TheScarf Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 France or The Nigels will win the Euros. I'm going for The Nigels as they'll get an easier path, as in not play anyone decent (Portugal, Germany, Netherlands, Spain etc) until final, and Bellingham will win it for them. France will probably end up playing all of those mentioned. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage Henry Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 England look the real deal, sadly. Southgate’s doing an excellent job. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marten Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 45 minutes ago, Bully Wee Villa said: If Wales end up in the playoffs they'd be at home to Estonia? FFS. No, the highest Path A team will be at home to Estonia if there are 3 or 2 Path A teams in the play-offs. Wales can at best be the second highest as one of Poland or Czech Republic will definitely be in the play-offs and both are above Wales. If they are second highest, they'll play a Path B team at home. If they are third highest, they will play Poland or Czech Republic away. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milhouse Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 11 hours ago, UsedToGoToCentralPark said: I did say should, not will, but with the squad they have and the way they have found form recently they should be able to dispatch anyone. They have become absolute masters at qualifying for tournaments but when they get there, there's usually someone who plays better than them. Time will tell. 8 hours ago, Donathan said: Croatia are good but no one is going to be crying any tears if they miss out. Absolutely nonsense about it being “disastrous”. Italy on the other hand are absolute frauds these days. They have been for a number of years other than when they randomly found a run of form and won a tournament. I’d absolutely back the current Scotland team to beat them in a knockout match. Italy deservedly won the last European Championship, they were the best team there. Mancini struggled afterwards, but tactically unpicked every team there. Donnaruma, Bonnuci, Chiellini, Veratti, Spinazola, Barella were all excellent. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggy McJagface Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 11 hours ago, BucksburnDandy said: Path A with a Croatia v Italy final would be unbelievable. Disastrous for UEFA if one of those two miss out. Path B, a huge drop off in quality, with two rotten teams in Iceland and Bosnia there. An Israel v Finland final should be a sure bet. Path C, that Greece v Kazakhstan semi looks very hard to call, if the good Luxembourg turns up, Georgia could be in for a real test too. Tough one to call, quite an evenly balanced path. Despite Kazakhstan and Luxembourg looking decent in qualifying, both of their groups are absolutely chronic. I would have Greece as heavy favourites to progress from path C. It remains to be seen when/if Israel will be able to complete their remaining qualifying fixtures so not really sure how UEFA are planning to deal with that. Delaying their matches beyond next month would have a huge knock on effect on the finals draw and the composition of the playoffs. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigkillie Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 If they can't fulfil their fixtures then pap them out, and maybe start to think about how wise it is to have non-European teams in UEFA. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneteaminglasgow Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 Israel should really be given the Russia treatment and papped out of qualifying regardless. 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggy McJagface Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 1 hour ago, oneteaminglasgow said: Israel should really be given the Russia treatment and papped out of qualifying regardless. I 100% agree but I doubt the powers that be at UEFA will see it that way. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donathan Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 Israel will absolutely be allowed to play like Ukraine were. -3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneteaminglasgow Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 Israel will be allowed to play, but let’s not pretend it’s not a massive double standard. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggy McJagface Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 (edited) 20 minutes ago, Donathan said: Israel will absolutely be allowed to play like Ukraine were. Unlike Ukraine - who had completed their qualifying group and were already in the playoff at the time of the invasion - Israel only have the one international window (which is next month) to play their remaining 4 fixtures before the playoff and finals draw are made in December. It doesn’t look like the situation is going to be resolved by then. The way the playoffs are structured means you can’t draw them in the first place until we know exactly who has qualified. The points totals of Switzerland/Romania/Israel also have a knock on effect on who goes in which pot for the finals draw. For instance, if Israel were to qualify automatically then Norway would get a playoff place as it stands, but if they were to finish 3rd then they wouldn’t. If they can’t play their games then the whole draw would probably have to be delayed. Edited October 18, 2023 by Jaggy McJagface 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donathan Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 2 hours ago, oneteaminglasgow said: Israel will be allowed to play, but let’s not pretend it’s not a massive double standard. It’s not. Russia have launched a completely unprovoked attacked against a fellow UEFA member. Israel have launched an attack in retaliation to an attack by a country that crucially is not a UEFA member. There are only two other countries that you can argue should be suspended by UEFA under the same circumstances as Russia. One is Belarus due to their friendliness of Russia. The other is Azerbaijan due to their treatment of Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh area. -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneteaminglasgow Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 14 minutes ago, Donathan said: It’s not. Russia have launched a completely unprovoked attacked against a fellow UEFA member. Israel have launched an attack in retaliation to an attack by a country that crucially is not a UEFA member. There are only two other countries that you can argue should be suspended by UEFA under the same circumstances as Russia. One is Belarus due to their friendliness of Russia. The other is Azerbaijan due to their treatment of Armenians in the Nagorno-Karabakh area. Israel are currently doing a programme of ethnic cleansing, I don’t think that the fact that the victims aren’t a UEFA member is relevant. This isn’t the thread for more detailed discussion on this, but I’m happy to leave it with my thinking that you are an abhorrent, racist c**t as demonstrated by your numerous posts on this topic. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eez-eh Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 Gone at “friendliness to Russia” being touted as a banning offence but carpet bombing being a-okay. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigkillie Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 4 hours ago, Donathan said: It’s not. Russia have launched a completely unprovoked attacked against a fellow UEFA member. Israel have launched an attack in retaliation to an attack by a country that crucially is not a UEFA member. Russia have been suspended by FIFA too, and Palestine are a FIFA member. Being suspended by FIFA would automatically see them suspended by UEFA, since FIFA membership in good standing is a condition of being a UEFA member. There are arguments for and against banning countries purely for acts of war against fellow nations, but the Russia suspension absolutely could be used as a precedent. That was essentially driven by other members refusing to play against them - Poland and their players being the most vocal about that. As it is, I don't see any reason why Israel wouldn't be able to play their matches next month anyway, even if they have to move them to a neutral venue. You can understand postponing this month's given how close they were to the Hamas attack, but I don't see what would stop games next month. Their country isn't the one being invaded the way Ukraine was. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaggy McJagface Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 27 minutes ago, craigkillie said: Russia have been suspended by FIFA too, and Palestine are a FIFA member. Being suspended by FIFA would automatically see them suspended by UEFA, since FIFA membership in good standing is a condition of being a UEFA member. There are arguments for and against banning countries purely for acts of war against fellow nations, but the Russia suspension absolutely could be used as a precedent. That was essentially driven by other members refusing to play against them - Poland and their players being the most vocal about that. As it is, I don't see any reason why Israel wouldn't be able to play their matches next month anyway, even if they have to move them to a neutral venue. You can understand postponing this month's given how close they were to the Hamas attack, but I don't see what would stop games next month. Their country isn't the one being invaded the way Ukraine was. I may be wrong but I think I read somewhere that Israel based players weren’t being allowed to leave the country? Presumably that would also be the case for staff too. In any case, it looks like the situation could escalate significantly very quickly so I wouldn’t be too confident on them being able to play next month. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melanius Mullarkey Posted October 18, 2023 Share Posted October 18, 2023 12 hours ago, Savage Henry said: England look the real deal, sadly. Southgate’s doing an excellent job. The real deal 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donathan Posted October 23, 2023 Share Posted October 23, 2023 Israel will play four matches in November. Their trip to Kosovo has been scheduled for Sunday 12th November, which is the weekend before the international window and sets up a potential club vs country row. They will play their “home” matches against Switzerland and Romania on Wednesday and Saturday respectively (neutral venue TBC) before finishing in Andorra on Tuesday 21st November. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BFTD Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 On 23/10/2023 at 22:07, Donathan said: Israel will play four matches in November. Their trip to Kosovo has been scheduled for Sunday 12th November, which is the weekend before the international window and sets up a potential club vs country row. They will play their “home” matches against Switzerland and Romania on Wednesday and Saturday respectively (neutral venue TBC) before finishing in Andorra on Tuesday 21st November. No chance of any protests by Switzerland, at least. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donathan Posted October 25, 2023 Share Posted October 25, 2023 5 hours ago, BFTD said: No chance of any protests by Switzerland, at least. Kosovo however could get proper naughty 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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