The UEFA Nations League 2020/2021 Discussion Thread

[cryptofrka]

An OK group for Croatia to be honest. France is probably the strongest team in the world right now and will secure one of the first 2 spots for sure (almost certainly the top one), while Austria is really weak and looks set for the bottom of the group.

That leaves Croatia to fight it out with Denmark for the 2nd place, and Denmark is by far the best option we could have gotten from the 2nd pot. If I picked the group for us myself, I'd only replace France - so a really good draw this time around.

[LTU_btc]

@LTU_btc I feel sad for Hungary but I also see an opportunity to wager against them in all the matches, because I feel they’ll lose all the matches. Furthermore I’m favouring England to top the group, and I know Germany and Italy are pretty strong teams but yet my money is on England to top the group what are you’ll thoughts.

On the other hand, in Euro 2020 they had group with Portugal, Germany and France and they looked solid there and even were close to reach next round. So, maybe we write them off too early. Especially considering that big nations may not pay much attention to this tournament like it would be qualifiers to Euro or World cup.

[Daniel91]

An OK group for Croatia to be honest. France is probably the strongest team in the world right now and will secure one of the first 2 spots for sure (almost certainly the top one), while Austria is really weak and looks set for the bottom of the group.

That leaves Croatia to fight it out with Denmark for the 2nd place, and Denmark is by far the best option we could have gotten from the 2nd pot. If I picked the group for us myself, I'd only replace France - so a really good draw this time around.

I wouldn't really agree with you.
Denmark played very good qualifiers for the World Cup and won all the matches in the group, except the last one, which no longer meant anything.
I think that currently France and Denmark are ahead of Croatia in terms of quality and that they will fight for the first place in the group and that Croatia will fight with Austria to stay in the elite group of the competition.
Austria is also a very serious team, and it will be very difficult to play against them.
We’ve been really bad both times in this competition so far, and I don’t expect that to change.

[Hidrofor]

Turkey seem to have the easiest group in League C. Lithuania, Luxembourg and Faroe Islands are all easy opponents for Turkey. I can already say that Turkey are going to advance to League B without much problem and make up for their really bad performance before relegating to this league. Actually, the Nations League is not seen as an important tournament but a title is always a title in the end. 

[mv1986]

An OK group for Croatia to be honest. France is probably the strongest team in the world right now and will secure one of the first 2 spots for sure (almost certainly the top one), while Austria is really weak and looks set for the bottom of the group.

That leaves Croatia to fight it out with Denmark for the 2nd place, and Denmark is by far the best option we could have gotten from the 2nd pot. If I picked the group for us myself, I'd only replace France - so a really good draw this time around.

I wouldn't really agree with you.
Denmark played very good qualifiers for the World Cup and won all the matches in the group, except the last one, which no longer meant anything.
I think that currently France and Denmark are ahead of Croatia in terms of quality and that they will fight for the first place in the group and that Croatia will fight with Austria to stay in the elite group of the competition.
Austria is also a very serious team, and it will be very difficult to play against them.
We’ve been really bad both times in this competition so far, and I don’t expect that to change.

I am not sure if you can use the performances for the World Cup qualifiers as a reliable basis for judgment about the quality of the national teams. I don't think that the national teams put as much effort into qualifying for the Nations League as they do for the World Cup final round. The Nations League really lacks way behind in importance not only for the players, but also for all the fans. Denmark did very well for the World Cup qualifiers but I don't know whether they play at the same level for the Nations League.

[1kodumtek7]

An OK group for Croatia to be honest. France is probably the strongest team in the world right now and will secure one of the first 2 spots for sure (almost certainly the top one), while Austria is really weak and looks set for the bottom of the group.

That leaves Croatia to fight it out with Denmark for the 2nd place, and Denmark is by far the best option we could have gotten from the 2nd pot. If I picked the group for us myself, I'd only replace France - so a really good draw this time around.

I think that Croatia would end the group stage at the third place. Because France seem to be most likely to promote to the playoffs. And Denmark have been one of the attention getting teams lately by their huge performance in each of their last matches. And we remember how great they were in the Euro 2020 also. They seem to be stronger than Croatia now.

[cryptofrka]

I think that Croatia would end the group stage at the third place. Because France seem to be most likely to promote to the playoffs. And Denmark have been one of the attention getting teams lately by their huge performance in each of their last matches. And we remember how great they were in the Euro 2020 also. They seem to be stronger than Croatia now.

Well - that is possible too, Denmark is a really well organized team with a few quality players. What I said is that from that pot Denmark is by far the best team we could have drawn and that them and Austria are the teams I would have picked for ourselves.

They are really strong defensively but don't have any offensive players that we should be afraid of - they have some quality youngsters breaking through (Daramy, Wind, Lindstrom) but offensively Croatia is far superior. I think we are still the better team but it would not surprise me if Denmark finished in front of us - the margins between our teams are small.

[Juggy777]

I think that Croatia would end the group stage at the third place. Because France seem to be most likely to promote to the playoffs. And Denmark have been one of the attention getting teams lately by their huge performance in each of their last matches. And we remember how great they were in the Euro 2020 also. They seem to be stronger than Croatia now.

Well - that is possible too, Denmark is a really well organized team with a few quality players. What I said is that from that pot Denmark is by far the best team we could have drawn and that them and Austria are the teams I would have picked for ourselves.

They are really strong defensively but don't have any offensive players that we should be afraid of - they have some quality youngsters breaking through (Daramy, Wind, Lindstrom) but offensively Croatia is far superior. I think we are still the better team but it would not surprise me if Denmark finished in front of us - the margins between our teams are small.

I feel you’re right about Croatia ending in the third place, and they’ll only have themselves to blame for performing poorly in their fixtures. Furthermore Denmark has put in some fine performances, and they can surely go ahead and it’ll be foolish to underestimate them given how well they have performed so far.

[mv1986]

I think that Croatia would end the group stage at the third place. Because France seem to be most likely to promote to the playoffs. And Denmark have been one of the attention getting teams lately by their huge performance in each of their last matches. And we remember how great they were in the Euro 2020 also. They seem to be stronger than Croatia now.

Well - that is possible too, Denmark is a really well organized team with a few quality players. What I said is that from that pot Denmark is by far the best team we could have drawn and that them and Austria are the teams I would have picked for ourselves.

They are really strong defensively but don't have any offensive players that we should be afraid of - they have some quality youngsters breaking through (Daramy, Wind, Lindstrom) but offensively Croatia is far superior. I think we are still the better team but it would not surprise me if Denmark finished in front of us - the margins between our teams are small.

I feel you’re right about Croatia ending in the third place, and they’ll only have themselves to blame for performing poorly in their fixtures. Furthermore Denmark has put in some fine performances, and they can surely go ahead and it’ll be foolish to underestimate them given how well they have performed so far.

But still wouldn't you agree that the UEFA Nations League is a totally different competition compared to the World Cup? Whenever I watched the Nations League, it never felt like the teams would put as much effort into those games as they do when it is the European Championship or World Cup. It might me quite a bit different when Denmark plays in the Nations League.

[swogerino]

I think that Croatia would end the group stage at the third place. Because France seem to be most likely to promote to the playoffs. And Denmark have been one of the attention getting teams lately by their huge performance in each of their last matches. And we remember how great they were in the Euro 2020 also. They seem to be stronger than Croatia now.

Well - that is possible too, Denmark is a really well organized team with a few quality players. What I said is that from that pot Denmark is by far the best team we could have drawn and that them and Austria are the teams I would have picked for ourselves.

They are really strong defensively but don't have any offensive players that we should be afraid of - they have some quality youngsters breaking through (Daramy, Wind, Lindstrom) but offensively Croatia is far superior. I think we are still the better team but it would not surprise me if Denmark finished in front of us - the margins between our teams are small.

I feel you’re right about Croatia ending in the third place, and they’ll only have themselves to blame for performing poorly in their fixtures. Furthermore Denmark has put in some fine performances, and they can surely go ahead and it’ll be foolish to underestimate them given how well they have performed so far.

But still wouldn't you agree that the UEFA Nations League is a totally different competition compared to the World Cup? Whenever I watched the Nations League, it never felt like the teams would put as much effort into those games as they do when it is the European Championship or World Cup. It might me quite a bit different when Denmark plays in the Nations League.

Exactly.Most of the teams,the stronger ones do not give their 100% in such games and I don't know why is that.This format I like it,you move from one tier to an upper tier if you are the winner of your tier until we reach the finals.The problem with this league is that it started just a bit before the pandemic and we haven't seen much of it.Hopefully this will change in this upcoming Nations League.

[Daniel91]

I think that Croatia would end the group stage at the third place. Because France seem to be most likely to promote to the playoffs. And Denmark have been one of the attention getting teams lately by their huge performance in each of their last matches. And we remember how great they were in the Euro 2020 also. They seem to be stronger than Croatia now.

Well - that is possible too, Denmark is a really well organized team with a few quality players. What I said is that from that pot Denmark is by far the best team we could have drawn and that them and Austria are the teams I would have picked for ourselves.

They are really strong defensively but don't have any offensive players that we should be afraid of - they have some quality youngsters breaking through (Daramy, Wind, Lindstrom) but offensively Croatia is far superior. I think we are still the better team but it would not surprise me if Denmark finished in front of us - the margins between our teams are small.

I feel you’re right about Croatia ending in the third place, and they’ll only have themselves to blame for performing poorly in their fixtures. Furthermore Denmark has put in some fine performances, and they can surely go ahead and it’ll be foolish to underestimate them given how well they have performed so far.

But still wouldn't you agree that the UEFA Nations League is a totally different competition compared to the World Cup? Whenever I watched the Nations League, it never felt like the teams would put as much effort into those games as they do when it is the European Championship or World Cup. It might me quite a bit different when Denmark plays in the Nations League.

Exactly.Most of the teams,the stronger ones do not give their 100% in such games and I don't know why is that.This format I like it,you move from one tier to an upper tier if you are the winner of your tier until we reach the finals.The problem with this league is that it started just a bit before the pandemic and we haven't seen much of it.Hopefully this will change in this upcoming Nations League.

I would not really say that the national teams are not interested in this competition and that they are not trying hard enough.
After all, through this competition, teams can fight to participate in the European Championship, as far as I remember, so there is certainly enough sports motivation.
I think the problem is that this is a completely new competition, without tradition, to which fans and players are not yet accustomed enough.
In terms of importance, this competition is certainly behind the European and World Championships.
In the end, the players are already exhausted and tired due to numerous perfomances at club competitions, plus representative matches for the European and World Cups, and find it difficult to motivate themselves for another additional competition that was invented solely for UEFA earnings.

[cryptofrka]

Exactly.Most of the teams,the stronger ones do not give their 100% in such games and I don't know why is that.This format I like it,you move from one tier to an upper tier if you are the winner of your tier until we reach the finals.The problem with this league is that it started just a bit before the pandemic and we haven't seen much of it.Hopefully this will change in this upcoming Nations League.

The big teams use this competition to test out new players and formations. They used to do it in friendly games and low-tier qualifiers, this is better for them because the opposition level is higher and there's actually something to play for.

There are simply too many games in football calendars so national teams use these games also to rest some players that are overworked. This is a third-tier competition and big teams are treating it as such - until they reach the late stages of the competition.

[Bilgent]

Group 3 in League A seems to be the toughest one. Because there are very tough teams like Italy, Germany and England. Even Hungary have a potential to surprise people. It is going to be really delightful to watch the matches among the top three teams especially. I think that Italy and England could advance to the next stage from this group. Because Germany haven't been a very consistent team recently.

[coco23]

Group 3 in League A seems to be the toughest one. Because there are very tough teams like Italy, Germany and England. Even Hungary have a potential to surprise people. It is going to be really delightful to watch the matches among the top three teams especially. I think that Italy and England could advance to the next stage from this group. Because Germany haven't been a very consistent team recently.

Yea at least "on paper" it looks like the strongest with 3 "big" teams. We have seen Hungary vs Germany (2-2), England vs Germany (2-0) and of course in the final Italy vs England (1-1) at the Euro this summer. Hungary is a clear outsider but apart from that everything seems possible.

[hahay]

More and more leagues will be held I'm just worried about the fitness of the players and also, maybe the euphoria that will be there will not be as exciting as it used to be. The World Cup event will be held next year and so will the UEFA Nations League, this makes the match schedule even tighter and even from several teams currently there are many injured players coupled with the current condition which is still worrying about the covid19 outbreak. I'm just worried that this will be very chaotic in the future but yes, hopefully the main thing is that I hope that the situation from this pandemic is quickly resolved first so that all planning for this soccer event goes well and goes normally as scheduled.

[coco23]

More and more leagues will be held I'm just worried about the fitness of the players and also, maybe the euphoria that will be there will not be as exciting as it used to be. The World Cup event will be held next year and so will the UEFA Nations League, this makes the match schedule even tighter and even from several teams currently there are many injured players coupled with the current condition which is still worrying about the covid19 outbreak. I'm just worried that this will be very chaotic in the future but yes, hopefully the main thing is that I hope that the situation from this pandemic is quickly resolved first so that all planning for this soccer event goes well and goes normally as scheduled.

I agree with you. I don't think the teams will give too much importance to the UEFA Nations League, it'll be considered as a slightly more competitive friendly tournament. The FIFA World cup and the Euro will remain the big tournaments I think

[DatKing]

The Nations League is still not a tournament that is cared too much for most of the teams in this league. Because it hasn't as much prestige as the World Cup or the Euro tournaments. But the participant teams still see it as a title opportunity in the end. Maybe it is not as important as the other tournaments but winning this title would also feel good I guess. But there is a really big decrease in the performances of strong teams while they are playing matches in this tournament.

[minairia3]

The Nations League is still not a tournament that is cared too much for most of the teams in this league. Because it hasn't as much prestige as the World Cup or the Euro tournaments. But the participant teams still see it as a title opportunity in the end. Maybe it is not as important as the other tournaments but winning this title would also feel good I guess. But there is a really big decrease in the performances of strong teams while they are playing matches in this tournament.

Yes, it's not as big of a tournament as World Cup or Euro League but as it's an international trophy, the players care about it the same.

Maybe not as much as World Cup, but it still has the value of a big trophy to the players as everyone wants to win something for their national team.

Another thing is that, since the international coaches get such less time with their squad, this somewhat less important tournament gives them the opportunity to play the younger players are giving them a chance to shine on a bigger stage.

[Maidak]

More and more leagues will be held I'm just worried about the fitness of the players and also, maybe the euphoria that will be there will not be as exciting as it used to be. The World Cup event will be held next year and so will the UEFA Nations League, this makes the match schedule even tighter and even from several teams currently there are many injured players coupled with the current condition which is still worrying about the covid19 outbreak. I'm just worried that this will be very chaotic in the future but yes, hopefully the main thing is that I hope that the situation from this pandemic is quickly resolved first so that all planning for this soccer event goes well and goes normally as scheduled.

I agree with you. I don't think the teams will give too much importance to the UEFA Nations League, it'll be considered as a slightly more competitive friendly tournament. The FIFA World cup and the Euro will remain the big tournaments I think

@hahay, You are right. A player from Barcelona, I'm not sure who it is, it could either be Busquets or Pique, he said that the federation wants to hold WC every 2 years.
What he meant was the higher authority is wanting the players to play more matches without caring about their health. The same case here, more international matches (be it less important) mean more duty for the players which makes them prone to injury.

[KTChampions]

Yes, it's not as big of a tournament as World Cup or Euro League but as it's an international trophy, the players care about it the same.

Maybe not as much as World Cup, but it still has the value of a big trophy to the players as everyone wants to win something for their national team.

Another thing is that, since the international coaches get such less time with their squad, this somewhat less important tournament gives them the opportunity to play the younger players are giving them a chance to shine on a bigger stage.

This tournament was originally conceived as something incomprehensible - a stretched preliminary part and a very short final part. With this muddy format, when the group winners advance to the higher groups and only the winners of the upper group participate in the finals, the tournament has no chance. People love it when underdogs rush to the top. With this format of the tournament, this will never happen.