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

[Sithara007]

No doubt Ronaldo is an exceptional footballer in this era, and he would still love to play even at the age of 45. But the problem is his inability to adapt to the changes he will encounter. (1) no coach will want to make a footballer in his late thirties the first choice of his team, especially when the performance is below target.  2) a player at that age is limited to a particular hour of performance. All these are factors Ronaldo is currently finding difficult to adapt to. He still wants to be seen as the team's first choice, and this strive will continue to torture him till when he chooses to resign. I presume we have witnessed the end of Ronaldo's era, is high time he resigns with dignity.

Ronaldo was mistreated during the 2022 world cup. The coach benched him for most of the quarter-final match and sent him only when 35 minutes or so was left. And as a result Portugal lost to Morocco. Irrespective of his age, Ronaldo remains the top performer for Portugal. But the coach didn't like him and therefore he wasn't given a chance to play for most of the duration. If Fernando Santos remains as the coach, then I don't think that Ronaldo should play for Portugal again. This is not the way to treat a legendary player.

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[Despairo]

Ronaldo was mistreated during the 2022 world cup. The coach benched him for most of the quarter-final match and sent him only when 35 minutes or so was left. And as a result Portugal lost to Morocco. Irrespective of his age, Ronaldo remains the top performer for Portugal. But the coach didn't like him and therefore he wasn't given a chance to play for most of the duration. If Fernando Santos remains as the coach, then I don't think that Ronaldo should play for Portugal again. This is not the way to treat a legendary player.

Lol, everytime when a user complaint about Portugal's manager to put Ronaldo on bench during quarter final match, I always say it's better to see Portugal performance without Ronaldo when they're against Switzerland. Portugal won very sweet for getting 6 goals, this is the reason why Ronaldo didn't included on the starting line up.

If you said Ronaldo is the top performer for Portugal, it's better if you check in this site [1] to see how much it's his score and which position he's among his teammates.

[1] https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/340/Show/Portugal-Portugal

[W Jr.]

First of all, thanks for the topic. Group D is the group that interests me. My country Turkey is in that group. Our opponents are very tough. Croatia finished third in the last world cup. Wales, on the other hand, played a few successful matches in the last world cup. Armenia, on the other hand, is a country with which we have been competing for years. In the last group, Latvia, which we were unlucky, was one of the strongest teams. As Turkey, we have a young generation and we want to be in Euro 2024 by successfully topping this group. I hope our wishes come true. I wish success to all countries.

[Sithara007]

Ronaldo was mistreated during the 2022 world cup. The coach benched him for most of the quarter-final match and sent him only when 35 minutes or so was left. And as a result Portugal lost to Morocco. Irrespective of his age, Ronaldo remains the top performer for Portugal. But the coach didn't like him and therefore he wasn't given a chance to play for most of the duration. If Fernando Santos remains as the coach, then I don't think that Ronaldo should play for Portugal again. This is not the way to treat a legendary player.

Lol, everytime when a user complaint about Portugal's manager to put Ronaldo on bench during quarter final match, I always say it's better to see Portugal performance without Ronaldo when they're against Switzerland. Portugal won very sweet for getting 6 goals, this is the reason why Ronaldo didn't included on the starting line up.

If you said Ronaldo is the top performer for Portugal, it's better if you check in this site [1] to see how much it's his score and which position he's among his teammates.

[1] https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/340/Show/Portugal-Portugal

I didn't saw the match against Switzerland. But are you saying that Portugal attack will be better without Ronaldo? I have to disagree. Ronaldo remains their best player and when he plays against any other team the entire focus of the defenders of the other team would be to mark him. And this allows his team-mates to play more freely and score goals. Switzerland match was an exception. It's true that Portugal scored a total of 6 goals. But then what happened in the next match? They went with the same combination and by half time they were 0-1 behind against Morocco.

[swogerino]

From what I see all the groups are somewhat interesting here but of course the group A with Spain and the group where Italy is in which has missed I think two consecutive World Cup appearances need to improve themselves by qualifying here for Germany 2024 and finally to see Italy back where it belongs to the top of soccer.

Maybe Ronaldo will still play this last Euro cup for him but I think that the age does not permit that or better permit it but not at full power because Ronaldo is going to be 39 years old,we have seen other great players giving a last try to such tournaments at this age so why not.

[Pierre 2]

From what I see all the groups are somewhat interesting here but of course the group A with Spain and the group where Italy is in which has missed I think two consecutive World Cup appearances need to improve themselves by qualifying here for Germany 2024 and finally to see Italy back where it belongs to the top of soccer.

Maybe Ronaldo will still play this last Euro cup for him but I think that the age does not permit that or better permit it but not at full power because Ronaldo is going to be 39 years old,we have seen other great players giving a last try to such tournaments at this age so why not.

It's pretty sure Ronaldo will keep getting called to Portuguese national squad until he completely retires from football. Although his performance will gradually get worse. He is old for football, fans should accept this reality. I wish we could watch him more but time flies. I think he will mostly become bench to play in last 10-20 minutes at max in next European finals. But I think he won't retire yet. He will play for 2 more years in my opinion.

[yudi09]

Group C will be an interesting group as both 2020 finalists are in the same group, Italy and England.
Reflecting on the 2020 season, England would like the final match to be repeated and if that happens they will correct the mistakes that made them fail to win.
Italy automatically also wants to correct their mistakes that made them fail to participate in the World Cup because of their status as defending UEFA Euro champions.

Germany also has the potential to win Europe's biggest tournament. Although I remain a staunch England supporter, Germany's chances of reaching the final with England are greater than Italy's.

[bitzizzix]

From what I see all the groups are somewhat interesting here but of course the group A with Spain and the group where Italy is in which has missed I think two consecutive World Cup appearances need to improve themselves by qualifying here for Germany 2024 and finally to see Italy back where it belongs to the top of soccer.

Maybe Ronaldo will still play this last Euro cup for him but I think that the age does not permit that or better permit it but not at full power because Ronaldo is going to be 39 years old,we have seen other great players giving a last try to such tournaments at this age so why not.

It's pretty sure Ronaldo will keep getting called to Portuguese national squad until he completely retires from football. Although his performance will gradually get worse. He is old for football, fans should accept this reality. I wish we could watch him more but time flies. I think he will mostly become bench to play in last 10-20 minutes at max in next European finals. But I think he won't retire yet. He will play for 2 more years in my opinion.

That could happen too but it all depends on Ronaldo and if the country wants him and he wants it then why not. Ronaldo can still be relied upon, although not as good as before, and he also still has the potential to strengthen Portugal and it seems that Ronaldo still has the desire to defend his country.
and group B is no less fierce because the Netherlands are in the same group as France and are still in the same group, there are the Republic of Ireland, Greece, Gibraltar. And I think the Netherlands and France will qualify for the next round.

[slackovic]

From what I see all the groups are somewhat interesting here but of course the group A with Spain and the group where Italy is in which has missed I think two consecutive World Cup appearances need to improve themselves by qualifying here for Germany 2024 and finally to see Italy back where it belongs to the top of soccer.

Maybe Ronaldo will still play this last Euro cup for him but I think that the age does not permit that or better permit it but not at full power because Ronaldo is going to be 39 years old,we have seen other great players giving a last try to such tournaments at this age so why not.

It's pretty sure Ronaldo will keep getting called to Portuguese national squad until he completely retires from football. Although his performance will gradually get worse. He is old for football, fans should accept this reality. I wish we could watch him more but time flies. I think he will mostly become bench to play in last 10-20 minutes at max in next European finals. But I think he won't retire yet. He will play for 2 more years in my opinion.

That could happen too but it all depends on Ronaldo and if the country wants him and he wants it then why not. Ronaldo can still be relied upon, although not as good as before, and he also still has the potential to strengthen Portugal and it seems that Ronaldo still has the desire to defend his country.
and group B is no less fierce because the Netherlands are in the same group as France and are still in the same group, there are the Republic of Ireland, Greece, Gibraltar. And I think the Netherlands and France will qualify for the next round.

He is 37 years old now so I'm not sure if he will be able to play at the highest level in two years. Some star players don't know when to stop and then fans are forced to watch them making a fool of themselves by playing football when it's obvious they can't play it at a high level.

Luka Modric said that he will participate in the final four of the UEFA Nations League in the summer and then he will see if he will say goodbye to the Croatia national team or not. I'm pretty sure he will say goodbye.

[Daniel91]

From what I see all the groups are somewhat interesting here but of course the group A with Spain and the group where Italy is in which has missed I think two consecutive World Cup appearances need to improve themselves by qualifying here for Germany 2024 and finally to see Italy back where it belongs to the top of soccer.

Maybe Ronaldo will still play this last Euro cup for him but I think that the age does not permit that or better permit it but not at full power because Ronaldo is going to be 39 years old,we have seen other great players giving a last try to such tournaments at this age so why not.

It's pretty sure Ronaldo will keep getting called to Portuguese national squad until he completely retires from football. Although his performance will gradually get worse. He is old for football, fans should accept this reality. I wish we could watch him more but time flies. I think he will mostly become bench to play in last 10-20 minutes at max in next European finals. But I think he won't retire yet. He will play for 2 more years in my opinion.

That could happen too but it all depends on Ronaldo and if the country wants him and he wants it then why not. Ronaldo can still be relied upon, although not as good as before, and he also still has the potential to strengthen Portugal and it seems that Ronaldo still has the desire to defend his country.
and group B is no less fierce because the Netherlands are in the same group as France and are still in the same group, there are the Republic of Ireland, Greece, Gibraltar. And I think the Netherlands and France will qualify for the next round.

He is 37 years old now so I'm not sure if he will be able to play at the highest level in two years. Some star players don't know when to stop and then fans are forced to watch them making a fool of themselves by playing football when it's obvious they can't play it at a high level.

Luka Modric said that he will participate in the final four of the UEFA Nations League in the summer and then he will see if he will say goodbye to the Croatia national team or not. I'm pretty sure he will say goodbye.

Ronaldo today is definitely not the player he was a year or two ago, the decline in the level of his game is obvious.
I would even say that his selfishness and negative influence on the team spirit of the Portuguese national team prevented Portugal from achieving a much better result at the World Cup in Qatar.
Modric is a completely different character and type of player, completely dedicated to the team and a true leader of the Croatian national team.
His desire to finally win a trophy with Croatian representation is obvious, and that's why he decided to play in the final tournament of the League of Nations next year.
After that, it is really hard to expect that Modrić will still have the strength to play demanding matches for Real and for the Croatian national team at the same time.

[sana54210]

Group C will be an interesting group as both 2020 finalists are in the same group, Italy and England.
Reflecting on the 2020 season, England would like the final match to be repeated and if that happens they will correct the mistakes that made them fail to win.
Italy automatically also wants to correct their mistakes that made them fail to participate in the World Cup because of their status as defending UEFA Euro champions.

Germany also has the potential to win Europe's biggest tournament. Although I remain a staunch England supporter, Germany's chances of reaching the final with England are greater than Italy's.

Honestly Italy doesn't look like they are themselves anymore, they played so well until Euros, they were like 30+ win streak before they got there and they won it as well which is all great but then something happened and they were so bad that they failed to go to World Cup, I do not remember any team that became that bad when they were that good.

England on the other hand went to finals first but then played in semi-finals of world cup, still won nothing but at least they are consistently good, even if not the best being consistent means a lot more. I would rather be finalist and semi-finalist, instead of being winner and not going instead.

[Pierre 2]

From what I see all the groups are somewhat interesting here but of course the group A with Spain and the group where Italy is in which has missed I think two consecutive World Cup appearances need to improve themselves by qualifying here for Germany 2024 and finally to see Italy back where it belongs to the top of soccer.

Maybe Ronaldo will still play this last Euro cup for him but I think that the age does not permit that or better permit it but not at full power because Ronaldo is going to be 39 years old,we have seen other great players giving a last try to such tournaments at this age so why not.

It's pretty sure Ronaldo will keep getting called to Portuguese national squad until he completely retires from football. Although his performance will gradually get worse. He is old for football, fans should accept this reality. I wish we could watch him more but time flies. I think he will mostly become bench to play in last 10-20 minutes at max in next European finals. But I think he won't retire yet. He will play for 2 more years in my opinion.

That could happen too but it all depends on Ronaldo and if the country wants him and he wants it then why not. Ronaldo can still be relied upon, although not as good as before, and he also still has the potential to strengthen Portugal and it seems that Ronaldo still has the desire to defend his country.
and group B is no less fierce because the Netherlands are in the same group as France and are still in the same group, there are the Republic of Ireland, Greece, Gibraltar. And I think the Netherlands and France will qualify for the next round.

He is 37 years old now so I'm not sure if he will be able to play at the highest level in two years. Some star players don't know when to stop and then fans are forced to watch them making a fool of themselves by playing football when it's obvious they can't play it at a high level.

Luka Modric said that he will participate in the final four of the UEFA Nations League in the summer and then he will see if he will say goodbye to the Croatia national team or not. I'm pretty sure he will say goodbye.

He will (as I said) won't be able to compete with 25 year olders who are running like hounds a pitch at the age 39. His body is gonna be very old at that point for that kind of very high level football. In Portuguese league he may be able to keep playing but at Euro finals? Nearly impossible. Best way to use Ronaldo would be giving him chance at the end of match like 10-15 minutes as opponent will be tired and he will be able to use his talents. Or just extra-times where every player will be tired anyways. Playing champions league and/or world cup level football is very hard.

[slackovic]

He will (as I said) won't be able to compete with 25 year olders who are running like hounds a pitch at the age 39. His body is gonna be very old at that point for that kind of very high level football. In Portuguese league he may be able to keep playing but at Euro finals? Nearly impossible. Best way to use Ronaldo would be giving him chance at the end of match like 10-15 minutes as opponent will be tired and he will be able to use his talents. Or just extra-times where every player will be tired anyways. Playing champions league and/or world cup level football is very hard.

Playing the last 10-15 minutes of every game is disrespectful for a player like Ronaldo and I don't think he will agree to that. And he shouldn't. He is/was a great player and the world should remember him like that and not like a player who can't run so his coach is giving him last minutes of a game when everything is decided.

[BitcoinAccepted]

Italy is the reigning European champion. By the way, the championship starts quite soon, in 1.5 years because the World Cup has only ended in the winter. Italy will certainly have revenge feelings because they failed to qualify for the World Cup this year. You can probably name the favorites for the title, which will be the same as at the European Championship as 1.5 years ago, but then France disappointed enormously. England, France, Germany, Spain, those kinds of countries are the title candidates. Italy could also be part of this, but has remained very volatile in recent years. Could Belgium focus again with a new coach?

[CLS63]

First of all, thanks for the topic. Group D is the group that interests me. My country Turkey is in that group. Our opponents are very tough. Croatia finished third in the last world cup. Wales, on the other hand, played a few successful matches in the last world cup. Armenia, on the other hand, is a country with which we have been competing for years. In the last group, Latvia, which we were unlucky, was one of the strongest teams. As Turkey, we have a young generation and we want to be in Euro 2024 by successfully topping this group. I hope our wishes come true. I wish success to all countries.

I think Turkey have a really good potential to have a successful run in the EURO 2024. They could have joined the World Cup as well actually if Burak Yilmaz didn't miss that penalty. They just made things more difficult more themselves later on. But they can learn their lesson from this and get better until the EURO 2024 qualifiers.

Armenia and Latvia are normally not big threats for Turkey. There is a significant quality difference among the squads. Wales are a bigger threat maybe but they didn't impress me much in the World Cup to be honest. They were below the expectations. Croatia are going to be the toughest opponent for Turkey undoubtedly. The results between these two teams can play a big role in determining the leader of the group.

[Zaguru12]

Playing the last 10-15 minutes of every game is disrespectful for a player like Ronaldo and I don't think he will agree to that. And he shouldn't. He is/was a great player and the world should remember him like that and not like a player who can't run so his coach is giving him last minutes of a game when everything is decided.

You clearly said he was great. Although I don't go with the idea of Santos benching Ronaldo in the world Cup. It was pure gamble although it paid off against Switzerland but Morocco's match showed that. Ronaldo on the other hand should know that he is passed it and should be contented with some minutes and give the young lads some space

[Silberman]

Playing the last 10-15 minutes of every game is disrespectful for a player like Ronaldo and I don't think he will agree to that. And he shouldn't. He is/was a great player and the world should remember him like that and not like a player who can't run so his coach is giving him last minutes of a game when everything is decided.

You clearly said he was great. Although I don't go with the idea of Santos benching Ronaldo in the world Cup. It was pure gamble although it paid off against Switzerland but Morocco's match showed that. Ronaldo on the other hand should know that he is passed it and should be contented with some minutes and give the young lads some space

This is going to be very difficult, Ronaldo is so used to being one of the best players around the world and being the best player on his national team that it is going to take a lot of effort for him to adjust to this new reality, even if he is good he is not as good as he was years ago, but he has failed to admit this reality, and as long as he does not come to terms with this reality he will still demand to be a starter on his national team and this will create friction with his teammates.

[Sithara007]

This is going to be very difficult, Ronaldo is so used to being one of the best players around the world and being the best player on his national team that it is going to take a lot of effort for him to adjust to this new reality, even if he is good he is not as good as he was years ago, but he has failed to admit this reality, and as long as he does not come to terms with this reality he will still demand to be a starter on his national team and this will create friction with his teammates.

I have to disagree. One or two bad matches doesn't take away the fact that he is still among the top-3 football players in the world. The truth is that Ronaldo was treated harshly during the recently concluded world cup. I am not sure whether he want to play in the Euro 2024 or not. But I will tell this - without Ronaldo, Portugal's performance is going to be pathetic. I want him to play until the 2026 World Cup. If Roger Milla can represent Cameroon at the age of 42, then why can't Ronaldo play for Portugal when he is 41? And it will be interesting to watch him play along with his son.

[yudi09]

Group C will be an interesting group as both 2020 finalists are in the same group, Italy and England.
Reflecting on the 2020 season, England would like the final match to be repeated and if that happens they will correct the mistakes that made them fail to win.
Italy automatically also wants to correct their mistakes that made them fail to participate in the World Cup because of their status as defending UEFA Euro champions.

Germany also has the potential to win Europe's biggest tournament. Although I remain a staunch England supporter, Germany's chances of reaching the final with England are greater than Italy's.

Honestly Italy doesn't look like they are themselves anymore, they played so well until Euros, they were like 30+ win streak before they got there and they won it as well which is all great but then something happened and they were so bad that they failed to go to World Cup, I do not remember any team that became that bad when they were that good.

England on the other hand went to finals first but then played in semi-finals of world cup, still won nothing but at least they are consistently good, even if not the best being consistent means a lot more. I would rather be finalist and semi-finalist, instead of being winner and not going instead.

In my opinion, Italy are not ready for the changes in the squad. If their squad is always identical with experienced players, then when they try to combine young players with experienced players, they will not find their best form. To be precise, we can say that Italy need time to return to their best form.

In the last World Cup tournament, England has young talented players who are likely to be important players for the national team in the next few major tournaments such as Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka and Marcus Rashford.

It is likely that England will be able to reach the ladder of success in football tournaments that have failed to win two different tournaments such as the World Cup and Euro. This can be seen from their performance yesterday in Qatar.

[slackovic]

In my opinion, Italy are not ready for the changes in the squad. If their squad is always identical with experienced players, then when they try to combine young players with experienced players, they will not find their best form. To be precise, we can say that Italy need time to return to their best form.

/snip

I don't agree. I think that the best way to introduce young players into the national team is by giving them a chance to play along more experienced players. Look what Croatia did after the World Cup in 2018. Half of the players that were playing the World Cup in 2018 left the national team. And what happened? Their coach Dalic introduced younger players to play with older and experienced ones. I guess you know the result - third place in the World Cup 2022 and a place in the final four of the UEFA Nations League.