 2 - Sweden 0

Estonia 0 - Belgium 3


Group G:

Bulgaria 1 - Serbia 1

Hungary 2 - Lithuania 0


Group J:

Bosnia 0 - Luxembourg 2

Iceland 0 - Portugal 1

Liechtenstein 0 - Slovakia 1

RM

[Binder Dundat]

On Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 4:52:10 p.m. UTC-4, Real Mardin wrote:
> 20/6 FT:
>
> Group A

In the other game, We can confirm the pitch in Scotland is quite wet. Scotland lead 1-0 at the half.

>
> Norway 3 - Cyprus 1
>
>
> Group E:
>
> Faroe Islands 1 - Albania 3
>
> Moldova 3 - Poland 2
>
>
> Group F:
>
> Austria 2 - Sweden 0

Ya.I watched some of this.Austria were good value for the win.

I also watched the Germany vs Colombia game. We are projecting germany to go out in the group stage of the euros next year.

[Real Mardin]

On Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 10:18:37 PM UTC+1, Binder Dundat wrote:
> On Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 4:52:10 p.m. UTC-4, Real Mardin wrote:
> > 20/6 FT:
> >
> > Group A
>
> In the other game, We can confirm the pitch in Scotland is quite wet. Scotland lead 1-0 at the half.
> >
> > Norway 3 - Cyprus 1
> >
> >
> > Group E:
> >
> > Faroe Islands 1 - Albania 3
> >
> > Moldova 3 - Poland 2
> >
> >
> > Group F:
> >
> > Austria 2 - Sweden 0
> Ya.I watched some of this.Austria were good value for the win.

Yes, Austria could have won by quite a few more were it not for some good saves by the Swedish keeper.

RM

[Real Mardin]

Group A FT:

Scotland 2 - Georgia 0

Kvaratskhelia missed a penalty at the end, not Georgia's night. Scotland 8 points clear at the top of the group!


RM

[Real Mardin]

Two days of matches played this week and not a single post on rss to mark them?

7/9/23:


Group B:

Netherlands 3 - Greece 0

France 2 - Ireland 0


Group E:

Czechia 1 - Albania 1

Poland 2 - Faroe Islands 0


Group G:

Lithuania 2 - Montenegro 2

Serbia 1 - Hungary 2


Group H

Kazakhstan 0 - Finland 1

Slovenia 4 - Northern Ireland 2

Denmark 4 - San Marino 0


8/9/23:

Group A:

Georgia 1 - Spain 7 (seven)

Saw some of this. Spain were 4-0 up at half time and if the shower of goals wasn't bad enough for the Georgian fans, just to rub salt into the wounds the actual rain also made an appearance in the second half, a torrential downpour dispersing those fans who's spirits hadn't already been dampened by their team being taken apart. Trivia: this match apparently saw 16 year old Lamine Yamal become the youngest player to appear for Spain and Spain's youngest scorer.

Binder can give his super computer a rest as the commentators boldly predicted Spain to win Euro 2024 after this result, but think about this: if this result makes Spain one of the favourites and Scotland beat Spain, are Scotland the real Euro 2024 favourites?

Cyprus 0 - Scotland 3


Group D:


Turkey 1 - Armenia 1

Oh dear. Just when Turkey seem to have turned the corner we under perform as we always do. I've never heard an anthem drowned out by booing as much as the Armenian one was drowned out by the Turkish fans today. Unnecessary and disrespectful and it's only really going to serve to motivate the other team to play harder against you. Saying that I've lost count of the number of times the Turkish anthem has been booed before qualification games, but still.

The stats show that Armenia had 13 shots (Turkey had 19) but a lot of these were optimistic lobs from not far off the halfway line, Armenia seemed to think the Turkish keeper Mert was vulnerable due to pushing out of his box a bit too far. In reality this was all Turkey attacking, but as is all too familiar we didn't put our chances away and Armenia took an undeserved lead early in the second half when Ozkacar missed a clearance to gift Dashyan an easy shot on goal. There had also been a deflection earlier in the build up - it was a bit of a calamity really. Anyway, Bertug (silent G) saved Turkey's blushes when a deflected shot fell to him on the edge of the area and he put a low shot away.

Croatia 5 - Latvia 0


Group J:

Luxembourg 3 - Iceland 1

A result that would have been unimaginable a few years ago?

Bosnia 2 - Liechtenstein 1

Slovakia 0 - Portugal 1


RM

[Real Mardin]

Just watching some of North Macedonia- Italy.

This all blue Italy kit is NOT working for me. Particularly with the white trim on the shoulders they look more like Greece!

Anyway, 17 minutes 0-0.


RM

[MH]

On 2023-09-08 16:14, Real Mardin wrote:
> Two days of matches played this week and not a single post on rss to mark them?
>
> 7/9/23:
>
>
> Group B:
>
> Netherlands 3 - Greece 0
>
> France 2 - Ireland 0
>
>

Given France were at home, and have tons of fire power, this scoreline
is a bit of surprise. Ireland does not seem to carry much threat any
more. E. Ferguson, scorer of a recent hattrick in the EPL was not in
the team - not sure why.

[Real Mardin]

46 minutes, Barella’s volley bounces off the crossbar and falls to Immobile, gifting him a simple finish- North Macedonia 0 - Italy 1.

RM

[Real Mardin]

Well, well. Bardhi curls in a free kick on 81 minutes and it finishes 1-1. North Macedonia are becoming Italy’s bogey team.


RM

[Blueshirt]

MH wrote:
> >
> Given France were at home, and have tons of fire power, this scoreline
> is a bit of surprise. Ireland does not seem to carry much threat any
> more. E. Ferguson, scorer of a recent hattrick in the EPL was not in
> the team - not sure why.

Evan Ferguson is injured... so they say...

[Real Mardin]

9/9:


Group C:

Ukraine 1 - England 1

North Macedonia 1 - Italy 1


Group F:

Azerbaijan 0 - Belgium 1

Estonia 0 - Sweden 5


Group I:

Andorra 0 - Belarus 0

Kosovo 2 - Switzerland 2

Romania 1 - Israel 1


RM

[Real Mardin]

10/9:


Group B:

Republic of Ireland 1 - Netherlands 2

Greece 5 - Gibraltar 0

France are top of the group with 15 points, Netherlands and Greece are second and third with 9 points each (Netherlands have a game in hand), Ireland and Gibraltar are adrift with 3 and zero points respectively.


Group E:

Faroe Islands 0 - Moldova 1

Albania 2 - Poland 0


Albania top of the table with 10pts, Czechia and Moldova 2nd and 3rd each with 8pts (Czechia have a game in hand), Poland 4th with 6.


Group G:

Montenegro 2 - Bulgaria 1

Lithuania 1 - Serbia 3

Hungary lead this all Eastern European group with ten points and a game in hand, Serbia second with 10, Montenegro third with 8, Bulgaria and Lithuania are adrift with only 2 points each.


Group H:

Kazakhstan 1 - Northern Ireland 0

Finland 0 - Denmark 1

San Marino 0 - Slovenia 4


Tight group this, Slovenia and Denmark are 1st and 2nd each with 13 points, Finland and Kazakhstan 3rd and 4th each with 12pts.

RM

[Binder Dundat]

Yesterday's games were all meh games, today a bunch of interesting matches, with the big match being Sweden vs Austria. even the friendlies today are interesting with two Derbies, Scotland v Englnad and Germany v France. The French playing a dirty trick on us by giving Germany an early lead. Good old Thomas Muller scoring, with old Rudi now manager.

[Futbolmetrix]

On Tuesday, September 12, 2023 at 3:16:26 PM UTC-4, Binder Dundat wrote:
> Yesterday's games were all meh games, today a bunch of interesting matches, with the big match being Sweden vs Austria.

Such disrespect for Italy's quest to fail to qualify for a second consecutive major tournament (and third out of four)?
Anyway, Frattesi has a brace and Italy is up 2-0 on Ukraine after about 35 minutes. Maybe the azzurri will end up qualifying after all?

> Good old Thomas Muller scoring, with old Rudi now manager.

Fantasy Scout Cycle 1 FTW!

[Futbolmetrix]

On Tuesday, September 12, 2023 at 3:26:21 PM UTC-4, Futbolmetrix wrote:
> Such disrespect for Italy's quest to fail to qualify for a second consecutive major tournament (and third out of four)?
> Anyway, Frattesi has a brace and Italy is up 2-0 on Ukraine after about 35 minutes. Maybe the azzurri will end up qualifying after all?

Weaufx Gods are very alert today. Yarmolenko pulls one back for Ukraine

[Binder Dundat]

We are already projecting Austria to qualify for Euro 24

Arnie scores from the spot and the score reads Sweden 0 - 3 Austria

[Binder Dundat]

On Tuesday, September 12, 2023 at 3:16:26 p.m. UTC-4, Binder Dundat wrote:
> Yesterday's games were all meh games, today a bunch of interesting matches, with the big match being Sweden vs Austria. even the friendlies today are interesting with two Derbies, Scotland v Englnad and Germany v France. The French playing a dirty trick on us by giving Germany an early lead. Good old Thomas Muller scoring, with old Rudi now manager.

The French now really pulling off some underhanded shenanigans, not just by losing to Germany, but by letting Leroy Sane score, some really underhanded stuff by the Frenchmen.

FT
Belgium
5
Estonia
0
WE are projecting Belgium and Austria to advance from their group

FT
Israel
1
Belarus
0
Huh, Belarus are allowed to play in Europe?It is worse than Israel being allowed to play in Europe!

FT
Italy
2
Ukraine
1

Italy and England through.

FT
Malta
0
North Macedonia
2


FT
Norway
2
Georgia
1

2nd
Romania
0
Kosovo
0
Crowd trouble

FT
Spain
6
Cyprus
0

FT
Sweden
1
Austria
3

FT
Switzerland
3
Andorra
0

[Real Mardin]

11/9:


Group D:

Armenia 0 - Croatia 1

Latvia 0 - Wales 2


Croatia now top the group with a game in hand over second placed Turkey. Both teams have 10 points. Armenia and Wales are 3rd and 4th, each with 7pts. Latvia are bottom with zero.


Group J:

Slovakia 3 - Liechtenstein 0

Portugal 9 (nine) - Luxembourg 0

Iceland 1 - Bosnia 0


Portugal lead with 18 points. Slovakia second with 13. Luxembourg third with 10. Bosnia and Iceland are 4th and 5th, each with 6 points. Liechtenstein are bottom with zero.


RM

[Real Mardin]

Binder has posted the 12/9 results above, but what do these results mean for the group standings?

Group A:

Scotland are top with 15. Spain second with 9. Both these teams are guaranteed at least a playoff spot (although I'd be surprised if half of Scotland hasn't already booked flights to Germany for next summer). Norway third with 7.

Group C:

England are top with 13. Italy, Ukraine and North Macedonia are second, third and fourth respectively but all on 7 points, though Italy have a game in hand.

Group F:

Belgium and Austria are first and second respectively each with 13 points. Sweden are third with 6 but not yet mathematically eliminated.

Group I:

Switzerland lead with 14, Romania second with12. Israel are third with 11.


RM

[Binder Dundat]

After waht seemed a really long break for club football, real football is back, but dont worry there will be another club football break before the international football season ends.

In case you did not know, Gmernay will be hosting the Euro next summer and they just hired the little screamer guy to be the new manager. Not that it is his fault, but I think the clubs are already blaming Nagelsmann for the trip to USA this week (to play vs USA and Mexico), while the rest of Europe will be playing qualifiers.

> Group A:
>
> Scotland are top with 15. Spain second with 9. Both these teams are guaranteed at least a playoff spot (although I'd be surprised if half of Scotland hasn't already booked flights to Germany for next summer). Norway third with 7.

Yeah Scotland need one point from the final 3 games and might not even need that. Spain play at home v Scotland on Thursday, if they lose, things get interesting for 2nd place.

Group B
We are projecting France going through, but if they lose to Holland on Friday, it will be kinda interesting. Greece could be spoilers if the Dutch lose at home to France.

>
> Group C:
>
> England are top with 13. Italy, Ukraine and North Macedonia are second, third and fourth respectively but all on 7 points, though Italy have a game in hand.

Our projections show England going through with Italy, but didnt North Macedonia knock the Italians out last time?
Group D
Kroatia amd Turkei look like the two to go through, they play each other on Thursday in Kroatia, it still could be Wales or Armenia spoiling though.

Group E
Seems the weakest group, Albania tops the group, but we have not projected them as group winners or 2nd place yet, anyone can win this group, except the Faroes.

>
> Group F:
>
> Belgium and Austria are first and second respectively each with 13 points. Sweden are third with 6 but not yet mathematically eliminated.

Austria host Belgium on Friday to decide group winner.

Group G
the two qualifiers will be either Serbia, Hungary or Montenegro.

Group H
Tough to call could be two of the following four going through Denmark Finland Kaz or Slovenia. Slovenia play Finalnd and Denmark play Kaz on Saturday, winners advance, OK not really.

>
> Group I:
>
> Switzerland lead with 14, Romania second with12. Israel are third with 11.

Yeah, two of those three will advance

Group J
Portugal are through and early projections have them winning the thing next summer.


>
>
> RM

[Real Mardin]

Will do a proper write up of the scores when/ if I get 5 minutes, but for now all I’ll say is when I said in another thread Turkey could beat Croatia someone on here dismissed my claim with a “lol”.

Well lol right back at you!

RM

[Binder Dundat]

Lets start with the hosts of next summer's EM, New coach Julie Nagy has brought in a bunch of fresh new faces like Thomas Muller, Mats Hummels, Pascal Gross and Leon Goretzka to just name a few. This is a bright new dawn of German football, with so many fresh new players coming up like Nicky Fillkrug and Kevin Behrens. Today these bright new youngsters will play footballing powerhouse USA in a friendly. The Germans should just stick to Basketball and Ice hockey, they will never make it in the Football world.

AS for the qualifying phase,

France Belgium and Portugal I think are now through. There is still time for Scotland to self destruct and avoid qualification, but they will probably get through when Spain beats Norway. Greecer host Netherlands on Monday, with the winner taking a qualification spot, more or less.

Today is The day of Reckoning for Groups G and H
Winner of Hungaria vs Serbia will qualify and Winners of Denmark vs Kaz and Finalnd vs Slovakia will qualify (though not officially).

Current scores
Northern Ireland
2
San Marino
0

Well, now we finally know, N Ireland is better than San Marino

1st
Ukraine
0
North Macedonia
0

I assume the Italians would like a draw from this match.

[Binder Dundat]

On Saturday, October 14, 2023 at 9:27:02 a.m. UTC-4, Binder Dundat wrote:
> Lets start with the hosts of next summer's EM, New coach Julie Nagy has brought in a bunch of fresh new faces like Thomas Muller, Mats Hummels, Pascal Gross and Leon Goretzka to just name a few. This is a bright new dawn of German football, with so many fresh new players coming up like Nicky Fillkrug and Kevin Behrens. Today these bright new youngsters will play footballing powerhouse USA in a friendly. The Germans should just stick to Basketball and Ice hockey, they will never make it in the Football world.

I think J-Nagle will be wondering why he accepted the job-outside of all the money of course. But it is official, this is the worst German National team of all time

[Binder Dundat]

On Saturday, October 14, 2023 at 4:01:38 p.m. UTC-4, Binder Dundat wrote:
> On Saturday, October 14, 2023 at 9:27:02 a.m. UTC-4, Binder Dundat wrote:
> > Lets start with the hosts of next summer's EM, New coach Julie Nagy has brought in a bunch of fresh new faces like Thomas Muller, Mats Hummels, Pascal Gross and Leon Goretzka to just name a few. This is a bright new dawn of German football, with so many fresh new players coming up like Nicky Fillkrug and Kevin Behrens. Today these bright new youngsters will play footballing powerhouse USA in a friendly. The Germans should just stick to Basketball and Ice hockey, they will never make it in the Football world.
> I think J-Nagle will be wondering why he accepted the job-outside of all the money of course. But it is official, this is the worst German National team of all time

In the end they won 1-3, but dont let the score make you think they played well, it was all down to USA being poor. N Ireland would beat USA.

As for the wonders of European Qualifying, where else would you see strikers of the quality Max Ebong or goal scoring defenders like Denis Polyakov .

Could be a National holiday in Scotland today, even though they are not playing. Maybe even a holiday in Wales?
Turkei need to beat last placed Latvia to qualify.

[Real Mardin]

Group D:

Turkey 4 - Latvia 0

Wales 2 - Croatia 1

Latvia better than the final scoreline suggests and (again) continued the least likely rivalry in World football by playing out of their skin against Turkey, having a shot cleared off the line and a header bounce off the crossbar when the score was only 1-0. Just to mark the rivalry there was also a mini scuffle between both teams in the second half.


Turkey are now six points clear at the top of the group over Wales and Croatia, who each have a game in hand over Turkey.
Whilst you could still get all three teams finish on 16 points, the tie breaker would be the higher number of points obtained in matches between the three teams. For a three way tie Wales would need to beat Turkey in the final game, which would make the tie breaker standings:

1st Wales 7pts (beat Croatia and Turkey, drew with Croatia)
2nd Turkey 6pts (beat Croatia and Wales)
3rd Croatia 4pts (beat Turkey, drew with Wales)


Where I'm going with this is: Turkey have qualified for Euro 2024 as the worst they can finish is second in the group.

RM

P.S. Stefan Kuntz was Turkey's manager, I blinked and now it's Vincenzo Montella?

[Binder Dundat]

More or less done in the next few days, I dont know all the ways teams can qualify for these cups anymore, I honestly dont know if this is a 24 or 32 or maybe 48 team cup and I cant be bothered to check.

I was watching the other day, Luxembourgo had a slight chance of actually qualifying , but Slovakia killed that hope.

Team Qualification method
Germany Hosts
Belgium Group F (pos TBD)
France Group B — 1st place
Portugal Group J — 1st place
Scotland Group A (pos TBD)
Spain Group A (pos TBD)
Turkiye Group D (pos TBD)
Austria Group F (pos TBD)
England Group C — 1st place
Hungary Group G (pos TBD)
Slovakia Group J — 2nd place
Albania Group E (pos TBD)
Denmark Group H — 1st place


yet to be decided
Italy or Ukrainia
Greece or Holland
Wales or Kroatia
Kazakstan or Slvenia
Montenegro or Serbia
Israel, Swiss or Rumania ( 2 )

Albania to qualify, I think that would be a first for them. After this I guess there are a bunch of back door ways for teams to qualify through Nations league, or fair play or gifts to Israel or whatever.

Meanwhile host Germany have two tough test matches, practically derby matches, that they will probably lose. Today vs Turkei then Austria.

[Real Mardin]

Group D:

Armenia 1 - Wales 1

Latvia 0 - Croatia 2

1st Turkey 16 pts
2nd Croatia 13 pts
3rd Wales 11 pts

If Croatia beat Armenia on Tuesday they’re through to Euro 2024.

If they don’t and Wales beat Turkey Wales qualify.

Turkey already qualified (have I ever been able to say that with two matchdays to spare?), just a case of whether they finish first or second.


RM

[Real Mardin]

Not a qualifier but as Binder mentioned it: HT Germany 1 - Turkey 2. End to end action.

Hard to tell if there are actually more Turkey than Germany fans in Berlin but it certainly sounds like Turkey are the home team.


RM

[Binder Dundat]

On Saturday, November 18, 2023 at 3:44:16 p.m. UTC-5, Real Mardin wrote:
> Not a qualifier but as Binder mentioned it: HT Germany 1 - Turkey 2. End to end action.
>
> Hard to tell if there are actually more Turkey than Germany fans in Berlin but it certainly sounds like Turkey are the home team.
>
>
> RM

Seems like more Turkish fans. Take nothing away from Turkei, but Germany lost just as predicted. Kai Havertz as a left back was J Nags new idea that did not work. Not that I am blaming him, germany are just terrible.

[LedZep IgaSwanTech]

Nagelsmann was a bad choice. He is worse than Flick!

[Real Mardin]

On Saturday, November 18, 2023 at 10:09:54 PM UTC, Binder Dundat wrote:
> On Saturday, November 18, 2023 at 3:44:16 p.m. UTC-5, Real Mardin wrote:
> > Not a qualifier but as Binder mentioned it: HT Germany 1 - Turkey 2. End to end action.
> >

> > Hard to tell if there are actua more Turkey than Germany fans in Berlin but it certainly sounds like Turkey are the home team.

> >
> >
> > RM
> Seems like more Turkish fans. Take nothing away from Turkei, but Germany lost just as >predicted. Kai Havertz as a left back was J Nags new idea that did not work. Not that I am >blaming him, germany are just terrible.

FT: Germany 2 - Turkey 3

Credit to both teams for producing an entertaining match.

I thought the Turkey winning penalty was harsh, looked accidental/ body in natural position to me.

I typed a longer reply but on my laptop the CAPTCHA check on google groups won’t let me through, might have to look into using a newsreader.


RM

[Werner Pichler]

How come everyone appears to have forgotten about them playing Euro 2016?

Ciao,
Werner

[Real Mardin]

Italy with a lot of attacking play against Ukraine so far, but the real news is Adidas kits don’t work with Italy, they just don’t look right. It’s the stripes that ruin it in the main, but the away kit in particular looks like what I imagine East Germany’s away kit would look like had they qualified for Euro 88.

Anyway, 43 minutes, 0-0.


RM

[Real Mardin]

I implore you to look up the history of Italian national team kits. Diadora, Nike and Puma get how to make an Italy kit. The secret is simplicity.



51 minutes 0-0.


RM

[Real Mardin]

Ukraine had a bit of a surge toward the end of the second half and had a penalty shout turned down in injury time but the game finishes 0-0 and Italy qualify for Euro 2024. Ukraine can apparently qualify via the playoffs.


RM

[Mark]

Yay! Italy and Slovenia have both qualified!

[Real Mardin]

Group D:

Wales - Turkey

Croatia - Armenia

A draw for Turkey guarantees top spot.

If Croatia match Wales’s result they’re through.

Wales need to win and hope Croatia drop points.


RM

[Real Mardin]

Nico Williams puts Wales 1-0 up with a low diagonal shot from just inside the area.

As it stands 1st Turkey, 2nd Wales.
11 minutes gone.


RM

[Real Mardin]

43 minutes and the Cardiff City Stadium goes quiet. Not because of anything in Cardiff, but because In Zagreb Budimir has put Croatia 1-0 up against Armenia.

As it stands 1st Croatia, 2nd Turkey.


RM

[Real Mardin]

69 minutes, Turkey equalise with a penalty from Yazici.

As it stands: 1st Turkey, 2nd Croatia.


RM

[Binder Dundat]

I agree, the Italian kit looked very German, I thought it was West germany for a while.

Arew you ok with the Turkei kit to look very Nike?

[Werner Pichler]

On Saturday, October 14, 2023 at 10:01:38 PM UTC+2, Binder Dundat wrote:
> On Saturday, October 14, 2023 at 9:27:02 a.m. UTC-4, Binder Dundat wrote:
> >
> > Lets start with the hosts of next summer's EM, New coach Julie Nagy has brought in a bunch of fresh new faces like Thomas Muller, Mats Hummels, Pascal Gross and Leon Goretzka to just name a few. This is a
> > bright new dawn of German football, with so many fresh new players coming up like Nicky Fillkrug and Kevin Behrens. Today these bright new youngsters will play footballing powerhouse USA in a friendly. The
> > Germans should just stick to Basketball and Ice hockey, they will never make it in the Football world.
>
> I think J-Nagle will be wondering why he accepted the job-outside of all the money of course. But it is official, this is the worst German National team of all time

I thought this was your usual hyperbole, but jeez have they been awful today, barely able to string two passes together. Sané might actually have done them
a favour, they were better reduced to 10. I don't think I've ever seen a German NT this helpless.

Ciao,
Werner

[Real Mardin]

It’s over:

Wales 1 - Turkey 1

Croatia 1 - Armenia 0

1st Turkey, 2nd Croatia



RM

[Real Mardin]

It’s been Nike since 2004 but I’m ok with whoever makes the kit so long as they don’t deviate from the basic design, which Nike seem to be adhering to.

RM

[Binder Dundat]

For tho0se of you watching on tv, Austrisbeatt Germsny 2-0

I did not watch the fgame

[Werner Pichler]

Pots for Final Draw


Pot 1

Germany
Portugal
France
Spain
Belgium
England


Pot 2

Hungary
Turkey
Romania
Denmark
Albania
Austria


Pot 3

Netherlands
Scotland
Croatia
Slovenia
Slovakia
Czech Republic


Pot 4

Italy
Serbia
Switzerland
Playoff winner A (Poland/Wales/Estonia/one of FIN/UKR/ISL)
Playoff winner B (Israel/Bosnia-Herzegovina/two of FIN/UKR/ISL)
Playoff winenr C (Georgia/Greece/Kazakhstan/Luxembourg)


Pot 3 looking stronger than Pot 2 tbh.
Any group with Italy in it with Group of Death potential.

Ciao,
Werner

[Real Mardin]

The only pot that makes sense is 1. All the others look all over the place. How can the current European champions be pot 4?? Croatia World Cup 2018 finalists and 2022 semi finalists but in pot 3. Whilst Albania and Romania are in pot 2. Ok!


RM

[Futbolmetrix]

On Tuesday, November 21, 2023 at 5:28:57 PM UTC-5, Werner Pichler wrote:

>
> Pot 3 looking stronger than Pot 2 tbh.
> Any group with Italy in it with Group of Death potential.

I've seen somewhere that in terms of both Elo ratings and TransferMarkt value, the ordering of pots
is

Pot 1 > Pot4 > Pot 3 > Pot 2