⚽ UEFA Euro 2024 in Germany ⚽ - Qualifiers👉Group Stage

[Litzki1990]

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.

[KTChampions]

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.

[darewaller]

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.

[Westinhome]

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.

[Sithara007]

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.

[Juggy777]

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.

[Litzki1990]

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.

France may not have focused on penalty shots which is why they lost on penalties in the finals of such a big tournament like the World Cup. The early counter that Argentina scored against France should have been defended by the French defense but failed there. Due to defensive errors, France was behind in the first half, but due to the responsible performance of the forwards, France eventually returned to parity in the final match. France football must work on the mistakes they had in the World Cup final. I think every player should be more experienced in penalty shootout because such a situation can arise at any time of the match. If you are experienced in penalty shots, the result of the match should be in your favor.

[cygan]

Meho Kodro is to be the new national coach in bosnia-herzegovina. the 56-yo is expected to lead his home country to the 2024 european championship in germany after the team's failed opening qualifying match. MK succeeds Faruk Hadzibegic, who was sacked at the end of june after a 0-2 loss vs. luxembourg. the 13-time international most recently coached swiss 2nd-division club fc stade lausanne ouchy, where his contract was not renewed in the summer of 2022.

[jakdanyel]

Hojlund has been the top scorer with 6 goals together with Lukaku in the qualifiers. He is a really young striker like Haaland and doing great at his national team. However he hasn't been the same when it comes to his performance at Atalanta. This makes me think like he hasn't been fitting their system. Now he has been signed by Manchester United.

I would like to see this 20-year-old youngster to start to become quite productive in the Premier League too from now on. He has a really good potential as we can understand from his effort for his national team too. Maybe the Premier League has another potential Haaland now. 

[Sithara007]

Meho Kodro is to be the new national coach in bosnia-herzegovina. the 56-yo is expected to lead his home country to the 2024 european championship in germany after the team's failed opening qualifying match. MK succeeds Faruk Hadzibegic, who was sacked at the end of june after a 0-2 loss vs. luxembourg. the 13-time international most recently coached swiss 2nd-division club fc stade lausanne ouchy, where his contract was not renewed in the summer of 2022.

I don't think that Bosnia and Herzegovina will be able to qualify. After 4 matches, they have just 3 points. And their only win came against Iceland. In order to qualify, they need some upset wins against top teams in Group J, such as Portugal and Slovakia. There is still plenty of time, but I don't think that Bosnia will be able to finish at top 2, given their current form. We are talking about a team that lost by a margin of 0-2 against Luxembourg. And that too playing at home (the match was hosted at Stadion Bilino polje, Zenica).

[Joca97]

Hojlund has been the top scorer with 6 goals together with Lukaku in the qualifiers. He is a really young striker like Haaland and doing great at his national team. However he hasn't been the same when it comes to his performance at Atalanta. This makes me think like he hasn't been fitting their system. Now he has been signed by Manchester United.

I would like to see this 20-year-old youngster to start to become quite productive in the Premier League too from now on. He has a really good potential as we can understand from his effort for his national team too. Maybe the Premier League has another potential Haaland now. 

Hojlund is playing really good and is a good new youngster for the european football. Didnt know Lukaku scored that much goals. He is in bad form in his clubs but for national team is doing the job. Hopefully he does well for clubs and starts bring a lot more quality.

[tusandii]

Hojlund has been the top scorer with 6 goals together with Lukaku in the qualifiers. He is a really young striker like Haaland and doing great at his national team. However he hasn't been the same when it comes to his performance at Atalanta. This makes me think like he hasn't been fitting their system. Now he has been signed by Manchester United.

I would like to see this 20-year-old youngster to start to become quite productive in the Premier League too from now on. He has a really good potential as we can understand from his effort for his national team too. Maybe the Premier League has another potential Haaland now. 

Hojlund has 6 goals for Denmark in just 4 matches and that is a pretty good achievement for him who is included in the youth player category because there are enough young players who are competitors to be able to have big achievements and names.
He has also managed to become one of the players targeted by Ten Hag and is just waiting for the official to join Manchester United as you have said.

I believe he will be a talented young player and have a highlight for Euro 2024.
His career can still go very well if he manages to become one of the best players from Denmark at this Euro Cup and when he joined Manchester United it was also possible that he could become a potential attacking player.

[Sithara007]

Hojlund is playing really good and is a good new youngster for the european football. Didnt know Lukaku scored that much goals. He is in bad form in his clubs but for national team is doing the job. Hopefully he does well for clubs and starts bring a lot more quality.

At this point, Danmark is at 3rd place in Group H, behind both Finland and Kazakhstan. When Danmark played against Kazakhstan, they lost the match by a margin of 2-3, despite the fact that Rasmus Højlund scored two goals. By half-time, Danmark was leading by 2-0. But in second half, Kazakhstan made a strong comeback and scored three goals. For Danmark, the next match is against a weak San Marino, while Kazakhstan need to face Finland. There is a good chance that Danmark will end up at no.2 in points table after the next round.

[jostorres]

Meho Kodro is to be the new national coach in bosnia-herzegovina. the 56-yo is expected to lead his home country to the 2024 european championship in germany after the team's failed opening qualifying match. MK succeeds Faruk Hadzibegic, who was sacked at the end of june after a 0-2 loss vs. luxembourg. the 13-time international most recently coached swiss 2nd-division club fc stade lausanne ouchy, where his contract was not renewed in the summer of 2022.

I don't think that Bosnia and Herzegovina will be able to qualify. After 4 matches, they have just 3 points. And their only win came against Iceland. In order to qualify, they need some upset wins against top teams in Group J, such as Portugal and Slovakia. There is still plenty of time, but I don't think that Bosnia will be able to finish at top 2, given their current form. We are talking about a team that lost by a margin of 0-2 against Luxembourg. And that too playing at home (the match was hosted at Stadion Bilino polje, Zenica).

Here I agree because which team lost against Luxembourg at home with the score of 0 - 2 and have to face teams like Portugal and Slovakia have no chance for the Euro24 with now their next match is against Liechtenstein at home, and they can win this as well but still it's mission impossible for them to have spot into top two for the main event.

Now they have to think about future instead of this event which is already out of their reach, and they can't do anything working on improvement of quality and players performance is also good which will helps them for having spot into next world cup because they are going to face tough teams for this event as well and improvement is must right now be going into top two spots never been easy.

[Sithara007]

^^^ For Bosnia, their star players like Edin Džeko are getting older and they can't replace them. Losing out to Luxembourg was a surprise, but it was not entirely unexpected. For Bosnia, the next match is against Liechtenstein, which should be an easy one for them. At this point, Liechtenstein is the weakest team in Group J. And then after 3 days they have a match against Iceland. This should be another easy outing, as Iceland have been in poor form for the last 2-3 years. But even if they win these two matches, their chance of qualification is very minimal.

[FanEagle]

France may not have focused on penalty shots which is why they lost on penalties in the finals of such a big tournament like the World Cup. The early counter that Argentina scored against France should have been defended by the French defense but failed there. Due to defensive errors, France was behind in the first half, but due to the responsible performance of the forwards, France eventually returned to parity in the final match. France football must work on the mistakes they had in the World Cup final. I think every player should be more experienced in penalty shootout because such a situation can arise at any time of the match. If you are experienced in penalty shots, the result of the match should be in your favor.

Defensive players of France is not as bad as people think, it's mainly because Argentina is a great team. When you fail to stop Di Maria, that's not really a big deal, I understand that you want to defend him and you should, that's why you are playing, but if you fail to, that's also understandable as a fan for me.

I can easily say that Di Maria is one of the best wing players out there, even at his age he was great at the finals as we have seen, so not being able to defend him doesn't mean that you are a bad defender, it just means he is a great winger. In the end France is a wonderful team and will probably win some more cups with this generation.

[cygan]

Roberto Mancini resigned as italy's national coach today in a complete surprise. the italian football federation 'figc' announced on sunday noon that the 58-yo RM submitted his resignation late saturday night. the italian federation wants to announce a successor already 'in the coming days' - due to the 'important and tightly timed mandatory matches in the qualifiers.' In less than a month, on september 9, italy will play in the european championship qualifiers in northern nacedonia, and three days later the four-time world champions will play at home against ukraine.

[Sithara007]

Roberto Mancini resigned as italy's national coach today in a complete surprise. the italian football federation 'figc' announced on sunday noon that the 58-yo RM submitted his resignation late saturday night. the italian federation wants to announce a successor already 'in the coming days' - due to the 'important and tightly timed mandatory matches in the qualifiers.' In less than a month, on september 9, italy will play in the european championship qualifiers in northern nacedonia, and three days later the four-time world champions will play at home against ukraine.

More or less expected. Italy has underperformed for the last few years and they seems to be one of those European teams in constant decline (similar to the case with Netherlands, Germany and Danmark). They even failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Roberto Mancini did a decent job, but if quality players are not emerging from the national league, there is not much that he can do. Gone are the times when Italy had players such as Roberto Baggio and Filippo Inzaghi. The current bunch of players are no comparison with the past legends.

[beerlover]

Roberto Mancini resigned as italy's national coach today in a complete surprise. the italian football federation 'figc' announced on sunday noon that the 58-yo RM submitted his resignation late saturday night. the italian federation wants to announce a successor already 'in the coming days' - due to the 'important and tightly timed mandatory matches in the qualifiers.' In less than a month, on september 9, italy will play in the european championship qualifiers in northern nacedonia, and three days later the four-time world champions will play at home against ukraine.

More or less expected. Italy has underperformed for the last few years and they seems to be one of those European teams in constant decline (similar to the case with Netherlands, Germany and Danmark). They even failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Roberto Mancini did a decent job, but if quality players are not emerging from the national league, there is not much that he can do. Gone are the times when Italy had players such as Roberto Baggio and Filippo Inzaghi. The current bunch of players are no comparison with the past legends.

That's the weird thing though, they have won the latest one, and suddenly they are bad? Think about it, they were the winners of euro 2020, and then they were not even in world cup. How many times did that happen before? Maybe it has happened before and I am just not aware of it, but to me that looks like an unlikely situation.

The fact that France couldn't win 2020 euro and Italy did was a big shocking result. This is why I am not entirely sure about what's going to happen next, it could be something decent or it could be nothing at all, in the end I feel like maybe another big shocker could happen again as well. That seems like the most important part of the deal right now and we need to be more careful about it when we are betting.

[Distraction]

Didier Deschamps has a contract lasting until 2026. Even though it seems like quite much time I think the result of Euro 2024 can be decider for his future here. As you must have heard already Zinedine Zidane wants this job very much. Deschamps had better fight for the title as hard as possible in Euro 2024 to consolidate his place.

If France fail in winning the title and don't even reach the finale then I think Deschamps would be likely to be replaced with Zidane. Honestly I would like to see Zidane managing France in World Cup 2026.    He is such a great manager that it would be nice to watch him manage the national team of his own country as well.