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

[Sithara007]

In around 2 weeks time, the next round of matches are going to start. Group A is looking very interesting, with Spain now at the no.2 position. Norway has only 7 points from 5 matches and unless a miracle happens, they may fail to qualify for the main tournament. In Group B, it is still a fight between Greece and Netherlands for the second spot, with the latter having an advantage. In Group C, it's between Italy and Ukraine. Apart from these groups, it is now more or less clear about who will qualify to the main tournament from the other groups.

[Rampagoe004]

In around 2 weeks time, the next round of matches are going to start. Group A is looking very interesting, with Spain now at the no.2 position. Norway has only 7 points from 5 matches and unless a miracle happens, they may fail to qualify for the main tournament. In Group B, it is still a fight between Greece and Netherlands for the second spot, with the latter having an advantage. In Group C, it's between Italy and Ukraine. Apart from these groups, it is now more or less clear about who will qualify to the main tournament from the other groups.

Honestly, I really regret that Haaland will not have the opportunity to play in the UEFA or FIFA World Cup. Unlike Portugal which has history and tradition in world football history, Norway is the same as Wales or even less so. Sorry if this is off topic but honestly when watching the Norway match I thought it was very sad when you have to carry your team alone.

[Sithara007]

Honestly, I really regret that Haaland will not have the opportunity to play in the UEFA or FIFA World Cup. Unlike Portugal which has history and tradition in world football history, Norway is the same as Wales or even less so. Sorry if this is off topic but honestly when watching the Norway match I thought it was very sad when you have to carry your team alone.

Well... it is sad, but we can't do anything about it. Håland's case is not unique. There are a lot of very talented players who never got an opportunity to play in the FIFA World Cup. One perfect example is that of Goran Pandeev. He plays for North Macedonia, and as a result he never got an opportunity to participate in the World Cup. Gareth Bale would have ended up like him, but fortunately Wales qualified for Qatar 2022 (Ryan Giggs from Wales was not so lucky). George Weah of Nigeria is another example. Wilfried Zaha, Yves Bissouma and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia are some of the players who never got an opportunity to play in world cup, because they represent little known teams. 

[sana54210]

In around 2 weeks time, the next round of matches are going to start. Group A is looking very interesting, with Spain now at the no.2 position. Norway has only 7 points from 5 matches and unless a miracle happens, they may fail to qualify for the main tournament. In Group B, it is still a fight between Greece and Netherlands for the second spot, with the latter having an advantage. In Group C, it's between Italy and Ukraine. Apart from these groups, it is now more or less clear about who will qualify to the main tournament from the other groups.

Honestly, I really regret that Haaland will not have the opportunity to play in the UEFA or FIFA World Cup. Unlike Portugal which has history and tradition in world football history, Norway is the same as Wales or even less so. Sorry if this is off topic but honestly when watching the Norway match I thought it was very sad when you have to carry your team alone.

That's definitely a sad thing but he is just from a nation that barely has any good players to be in this cup, so he has to be lucky and I do not think that he will have a career like that on international arena, he won2t have all those Messi and Ronaldo stats at his national club because he has a much worse nation when it comes to football.

Maybe this isn't really regarding football itself, so it could be a bit off-topic, but they are economically very strong nation, so "grow up to be a footballer to save my family and earn millions" do not really hit it close to home with Norwegian kids, they could grow up to be anything they want and be happy, and their family is all likely doing fine too, so there isn't that fire in kids.

[Rikafip]

Sorry if this is off topic but honestly when watching the Norway match I thought it was very sad when you have to carry your team alone.

He is not alone there, he has Odegaard who is one of the better Premier League players at the moment. I kinda expected them to qualify for this Euro as group didn't seem that bad but since Scotland is performing much better than anyone expected, their chances are not good.

One perfect example is that of Goran Pandeev. He plays for North Macedonia, and as a result he never got an opportunity to participate in the World Cup.

Goran Pandev was part of North Macedonia team for Euro 2021 so at least he managed to experience that.

George Weah of Nigeria is another example.

George Weah played for Liberia, not Nigeria.

Wilfried Zaha, Yves Bissouma and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia are some of the players who never got an opportunity to play in world cup, because they represent little known teams.  

Wilfried Zaha and Yves Bissouma (who are not top players btw) play for Ivory Coast and they are not unknown team since they were 3 times at the World Cup  (2006, 2010, 2014) in the last 20 years which is not a bad track record at all. Regarding Kvaratskhelia, he is still young player (22 yo) so he didn't have much chance yet to qualify for anything.

[Sithara007]

Sorry for the typo on George Weah. Yes.. he played for Liberia and not Nigeria. If he was representing Nigeria, then he could have easily got a chance to participate in the world cup. And I am aware that Ivory Coast managed to qualify a few times to the world cup. The last appearance was in 2014. Wilfried Zaha started playing for them in 2017, and is yet to get an opportunity to showcase his skills in the main tournament. Yves Bissouma represents Mali, a team which has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup.

[Hirose UK]

In around 2 weeks time, the next round of matches are going to start. Group A is looking very interesting, with Spain now at the no.2 position. Norway has only 7 points from 5 matches and unless a miracle happens, they may fail to qualify for the main tournament. In Group B, it is still a fight between Greece and Netherlands for the second spot, with the latter having an advantage. In Group C, it's between Italy and Ukraine. Apart from these groups, it is now more or less clear about who will qualify to the main tournament from the other groups.

The competition for positions in each group will become increasingly fierce and the national teams in each group will continue to try their best to play optimally and qualify from the group phase more easily.
It seems that there will be new names in each group who will advance to the next round but there are still a few more matches to see who is the strongest in each group because the pursuit of points will always be carried out.

In around 2 weeks time, the next round of matches are going to start. Group A is looking very interesting, with Spain now at the no.2 position. Norway has only 7 points from 5 matches and unless a miracle happens, they may fail to qualify for the main tournament. In Group B, it is still a fight between Greece and Netherlands for the second spot, with the latter having an advantage. In Group C, it's between Italy and Ukraine. Apart from these groups, it is now more or less clear about who will qualify to the main tournament from the other groups.

Honestly, I really regret that Haaland will not have the opportunity to play in the UEFA or FIFA World Cup. Unlike Portugal which has history and tradition in world football history, Norway is the same as Wales or even less so. Sorry if this is off topic but honestly when watching the Norway match I thought it was very sad when you have to carry your team alone.

Haaland cannot join the Norwegian national team in the Euro 2024 qualifiers because he is suffering from a groin injury so the decision of the coach and management of the Norwegian national team may be correct because forcing Haaland to play might result in a more serious injury.
But without Haaland presence Norway looks less than optimal and I think the front line is still not sharp enough to launch attacks.

[Silence Scream]

In around 2 weeks time, the next round of matches are going to start. Group A is looking very interesting, with Spain now at the no.2 position. Norway has only 7 points from 5 matches and unless a miracle happens, they may fail to qualify for the main tournament. In Group B, it is still a fight between Greece and Netherlands for the second spot, with the latter having an advantage. In Group C, it's between Italy and Ukraine. Apart from these groups, it is now more or less clear about who will qualify to the main tournament from the other groups.

Things are complicated in Group D, too. Considering that Croatia will definitely win and that they will win the match against Turkey, Armenia and Wales are in an assertive position for second place. In a match between Wales and Turkey, if Wales wins, they have the chance to come out of the group as second. The race for second place in group D will be very competitive. Turkey lost 2 important points with a surprising draw between Armenia and Turkey in the last match. This completely changed the standings.

[Sithara007]

Haaland cannot join the Norwegian national team in the Euro 2024 qualifiers because he is suffering from a groin injury so the decision of the coach and management of the Norwegian national team may be correct because forcing Haaland to play might result in a more serious injury.
But without Haaland presence Norway looks less than optimal and I think the front line is still not sharp enough to launch attacks.

It's not going to matter anyway. The chances that Norway may qualify either for Euro 2024 or the FIFA World Cup of 2026 is minimal. They are not in a good position as far as the Euro qualifiers are concerned. In Group A, they are now at third place behind Scotland and Spain. Even if Haaland plays for them for the remaining matches, I don't think that Norway will be able to overtake Spain and thereby qualify for the main tournament. I also don't understand what is the benefit Haaland is going to get in representing Norway. He should rather focus on his role with Manchester City F.C.

[Rikafip]

And I am aware that Ivory Coast managed to qualify a few times to the world cup. The last appearance was in 2014. Wilfried Zaha started playing for them in 2017, and is yet to get an opportunity to showcase his skills in the main tournament. Yves Bissouma represents Mali, a team which has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup.

To be honest, neither Zaha or Bissouma are such a good players to consider them not playing at WC being a loss for the tournaments. Haaland on the other hand is on a completely different level so him (probably) missing EURO will be a loss as he is one of the most popular players at the moment.

They are not in a good position as far as the Euro qualifiers are concerned. In Group A, they are now at third place behind Scotland and Spain. Even if Haaland plays for them for the remaining matches, I don't think that Norway will be able to overtake Spain and thereby qualify for the main tournament.

They might get a chance to reach EURO through playoffs, so not all is lost for them even if they don't finish in top 2 (which they probably won't).

I also don't understand what is the benefit Haaland is going to get in representing Norway. He should rather focus on his role with Manchester City F.C.

I don't know how it is in Norway, but for Croatian players national team is way above clubs in terms of priority and that's one of the reasons why our national team is so good despite very limited pool of players. Our players are first and foremost freinds and they can't wait to get together and represent our country.

[Juggy777]

Haaland cannot join the Norwegian national team in the Euro 2024 qualifiers because he is suffering from a groin injury so the decision of the coach and management of the Norwegian national team may be correct because forcing Haaland to play might result in a more serious injury.
But without Haaland presence Norway looks less than optimal and I think the front line is still not sharp enough to launch attacks.

It's not going to matter anyway. The chances that Norway may qualify either for Euro 2024 or the FIFA World Cup of 2026 is minimal. They are not in a good position as far as the Euro qualifiers are concerned. In Group A, they are now at third place behind Scotland and Spain. Even if Haaland plays for them for the remaining matches, I don't think that Norway will be able to overtake Spain and thereby qualify for the main tournament. I also don't understand what is the benefit Haaland is going to get in representing Norway. He should rather focus on his role with Manchester City F.C.

@Sithara007 he’s young and he wants to pursue international glory too hence it makes sense that he wishes to represent Norway. Also Halland has improved by leaps and bound and under Pep he’s evolved a lot hence whenever he plays for Norway there’s definitely a chance for them so it’s unwise to think that he can’t have any positive impact while representing Norway.

[Sithara007]

I don't know how it is in Norway, but for Croatian players national team is way above clubs in terms of priority and that's one of the reasons why our national team is so good despite very limited pool of players. Our players are first and foremost freinds and they can't wait to get together and represent our country.

Well.. what will Haaland gain from playing in these world cup qualifiers, fully knowing that Norway may never qualify for the main tournament? The case with Croatia is much different. They are one of the top-5 teams in the world, and the players know that they will get an opportunity to represent their country at the world cup. If Haaland wants to participate in world cup, the only option left for him is to change his nationality. If he gets a British or German passport, then we may be able to watch him playing at the world's biggest sporting event. Else he will just end up like Goran Pandeev.

[3meek]

I don't know how it is in Norway, but for Croatian players national team is way above clubs in terms of priority and that's one of the reasons why our national team is so good despite very limited pool of players. Our players are first and foremost freinds and they can't wait to get together and represent our country.

Well.. what will Haaland gain from playing in these world cup qualifiers, fully knowing that Norway may never qualify for the main tournament? The case with Croatia is much different. They are one of the top-5 teams in the world, and the players know that they will get an opportunity to represent their country at the world cup. If Haaland wants to participate in world cup, the only option left for him is to change his nationality. If he gets a British or German passport, then we may be able to watch him playing at the world's biggest sporting event. Else he will just end up like Goran Pandeev.

Yes, Norway has performed poorly or not at all at World or European Championships... I don't think Haaland will be able to solve the national team's problem anyway... Now they are on the third place in the group and there is a probability that they will not be able to qualify again, so a change of nationality would be a reasonable step for a promising player... Although for example Zlatan Ibrahimovic was proud to play for Sweden and I think he had opportunities to play for another country... There is some moral point here...

[Rikafip]

Well.. what will Haaland gain from playing in these world cup qualifiers, fully knowing that Norway may never qualify for the main tournament?

Haaland is only 23 yo and Norway's 2nd best player Odegaard is 24 meaning they have plenty of time to qualify for Euro or WC. What you obviously don't understand is that playing for your national team is the highest honor for any football player (well at least in Europe) and players only skip it if they are injured (unlike for example basketball where players often calculate).

The case with Croatia is much different. They are one of the top-5 teams in the world, and the players know that they will get an opportunity to represent their country at the world cup.

You obviously know very little about history of our national team, period when we sucked and mentality of our players.

If Haaland wants to participate in world cup, the only option left for him is to change his nationality. If he gets a British or German passport, then we may be able to watch him playing at the world's biggest sporting event.

The only national team Haaland will ever be able to play for is Norway because the moment he played his 4th international game for Norway before age of 21, he became inelligible to play for any other national team, ever.

Else he will just end up like Goran Pandeev.

Pandev played in the last Euro so he did just fine and to be honest, he was never even close to Haaland level.

[Sithara007]

Well.. what will Haaland gain from playing in these world cup qualifiers, fully knowing that Norway may never qualify for the main tournament?

Haaland is only 23 yo and Norway's 2nd best player Odegaard is 24 meaning they have plenty of time to qualify for Euro or WC. What you obviously don't understand is that playing for your national team is the highest honor for any football player (well at least in Europe) and players only skip it if they are injured (unlike for example basketball where players often calculate)

OK.. If you say so, then that maybe the case. Good that you mentioned about Martin Ødegaard. He has been a part of the Arsenal first XI for the last 3 years or so, and I would rate him as a world class player. I understand that playing for the national team is a matter of great pride (not just for the Europeans, but also for others as well). And it is up to players such as Erling Håland and Martin Ødegaard to decide how much focus they want to spend on the national team. And as you mentioned, both of them are in their early 20s, and so there is plenty of time for them.

[borovichok]

OK.. If you say so, then that maybe the case. Good that you mentioned about Martin Ødegaard. He has been a part of the Arsenal first XI for the last 3 years or so, and I would rate him as a world class player. I understand that playing for the national team is a matter of great pride (not just for the Europeans, but also for others as well). And it is up to players such as Erling Håland and Martin Ødegaard to decide how much focus they want to spend on the national team. And as you mentioned, both of them are in their early 20s, and so there is plenty of time for them.

The ability for a player to perform at world class level which is country football is classified as been at the best peak of his football career. Norway is lucky to have these incredible talents in the team, they will enchanced the performance of their country with other positive contributions from their teammates. Martin Ødegaard and Erling Haaland are important player for Mikel Arteta and Pep Guardiola because with their absence in the midfield and frontline, Gunners and City will struggle to win games. Perhaps these outstanding players can perform really good in country games, that's one of the attributes of players to become successful in all rounds, basically not only club level football.

[sana54210]

It's not going to matter anyway. The chances that Norway may qualify either for Euro 2024 or the FIFA World Cup of 2026 is minimal. They are not in a good position as far as the Euro qualifiers are concerned. In Group A, they are now at third place behind Scotland and Spain. Even if Haaland plays for them for the remaining matches, I don't think that Norway will be able to overtake Spain and thereby qualify for the main tournament. I also don't understand what is the benefit Haaland is going to get in representing Norway. He should rather focus on his role with Manchester City F.C.

@Sithara007 he’s young and he wants to pursue international glory too hence it makes sense that he wishes to represent Norway. Also Halland has improved by leaps and bound and under Pep he’s evolved a lot hence whenever he plays for Norway there’s definitely a chance for them so it’s unwise to think that he can’t have any positive impact while representing Norway.

I do not think that how good Haaland is will matter in case of Norway because we are talking about a team that will not have good enough defense to stop others, and teams will score in bunches, Haaland will not be getting passes from De Bruyne in this case neither so it is going to be hard for Norway to qualify for something like this neither.

I get that it may still happen, there is a possibility for it, but that doesn't mean that they will do fine. He just will not have a good international career, if he was Brazillian or British or French, he would have something amazing, he could have been German all we care and he would be awesome in international games but because he is Norwegian, he will not have that career internationally.

[Litzki1990]

In around 2 weeks time, the next round of matches are going to start. Group A is looking very interesting, with Spain now at the no.2 position. Norway has only 7 points from 5 matches and unless a miracle happens, they may fail to qualify for the main tournament. In Group B, it is still a fight between Greece and Netherlands for the second spot, with the latter having an advantage. In Group C, it's between Italy and Ukraine. Apart from these groups, it is now more or less clear about who will qualify to the main tournament from the other groups.

Honestly, I really regret that Haaland will not have the opportunity to play in the UEFA or FIFA World Cup. Unlike Portugal which has history and tradition in world football history, Norway is the same as Wales or even less so. Sorry if this is off topic but honestly when watching the Norway match I thought it was very sad when you have to carry your team alone.

There are some countries that have many world class stars from all the countries but because some other players like him were not produced together in that country that country never did well in the World Cup tournament or other European leagues. Portugal has produced the best stars but at different times that's why they haven't been able to perform the best in the World Cup so far, Portugal won the UEFA Euro trophy only once and that too against England which was a long time ago but this time we definitely expect something big from Ronaldo like the World Cup. Did but Ronaldo failed there.Just as Cristiano Ronaldo failed to achieve great things because of his team support, Haaland may not be able to achieve as much for the country as expected due to lack of team support.

[rdluffy]

There are some countries that have many world class stars from all the countries but because some other players like him were not produced together in that country that country never did well in the World Cup tournament or other European leagues. Portugal has produced the best stars but at different times that's why they haven't been able to perform the best in the World Cup so far, Portugal won the UEFA Euro trophy only once and that too against England which was a long time ago but this time we definitely expect something big from Ronaldo like the World Cup. Did but Ronaldo failed there.Just as Cristiano Ronaldo failed to achieve great things because of his team support, Haaland may not be able to achieve as much for the country as expected due to lack of team support.

It's very interesting to talk about players who are out of their depth, but with teams or national teams that weren't at the same level

Portugal won the Euro 2016, not so long ago hehe
Cristiano Ronaldo was at a different level to everyone else, but the team did help him and he had great teammates. It's not easy to win the Euro and they did. The World Cup is unfortunately more difficult, and even teams with a lot of stars have never managed to win it
Unfortunately, we won't be seeing Haaland at this Euro

Just as Norway can't keep up with Haaland, there's also the example of Wales and Bale, Litmanen and Finland, Mkhitaryan and Armenia.
Annd outside of Europe there's Weah from Liberia, Yorke from Trinibad and Tobago and a few others...
Does anyone here remember these players?

[Distraction]

I wish Haaland had a different nationality.    I mean I would have liked to watch him playing for a strong national team which is a title contender in big tournaments. Norway are far from that level I'm afraid. They don't have many qualified players in their squad. If they have a golden generation in the future then maybe things would change.

I also don't expect Norway to qualify for Euro 2024. Scotland are doing even much better than Spain. Norway are competing in a group like this now so it is too hard for them to make it to the main tournament.