Bearwithme Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Iceland win 2-0. They looked a very decent side. Holland didn't really offer much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bearwithme Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Wales get the 2-1 win. Well done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RawB93 Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Bale laughing at that boy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fraser Fyvie Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Decent game that. Wales have to improve if they are to qualify but very good start from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivo den Bieman Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Just popped in for the traditional: Holland - :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crùbag Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Good to see Holland go down. Their egos will be further battered when they get their half-decomposed shark meat for breakfast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherrif John Bunnell Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Great stuff from Iceland. That is probably the toughest group as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Bairn Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 UEFA have already published the proposed format + schedule. 'League of Nations' occupies 6 matchdays Sep-Oct-Nov 2018. 'League of Nations' Finals Tournament held early summer 2019, previously unused in the 4yr footballing cycle. Qualifiers (10 groups of 5/6) occupy 10 matchdays Mar-Jun-Sep-Oct-Nov 2019. Play-offs (8 highest non-qualifiers from LofN) Mar 2020. Wait, so one of the "bottom 16" is guaranteed to qualify? As it stands, the bottom 16 are: Estonia, Cyprus, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Georgia, Macedonia, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Malta, Liechtenstein, Faroe Islands, Andorra, San Marino, Gibraltar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Yes, that was one of the issues with it, although obviously the minnows will back it for that reason alone... Also the oddity of finishing the LofN in November 2018 but the playoffs aren't until March 2020: it could be quite messy in terms of who enters the playoff from each group. I don't like the groups of 3 either, especially when playing home-and-away, they should have had 4 groups of 4 in Division A, ditto in Division B & Division C, then Division D a single pool of 6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Bairn Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 Yes, that was one of the issues with it, although obviously the minnows will back it for that reason alone... Also the oddity of finishing the LofN in November 2018 but the playoffs aren't until March 2020: it could be quite messy in terms of who enters the playoff from each group. I don't like the groups of 3 either, especially when playing home-and-away, they should have had 4 groups of 4 in Division A, ditto in Division B & Division C, then Division D a single pool of 6. Then you'd have an even worse team qualifying for the finals. I'm all for giving the minnows something to play for but as it stands that "Division D" spot in the finals is either going to go to a token representative who will get pumped 3 times at the final, or an easier route for a slightly out of sorts but usually decent team who are at an outlier low spot in the ranking (For example, Norway, who are usually pretty decent, are just one spot above Estonia and if they tanked a few games they could pretty much guarantee qualification by getting themselves papped into division D) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingTON Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 The Czechs and Iceland have both already beaten Turkey as well (who slithered to a draw tonight and are out unless they too do a number on the Netherlands), so unless either of the leaders gets the full six points in their head to head or royally screws up against the diddies, I can't see past the play-offs for the Dutch now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingTON Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 That is an absolutely fucking cretinous system; the only benefit is that it will help to punt all international football into the 'decent to fill a summer' irrelevance where it belongs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HibeeJibee Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 If fairness, VT, you said similar a year or two ago... shortly before the club organisation agreed to the reorganisation of international dates which put more double-headers into the the regular season. And now the Nations League is here too. While the system is rather contrived, and I don't imagine it will last very long in its original form, it does have the singular benefit of replacing a raft of friendlies with competitive matches. There'll be plenty to play for in the LofN with finals/playoffs/promotion-&-relegation at stake. MrBairn - I should have said that I don't favour the odd play-off system at all, so I wouldn't have 1 guaranteed spot for each level of the League of Nations, so it wouldn't matter that fewer countries were in the bottom deck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingTON Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 When TV audiences are switching off en masse at the prospect of dreck like Estonia and Macedonia playing, the major clubs will simply pull the rug from under UEFA and its ever more laughable tournament. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miguel Sanchez Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 Meanwhile, a child and future Celtic Superstar played for Norway: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29603718 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supras Posted October 13, 2014 Share Posted October 13, 2014 It's good that people have now accepted my patented and highly successful population argument. It's as much of a guaranteed slam dunk as drug legalisation for me now. It's good that I've move the zeitgeist of the forum forward to this extent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H_B Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Another excellent result for Iceland. Amazing what a country with a population smaller than Edinburgh can achieve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bully Wee Villa Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Uh-oh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supras Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 Next stop - world cup final. Nothing stopping them, right? They probably have as much chance as Brazil or Germany or something. Small nations can get good results just like small clubs can. The last World Cup final was contested by two nations of >40 million and the last Euros final was contested by two nations of >45 million. If population didn't matter, this would be one hell of a coincidence. Why Italy and not Andorra? What are Andorra doing wrong? But as this is about Iceland, lets examine their qualification record. World Cup - never competed in World Cup Finals. European Championship - never competed in European Championship. Although they do have the distinction of apparently qualifying in 1954 only for their entry to be not accepted by FIFA. Seems a bit harsh. What are they doing so right to, uh, achieve so much? Oh, and to add salt into the wounds, their record against Scotland is played 6, lost 6. Sair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H_B Posted October 14, 2014 Share Posted October 14, 2014 If population didn't matter, Who has said population doesn't matter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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