The UEFA Nations League 2020/2021 Discussion Thread

[tyKiwanuka]

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?

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.

[1714484684]

1714484684

[slaman29]

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.

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.

[Juggy777]

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.

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.

@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

[snipie]

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.

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.

@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.

Not sure if money has something to do with those friendlies at least indirectly since there isn't spectators in the stadium but as mentioned previously, it helps select which player is ready for the next matches.

[LTU_btc]

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.

Well, Qualifiers games still should be played because we still don't know all participants of EURO 20201. But I really don't understand purpose of friendly games right now when calendar is such intensive already. I doubt UEFA get big revenue from TV rights of friendly games, national federations now basically can't get money from ticket sales. Nations League also can be delayed to later time because basically it's just friendly games without big importance.
Maybe it's not bad idea, but IMO these FIFA or UEFA rankings is a bit shitty and not accurate thing to determine strongest teams. It's possible to build ranking simply by playing lot of friendly games with weak teams from Oceania or Asia. Also, if such format would be made, fans in small countries would lose chance to see biggest stars playing in their stadium. So, it would be difficult to reach consensus with all federations.
Sometimes I just don't understand why countries Spain, Portugal, Germany are using their main squads even against minor countries and risking to get their stars injured playing against lumberjacks. Using U21 squad would be enough to win comfortable.

[coinlocket$]

@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.

The point is clear.

This year player will are called in a lot of games with nations league and EURO 2021, is a dumb thing to do friendly match and risk players for COVID situation and useless injuries when they will need to play 70 games this year.

[snipie]

Nations League resumed today with 7 matches. Best one imo is Spain vs Switzerland and Ukraine vs Germany.
Odds for each game are big (for example x8.6 for Ukraine and x1.33 for Germany), while Andorra (3.22) vs Malta (2.55) has the closest.
I don't feel comfortable with the results in this league

[tyz]

Decided to bet on Nations League matches again, although I find the matches hard to predict (many favorites have failed in the past) and the mode is useless anyway in my view. Here are my bets I go for:

Luxembourg vs Cyprus # double chance Cyprus @ 1.92
Farore Islands vs Latvia # double chance Latvia @ 1.78 <= according to bet makers Farore Islands are clear favorite, cannot understand this

[Barcode_]

Germany have only managed to achieve 2 points at the moment with 2 draws in 2 games played but I think Germany could surely achieve better result with the number of high quality players in their national squad. Ukraine might not be an easy opponent to handle as they have still managed to beat Switzerland in this group, but I guess it is time for Germany to start winning games and avoiding draw result at the final whistle.

[Soonandwaite]

Germany have only managed to achieve 2 points at the moment with 2 draws in 2 games played but I think Germany could surely achieve better result with the number of high quality players in their national squad. Ukraine might not be an easy opponent to handle as they have still managed to beat Switzerland in this group, but I guess it is time for Germany to start winning games and avoiding draw result at the final whistle.

Germany hasn't won a single match in 2020 . and it won't be easy today. 20.000 fans are coming to the stadium . i hope the german players are not afraid to play there  
the italian game has been cancelled. the italians probably have 2 or 3 corona cases .
yesterday the german u21 players already made it. they won 5:0 in moldavia .

[Harkorede]

Nations League resumed today with 7 matches. Best one imo is Spain vs Switzerland and Ukraine vs Germany.
Odds for each game are big (for example x8.6 for Ukraine and x1.33 for Germany), while Andorra (3.22) vs Malta (2.55) has the closest.
I don't feel comfortable with the results in this league

Switzerland @ 8.8 Odds against Spain looks like a worthy a risk to take tbvh, the Germans have not been in the usual best form recently too, but I'll fancy Switzerland to win Spain over Ukraine against Germany.

[BIT-BENDER]

Germany hasn't won a single match in 2020 . and it won't be easy today. 20.000 fans are coming to the stadium . i hope the german players are not afraid to play there  
the italian game has been cancelled. the italians probably have 2 or 3 corona cases .
yesterday the german u21 players already made it. they won 5:0 in moldavia .

German players will today fear there opponent that catching the corona virus, its high pressure game for the german team, they need to win they have a young team and you would agree that this is a back-drop from german team we watched, but they are not short of players of excellent quality. Germany will win tonight game.

[snipie]

Nations League resumed today with 7 matches. Best one imo is Spain vs Switzerland and Ukraine vs Germany.
Odds for each game are big (for example x8.6 for Ukraine and x1.33 for Germany), while Andorra (3.22) vs Malta (2.55) has the closest.
I don't feel comfortable with the results in this league

Switzerland @ 8.8 Odds against Spain looks like a worthy a risk to take tbvh, the Germans have not been in the usual best form recently too, but I'll fancy Switzerland to win Spain over Ukraine against Germany.

Exactly the same thoughts. Germany isn't playing as usual but Ukraine isn't that good too. In the other hand, odds for Switzerland are too attractive for many to take that risk although Spain is better. A honey pot! I will just follow the results and see how things will end 

[tomahawk9]

Luxembourg vs Cyprus # double chance Cyprus @ 1.92
Farore Islands vs Latvia # double chance Latvia @ 1.78 <= according to bet makers Farore Islands are clear favorite, cannot understand this

man, i find it best to completely avoid putting money on these semi-professional national teams, it's just too damn risky...Cyprus are already 0-2 down :/

i'm backing Spain today, looks like a safe bet, no?

[hahay]

Still going to bet on Spain and Germany in today's match, even though both of them combined in the parlay but I only got the total odds of 1.98. Hopefully Spain can continue its positive trend and so can Germany, it is not an easy match but it is time for Germany to win today's game. I personally doubt a little at these low odds, but it doesn't hurt to try.

[Harkorede]

So, I have decided to follow the bookies with Spain to win the game, but I just couldn't settle for the ~1.4 isshh Odds for Spain, and thanks to Sportsbet BetBuilder I was able to spice it up with some corners to a total of 2.4 Odds.

[Saint-loup]

Still going to bet on Spain and Germany in today's match, even though both of them combined in the parlay but I only got the total odds of 1.98. Hopefully Spain can continue its positive trend and so can Germany, it is not an easy match but it is time for Germany to win today's game. I personally doubt a little at these low odds, but it doesn't hurt to try.

I only bet on Spain vs Switzerland but this is a pretty good parlay you've found, the less risky one of the night IMHO. I wish you good luck  

[kassex]

Still going to bet on Spain and Germany in today's match, even though both of them combined in the parlay but I only got the total odds of 1.98. Hopefully Spain can continue its positive trend and so can Germany, it is not an easy match but it is time for Germany to win today's game. I personally doubt a little at these low odds, but it doesn't hurt to try.

I only bet on Spain vs Switzerland but this is a pretty good parlay you've found, the less risky one of the night IMHO. I wish you good luck  

The last two games against Switzerland Spain have lost once and drew once. I think it will be a difficult game and the possibility of a draw is high.

[Trofo]

Still going to bet on Spain and Germany in today's match, even though both of them combined in the parlay but I only got the total odds of 1.98. Hopefully Spain can continue its positive trend and so can Germany, it is not an easy match but it is time for Germany to win today's game. I personally doubt a little at these low odds, but it doesn't hurt to try.

I only bet on Spain vs Switzerland but this is a pretty good parlay you've found, the less risky one of the night IMHO. I wish you good luck  

The last two games against Switzerland Spain have lost once and drew once. I think it will be a difficult game and the possibility of a draw is high.

I watched Switzerland against Croatia and wasn't impressed much by them. Yes it was just a friendly match but still I am expecting Spain to be too much for them tonight.

As it was already written above Germany has not had a win in a long time and I feel like Ukraine is a good place to break that bad run of games. Especially if Ukraine is still missing their first 3 keepers. They conceded 7 from France so Germany can score a few goals as well for sure.

[tyKiwanuka]

Germany should win this rather easily. Although Löw doesn't care that much about this competition, he is under some (media) pressure, because his team is not delivering. So for today he put some Bayern players back in (Kimmich, Goretzka, Gnabry) and with them Germany is a lot stronger, which is partially just psychological imo. Ukraine has been super poor in their last two games and ze germans didn't win for ages, which is very unusual.

All this being said, I won't bet on Germany, since there is no value in @1.3x and I don't expect some shootout, but think Löw wants to keep a clean sheet this time, something like 0-1/0-2 maybe in the end to silence his critics.