Euro 2024 Draw (Saturday 2nd December 5pm)

[Stephen Malkmus]

It's just Clarke being consistent with the "play the game, not the occasion" message that he'll be imparting to the team. 

[Jaggy McJagface]

While the opening game will be a great occasion, I’m not sure having the pot 1 team in game 1 is ideal as we will more than likely lose and then be under real pressure in the 2nd match.

 

It’s a competitive and evenly matched group that we have a good chance at progressing from, but equally I could see us playing well in all 3 games and still being unlucky to go home on 2 points.

[Jambomo]

13 minutes ago, Scary Bear said:

Good comeback question from Stevie. 

It’s great for fans. Why is it great for the team? The team want to qualify. Surely they’d have preferred and easier first fixture to try and get an initial win.

Yeah, I agree. It’s not ideal given the amount of pressure and scale of playing the opening game. I reckon Clarke would have been happy with a lower key first game, but can’t turn to the media and say that, so instead he’s kind of turned the question around. 

[Dunfermline Don]

19 minutes ago, Jaggy McJagface said:

While the opening game will be a great occasion, I’m not sure having the pot 1 team in game 1 is ideal as we will more than likely lose and then be under real pressure in the 2nd match.

 

It’s a competitive and evenly matched group that we have a good chance at progressing from, but equally I could see us playing well in all 3 games and still being unlucky to go home on 2 points.

I would rather have an opening game against Germany than another match v England with all the media coverage that surrounds that game.

 I think more pressure will be on the hosts to get a result and that the other teams in our group will also view the game against us as one they can win. I think that could well work in our favour.

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Highlandmagar said:

Tough group. Dont see us getting out of it.

We could draw San Marino, Andorra and Fort William and you'd say we'd struggle to get out of it

[DC92]

1 minute ago, Jaggy McJagface said:

While the opening game will be a great occasion, I’m not sure having the pot 1 team in game 1 is ideal as we will more than likely lose and then be under real pressure in the 2nd match.

It’s a competitive and evenly matched group that we have a good chance at progressing from, but equally I could see us playing well in all 3 games and still being unlucky to go home on 2 points.

We'll be under real pressure to get points against Hungary and Switzerland regardless of when we play them (unless we've already got 3 points v Germany). Playing the "easiest" game first can also put you under real pressure if you don't win what is likely to be a cagey match, and we'd have less winnable games to come (see Euro 2020).

We can now play the first game with a bit of freedom knowing a defeat isn't a total disaster while Germany will be under huge pressure to perform and won't have played competitively together for ages. If we do get anything then there's some margin for error in the other two games.

[BFTD]

Just now, Autistisches Nilpferd said:

We could draw San Marino, Andorra and Fort William and you'd say we'd struggle to get out of it

San Marino just scored in three games on the bounce for the first time ever. Andorra had a 40% win record in 2022, and haven't conceded more than two goals in a game in 2023. Fort William have won 15 of their 25 games in 2023, and have clearly turned a corner.

Safe to say we'd be doing well to make it out of that group. Nobody likes travelling to Fortress Claggan anymore.

[DG.Roma]

2 hours ago, Autistisches Nilpferd said:

We could draw San Marino, Andorra and Fort William and you'd say we'd struggle to get out of it

Is that England's qualifying group for the next World Cup?

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, DG.Roma said:

Is that England's qualifying group for the next World Cup?

Nah, as @BFTD says San Marino are getting a bit good

[beesher]

Booked my flights from the 15th to the 22nd banking on the fact that we wouldn't be playing in the opener. Turns out we would be missing the third game too.

Managed to get them change to 17th - 24th free of charge, but some of our lot are in a bit of a conundrum as they have enough points to ensure they get a ticket for the opener.

Nice problems to have!

[kennie makevin]

5 hours ago, Autistisches Nilpferd said:

We could draw San Marino, Andorra and Fort William and you'd say we'd struggle to get out of it

You must be one of those people who live in that alternative universe where Scotland regularly qualify for the knockout stages of major tournaments. 

[Salvo Montalbano]

6 hours ago, HibeeJibee said:

Opening game results in WCs (since substituted hosts for holders) and Euros (since started it in 1984):

World Cups
2006     Germany 4-2 Costa Rica
2010     South Africa 1-1 Mexico
2014     Brazil 3-1 Croatia
2018     Russia 5-0 Saudi Arabia
2022     Qatar 0-2 Ecuador

Euros
1984     France 1-0 Denmark
1988     West Germany 1-1 Italy
1992     Sweden 1-1 France
1996     England 1-1 Switzerland
2000     Belgium 2-1 Sweden
2004     Portugal 1-2 Greece
2008     Switzerland 0-1 Czech Rep
2012     Poland 1-1 Greece
2016     France 2-1 Romania
2020     Italy 3-0 Turkey


While not massively encouraging result-wise it suggests they're often quite tense affairs.

Or you could say in 6 out of 10 Euros the opposition has taken something off the hosts in the opening game.

[Guest]

5 minutes ago, kennie makevin said:

You must be one of those people who live in that alternative universe where Scotland regularly qualify for the knockout stages of major tournaments. 

No, I'm one of those people that doesn't dismiss this Scotland team before they've kicked a ball. One win is possibly enough to qualify out the group. I cannot be arsed with the constant negativity from some folk. 

[QOSfan019]

My son has applied for tickets for all the games but has stupidly put my date of birth instead of his own.Do you think we will be allowed into the stadium in Germany if we get tickets 

[Pie Of The Month]

2 minutes ago, QOSfan019 said:

My son has applied for tickets for all the games but has stupidly put my date of birth instead of his own.Do you think we will be allowed into the stadium in Germany if we get tickets 

You'll be fine.

[Highlandmagar]

9 hours ago, Autistisches Nilpferd said:

We could draw San Marino, Andorra and Fort William and you'd say we'd struggle to get out of it

Not at all. Scotland would surely scrape out of the group.

[JamesM82]

18 hours ago, deadasdillinger said:

Listening to Scottish Football Podcast earlier who were going through Hungary and Switzerlands recently results. 

Hungary qualified well, but didn't really meet anyone of note. Their recent big victory was 4-0 at home to England, which is obviously excellent. Otherwise the rest of their results came against so called easier sides. 

Switzerland's results in the last year or so are really nothing special. 

Switzerland's recent results are a lot worse than nothing special. Their association had to give the manager a vote of confidence after qualification was secured! I suspect they're a team that has been good for a long time, but appears to be on the way down now because a lot of their better players are the wrong side of 30.

https://www.football.ch/sfv/nationalteams/a-team/news/mit-murat-yakin-als-nationaltrainer-an-die-em-2024.aspx

Hungary are kind of the opposite. They were pish for even longer than we were, but have improved recently and have some good younger players (most obviously Szoboszlai).

Edited December 4, 2023 by JamesM82

[SouthLanarkshireWhite]

On 02/12/2023 at 23:01, DiegoDiego said:

Most of my experience of it is in Serie B, but obviously those are diddy attendances. Generally, it's the police checking them before you get that close to the turnstiles. A bit like how searching people before games doesn't really cause delays, you just need more staff.

Police did checks at the Inter v Fiorentina game earlier this year. And the following day at Monza. I am informed Germany does not follow this pattern.

 

[kennie makevin]

16 hours ago, Autistisches Nilpferd said:

No, I'm one of those people that doesn't dismiss this Scotland team before they've kicked a ball. One win is possibly enough to qualify out the group. I cannot be arsed with the constant negativity from some folk. 

Stating that Scotland will do well and may indeed struggle, to get out of that group is not negativity but reality based on our standing in international football and our history of failure. I cannot be arsed with the 'get them pumped' cheerleading that passes as support among some people....

 

[Scary Bear]

28 minutes ago, kennie makevin said:

Stating that Scotland will do well and may indeed struggle, to get out of that group is not negativity but reality based on our standing in international football and our history of failure. I cannot be arsed with the 'get them pumped' cheerleading that passes as support among some people....