2018 UEFA Nations League

[HajdukSplit]

England the 2nd team to qualify for the Final Four next summer, Croatia relegated but in decent shape to stay in Pot 1 for the upcoming Euro 2020 draw (unless Poland beat Portugal away) which was the realistic target from the start.

But note to Ian Darke...this isn't any sort of revenge for the WC semi-final loss Croatia could lose 100 NL matches to England and it won't mean revenge. In fact the way this "series" is going between ENG-CRO the teams trade off wins

 

[kihei]

That was a very entertaining half of football.

 

[Venkman]

That was so predictable. Croatia not finishing their chances on the counter attack and then England scoring twice on set pieces without creating anything apart from that.

Apart from the 3 good chances we had in the 1st half. Deserved win.

 

[Savi]

Imo Croatia had enough chances themselves to at least claim a tie.

 

[HajdukSplit]

Belarus win their group joining Georgia as League D group winners, they did it without conceding a goal too

 

[Ivan13]

First English goal shouldn't have counted. Gonez stepped over the line on the throw in.

 

[HajdukSplit]

Belgium score in the 2nd minute after a horrible mistake at the back by the Swiss killing any drama in this match, Switzerland now need to win by 2 goals

 

[Savi]

Thorgan Hazard with a goal just 1 minute in

 

[Savi]

Thorgan with another

Swiss now need 4 goals

 

[Savi]

Well, there's one.. kinda cheap penalty tho

 

[Savi]

And now we're tied

 

[Savi]

..and now Swiss take the lead Belgian defense looks horrible today

 

[Savi]

Swiss score another and are through now.

 

[Savi]

5-2 I'm speechless.

 

[koyvoo]

Wow

 

[BruinLVGA]

Belgium score in the 2nd minute after a horrible mistake at the back by the Swiss killing any drama in this match, Switzerland now need to win by 2 goals

Hmmmmmmmmmm

Thorgan with another

Swiss now need 4 goals

It was emotional. Greetings from Switzerland, boys.

 

[BruinLVGA]

 

[koyvoo]

Must’ve been an extraordinary game. I’m sorry I missed it.

I know the Swiss are very tough to beat at home, but if heard they’d won today, I’d have thought a very low scoring affair.

 

[BruinLVGA]

Must’ve been an extraordinary game. I’m sorry I missed it.

I know the Swiss are very tough to beat at home, but if heard they’d won today, I’d have thought a very low scoring affair.

It sure was an extraordinary game. Switzerland playing at home vs the #1 ranked team in the world... needing a victory to go through... going down 0-2 after 17 minutes... then scoring 5 goals (!!!), with a Seferovic hattrick... Unforgettable.

Well, Switzerland in the past few years has been scoring significantly more than usual.
In the 4 games in their Nations League group, they have scored 14 goals, which is the best for any team in the A bracket of the NL (there's still a few games left in the A bracket, but no other team can even get close to 14). Next best is Spain with 12, no one else in double digits.

 

[Corto]

Sort of a sour taste after the match yesterday, we had the chances to put the game away at 1-0.
To be fair though, England should've scored in the first half - but it is lame that, since you already managed to survive open play chances, you concede to two set pieces.
Also, Rakitic, Vrsaljko, Kovacic and Pivaric all out didn't help. Our fullbacks were basically non-existent.
And whatever else Dalic does, he needs to sort out set piece defending - it's absolutely horrible.

Either way, fair play to England, the luck they were lacking in the first half (when they were much the better team) they got in the 2nd, and on balance, I can't say it's undeserved.

 

[Cassano]

Love Lovren talks all this smack and becomes a turnsile vs. England.

 

[member 305909]

I'm not at least yet very enthusiastic about this competition-format so I don't know if I have understood right but has Germany now been relegated to some division B? If so that is a huge humiliation.

Germany have been on a steep decline. The Germany of 2010 was better than the Germany of 2014 but in 2010 Spain was even better when as the 2014-level was enough for Germany to win the World Cup.

 

[hatterson]

So for League A:

Group 1
Netherlands needs an away draw or better against an already relegated German team to win the group. A German win would mean France tops the group.

Group 2
The Swiss top the Belgians thanks to their big win last night. Unsurprisingly, Iceland is relegated.

Group 3
Portugal tops the group with a game to spare. Italy will be second, Poland 3rd.

Group 4
England's comeback win puts them on top of the group. Spain is second and Croatia is relegated.

So the final 4 will be Switzerland, Portugal, England, France/Netherlands.

 

[robertmac43]

Now that the Nations League has been around for a little bit and things are starting to happen in terms of the final 4 and relegation, what are peoples reviews of the competition?

 

[hatterson]

I think it certainly has flaws, but I like that the games are mostly competitive instead of just friendlies.

If we're going to have the international breaks, I'm much more interested in watching mostly first team nationals as opposed to significantly rotated squads like England sent out against the US.