Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

England still need to secure top seeding for the tournament, seemingly, so perhaps that's what the point means

that being said, they will already not have to be in a group with Italy, NL, Spain, Germany or the remaining 'host' nations

I've tried to work out why they won't have to face NL or Germany, but I haven't come up with a reason yet..... it's a convoluted process... too difficult for me

as it stands atm... Group A will be 'hosted' by Italy, B by Russia (I have no idea why), D by England, E by Spain. C and F have yet to be decided

My head hurts

I only saw the first 20 mins and the last 20 mins

I'm feeling as though I dodged a bullet there if the bit in between was as dire as most of what I did see. If it hadn't been for a good 10 mins at the end, that would have been as dull as ditch water........ although it probably was even with the last 10 mins.

Kane has scored in his last 6 England matches. No other England player has ever done it, yet it's Kane's second time

Job done, England will be seeded and avoid Belgium, Germany and Italy at least.

Portugal won't be seeded though, and one of Spain or France...

I read that England have definitely avoided Spain. Don't know about France

Spain beat Romania on Monday to ensure they will be seeded.

As best I can tell, Italy, England, Belgium, Spain and Ukraine are guaranteed to be seeded, with the last seeding spot between Germany and France (or maybe an outside chance of Poland). If Germany beat Northern Ireland today, they'll be seeded at France's expense.

The second tier could easily include Portugal, France, Netherlands and Croatia at least...

Is it me, or do the playoffs seem ludicrously over-involved?

it isn't you

It's spreading the finals over the whole continent and then trying to ensure that the 6 host nations all get to play their group matches at home..... and was there not the added complication of replacing friendlies with the Nations cup/league/whatever?

It might work very well, next summer, it might even be the way forward for the future, I guess we'll have to wait and see, but it has certainly complicated the qualification process

The seedings themselves are pretty ridiculous. France wins its group, is current world champions, was last tournaments beaten finalists, and played in Nations League Level A..... but for some reason is unseeded in favour of Ukraine, who didnt qualify for a world cup for at least 16 years, lost every game at the last Euro Tournament, and who play in Nations League Level C.

On what possible grounds can Ukraine be ranked higher than France? Or Portugal, the current holders of said competition, and the current holders of the Nations League, both the competitions that I believe dictates the seedings.

Apparently the current champions will be ranked in pot C, so England could get France and Portugal..... between them they would hold every single competition available currently at club level and international level (World Cup, Euros, Euro Nations League, Champions League, Europa League all held by these nations or club sides in them).

Way to go UEFA, makes perfect sense.

UEFA have taken the (sensible, probably) decision to keep Russia and Ukraine apart. Russia for a reason completely unknown to me will be the seeded team in group B (is it?), so perhaps Ukraine have received their top billing to make sure that the two sides can only meet in a neutral country very late in the competition.... too late in the comp for it to actually happen, perhaps?

it seems an odd way to go about achieving this, but it might help to explain the seemingly inexplicable

I'm only guessing, btw

bigfluffylemon wrote:Job done, England will be seeded and avoid Belgium, Germany and Italy at least.

Portugal won't be seeded though, and one of Spain or France...

Germany find themselves in the same group as France and Portugal............ ouch!

England get Croatia, Czech Republic and one of Scotland/Norway/Serbia/Israel

Group A: Italy, Switzerland, Turkey, Wales
Group B: Belgium, Russia, Denmark, Finland
Group C: Ukraine, Netherlands, Austria, Path D/A*
Group D: England, Croatia, Czech Republic, Path C**
Group E: Spain, Poland, Sweden, Path B***
Group F: Germany, France, Portugal, Path A/D*

*Iceland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary / Georgia, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Belarus

**Scotland, Israel, Norway, Serbia

***Slovakia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland

the bad news though, is that pretty much wherever they finish in their group, they'll face one of Germany, France or Portugal in their first KO match

no doubt that will go well

so much for their chances of home SF and F matches

Euros postponed from 2020 to 2021.

and I'll bet every domestic league in Europe has just breathed a huge sigh of relief

England thump San Marino, naturally.

I do have to question the whole set-up, really. Why are nations like San Marino, Andorra, Faroes etc. their own teams, and why do they play qualifying matches against the likes of England, Germany and Belgium? Just wastes everybody's time. Half the time the victories against the lowest ranked team in the group seem to be disregarded anyway, rendering it completely pointless.

I also have to wonder why these countries even bother entering teams, year after year. Most competitions around the world are seeded or set into leagues so teams of a similar ability can compete and you have a chance to win some games, sometimes. If the best you can ever hope for is to score once while losing heavily, with the size and resourcing of the country and team meaning there is no hope of ever really getting much better, what's the point?

But then, I guess sport is never fair, especially international sport. Money doesn't buy success, but it sure as hell helps.