Euro: Euro Qualifiers Part II

ScottishCanuck

Registered User
May 9, 2010
2,904
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Scotland
Serbia :facepalm: talk about a team that always f***s up and never lives up to the talent they have

I wouldn't say they were particularly unlucky tonight either. They upped their game in ET but Scotland dominated the 90 mins and would have been worthy of a win in regulation.
 

Ceremony

blahem
Jun 8, 2012
113,009
15,069
Well I don't want to be too hard but getting to a 24 team Euro with this ridiculous format of qualifying isn't a major accomplishment.

And Scotland...

16 teams Euro was perfect.
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Islesfan22

Registered User
Jan 15, 2013
6,768
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Rockland
Congratulations to Scotland. Serbs have more quality but in the end didn’t deserve to go through the way they played. England-Scotland should be fun but I think Croatia-Serbia game probably the better game and that rivalry just as heated.
 
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HajdukSplit

Registered User
Nov 9, 2005
11,034
762
NJ
England-Scotland should be fun but I think Croatia-Serbia game probably the better game and that rivalry just as heated.

Had the game been in full Glasgow I would say it would be a fun tight game but at Wembley I don’t see much of a chance for Scotland. Glasgow police are certainly relieved (if fans are allowed). Crazy thing about Scotland is Croatia have never beat them, even at home, Scotland are like one of the few teams to win a competitive match in Croatia :help:
 

HajdukSplit

Registered User
Nov 9, 2005
11,034
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NJ
So the qualifying is finally over after a little more than a year and a half, 19 of the 24 teams return from 2016. The streak continues of at least one debuting nation at a Euros ever since the original expansion in 1996 with Finland and North Macedonia to newcomers next summer. Last time Finland played in any 'major' football tournament was the 1980 Olympics (which technically they didn't qualify for either). North Macedonia never came close, usually finishing bottom two of their group but they have some decent players coming through, for their standards, as in 2017 their U21s qualified for those Euros and a handful of those guys are key contributors to the team today.

Netherlands and Denmark return after missing the last Euros while Scotland return after missing the last 5 Euros. The five teams who failed to qualify from 2016 are Romania, Northern Ireland, Rep of Ireland, Iceland and Albania; four of the five failed in the playoff round with only Albania facing an early elimination. Iceland failed to qualify after playing in two consecutive tournaments; Hungary, Austria, Wales and Slovakia for the first time in their history qualify for consecutive Euros (Hungary and Austria did qualify for consecutive World Cups in the way distant past)

The top scorer was Harry Kane (ENG) with 12 goals with Eran Zahavi (ISR) and Cristiano Ronaldo (POR) trailing him by one goal
 

HajdukSplit

Registered User
Nov 9, 2005
11,034
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NJ
Watched the Hungary-Iceland game on ESPN3, overall probably a deserved win for Hungary but there were 2-3 moments where Iceland could have scored a second and killed the game off. The first Hungarian goal was a flukey deflection off Arnason from a clearance which was poked home by Nego (French-born player representing Hungary). Replays show on the lead up to the goal the ball might have gone out of play but VAR doesn't check that. Second goal was a great finish by Szoboszlai but interestingly how open it became late, Iceland nearly scored shortly before and were simply caught out. Will watch NIR-SVK now on ESPN3 but will skip around if it doesn't keep my interest :D
 

HajdukSplit

Registered User
Nov 9, 2005
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NIR-SVK was a very scrappy game, neither side created much and both of Slovakia's goals came from bad mistakes. Northern Ireland huffed and puffed while Slovakia didn't help themselves with poor passing and unable to keep possession, Hamsik looks done, he still is decent on the ball but in the 2nd half at times he was running like an offensive lineman when recovering a fumble. Northern Ireland almost scored a winner before fulltime but Lafferty's shot hit the post. Slovakia's winner in ET was completely against the run of play, not the best defending by Evans and the goalkeeper probably should have saved that near post shot, the last ten minutes was a rugby match really

None of the playoffs were great games but plenty of drama, Scotland played decently but faded in ET, hosting two games at Euros means they could get something there, Hungary looked the best of the four winners but they are almost in mission impossible with their group (only bright side is they will host two matches), Slovakia don't look that great, have no goal scoring threat and can't keep the ball against any sort of pressure but Skriniar is a hell of a player. Macedonia are improving but not sure how competitive they will be at the Euros as they aren't really an ultra defensive side either
 
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Ceremony

blahem
Jun 8, 2012
113,009
15,069
- Beat the Czechs
- Draw with the English
- Agree to play out a dead rubber with Croatia after they win both their games

Easy
 

Evilo

Registered User
Mar 17, 2002
61,956
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France
Well, it says all about the quality. Portugal had a great team, arguably one of their best ever, Romania same thing. England had a solid team, and Germany had trouble scoring in the final tournament (not in the qualifiers).
But more importantly, and that's why Euro 00 was great, all games were tight, with last minute drama (except for Portugal blowing out Germany).
Group C had zero game that had more than a 1 goal difference.
Group D was all France to be honest. They barely lost to the host in the last game of the group by starting all their backups.
Then France survived Spain, who had 2 penalties in the QF. Then beat Portugal in OT thanks to an fortunate penalty (handball).
Meawhile Holland plastered Italy for 90 minutes but couldn't score, missing 2 penalties (one of the biggest choking jobs of any nation's history) before obviously losing in the penalty shootout. Let's keep in mind that overall in that game, Holland score 1 penalties out of 5. Completely unheard of.
And of course, a low quality but high drama final.
 
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TheMoreYouKnow

Registered User
May 3, 2007
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Euro 2000 was arguably the low point in Germany's post-war football history. That game vs Portugal was one of the biggest joke performances by a German team in a major tournament ever. Portugal were resting starters, Germany could still qualify with a win if the Romania-England result went their way..but they totally collapsed instead.

The worst part was the total hopelessness of it. The team was basically a bunch of guys in their late 20s and 30s with the guys in the 30s like Matthäus, Häßler and Kirsten basically there because even their decline version was better than the younger guys. The only younger player with some hope was Deisler, and we all know how that ended.

That said, it was overall a pretty fun tournament. The England-Portugal game was high entertainment, so was Spain - Yugoslavia. The Dutch failure vs Italy was utterly hilarious if you don't like Holland. The French K.O. games were all pure drama, especially the Portugal game.
 

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