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

[Daniel91]

If they finish within the top 2, then they can qualify for the main tournament. Only other team (apart from Turkey) who can spoil Croatia's chances is Wales. They are one of the most under-rated teams within UEFA and on their day they can make life difficult even for stronger sides such as England and France. But I don't know how they are going to perform this time, especially after the retirement of Gareth Bale. The other teams in that group (Armenia and Latvia) are there just to make up the numbers. During recent times, their quality has gone down and I don't think that they stand any chance against teams like Croatia, Turkey and Wales.

I know than first two spots in the group lead to the final tournament. But my opinion is that it's not the same to finish first or second. Finishing at the first place boosts team's morale and their synergy with the fans. I remember the time when Croatian fans were not so interested in the national team. Then Dalic was appointed as the manager and they started winning strong teams again. Now the stadiums are again full when the national team is playing.

At least on paper, Croatia is much stronger than Turkey and Wales. The other two (Latvia and Armenia) are there just to make up the numbers. And then chances of any upsets are low, because each team will face others two times in the group phase. Even if one of the underdogs win one match by luck, the higher ranked team has another chance to get back at them. In two weeks, Croatia will be playing their first match, against Wales (they will be having the home advantage, since the match is scheduled to be held at the Stadion Poljud in Split). And on 28th they have a tough match, against Turkey. 

Yes, you said it right, on paper Croatia is better than both Wales and Turkey, but Croatia has always had big problems with weaker national teams in qualifying for major competitions.
The qualification for the last European Championship started with a defeat against Slovenia, and the qualification for the League of Nations with a defeat against Austria at home.
After that defeat against Austria, Croatia beat both France and Denmark away from home, so it was once again shown that Croatia always plays the best against the strongest national teams and always has serious problems against weaker teams.
I don't know if this is due to the mentality of the Croatian players, underestimating the opponent or some other reason, but I expect similar problems in these qualifications as well.

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[Sithara007]

Yes, you said it right, on paper Croatia is better than both Wales and Turkey, but Croatia has always had big problems with weaker national teams in qualifying for major competitions.
The qualification for the last European Championship started with a defeat against Slovenia, and the qualification for the League of Nations with a defeat against Austria at home.
After that defeat against Austria, Croatia beat both France and Denmark away from home, so it was once again shown that Croatia always plays the best against the strongest national teams and always has serious problems against weaker teams.
I don't know if this is due to the mentality of the Croatian players, underestimating the opponent or some other reason, but I expect similar problems in these qualifications as well.

BTW, I wouldn't call Austria and Slovenia as weak teams. But I get the point. Both these teams can't be compared to sides such as France. BTW, I am surprised that you have grouped together France and Danmark. The latter are a shadow of their former self and are on a downward slide since the last one decade or so. I won't be surprised if they fail to qualify for the Euro 2024 and FIFA 2026. It looks like Croatia performs the best when they are the underdogs. When they are the favorites, the performance go down.

I am not comfortable with one of the factors within the current Croatian team. There are very few young players and most of the star players are over 30. Dejan Lovren, Domagoj Vida, Luka Modrić, Ivan Perišić and Andrej Kramarić are all in their mid-30s or late-30s. This is like a double edged sword. It gives them an advantage in terms of overall experience. But at the same time, absence of younger players may prove costly while playing against more athletic sides.

[slackovic]

/snip

I am not comfortable with one of the factors within the current Croatian team. There are very few young players and most of the star players are over 30. Dejan Lovren, Domagoj Vida, Luka Modrić, Ivan Perišić and Andrej Kramarić are all in their mid-30s or late-30s. This is like a double edged sword. It gives them an advantage in terms of overall experience. But at the same time, absence of younger players may prove costly while playing against more athletic sides.

Out of all the players that you mentioned, only Perišić and Kramarić will be in Dalić's consideration to call them up for the UEFA Euro 2024. Lovren already announced that he won't be playing for the national team anymore. Modrić said that he wants to see Croatia winning the Nations League, but I think he'll retire from the national team after that. His dream is to bring the gold medal to Croatia so that's his last opportunity. And Vida is out of the question if you ask me. I think that he didn't play at all in Qatar because Dalić found a replacement for him in Gvardiol.

[sana54210]

Out of all the players that you mentioned, only Perišić and Kramarić will be in Dalić's consideration to call them up for the UEFA Euro 2024. Lovren already announced that he won't be playing for the national team anymore. Modrić said that he wants to see Croatia winning the Nations League, but I think he'll retire from the national team after that. His dream is to bring the gold medal to Croatia so that's his last opportunity. And Vida is out of the question if you ask me. I think that he didn't play at all in Qatar because Dalić found a replacement for him in Gvardiol.

Croatia is not to be considered a great team by that time but I think 1.5 years is not really that much of a long time to consider all these players gone. At the very least Modric could play here, and I know it would be near impossible for him to play in the world cup, so he will want to leave it after a certain tournament and I do not think that nations league would be that one.

Everyone knows that nations league is just a formal exhibition game for most clubs, they just train together and instead of having friendlies, they play in the nations league, this is why I think Modric will leave after euro cup, because he wants his last cup to mean something.

[Sithara007]

Out of all the players that you mentioned, only Perišić and Kramarić will be in Dalić's consideration to call them up for the UEFA Euro 2024. Lovren already announced that he won't be playing for the national team anymore. Modrić said that he wants to see Croatia winning the Nations League, but I think he'll retire from the national team after that. His dream is to bring the gold medal to Croatia so that's his last opportunity. And Vida is out of the question if you ask me. I think that he didn't play at all in Qatar because Dalić found a replacement for him in Gvardiol.

Hmm.. I forgot about Joško Gvardiol. Yesterday Yussuf Poulsen termed him as one of the best young defenders in the world. Also, he was one of the favorites to win the FIFA Young Player Award (lost to Enzo Fernández in the end). Still, I believe that Croatia will be significantly weakened if all of the senior players are gone. Other players may be replaced, but I don't know how they are going to replace Luka Modrić in mid-field and Ivan Perišić in the attack. Anyway, Perišić will be around for a couple of years more, so that means less headache for Zlatko Dalić.

[bullrun2024bro]

It looks like the German team has a new captain (at least for the next games): Bayern midfielder Joshua Kimmich.

With Neuer, Müller and Gündogan all out, Joshua Kimmich is set to captain Germany in the upcoming games against Peru and Belgium. Hansi Flick told @kicker: "Usually, the player with the most international caps wears the armband."

Source: https://twitter.com/iMiaSanMia/status/1635665883577176064

For me, it's 100% the right decision: Joshua Kimmich really embodies everything you expect from the captain of the German national team, namely the unconditional commitment to always want to win (which has been a little lost among Germans in recent years). I really hope with him the German team finds back on track. I mean, after the last two tournaments, the German team desperately needs a title once again.

[sana54210]

For me, it's 100% the right decision: Joshua Kimmich really embodies everything you expect from the captain of the German national team, namely the unconditional commitment to always want to win (which has been a little lost among Germans in recent years). I really hope with him the German team finds back on track. I mean, after the last two tournaments, the German team desperately needs a title once again.

Neuer was never really fit to be the captain if you ask me, İlkay is a better player than Kimmich, but Kimmich is still in Germany whereas İlkay is in premier league. So this decision looks to be as good as it gets, I hope that he keeps the armband and he continues to be their captain for the future as well, it would really help them in the long run.

Doesn't mean that he will get to win anything at all, we could see him be the captain and the team still losing, Germany doesn't get better just because they switched their captain, that is not how football works. However, it is not something that could hurt neither so it should be a fine decision with no result changes.

[Sithara007]

I don't know whether the selection of Joshua Kimmich as the captain is going to change anything. He is a talented player, but I don't know much about his captainship skills. The issue that Germany is facing right now is that they don't have enough younger players to replace those who are about to retire. Manuel Neuer, Thomas Müller and Marco Reus are all in their 30s. And younger players such as Lukas Nmecha are yet to establish themselves at the international stage. Look at their performance during Qatar 2022. One of the reasons why they failed during the world cup is the age factor.

[Daniel91]

Yes, you said it right, on paper Croatia is better than both Wales and Turkey, but Croatia has always had big problems with weaker national teams in qualifying for major competitions.
The qualification for the last European Championship started with a defeat against Slovenia, and the qualification for the League of Nations with a defeat against Austria at home.
After that defeat against Austria, Croatia beat both France and Denmark away from home, so it was once again shown that Croatia always plays the best against the strongest national teams and always has serious problems against weaker teams.
I don't know if this is due to the mentality of the Croatian players, underestimating the opponent or some other reason, but I expect similar problems in these qualifications as well.

BTW, I wouldn't call Austria and Slovenia as weak teams. But I get the point. Both these teams can't be compared to sides such as France. BTW, I am surprised that you have grouped together France and Danmark. The latter are a shadow of their former self and are on a downward slide since the last one decade or so. I won't be surprised if they fail to qualify for the Euro 2024 and FIFA 2026. It looks like Croatia performs the best when they are the underdogs. When they are the favorites, the performance go down.

I am not comfortable with one of the factors within the current Croatian team. There are very few young players and most of the star players are over 30. Dejan Lovren, Domagoj Vida, Luka Modrić, Ivan Perišić and Andrej Kramarić are all in their mid-30s or late-30s. This is like a double edged sword. It gives them an advantage in terms of overall experience. But at the same time, absence of younger players may prove costly while playing against more athletic sides.

Yes, that is probably part of our mentality, that we always play our best against the strongest national teams, and that we are always particularly motivated, but against weaker teams we somehow always play more relaxed and with less concentration.
As for the national team itself, I would not agree that too many old players play. In fact, I think that our national team is a good combination of experience and youth.
On the one hand, there are older players like Modric, Brozovic, Perisic and Kramaric, but on the other hand there are also very young and promising players like Livakovic, Majer, Pasalic, Vlasic, Stanisic, Guardiola... so I don't think we should worry about the future of the Croatian national team 

[slackovic]

So this week is the official start of the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifications with few interesting games. Croatia is facing their biggest competitors for the first place - Wales on Saturday and Turkey on Tuesday. I think that Croatia have what it takes to beat Wales, but Turkey could be a challenge.

Italy is playing against England which is an important game for the outcome of the group since other opponents should be an easy win for both of them.

France is facing Netherlands which should also be a good game to watch. Both nations played pretty good at the World Cup last year. Somehow I think that France should win this one.

[Sithara007]

So this week is the official start of the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifications with few interesting games. Croatia is facing their biggest competitors for the first place - Wales on Saturday and Turkey on Tuesday. I think that Croatia have what it takes to beat Wales, but Turkey could be a challenge.

Italy is playing against England which is an important game for the outcome of the group since other opponents should be an easy win for both of them.

France is facing Netherlands which should also be a good game to watch. Both nations played pretty good at the World Cup last year. Somehow I think that France should win this one.

Turkey has the potential to perform upsets, and therefore Croatia should be worried. And they will have the home advantage as well (match scheduled to be hosted by Turkey at the Bursa Metropolitan Stadium near Marmara coast). Now Turkey is a side that failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in 2022. On the other hand, Croatia are the semi-finalists. The momentum is with Croatia and they should win both the matches without much effort. BTW, I need to warn you not to underestimate Wales. Smaller teams from the British Isles (Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales) are capable of their fair share of upsets.

[Cryptmuster]

Neuer was never really fit to be the captain if you ask me, İlkay is a better player than Kimmich, but Kimmich is still in Germany whereas İlkay is in premier league. So this decision looks to be as good as it gets, I hope that he keeps the armband and he continues to be their captain for the future as well, it would really help them in the long run.

Doesn't mean that he will get to win anything at all, we could see him be the captain and the team still losing, Germany doesn't get better just because they switched their captain, that is not how football works. However, it is not something that could hurt neither so it should be a fine decision with no result changes.

A leader in a team can make important decisions at crucial moments, but the captain's armband doesn't always define a true leader. Neuer was a good captain, though lately he missed a lot, but he did not lose his self-confidence from this. By the way, is there any news, how is he doing, when will he be able to return to the game? He will still need time to recover and return to his optimal playing shape, all this will take a lot of time.

[rendravolt]

~snip~

Italy is playing against England which is an important game for the outcome of the group since other opponents should be an easy win for both of them.

France is facing Netherlands which should also be a good game to watch. Both nations played pretty good at the World Cup last year. Somehow I think that France should win this one.

Maybe it's these two big matches that interest me. So far, England will be the favorites to win but if you look at Italy now, of course they have started to learn from previous failures in other international competitions and they certainly won't give up on winning at home, especially as they are the defending champions of Euro 2020. For the Francis match against the netherlands, i think it was a very tough game with heat. It's clear that the French players are superior in terms of squad depth, but the Dutch defense is also very strong. As the new captain of France, Kylian Mbappe has the responsibility to guide his colleagues to victory in this match.

[slackovic]

Turkey has the potential to perform upsets, and therefore Croatia should be worried. And they will have the home advantage as well (match scheduled to be hosted by Turkey at the Bursa Metropolitan Stadium near Marmara coast). Now Turkey is a side that failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in 2022. On the other hand, Croatia are the semi-finalists. The momentum is with Croatia and they should win both the matches without much effort. BTW, I need to warn you not to underestimate Wales. Smaller teams from the British Isles (Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales) are capable of their fair share of upsets.

I agree. Croatia tends to play lousy against teams that are weaker "on paper". Also, Croatia often start qualifications by losing a game or two and then they improve their play as qualifications progresses. That's why I don't like the fact that the first two games are against direct competitors for the first place.

Maybe it's these two big matches that interest me. So far, England will be the favorites to win but if you look at Italy now, of course they have started to learn from previous failures in other international competitions and they certainly won't give up on winning at home, especially as they are the defending champions of Euro 2020. For the Francis match against the netherlands, i think it was a very tough game with heat. It's clear that the French players are superior in terms of squad depth, but the Dutch defense is also very strong. As the new captain of France, Kylian Mbappe has the responsibility to guide his colleagues to victory in this match.

I think that France should have no problem beating Denmark. I'm not saying that Denmark is a bad team, I just think France is much better. Italy must prove themselves in front of their fans so England will have a hard time playing against them. Mbappe has to prove that he can lead France in this qualifications.

[swogerino]

Neuer was never really fit to be the captain if you ask me, İlkay is a better player than Kimmich, but Kimmich is still in Germany whereas İlkay is in premier league. So this decision looks to be as good as it gets, I hope that he keeps the armband and he continues to be their captain for the future as well, it would really help them in the long run.

Doesn't mean that he will get to win anything at all, we could see him be the captain and the team still losing, Germany doesn't get better just because they switched their captain, that is not how football works. However, it is not something that could hurt neither so it should be a fine decision with no result changes.

A leader in a team can make important decisions at crucial moments, but the captain's armband doesn't always define a true leader. Neuer was a good captain, though lately he missed a lot, but he did not lose his self-confidence from this. By the way, is there any news, how is he doing, when will he be able to return to the game? He will still need time to recover and return to his optimal playing shape, all this will take a lot of time.

I would worry more about the team of Germany in general as they have been screwing it up since 2014 and up until now,they are not finding that perfect balance that defined "NationalManschaft" that they could beat anyone in Europe and was one of the strongest team.I doubt anyone is afraid now of them seeing their latest performance in this last World Cup,the Euro which will be held at Germany can be an important factor for them,to reshape the team and start gaining that feeling of dominance lost from almost 10 years now,that is a huge time for Germany not managing to qualify further than the group stages in a World Cup.

[Docnaster]

It looks like the German team has a new captain (at least for the next games): Bayern midfielder Joshua Kimmich.

With Neuer, Müller and Gündogan all out, Joshua Kimmich is set to captain Germany in the upcoming games against Peru and Belgium. Hansi Flick told @kicker: "Usually, the player with the most international caps wears the armband."

Source: https://twitter.com/iMiaSanMia/status/1635665883577176064

For me, it's 100% the right decision: Joshua Kimmich really embodies everything you expect from the captain of the German national team, namely the unconditional commitment to always want to win (which has been a little lost among Germans in recent years). I really hope with him the German team finds back on track. I mean, after the last two tournaments, the German team desperately needs a title once again.

Over the past few years Joshua Kimmich has been one of the best outfield footballers in Germany. His commanding prowess in defense has been top notch, his ability to detect play and make those fair but very important tackles  can't be over emphasised, his composure and agility is simply out of this world but most importantly of all his quality features is his leadership quality.

Leading Germany national team in the coming Euro 2024 qualifiers is very deserved of him. Surely he's gonna be the future captain when the injured veterans decides quit international football

[Inwestour]

Italy is playing against England which is an important game for the outcome of the group since other opponents should be an easy win for both of them.

Immediately a very important match for these teams, without any preparation, because the winner of this match will most likely be in the lead in the group stage. I looked at the statistics and I see that Italy in its history has never lost to England at home. In addition, Italy missed the matches of the national team and for sure they will want to prove that their absence from the World Cup was an accident, so Italy has a good chance not to lose this match, and maybe even win.

[SquallLeonhart]

So this week is the official start of the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifications with few interesting games. Croatia is facing their biggest competitors for the first place - Wales on Saturday and Turkey on Tuesday. I think that Croatia have what it takes to beat Wales, but Turkey could be a challenge.

Italy is playing against England which is an important game for the outcome of the group since other opponents should be an easy win for both of them.

France is facing Netherlands which should also be a good game to watch. Both nations played pretty good at the World Cup last year. Somehow I think that France should win this one.

Isn't it 2 teams from each group? If that is the case then I am pretty sure that Turkey and Croatia will not really have that much of a problem unless they start losing out of nowhere. They should be facing each other and lose points there, one of them or both of them may, but aside from that both teams look like they are better than everyone else, so one of them will be first and the other will be second and they will go up. That is not really a tough task for either team, they need to focus on other games.

England should be beating Italy considering how bad Italy suddenly got after last Euro cup, they weren't even in the world cup when you think about how bad they become.

[Renampun]

the first match is tomorrow and the opening match is kazakhsan vs slovenia (group H). although as the host, I don't believe kazakhstan can beat slovenia (they don't have the quality for that), slovenia's chances of winning are bigger.

Italy is playing against England which is an important game for the outcome of the group since other opponents should be an easy win for both of them.

Immediately a very important match for these teams, without any preparation, because the winner of this match will most likely be in the lead in the group stage. I looked at the statistics and I see that Italy in its history has never lost to England at home. In addition, Italy missed the matches of the national team and for sure they will want to prove that their absence from the World Cup was an accident, so Italy has a good chance not to lose this match, and maybe even win.

Italy vs England (Group C) will always present tight competition, both teams have a long history of rivalry, in the Euro 2020 final, Italy beat England and surely the grudge still lingers, the two teams have announced the squad list, I wonder if England able to beat italy at armando maradona stadium.

[KTChampions]

So this week is the official start of the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifications with few interesting games. Croatia is facing their biggest competitors for the first place - Wales on Saturday and Turkey on Tuesday. I think that Croatia have what it takes to beat Wales, but Turkey could be a challenge.

Italy is playing against England which is an important game for the outcome of the group since other opponents should be an easy win for both of them.

France is facing Netherlands which should also be a good game to watch. Both nations played pretty good at the World Cup last year. Somehow I think that France should win this one.

I would also single out the games Czech Republic - Poland and Sweden - Belgium, in fact, these are also games between number one and number two in the group. These confrontations will be interesting to watch even against the background of the games Italy - England and France - the Netherlands. I also think that France will win although the team is again struck by squabbles (as they say because of the appointment of Mbappe as captain). And by the way, Mbappe again has an additional motivation to show his best side - the team "achievements" of PSG are very doubtful.