Topic: The UEFA Nations League 2020/2021 Discussion Thread - page 105. (Read 17144 times)

@coinlocket$ @slaman29 normally these friendlies are arranged to help the player’s gain their fitness, and to help the coach select his playing 11 for the upcoming international fixtures, however you’ll are right that they should have called these friendlies off due to covid. Furthermore if more stars behave like England player’s then they’ll aid in covid spreading, so let’s hope that other stars won’t be breaking any covid rules.

Sources:

https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-england-stars-ruled-out-of-friendly-after-breaking-rule-of-six-12091215

https://www.straitstimes.com/sport/football/friendlies-arranged-for-players-fitness

Agree 100% here. It's tough enough for clubs to keep their players clean and isolated. And then now with Europe third wave getting so dire, I think it's a really damn bloody idea to go travel and play friendlies and possibly get everyone contaminating each other. Schedules are packed as hell and I thought things like Nations League was supposed to replace friendlies.

I seriously don't see the point.

Those matches are the Playoffs for the (postponed) Euro 2020, you can find an overview here and also discuss the matches in that thread, if you like. If you want to discuss them in here, that is fine as well imo, so we have all those international matches for the next days in one thread.

Then you perfectly understand why I hardly ever bet on draws. It's like hoping neither team scores, or one scores and lets the other draw. At best I pick Asian handicap or DNB because my brain just cannot enjoy watching a game and hoping the defence is the focus and nobody scores =p

Agree about Greece, I'm guilty of labeling them as ultra defensive (bad memories of a certain Euro where they won by defending every game haha) but we got to give them credit these days for trying to change their style because even their supporters are pissed.

Mexico beat NL was only 4/1 or I might have picked them for the upset too. That team is unplayable at times but still a problem of height for me which makes them really poor at defending against Europeans=D Jimenez got his goal as you thought but it was a penalty in the end.

I see that there are eight games today and it says Promotion in Flashscore.What promotion is this,isn’t Nation league just started a month ago or is this the promotion from last year Nations League as I am a bit confused about the games today?

It's super stupid to have all these international/qualifier matches interrupting the domestic leagues in general, I don't know anyone who likes them And all this while a lot of players are complaining with too many matches, too few time to rest in summer break etc. Footballers are super spoiled imo, but they have a point, since they have to play more and more matches every year, which also increases the risk of injuries. But as we all know, it's about money. Domestic leagues want to make money, domestic football associations, UEFA, FIFA, TV stations etc. as well. So the more matches, the better

What I would like to see, but what will never happen, is to get rid of qualifying matches for EC/WC for the majority of teams. For example Euro 2021 features 24 teams - just take the UEFA rankings and the best 12 or 16 teams are qualified automatically, they will qualify anyway. The rest of the teams can play a little 3-week tournament the summer before the event and fill the remaining places. 
That way the top players, who also play EL/CL, will have their summer completely free every two years and can rest properly. This would also shorten the domestic leagues and/or put some more room to breathe for the scheduling. And you would still find 2-3 weeks before or after season to have some kind of national team training camp with some friendlies for the teams that usually are pre-qualified by ranking.

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Fun fact: Germany has never won a match in UNL Will they finally be able to get 3 points in Ukraine on Saturday ?

I agreed with you it's a huge risk for the players playing friendlies now does not make sense why not just go for the main qualifiers and skip all these unnecessary matches for goodness sake.

Bale is not fit to play, the Lions of England are in a better position to win this encounter

England 3-1 Wales

Yeah it was a mistake thanks for the correction, Wales without Bale are like donkeys without head although I'm not expecting anything special from the Lions they should win this with ease

I went for Croatia to win on my single today, and I had a ticked screwd up by Portugal and Spain ending with a null null and my bet was both to score 
Tomorrow I'm waiting for the lineups for Whales against England, I'm trying to catch the draw or Whales to win or even the draw no bet

What even was the purpose of these friendly matches?

This year they will play a ton of games (depends on COVID), they will play 2 more games next week with the nations team

Only a waste of time, risk for COVID for no reason IMHO.

Oh yes, he is an assistant coach and probably it answers question why he was in squad. Probably there was not enough time to call another goalkeeper to the team.

That's nice! I didn't had it, but I must admit that one of his goals was really beautiful.

His name is Olivier Giroud and not Olivia
Although that game was friendlies, France destroyed Ukraine with 7 goals to 1! Same for Italy 6-0 Moldova...
Russia - Sweden and England - Wales seems the best game for tomorrow and until the resume of Nations League Saturday.

Shovkovskiy the legend    Isn't he an assistant coach for the national team, damn they must've been hit hard by covid...


Tell me yall took Giroud to score at least one? 100th cap for the national team, 1 goal behind Platini, + all the missing players for Ukraine, this was like a giveaway.

France 🇫🇷  vs Ukraine 🇺🇦
Olivia Giroud scoring his 42 goals and becoming France second-highest goal scorer just 9goals behind Henry is my only positive outcome tonight .

Spain🇪🇸 vs Potugal 🇵🇹

That game was all about pride I watched only the first half and left the boring match to winds

Germany 🇩🇪 vs Turkey🇹🇷

The German are the most unlucky team this year conceding an equalizer on the 90+ minutes in three consecutive games now is a nightmare, Rudiger and Sule is the worst CB combo the only positive news is Kai Heverzt hitting two assists with Man of the match performance
.

UEFA qualifiers Fixtures

Bulgaria 🇧🇬 vs Romania 🇷🇴

A must watch

I'm a bit disappointed about Portugal - Spain game, it wasn't very exciting and ended without goals. Only thing what I can say about this game is epic Ronaldo reaction when referee ended 1st half 10 seconds before 45 minutes were played.
France 7:1 Ukraine. What a solid performance by France. Though Ukraine had covid outbreak and were missing some important players. Interesting that Ukraine had 45 year old goalkeeper who already retired 4 years ago.
Germany - Turkey, seems it was fun game which ended 3:3. Why I picked to watch Portugal - Spain instead of this .
F. de Boer debut wasn't successful, Netherlands lost to Mexico.

This will be the first match for Frank de Boer as the new coach of The Netherlands. He replaces Koeman. Lets see how he does.

Judging by the recent result in nations League I am thinking of playing some under 2.5 games. I hate betting on under goals it is just so boring. You see an attacker going one on one with the keeper and yelling please don't score Did not play anything yet I am always placing bets at last moment possible when line ups are available unless I am afraid of odds dropping drastically.

I prefer betting on both to score markets so I have chosen 3 games for today all odds @1.75-1.8, friendlies today and I hope defense will not be a priority today
Switzerland - Croatia - mixed line ups but should be goals here since we are always good for goal or two and we will concede from some corner or free kick for sure
Austria - Greece - somebody wrote about this new Greece, I think my buddy efi, and I checked them a bit, they are much more attacking oriented at the moment
Netherlands - Mexico - this one is played with best starting 11 from what I could see and will probably be the best game to watch tonight. I am betting on Jimenez to put one past Dutch defense

Betting on friendly games is always more risky than official matches. Still, I'm going to make few small bets. Netherlands to win vs Mexico @1.67 and Netherlands win over Finland @1.67. Portugal - Spain BTTS @1.6. Italy - Moldova over 3.5 @1.6. And Capa Verde to win against San Marino @1.67.