UEFA Nations League 2018/19

[Ed]

No!!
The tournament top scorer was Seferovic with 5 goals.

I think Aleksandar Mitrovic with 6 goals is the tournament top scorer

[Dragonite]

No!!
The tournament top scorer was Seferovic with 5 goals.

I think Aleksandar Mitrovic with 6 goals is the tournament top scorer

Ok, Seferovic was League A’s top scorer with 5 goals, Dzeko and Schick were League B’s top scorers with 3 each, Mitrovic was League C’s top scorer with 6, and Movsisyan and Dragun were League D’s top scorers with 5 each.

And o yeah: of course the Nations League title was important for us (we are not that blasé, German forum members ). After all, it would have been only our second title.

If Holland was World Champion in 1974 and/or 1978 and/or 2010 would it change anything?

Guys like Stekelenburg, Van der Wiel, Heitinga, Mathijsen, Van Brockhorst, Van Bommel, Nigel De Jong, Robben, Sneijder, Kuyt, Van Persie, Elia, Van der Vaart, Braafheid would have a World Cup gold medal instead of a silver medal, but how would that affect the attitude of the current group of players who had nothing to do with what happened nine years ago?

[Ed]

If Holland was World Champion in 1974 and/or 1978 and/or 2010 would it change anything?

I don't think so. Of course the importance of the Nations League still has to establish itself as this was only the maiden edition. But UEFA made it very clear from the first introduction that they want it to be a new title, existing next to the EURO-title, and played with a high frequency (every other year). Also the status of the Nations League is enhanced by using the resulting NL-ranking as seeding instrument for at least the EURO qualifying (and possibly also for the UEFA WC-qualifying although I don't think FIFA will allow that).

[Dragonite]

The Soviet Union was the original European champion in 1960.
They won it playing 4 games only:
Last 16 round, two legs against Hungary
(In the quarter finals they would have faced Spain in another two legged tie, but Spain was disqualified)
Semifinal and final both played in France against Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia respectively.

Isn’t this a “serious” trophy because it only took 4 matches to win it?

In 1964 Spain won it playing 10 games only (twice against Romania, twice against Northern Ireland, twice against Republic of Ireland, and then the semifinal and final at home against Hungary and Soviet Union respectively).
In 1968 Italy won it playing 9 games only (6 in a group with Romania, Switzerland and Cyprus, followed by semifinal and final at home against Soviet Union and Yugoslavia respectively. They needed a coin toss to eliminate Soviet Union and to repeat the final to defeat Yugoslavia, the first was a draw).
In 1972, West Germany won it playing 8 games only (6 in a group with Poland, Turkey and Albania, followed by semifinal and final in Belgium against Belgium and Soviet Union respectively).
In 1976, Czechoslovakia won it playing 8 games only (6 in a group with England, Portugal and Cyprus, followed by semifinal and final in Yugoslavia against Holland and West Germany respectively).

I’d say that the current Nations League resembles the early days of the European Championship.

And when it started over half a century ago, there were also the “greenbays and Burningstorms” back then saying things like “this doesn’t matter, the only thing that matters is the World Cup”.

[Todor]

In 1972, West Germany won it playing 8 games only (6 in a group with Poland, Turkey and Albania, followed by semifinal and final in Belgium against Belgium and Soviet Union respectively).
In 1976, Czechoslovakia won it playing 8 games only (6 in a group with England, Portugal and Cyprus, followed by semifinal and final in Yugoslavia against Holland and West Germany respectively).

In 1972 there was definitely a quarterfinal stage, as Germany beat England 3:1 at Wembley and drew 0:0 at home. I guess it was the same in 1976.

[Aliceag]

I'm very happy for another deserved title for Portugal in an extremely difficult tournament to win - the best 12 teams are part of it, and there is literally no error margin, unlike the Euro or the World cup where you can trip and still win. In the games that really count Portugal has been increadibly hard to beat: they were removed from Confederations cup in a PSO against Chile, and were beaten by Uruguay in World Cup after wrongly being sent to the wrong bracket of the cup. Otherwise I smell we could have won the world cup against european opposition. In case Portugal makes it to the Euro 2020 I say we're contenders for it.

Portugal seems to struggle in qualifications and against smaller opposition: less preparation time and less mental challenge: Portugal strength since 2000 is the team spirit we get in final stages after long time with the team being all together and playing as a whole. Mind that in final stages Portugal could also have won Euro 2004 and Euro 2012 (PSO against Spain, the eventual winners), so this is not new at all.

I'd also like to post a reflection on the effects of VAR: did everyone see how England was again being carried by referees and how VAR prevented disaster to happen? In a no-VAR world England would have won against Holland 1-2 and then God know what would be the final. And against Switzerland they would have won 0-1 in regular time. Yes, I still remember how England actually also won against Portugal in 1966 in a ILLEGAL way. I'm glad VAR now exists, because if teams like Portugal are now able to win tournaments it might be also because some big guns will finally get exposed and prevented to win with their typical illegal goals.
Though, I keep saying that probably VAR is also the reason why Portugal hasn't won WC 2018, with that non-penalty against Iran and then sent to the wrong bracket... Still, lets wait for a couple more tournaments to see the overall effect VAR will be having on the big guns and evening out things. I'm expecting more big guns will start failing as Germany, Italy, France and Spain already did.

[Dragonite]

I'm very happy for another deserved title for Portugal in an extremely difficult tournament to win - the best 12 teams are part of it, and there is literally no error margin, unlike the Euro or the World cup where you can trip and still win. In the games that really count Portugal has been increadibly hard to beat: they were removed from Confederations cup in a PSO against Chile, and were beaten by Uruguay in World Cup after wrongly being sent to the wrong bracket of the cup. Otherwise I smell we could have won the world cup against european opposition. In case Portugal makes it to the Euro 2020 I say we're contenders for it.

Portugal seems to struggle in qualifications and against smaller opposition: less preparation time and less mental challenge: Portugal strength since 2000 is the team spirit we get in final stages after long time with the team being all together and playing as a whole. Mind that in final stages Portugal could also have won Euro 2004 and Euro 2012 (PSO against Spain, the eventual winners), so this is not new at all.

I'd also like to post a reflection on the effects of VAR: did everyone see how England was again being carried by referees and how VAR prevented disaster to happen? In a no-VAR world England would have won against Holland 1-2 and then God know what would be the final. And against Switzerland they would have won 0-1 in regular time. Yes, I still remember how England actually also won against Portugal in 1966 in a ILLEGAL way. I'm glad VAR now exists, because if teams like Portugal are now able to win tournaments it might be also because some big guns will finally get exposed and prevented to win with their typical illegal goals.
Though, I keep saying that probably VAR is also the reason why Portugal hasn't won WC 2018, with that non-penalty against Iran and then sent to the wrong bracket... Still, lets wait for a couple more tournaments to see the overall effect VAR will be having on the big guns and evening out things. I'm expecting more big guns will start failing as Germany, Italy, France and Spain already did.

The “best 12 teams” claim is controversial… Holland missed both Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup and somehow was ranked 12th, while a team that qualified for both tournaments like Sweden was only 17th.

Portugal was sent to the “wrong bracket” because of your beloved videoclowns.

No, we don’t have to wait a “couple more tournaments”, we don’t even have to wait a “couple more minutes”, this VAR experiment is the worst thing that ever happened to football.
Just put an end to it now because they’re ruining every tournament.

[Aliceag]

Just put an end to it now because they’re ruining every tournament.

And going back to the "status quo" where England beats Holland with an offside goal, or beats Switzerland due to a goal scored thanks to a foul?
Going back to France being qualified thanks to a handball and Ireland left out?

NO THANK YOU.

The system is far from perfect but improved millions the game. And in the cases where it still is not working it is exposing the corrupt referees: the cases in which everyone sees the fouls and the referees keep ignoring them - now they no longer have an excuse, they can no longer claim they didn't see it because it was too fast or they were distracted. No. Now, when referees go wrong we all know they did it deliberately via their interpretation of facts. Some gray areas might still be up for interpretation but now we all can see what's happening and what they are deciding and why. It has been most enlightening.

For instance:
Why did Felix Britch signaled a penalty in favour of Switzerland and ignored one in favour of João Felix in the same game for a similar foul?
Why did the referee in the final ignored that Bernardo Silva was ran over when he was going for the goal?

They don't have excuses now. And players also know they can't get away with funny tricks anymore. The game is improving and becoming more fair and balanced.

[Falco]

And when it started over half a century ago, there were also the “greenbays and Burningstorms” back then saying things like “this doesn’t matter, the only thing that matters is the World Cup”.

It's the same with every tournament at the start. The first ever World Cup and European Cup were taken seriously by hardly anyone

[Ricardo]

Best 12 controversial? yes! But beating France, Germany and England is not like you had to beat Poland, Italy and Switzerland.
That was due to the fact that they narrowly qualified for group A.
And playing 120 minutes and a day rest less made Holland less as they played before.
Dutch attack is the worst part of the team. With the fatigue added to it, and the Portuguese great defense, it was clear that Holland had very little chance to score a goal. A deserved victory fot Portugal looking at the match.
As Dutch we should be proud we came this far. Before we started this NL, we expected to end rockbottom in the pool, but we reached the final. Well done!
The NL should be seen as friendly matches on the same level, and for that it is succesfull.

[Vickzq]

All in all the nations league was a - for once - nice idea coming from UEFA... and certainly a huge improvement compared to "zero" interest european friendlies.
That said, semifinal between Portugal and Switzerland seemed to be the only "go for it" match at the final round - easily the most interesting one. But then again, Switzerland was also disappointing in the game against England. Easily visible they would have a hard day anyway, but clearly not putting the maximum of their skills at display... not really understandable, as that would have been a chance to get a third place in a small but nice tournament in Europe.

Portugal, overall, deserved cup holder now.

[Dragonite]

Wow wrestling defense by Portugal, plus player fisting ball away ( not keeper) where is the var when there should be one.....

Well I had predicted 1-0! But also with at least 1 red card...

A deserved victory fot Portugal looking at the match.

Which was it then? Was it "deserved" like you wrote yesterday, or you're asking for penalty kicks and blaming the referees for the "undeserved" defeat?

[Ricardo]

Well, it can be both.
Referees missed that controversial defending of the Portuguese, which I think should have been a penalty.
But over 90 minutes, and especially second half Holland was tired, couldn't bring their best anymore.

Like England's 2-1 was cancelled. Tough it was off-side (by 1-2 centimeters) this could have caused England to win. But (almost) nobody talks about it because over 120 minutes the Dutch were better.

[Falco]

UEFA considering changes to the next nations league, with four teams per group in section A. I presume this means all the relegated teams will stay in the same sections as the last tournament.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... gue-format

[BurningStorm]

Oh no. I wanted easier opponents for making more points in the FIFA ranking. And guys like Malko will repeat conspiracy theories.