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Topic: ⚽ UEFA Euro 2024 in Germany ⚽ - Qualifiers - page 339. (Read 46401 times)

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If the intent was to replace the friendlies, then this has been a huge failure. Friendlies are played when the players get a break from the league matches, or when the association feels that there is a need to prepare the team ahead of a major tournament. Fixing these sort of matches way ahead is not going to work. And we saw this during the Nations League. A lot of the main players pulled out of the competition, and even those who agreed to play didn't gave much importance to these matches. I guess UEFA need to stop meddling everywhere.

I agree. I think that UEFA is giving much more importance to the fans than to the players. Friendlies were played for a reason - to prepare the team for the upcoming competition, to introduce new players to the team and so on. It's normal that the best players doesn't want to play in the Nations League or doesn't give their 100%.

In the end players are suffering from increased workload. Clubs are getting more demanding now, as they are paying huge amounts as salaries. Apart from the national leagues, the clubs are participating in increasing number of matches such as friendlies and other competitions such as the FIFA Club World Cup. At the same time, international duty has also increased. FIFA has expanded the world cup, number of international friendlies have gone up and the tournaments being organized by different confederations such as UEFA are also expanding.

@Sithara007 I totally agree on these because during the Nations League matches player’s were happy to lose the game rather then play with more intensity and win the match and if this competition gets scrapped then it would provide big relief for the player’s. Furthermore if it doesn’t get scrapped and World Cup is held every two year’s then we will be seeing multiple squads for these competition as star player’s won’t participate in all the competitions.
legendary
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If the intent was to replace the friendlies, then this has been a huge failure. Friendlies are played when the players get a break from the league matches, or when the association feels that there is a need to prepare the team ahead of a major tournament. Fixing these sort of matches way ahead is not going to work. And we saw this during the Nations League. A lot of the main players pulled out of the competition, and even those who agreed to play didn't gave much importance to these matches. I guess UEFA need to stop meddling everywhere.

I agree. I think that UEFA is giving much more importance to the fans than to the players. Friendlies were played for a reason - to prepare the team for the upcoming competition, to introduce new players to the team and so on. It's normal that the best players doesn't want to play in the Nations League or doesn't give their 100%.

In the end players are suffering from increased workload. Clubs are getting more demanding now, as they are paying huge amounts as salaries. Apart from the national leagues, the clubs are participating in increasing number of matches such as friendlies and other competitions such as the FIFA Club World Cup. At the same time, international duty has also increased. FIFA has expanded the world cup, number of international friendlies have gone up and the tournaments being organized by different confederations such as UEFA are also expanding.
hero member
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OrangeFren.com
The Nations League is definitely an unnecessary format. It is like it has been created to tire players even more. There are very crucial tournaments like Euro and World Cup on one hand. It is very important for teams to keep their players injury-free and fully fit for those big tournaments.

The next Nations League tournament must be in the 2024/25 season if I'm not wrong. This will just increase the risk of getting injured or cause them to become extra tired before Euro 2024. Most of the teams would like to rest their main players of course and this would make the Nations League even more boring.

UEFA should think of removing this tournament.
The National league is like practise match to the top players before going to the World Cup and Euro leagues.Some players use to take rest till the game of Euro and World Cup.Because this two games will give good name to the player and explosure.The most important one for the player is to injury free and should recover from the injury in the short period of time.The football need of huge stamina as compared to the cricket game.Because in cricket player will get some rest time during the batting time of their team.Because only two will use to bat at a time.But football need of full stamina to all the player except the goal-keeper.The National leagues all the time make the player to get injury before the Euro game most of the time.
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France's performance in the first half of the 2022 World Cup was not at all satisfactory but when France picked up several players from the starting XI, France bounced back against Argentina. 

When Ousmane Dembélé, Giroud Griezmann were taken off the field in the second half, France played brilliantly and Mbappe was unstoppable. If Karim Benzema had been present in the final match, France would have gone a step closer to winning the World Cup. Only one save at the very end of the game denied France the World Cup and their penalty shootout was not at all satisfactory which saw them lose the final match. France can do quite well with the team they currently have.
The biggest problem if you ask me was the defense. They were too far up the pitch in both goals and took time to get back. Look at the first goal, it was a penalty and a fault of the defense, you do not do that on the world cup finals, it wasn't like a tackle or anything neither, it was just pure mistake. Look at the second goal, defense was nowhere to be found when Argentina started their counter attack, you see them get the ball, start hitting back already, stop with the offisde trick.

All in all I believe that we are going to probably see them have better defensive understanding, they need to be planted better and they need to do better. Offense was great all game long and I do not see any issues with that at all.
legendary
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The Nations League is definitely an unnecessary format. It is like it has been created to tire players even more. There are very crucial tournaments like Euro and World Cup on one hand. It is very important for teams to keep their players injury-free and fully fit for those big tournaments.

The next Nations League tournament must be in the 2024/25 season if I'm not wrong. This will just increase the risk of getting injured or cause them to become extra tired before Euro 2024. Most of the teams would like to rest their main players of course and this would make the Nations League even more boring.

UEFA should think of removing this tournament.

I doubt that UEFA will admit their mistakes, especially considering that other players in the market are promoting their crappy tournaments (FIFA with its Club World Cup + World Cup every 2 years). And besides that, there is still a danger from the Superleague. So this tournament will continue to exist, but it will mean no more than friendly games.
sr. member
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It's true what you said, in fact most of the players in the French National Team are naturalized from other countries. Personally, the egoism that is shown is not based on the origin of the player but rather on his star status at club level and individual fan base. The role of the coach and seniority is very important to reduce the attitude of fellow players on the field so that the final goal is to win the match. Didier Deschamps' squad in the Euro 2024 qualifiers was mostly made up of young players overall, otherwise only Giroud and Griezmann are over 30+.

Specifically, I would say that a player who is selfish above the average other players in the French squad is Mbappe, yes, I think it's natural because he is the main focus of the team. Maybe he will become a permanent captain to replace the role of Hugo Lloris who retired from the national team.

Most of the French players are born and brought up in France, and only a few are naturalized (although majority are of immigrant origin). So I don't think that it is an issue. I haven't noticed any team bonding issues with teams like England and Netherlands, although they are also having mostly immigrant squads. I am disappointed that despite having so many great players, France fails to perform well at major tournaments. They reached the final of 2022 Qatar world, but in the end it was a meek surrender to Lionel Messi's Argentina.

@Sithara007 French failed because they were not entirely united and failed to get Benzema back in time even when he was cleared to participate due to reasons unknown to us. Furthermore Mbappe will definitely be dominating the French squad and even the coach clearly supports him but I’m waiting to see if Pogba returns will the squad be divided or they’ll continue to support Mbappe for the captain band.

Based on the performance of France team in the last World Cup it would be stupid from any coach whoever this coach is to not continue the support for Mbappe.As long as this player led France to the final of the World Cup it means that he most probably would do well and maybe even better than there in the Euro 2024.If Pogba and Benzema returns these would be great additions to the team but the main player who will lead France should definitely be one of the best players in the world which is clearly Mbappe.France is maybe the strongest contender to win this title.
France's performance in the first half of the 2022 World Cup was not at all satisfactory but when France picked up several players from the starting XI, France bounced back against Argentina. 

When Ousmane Dembélé, Giroud Griezmann were taken off the field in the second half, France played brilliantly and Mbappe was unstoppable. If Karim Benzema had been present in the final match, France would have gone a step closer to winning the World Cup. Only one save at the very end of the game denied France the World Cup and their penalty shootout was not at all satisfactory which saw them lose the final match. France can do quite well with the team they currently have.
sr. member
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kycfree
The Nations League is definitely an unnecessary format. It is like it has been created to tire players even more. There are very crucial tournaments like Euro and World Cup on one hand. It is very important for teams to keep their players injury-free and fully fit for those big tournaments.

The next Nations League tournament must be in the 2024/25 season if I'm not wrong. This will just increase the risk of getting injured or cause them to become extra tired before Euro 2024. Most of the teams would like to rest their main players of course and this would make the Nations League even more boring.

UEFA should think of removing this tournament.
legendary
Activity: 2590
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If the intent was to replace the friendlies, then this has been a huge failure. Friendlies are played when the players get a break from the league matches, or when the association feels that there is a need to prepare the team ahead of a major tournament. Fixing these sort of matches way ahead is not going to work. And we saw this during the Nations League. A lot of the main players pulled out of the competition, and even those who agreed to play didn't gave much importance to these matches. I guess UEFA need to stop meddling everywhere.

I agree. I think that UEFA is giving much more importance to the fans than to the players. Friendlies were played for a reason - to prepare the team for the upcoming competition, to introduce new players to the team and so on. It's normal that the best players doesn't want to play in the Nations League or doesn't give their 100%.
legendary
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If I'm not mistaken, the Nations League tournament was suppose to replace friendly games that were played. Those games had small number of spectators so UEFA wanted to make them more competitive. The problem with that is there is no clear goal that nations are fighting for in the Nations League. If they change the format to super-cup (knockout games), then all nations that drop out will have to play friendly games. That defeats the purpose of the Nations League.

I'm not saying that I enjoy watching Nations League games. They would definitely be more attractive if there was more incentive for nations to win.

If the intent was to replace the friendlies, then this has been a huge failure. Friendlies are played when the players get a break from the league matches, or when the association feels that there is a need to prepare the team ahead of a major tournament. Fixing these sort of matches way ahead is not going to work. And we saw this during the Nations League. A lot of the main players pulled out of the competition, and even those who agreed to play didn't gave much importance to these matches. I guess UEFA need to stop meddling everywhere.
legendary
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-snip-

Well, it is obvious that each person has a way of thinking about CR7, personally if I consider that he is one of the best in the world, what does his temperament have? Yes but why? because he wants to win all the time, which he will say, if you are in the Portugal team you have to give it all, that nothing is left, that your soul remains on the field, as it should be, it is your country that you are representing, And when he sees that his teammates don't give it their all, he gets like that, and I understand it, how many of us haven't gotten like that when we play soccer and see that others don't feel like it? are we happy? maybe when you play for the sake of playing, but in a championship you have to give everything, and that he has played 700 legal games with his country, that he scored the goal, that is worth seeing, for me he is still the best in the world next to Messi , and personally no other player of the quality of the two of them has come out.
I know that and forever Ronaldo will remain an idol and a legend in the history of Portuguese football.
While playing for the Portugal national team, Ronaldo scored 122 goals in 198 matches and this is an extraordinary achievement that Ronaldo has given to the Portugal national team.
But on the other hand, from his great achievements, he is also often a controversial player and has always been a hot topic of conversation by all football fans and observers.

I never really liked Ronaldo.... Yes, of course as a player he is one of the best in the world, but his behaviour in the team did cause a lot of controversy.... There were even rumours that when he played at Real Madrid, he could tell the coach which player would play and which would not be in the team.... But luckily now there is a new generation of good footballers growing up in the Portuguese national team....

Well, it's respectable, we all have a perception of the players, and we can issue an opinion, at first when CR7 made himself known I didn't like his style, I thought he was a very self-centered person and that bothered me, besides I didn't like him because he cried a lot, according to this one creates a perception of a player, after seeing his plays I liked his plays better because he showed a style almost free style and he was not afraid of any player, after I saw a little more of him, as he was, his personality, charity work was something that I liked and I determined that he is not a bad person, at some point when we as players go to play soccer we come across people who believe a lot and dislike them, but They turn out to be good people.

There are fans of CR7 who hate Messi, and fans of Messi who hate CR7, what they don't know is that they are two great legends that we should take advantage of our times so that we can enjoy more of their plays.

I agree with you guys on UEFA Nations League. It is a garbage tournament and needs to be shelved. If they want, they can expand the Euro Cup. But the Nations League is pure rubbish. Anyway, how can we even follow a tournament that is spread out across two years? And what is the need for such a tournament when we have the Euro Cup? If they still want to retain the Nations League, then they should change the format to super-cup (i.e all the matches being playoffs with no group stage), and complete the tournament in one to two weeks.

If I'm not mistaken, the Nations League tournament was suppose to replace friendly games that were played. Those games had small number of spectators so UEFA wanted to make them more competitive. The problem with that is there is no clear goal that nations are fighting for in the Nations League. If they change the format to super-cup (knockout games), then all nations that drop out will have to play friendly games. That defeats the purpose of the Nations League.

I'm not saying that I enjoy watching Nations League games. They would definitely be more attractive if there was more incentive for nations to win.

One way that I have thought of making this tournament worthwhile, which is not bad, but I think that sometimes there are opportunities that coincide with great competitions is that they give incentives, for example, the country that wins the Nations League to be given a place in the World Cup, that is a good incentive and that would raise the nicvl of this competition, I think that if it does something like that it will stop being rubbish, although that is not descriptive for me, but I understand why what they say

This is very similar when they do the Euro, or when they do the Copa América in South America, they don't give incentives, it doesn't make any sense to win the Copa América if they say they are the champions of the Americas, but without places in the World Cup, it can happen that a team X wins the Copa América but does not qualify for the World Cup and it has happened, the same thing happens with the Euro and the Nations League, so it would be interesting if they put it to use in that way, winning the trophy and a place in the World Cup.

Personally, I always like to watch the matches in Europe, the countries have a high level, especially the team that gives the most talk, in this case I think everyone, I would like Italy to play a good role, because Italian football is one of the most beautiful and hardest in the world, the history of Il Calcio is beautiful.
legendary
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Yes, this is a garbage tournament and even its format is completely garbage - no one will look at a tournament stretched out over a couple of years. The bad news is that this tournament is not "isolated" but affects other important events like the Euro. And the ticket distribution format for the losers also causes great annoyance - to understand it, I studied Wikipedia for about 15 minutes and also read comments on other sites. I do not understand how it was possible to come up with this stupid format with three paths.

I agree with you guys on UEFA Nations League. It is a garbage tournament and needs to be shelved. If they want, they can expand the Euro Cup. But the Nations League is pure rubbish. Anyway, how can we even follow a tournament that is spread out across two years? And what is the need for such a tournament when we have the Euro Cup? If they still want to retain the Nations League, then they should change the format to super-cup (i.e all the matches being playoffs with no group stage), and complete the tournament in one to two weeks.

It is extended over 2 years. If, for example, some team is in League B, then it must first get into League A, then win the group and only then win the playoffs. As I understand it will take 4 years. If we are talking about a team from League C, then we are talking about 6 years. For example, Greece, which was the European champion, is now in the C League. Broken format.
legendary
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I agree with you guys on UEFA Nations League. It is a garbage tournament and needs to be shelved. If they want, they can expand the Euro Cup. But the Nations League is pure rubbish. Anyway, how can we even follow a tournament that is spread out across two years? And what is the need for such a tournament when we have the Euro Cup? If they still want to retain the Nations League, then they should change the format to super-cup (i.e all the matches being playoffs with no group stage), and complete the tournament in one to two weeks.

If I'm not mistaken, the Nations League tournament was suppose to replace friendly games that were played. Those games had small number of spectators so UEFA wanted to make them more competitive. The problem with that is there is no clear goal that nations are fighting for in the Nations League. If they change the format to super-cup (knockout games), then all nations that drop out will have to play friendly games. That defeats the purpose of the Nations League.

I'm not saying that I enjoy watching Nations League games. They would definitely be more attractive if there was more incentive for nations to win.
legendary
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Yes, this is a garbage tournament and even its format is completely garbage - no one will look at a tournament stretched out over a couple of years. The bad news is that this tournament is not "isolated" but affects other important events like the Euro. And the ticket distribution format for the losers also causes great annoyance - to understand it, I studied Wikipedia for about 15 minutes and also read comments on other sites. I do not understand how it was possible to come up with this stupid format with three paths.

I agree with you guys on UEFA Nations League. It is a garbage tournament and needs to be shelved. If they want, they can expand the Euro Cup. But the Nations League is pure rubbish. Anyway, how can we even follow a tournament that is spread out across two years? And what is the need for such a tournament when we have the Euro Cup? If they still want to retain the Nations League, then they should change the format to super-cup (i.e all the matches being playoffs with no group stage), and complete the tournament in one to two weeks.
legendary
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It will be super funny if the current European champion, after missing the World Cup, also misses the European Championship itself  Grin
But for some reason it seems to me that even if they do not take one of the first two places in the group, they will get a ticket from the additional tournament in which they will 100% get - they have the bronze of the League of Nations, so they will have the highest rating among the rest of the losers.

Well, good that you bring this up with those alternative ways to qualify for the Euro 24, but I can tell you that I am not a fan of al these formats the FIFA and UEFA have created. Just to find out what the chances are for a team to qualify for the Euro or not, how many websites do you even have to visit these days and how many tournaments to follow? The League of Nations is stupid. Nobody values it unless a team is dependent on it to qualify for the Euro. But it has no meaning in terms of the results there. Just look at France, 5 points out of 6 games and 7 and 8 points behind Denmark and Croatia, respectively. England 3 points out of 6 games, not a single win in all those games and 7 points behind Hungary. What is the point of this stupid tournament? It is not because those teams are bad, it is because they give a shit about the League of Nations. I can't remember whether I ever watched a game of that tournament.

Yes, this is a garbage tournament and even its format is completely garbage - no one will look at a tournament stretched out over a couple of years. The bad news is that this tournament is not "isolated" but affects other important events like the Euro. And the ticket distribution format for the losers also causes great annoyance - to understand it, I studied Wikipedia for about 15 minutes and also read comments on other sites. I do not understand how it was possible to come up with this stupid format with three paths.
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It would be strange if Belgium were easy to beat (even for a top team) because even now, after a series of failures, they are in 5th place in the FIFA rankings. Morocco is a good example, but they looked strong in general, some other events look much more random (like Germany not qualifying from the group to the next round, for example) or when an obviously weaker team knocks out a favorite in a penalty shootout (as was the case with France at the previous Euro).

Yes but sometimes even the teams who were easy to beat back in the days turn out to be harder opponents than expected. Iceland is one of those teams and even Luxembourg is doing so much better than what we were used to. Italy is one of the negative examples, even failing to qualify for the World Cup altogether and another dangerous situation could be on the horizon for them if they don't manage to beat Ukraine in the Euro qualifiers in the fist leg against them. It would come down to a showdown on the last day of the qualifiers.

It will be super funny if the current European champion, after missing the World Cup, also misses the European Championship itself  Grin
But for some reason it seems to me that even if they do not take one of the first two places in the group, they will get a ticket from the additional tournament in which they will 100% get - they have the bronze of the League of Nations, so they will have the highest rating among the rest of the losers.

Well, good that you bring this up with those alternative ways to qualify for the Euro 24, but I can tell you that I am not a fan of al these formats the FIFA and UEFA have created. Just to find out what the chances are for a team to qualify for the Euro or not, how many websites do you even have to visit these days and how many tournaments to follow? The League of Nations is stupid. Nobody values it unless a team is dependent on it to qualify for the Euro. But it has no meaning in terms of the results there. Just look at France, 5 points out of 6 games and 7 and 8 points behind Denmark and Croatia, respectively. England 3 points out of 6 games, not a single win in all those games and 7 points behind Hungary. What is the point of this stupid tournament? It is not because those teams are bad, it is because they give a shit about the League of Nations. I can't remember whether I ever watched a game of that tournament.
hero member
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Kylian Mbappe is really a big chance for France. They have to make the best use of him, which they did in the World Cup and after extra time they lost the World Cup on penalties. I am now convinced that France is the strongest team for Euro 2024. Of course, Benzema is a good player, but Mbappe is a player who can fill his void. They will need to keep Mbappe at the top.
Every prospective country has its prominent individuals and, most importantly, the players capable of leading the club to triumph. The Euro 2024 is just around the corner, and I can't wait to see how these countries fare. France has always been my favorite club; they have a good group of skilled players that are looking for a ShowOff during games. Kylian Mbappe is a big name right now; he delivers at both club and national levels, which has swayed enough people to trust him with the new era leading version. Mentioning Benzema in country games, he doesn't even have a space there, because he never delivers in country games.
legendary
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Kylian Mbappe is really a big chance for France. They have to make the best use of him, which they did in the World Cup and after extra time they lost the World Cup on penalties. I am now convinced that France is the strongest team for Euro 2024. Of course, Benzema is a good player, but Mbappe is a player who can fill his void. They will need to keep Mbappe at the top.

Kylian Mbappé is just 24 years old. Already a lot of people are comparing him with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. IMO, such comparisons are premature. He has just started his career and has a long way to go. It will be better not to put additional pressure on him, by comparing him with legends. And regarding the role of Benzema, I am confident that Mbappé will be able to replace him. Benzema is already 35 years old and he has moved out of Europe by signing a 3-year contract with the Saudi club Al-Ittihad.
legendary
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It would be strange if Belgium were easy to beat (even for a top team) because even now, after a series of failures, they are in 5th place in the FIFA rankings. Morocco is a good example, but they looked strong in general, some other events look much more random (like Germany not qualifying from the group to the next round, for example) or when an obviously weaker team knocks out a favorite in a penalty shootout (as was the case with France at the previous Euro).

Yes but sometimes even the teams who were easy to beat back in the days turn out to be harder opponents than expected. Iceland is one of those teams and even Luxembourg is doing so much better than what we were used to. Italy is one of the negative examples, even failing to qualify for the World Cup altogether and another dangerous situation could be on the horizon for them if they don't manage to beat Ukraine in the Euro qualifiers in the fist leg against them. It would come down to a showdown on the last day of the qualifiers.

It will be super funny if the current European champion, after missing the World Cup, also misses the European Championship itself  Grin
But for some reason it seems to me that even if they do not take one of the first two places in the group, they will get a ticket from the additional tournament in which they will 100% get - they have the bronze of the League of Nations, so they will have the highest rating among the rest of the losers.
sr. member
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It's true what you said, in fact most of the players in the French National Team are naturalized from other countries. Personally, the egoism that is shown is not based on the origin of the player but rather on his star status at club level and individual fan base. The role of the coach and seniority is very important to reduce the attitude of fellow players on the field so that the final goal is to win the match. Didier Deschamps' squad in the Euro 2024 qualifiers was mostly made up of young players overall, otherwise only Giroud and Griezmann are over 30+.

Specifically, I would say that a player who is selfish above the average other players in the French squad is Mbappe, yes, I think it's natural because he is the main focus of the team. Maybe he will become a permanent captain to replace the role of Hugo Lloris who retired from the national team.

Most of the French players are born and brought up in France, and only a few are naturalized (although majority are of immigrant origin). So I don't think that it is an issue. I haven't noticed any team bonding issues with teams like England and Netherlands, although they are also having mostly immigrant squads. I am disappointed that despite having so many great players, France fails to perform well at major tournaments. They reached the final of 2022 Qatar world, but in the end it was a meek surrender to Lionel Messi's Argentina.

@Sithara007 French failed because they were not entirely united and failed to get Benzema back in time even when he was cleared to participate due to reasons unknown to us. Furthermore Mbappe will definitely be dominating the French squad and even the coach clearly supports him but I’m waiting to see if Pogba returns will the squad be divided or they’ll continue to support Mbappe for the captain band.

Based on the performance of France team in the last World Cup it would be stupid from any coach whoever this coach is to not continue the support for Mbappe.As long as this player led France to the final of the World Cup it means that he most probably would do well and maybe even better than there in the Euro 2024.If Pogba and Benzema returns these would be great additions to the team but the main player who will lead France should definitely be one of the best players in the world which is clearly Mbappe.France is maybe the strongest contender to win this title.

Kylian Mbappe is really a big chance for France. They have to make the best use of him, which they did in the World Cup and after extra time they lost the World Cup on penalties. I am now convinced that France is the strongest team for Euro 2024. Of course, Benzema is a good player, but Mbappe is a player who can fill his void. They will need to keep Mbappe at the top.
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Yes, the KDB himself said that this generation of the Belgian team was the strongest but did not win anything, and I think he not only stated the fact, but also meant that this generation had already passed its peak. When compared with the young Netherlands team, it is obvious that they are more promising, although maybe right now they can be weaker than Belgium.
But fans of the Belgian team should not lose heart - the randomness is large in international tournaments and maybe Belgium will still win something even if they are not at their peak.

I think that is really important to mention. The randomness is so high that in almost every tournament we have one of these surprising teams like it was Morocco in Qatar. But they often have one thing in common and that is that they have two or three leaders who can keep pushing the whole team during a tournament and who have lots of experience in playing on the highest level. For me Belgium counts to those teams that can make any top team stumble. When De Bruyne plays his best and they go all out, there is no easy win against them ever.

It would be strange if Belgium were easy to beat (even for a top team) because even now, after a series of failures, they are in 5th place in the FIFA rankings. Morocco is a good example, but they looked strong in general, some other events look much more random (like Germany not qualifying from the group to the next round, for example) or when an obviously weaker team knocks out a favorite in a penalty shootout (as was the case with France at the previous Euro).

Yes but sometimes even the teams who were easy to beat back in the days turn out to be harder opponents than expected. Iceland is one of those teams and even Luxembourg is doing so much better than what we were used to. Italy is one of the negative examples, even failing to qualify for the World Cup altogether and another dangerous situation could be on the horizon for them if they don't manage to beat Ukraine in the Euro qualifiers in the fist leg against them. It would come down to a showdown on the last day of the qualifiers.
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