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Post by Shireblogger on Nov 19, 2019 23:37:08 GMT 1
Just so I'm perfectly clear, we've just completed a 250 match qualifying tournament, and the only countries that have been eliminated are:- Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Estonia, Faeroes, Gibraltar, Greece, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, San Marino & Slovenia.
Seems to be a huge amount of effort for very little benefit.
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Post by Panda on Nov 19, 2019 23:37:21 GMT 1
With hosts guaranteed to be in the group they have been chosen to host, the final tournament looks like this at present: GROUP A (hosts: Italy and Azerbaijan) Italy GROUP B (Denmark and Russia) Belgium Russia Denmark GROUP C (Netherlands and Romania) Ukraine Netherlands GROUP D (England and Scotland) England GROUP E (Spain and Ireland) Spain GROUP F (Germany and Hungary) Germany These are the apparent seedings: POT 1 Belgium, Italy, England, Germany, Spain, Ukraine POT 2 France, Poland, Switzerland, Croatia, Netherlands, Russia POT 3 Portugal, Turkey, Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Czech Republic POT 4 Wales, Finland plus the 4 playoff winners
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Post by Panda on Nov 19, 2019 23:45:40 GMT 1
17 of the 20 qualifiers so far played at the last Euros. Netherlands and Denmark return after missing out last time while Finland make their debut. Of the other 7 qualifiers in 2016, 6 (Iceland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary) are in the playoffs this time with Albania the only team that played in the last tournament eliminated so far.
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frag
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I have no idea what you're talking about, so here's a bunny with a pancake on its head.
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Post by frag on Nov 20, 2019 8:39:50 GMT 1
England's group of death scenario: England France Portugal Scotland
Group of life (and also of repetition) England Switzerland Czechia Bulgaria*
* - if Scotland end up drawn with another host, and the other host qualifies, then we may end up with the path D winners in this group.
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Post by Panda on Nov 21, 2019 17:30:36 GMT 1
UEFA has cleared up (or attempted to) the situation regarding the playoff paths. The good news is no-one is being moved who shouldn't be according to the competition rules. The bad news is it's still complicated.
So we have Scotland, Romania and Hungary - all hosts for the tournament. However, two will be in the same playoff path, following one of the below scenarios:
Scotland and Romania in Path C Scotland and Hungary in Path C Romania and Hungary in Path A
Whichever scenario is thrown up in the draw will then be allocated two possible groups in the finals draw, which takes place on the 30th. These groups will be those hosted by the two teams in question. A random draw will determine a 'priority' group for that path. Should the path be won by a non-host, they would go into the priority group in the finals. Should one of the hosts win, they go into the group they are hosting.
With this in mind, we have a better idea of which paths will be placed in which groups in the finals draw. Because the host teams involved in the playoffs are hosting Groups C, D, E and F, we know that is where the playoff winners will go. That means Wales and Finland, the bottom seeds of those who have qualified will be drawn in either Group A (with Italy) or B (with Russia, Belgium and Denmark). As Ireland are the only hosts in Path B, the winner of the path is guaranteed to be in Group E with Spain. That leaves C, D and F which will be dependent on the draw and in the case of the path with two hosts, which teams qualify. The winner of Path D will end up in the group of one of the hosts that doesn't qualify, which means they could face England if Scotland manage to make a mess of the playoffs.
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Post by Panda on Nov 21, 2019 17:36:54 GMT 1
For what it's worth, if the playoffs were contested by the 8 best 3rd-place teams, North Macedonia and Scotland would've been the two teams to miss out. Greece would be in, with the the other 7 all teams who are in the existing playoffs.
Using UEFA's seeding system, the seedings would be:
SEEDED Serbia Slovakia Ireland Iceland
UNSEEDED Northern Ireland Norway Kosovo Greece
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Nov 22, 2019 12:25:04 GMT 1
Playoff semis - ones of interest to me. Lost interest in watching who would host the finals (I'm afraid it's hard to take it all in).
Scotland v Israel Bosnia & Herzegovina v Northern Ireland Slovakia v Rep Ireland Iceland v Romania
With so many teams involved that I want to do well it's typical that Iceland and Romania are playing each other. Ideally wanted both to qualify,especially as neither are playing one of the British or Irish sides...
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Post by Panda on Nov 22, 2019 12:26:07 GMT 1
Playoff fixtures
PATH A Iceland v Romania Bulgaria v Hungary (Bulgaria or Hungary at home in final)
PATH B Bosnia & Herzegovina v Northern Ireland Slovakia v Ireland (Bosnia or N. Ireland at home in final)
PATH C Norway v Serbia Scotland v Israel (Norway or Serbia at home in final)
PATH D Georgia v Belarus North Macedonia v Kosovo (Georgia or Belarus at home in final)
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Post by Panda on Nov 22, 2019 12:28:58 GMT 1
With Hungary and Romania going into path A, it means the winners of path C will definitely be in England's group.
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Post by lewis17 on Nov 22, 2019 12:32:58 GMT 1
So to qualify Bulgaria, Bosnia, Norway & Georgia have to win two home matches, whereas Romania, Ireland, Israel & Kosovo have to win two away matches?
Seems a little unfair to me, if that's the case.
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Post by Panda on Nov 22, 2019 13:14:47 GMT 1
So to qualify Bulgaria, Bosnia, Norway & Georgia have to win two home matches, whereas Romania, Ireland, Israel & Kosovo have to win two away matches? Seems a little unfair to me, if that's the case. It's fair in terms of the semis given home advantage was determined by Nations League ranking. What I don't understand is then having a random draw to determine who's at home in the final. It seems woefully inconsistent on UEFA's part. But then nothing about this tournment makes sense.
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Nov 24, 2019 9:12:01 GMT 1
I heard it said last week that it's unfair on those teams who qualify through the playoffs as they will have less time to prepare for the tournament than nations who have already qualified.
Must admit, I do find it odd that they are doing the draw next weekend before everyone has qualified...
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Post by suedehead on Nov 24, 2019 11:17:10 GMT 1
So to qualify Bulgaria, Bosnia, Norway & Georgia have to win two home matches, whereas Romania, Ireland, Israel & Kosovo have to win two away matches? Seems a little unfair to me, if that's the case. It's fair in terms of the semis given home advantage was determined by Nations League ranking. What I don't understand is then having a random draw to determine who's at home in the final. It seems woefully inconsistent on UEFA's part. But then nothing about this tournment makes sense. OTOH, they couldn’t use seeding to determine the home side until they know who has gone through. That would mean changing the timings as they wouldn’t want to announce the venue three or four days before the match is played.
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Post by suedehead on Nov 24, 2019 11:18:34 GMT 1
I heard it said last week that it's unfair on those teams who qualify through the playoffs as they will have less time to prepare for the tournament than nations who have already qualified. Must admit, I do find it odd that they are doing the draw next weekend before everyone has qualified... The same applies every year for teams promoted via the play-offs. They have a month or so less time than the other promoted sides to improve their squad.
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Tom
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*Of Royal Blood*
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Post by Tom on Nov 24, 2019 11:47:14 GMT 1
I heard it said last week that it's unfair on those teams who qualify through the playoffs as they will have less time to prepare for the tournament than nations who have already qualified. Must admit, I do find it odd that they are doing the draw next weekend before everyone has qualified... The same applies every year for teams promoted via the play-offs. They have a month or so less time than the other promoted sides to improve their squad. It was in regards to venues, training camps etc so not sure it's the same. Also, the playoffs have never been as close to the tournament before. The qualified nations will be playing friendlies with their tournament opponents in mind. Anyone see where I'm coming from, or am just talking rubbish as per usual?!
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Post by Panda on Nov 24, 2019 20:43:27 GMT 1
I heard it said last week that it's unfair on those teams who qualify through the playoffs as they will have less time to prepare for the tournament than nations who have already qualified. Must admit, I do find it odd that they are doing the draw next weekend before everyone has qualified... The counter-argument to that would be the teams already qualified have earned that advantage by finishing in the top 2 of their group. But like I said before, this whole tournament with its 12 host cities in 12 countries is a mess. It's likely we'll find out the format for World Cup qualifying this week. The rumoured system is having 10 qualifying groups again, with the winners qualifying for the World Cup. The 10 runners-up would go into the playoffs, along with 2 teams based on Nations League performance. They'd have 3 playoff paths with semi-finals and finals to determine the last 3 qualifiers.
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Post by Panda on Oct 8, 2020 11:06:10 GMT 1
Four months after the tournament itself was supposed to be played, the Euro 2020 playoffs start tonight with the eight semi-finals: PATH A Iceland v Romania Bulgaria v Hungary PATH B Bosnia & Herzegovina v Northern Ireland Slovakia v Ireland PATH C Norway v Serbia Scotland v Israel PATH D Georgia v Belarus North Macedonia v Kosovo
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Post by Panda on Oct 9, 2020 3:23:03 GMT 1
Playoff final results: Hungary 2-1 Iceland Northern Ireland 1-2 Slovakia (AET) Serbia 1-1 Scotland (Scotland win 5-4 on penalties) Georgia 0-1 North Macedonia Scotland qualified for their first major tournament since 1998 by beating Serbia on penalties. North Macedonia qualify for the first ever tournament after beating Georgia. Hungary scored twice in the final five minutes to beat Iceland and reach their second consecutive Euros, denying Iceland a third consecutive major tournament appearance. Slovakia beat Northern Ireland in extra time to reach their second consecutive Euros. The groups: (European ranking in brackets) GROUP A (hosts: Italy and Azerbaijan) TURKEY (18) ITALY (7) WALES (14) SWITZERLAND (11) GROUP B (hosts: Denmark and Russia) DENMARK (8) FINLAND (31) BELGIUM (1) RUSSIA (19) GROUP C (hosts: Netherlands and Romania) NETHERLANDS (10) UKRAINE (15) AUSTRIA (16) NORTH MACEDONIA (34) GROUP D (hosts: England and Scotland) ENGLAND (3) CROATIA (6) SCOTLAND (26) CZECH REPUBLIC (27) GROUP E (hosts: Spain and Ireland) SPAIN (5) SWEDEN (13) POLAND (12) SLOVAKIA (21) GROUP F (hosts: Hungary and Germany) HUNGARY (28) PORTUGAL (4) FRANCE (2) GERMANY (9) Changes from Euro 2016: In: Denmark Finland Netherlands North Macedonia Scotland Out: Albania Iceland Ireland Northern Ireland Romania Dates for England and Scotland: Sun 13/6/21: ENGLAND v Croatia (14:00, Wembley) Mon 14/6/21: SCOTLAND v Czech Republic (14:00, Hampden) Fri 18/6/21: ENGLAND v SCOTLAND (20:00, Wembley) Tue 22/6/21: Croatia v SCOTLAND (20:00, Hampden) Tue 22/6/21: Czech Republic v ENGLAND (20:00, Wembley) The winners of Group D will play their last 16 match in Dublin with the quarter-final in Rome. The runners-up will go to Copenhagen in Round 2, then Saint Petersburg in the quarters. Should the 3rd placed team from Group D qualify, they would play in Bilbao, Glasgow or Budapest next, with the quarter-final in Munich, Rome or Baku.
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Post by Panda on Nov 13, 2020 4:36:11 GMT 1
How the tournament pans out based on current FIFA rankings:
Last 16: Belgium v Sweden Italy v Ukraine France v Wales Croatia v Poland Spain v Austria England v Portugal Netherlands v Germany Switzerland v Denmark
Quarter-finals: Belgium v Italy France v Croatia Spain v England Germany v Denmark
Semi-finals: Belgium v France England v Denmark
Final: Belgium v England (Belgium win)
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