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

[KTChampions]

You can't compare France to any of the other UEFA teams. During the last one decade or so, every other UEFA team has become weaker. Netherlands and Germany are prime examples. But France is probably the only UEFA team that has got stronger. They have a steady supply of young players and at this point their best player is the 24-year old Kylian Mbappé. Italy on the other hand is a relatively young team (despite the rapidly ageing population in that country), but their younger players are yet to prove their worth at the international level.

What can you say about England? It seems that they are consistently getting stronger, but so far this is not reflected in the titles. But this is a separate conversation, since short tournaments and their small number introduce a large degree of randomness into the results of national teams' games. France is undeniably top, but England isn't much farther away plus there are always bad days for any team (like when France was knocked out by Switzerland on penalties).

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[Sithara007]

~~~~
May I add something to your post Sithara007?
Croatia also deserves to be mentioned as a team that has grown stronger in the last decade.
~~~~

I would agree partially. Croatia is one of the strongest teams within the UEFA confederation. And during the last one decade, they have made massive improvements. But what will be your take, if I take the last 4-year period instead of the last 10 years? Their performance in the FIFA World Cup suggests that the quality has remained as such. They were the runners-up in 2018, and finished at the 3rd place in 2022. However, they are dependent on players who are close to the retirement age, such as Ivan Perišić, Luka Modrić and Dejan Lovren. Will they be able to perform at the same level once these players retire?

[Silberman]

...

In 2006 when Italy was world champion, it was easy to know how Italy was going to play, with a very strong team defensively, well put together, look at that: Buffon, Cannavaro, Materazzi, Pirlo, Gattuso etc, and before that Italy got good results in cups.

That win by Italy needs to be put in context, as that was the year in which there was a huge scandal as several teams, with the most notable being the Juventus, were accused and penalized by buying referees, and there are very credible rumors that state the Italian players were told that if they won the world cup then no legal repercussions will be pursued against them, so they had motivations which went way beyond soccer during that particular world cup.

[Distraction]

What do you think about Belgium? I think they wasted a really bright generation due to personal issues among the players. It was like there wasn't any player who doesn't have any issue with some other Belgian player. They couldn't go beyond the quarter finals of Euro 2020 and they couldn't even advanced from the group stage of the last World Cup due to poor performances.

Now they are trying to start off with a clean slate with the same players. They have made a solid start to the Euro 2024 Qualifiers by a 3-0 win over Sweden away. Lukaku even made a hat-trick back then. Their group isn't that hard either - Austria, Sweden, Estonia and Azerbaijan. They can join the main tournament by finishing this group as the leader. While they have great talents like De Bruyne I hope they can be competitive for a Euro title once again.

[Daniel91]

~~~~
May I add something to your post Sithara007?
Croatia also deserves to be mentioned as a team that has grown stronger in the last decade.
~~~~

I would agree partially. Croatia is one of the strongest teams within the UEFA confederation. And during the last one decade, they have made massive improvements. But what will be your take, if I take the last 4-year period instead of the last 10 years? Their performance in the FIFA World Cup suggests that the quality has remained as such. They were the runners-up in 2018, and finished at the 3rd place in 2022. However, they are dependent on players who are close to the retirement age, such as Ivan Perišić, Luka Modrić and Dejan Lovren. Will they be able to perform at the same level once these players retire?

The same questions were asked after Croatia was third at the 1998 World Cup, with a great generation in which Suker, Boban, Prosinecki and other great players played.
After them came a great generation with Modric, Mandjukic, Perisic and other great players.
Who will replace Modric, Perisic and Lovren? The Croatian national football team is currently very high-quality and has a lot of talented and young players that the best clubs in the world are looking for.
Livakovic is already one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
Guardiol and Stanisic can already replace Lovren.
There are also Juranovic and Sosa.
In midfield we have great players like Kovacic, Brozovic, Majer or Pasalic.
Croatia may be a little weaker in attack right now, but we have Kramaric, Petkovic, Orsic and Perisic will still play for a while.
Croatia currently has the right combination of youth and experience and I think they will be a very serious candidate to win the League of Nations in June and to win the EURO next year.

[rdluffy]

...Will they be able to perform at the same level once these players retire? ...

We will still watch Croatia's matches with the best line-up to date, with Modric and co, until Euro 2024, then only time will tell if it was only 3 or 4 players who were making all the difference, or if the country's soccer has really evolved and they will be able to continue with good results in the near future.
I can't give a clear opinion because Modric was an excellent reference for this team, even more with the Real Madrid / Champions League experience he had.

What do you think about Belgium?...
...I hope they can be competitive for a Euro title once again.

Only talking about Euro 2024 and the qualifiers:
I believe Belgium will get that qualification, because their group is not strong enough to consider a real treat
In my opinion Estonia and Azerbaijan will not make it, while Sweden and Austria will fight for second place, and Belgium will qualify first.

I think they will can be a great team for Euro 2024 and be competitive, but it is a good time to reformulate the team already thinking about the 2024 Euro and 2026 World Cup. I would be disappointed if they kept exactly the same players that played in the last World Cup and ruined a whole job because of internal fights
Another reason to believe in a good Belgian campaign is that the other teams are not that good either
I can only see France (ok, maybe England too) with an extremely strong and consistent team with the right mix of new and experienced players, who already have the foundation laid for several years
The rest are all at the end of their cycle or trying to get a new team right

[jakdanyel]

I also want to believe in Belgium to do a nice work at least in the qualifiers. They have a Lukaku who has been in great shape recently. His latest performance in the qualifiers was also very impressive. Maybe he was disappointing in the latest World Cup and maintained this bad look for a while later on too. But now it seems like he has found his rhythm. His scoring contribution is so valuable for this team now.

I have also heard about the arguments between some players. But this team shouldn't just be the victim of this kind of mutual problems. There are great players like Lukaku, De Bruyne and many more in the squad. This combination deserves to play for a title indeed. Chemistry is everything for a team so they need to keep their chemistry level as high as possible.

[Sithara007]

The same questions were asked after Croatia was third at the 1998 World Cup, with a great generation in which Suker, Boban, Prosinecki and other great players played.
After them came a great generation with Modric, Mandjukic, Perisic and other great players.
Who will replace Modric, Perisic and Lovren? The Croatian national football team is currently very high-quality and has a lot of talented and young players that the best clubs in the world are looking for.
Livakovic is already one of the best goalkeepers in the world.
Guardiol and Stanisic can already replace Lovren.
There are also Juranovic and Sosa.
In midfield we have great players like Kovacic, Brozovic, Majer or Pasalic.
Croatia may be a little weaker in attack right now, but we have Kramaric, Petkovic, Orsic and Perisic will still play for a while.
Croatia currently has the right combination of youth and experience and I think they will be a very serious candidate to win the League of Nations in June and to win the EURO next year.

First of all thanks for the detailed reply. Excellent analysis, I should say. I don't know whether I will agree with the last sentence though. Winning the Euro Cup in 2024 will be a huge achievement, but I don't know whether I should consider them as one of the favorites. I went through your reply a few times, and then asked this question to myself - why not Croatia? When we talk about teams that are considered as the favorites to win Euro 2024, we always talk about France, Italy, Spain, England and even Germany. Croatia has been pretty consistent over the last decade or so, but a lot of people have difficulty in placing them at the same league as the other favorites. And I suspect this has to do with issues other than football. Croatia is a small country with 4 million people. It is difficult to imagine that they can perform at the same level as France or England.

[rdluffy]

I was researching about the odds of each country in the next Euro, and the Mirror website have already made an estimate, I'll only post the top 10:

• Germany - 5/1
• France - 6/1
• England - 6/1
• Spain - 7/1
• Italy - 9/1
• Portugal - 10/1
• Netherlands - 12/1
• Belgium - 14/1
• Denmark - 20/1
• Croatia - 33/1

Source

What do you think guys?
In my opinion France is the favorite one, followed by England, and Croatia definitely is not in the 10th place of favorites, maybe in 4th or 5th.
And Denmark is not more favorite than Croatia or Switzerland for example...

So my list is different than this 

[sana54210]

First of all thanks for the detailed reply. Excellent analysis, I should say. I don't know whether I will agree with the last sentence though. Winning the Euro Cup in 2024 will be a huge achievement, but I don't know whether I should consider them as one of the favorites. I went through your reply a few times, and then asked this question to myself - why not Croatia? When we talk about teams that are considered as the favorites to win Euro 2024, we always talk about France, Italy, Spain, England and even Germany. Croatia has been pretty consistent over the last decade or so, but a lot of people have difficulty in placing them at the same league as the other favorites. And I suspect this has to do with issues other than football. Croatia is a small country with 4 million people. It is difficult to imagine that they can perform at the same level as France or England.

I think the analysis forgets the fact that the names he replaced are much better than the players that they have now. Sure they have some good players, but to say Livakovic as one of the best goalkeepers in the world now? That seems like overrating him a bit, maybe barely top 10, but that's it.

To say the least, they have a roster value that is matching teams that are not even in the world cup, surely they played better than their roster value but that is exactly the reason why they are doing good. They do not have great players, they never did, they had a few here and there, but none of their players were stars aside from Modric, who is the sole ballon d'or winner during Ronaldo/Messi domination period, but this game is played with 11, so they had 10 other players who were not really finalist level good. The thing that makes Croatio good is not the players, it's the team spirit they play with.

[Sithara007]

I think the analysis forgets the fact that the names he replaced are much better than the players that they have now. Sure they have some good players, but to say Livakovic as one of the best goalkeepers in the world now? That seems like overrating him a bit, maybe barely top 10, but that's it.

To say the least, they have a roster value that is matching teams that are not even in the world cup, surely they played better than their roster value but that is exactly the reason why they are doing good. They do not have great players, they never did, they had a few here and there, but none of their players were stars aside from Modric, who is the sole ballon d'or winner during Ronaldo/Messi domination period, but this game is played with 11, so they had 10 other players who were not really finalist level good. The thing that makes Croatio good is not the players, it's the team spirit they play with.

I would consider Dominik Livaković as one of the best goal-keepers in the world right now. And you are admitting that you would include him in the top-10 list. In case he is in top-10, then automatically he becomes one of the best, right? What separates Livaković from others such as Emi Martinez, Yassine Bounou and Wojciech Szczesny? I can't find anything. IMO, he is at the same level as them. Do you remember the match between Croatia and Brazil during Qatar 2022? Croatia won the match mainly because of Livaković. Unfortunate that he didn't got the Golden Glove.

[sana54210]

I would consider Dominik Livaković as one of the best goal-keepers in the world right now. And you are admitting that you would include him in the top-10 list. In case he is in top-10, then automatically he becomes one of the best, right? What separates Livaković from others such as Emi Martinez, Yassine Bounou and Wojciech Szczesny? I can't find anything. IMO, he is at the same level as them. Do you remember the match between Croatia and Brazil during Qatar 2022? Croatia won the match mainly because of Livaković. Unfortunate that he didn't got the Golden Glove.

Those names you named could be around the same level, I am not arguing about that, and top 10 is a stretch but I can put him at 10th place. But remember that this is a dude that played in Croatia national team and Dinamo Zagreb, no big team so far and he is already 28. If he was one of the best, he would have been bought by a big club already.

Ederson, Alison, De gea, Courtouis, Lloris, Der Stegen, Neuer, there are many goalkeepers I could still name that are better than him, these players played at the top teams and won top awards with their teams and they deserve to be considered much better than Livakovic without a doubt, they are definitely not even close in talent, I would consider livakovic one level below those type of big club goalkeepers and still good, just not as good as them.

[Sithara007]

Those names you named could be around the same level, I am not arguing about that, and top 10 is a stretch but I can put him at 10th place. But remember that this is a dude that played in Croatia national team and Dinamo Zagreb, no big team so far and he is already 28. If he was one of the best, he would have been bought by a big club already.

Ederson, Alison, De gea, Courtouis, Lloris, Der Stegen, Neuer, there are many goalkeepers I could still name that are better than him, these players played at the top teams and won top awards with their teams and they deserve to be considered much better than Livakovic without a doubt, they are definitely not even close in talent, I would consider livakovic one level below those type of big club goalkeepers and still good, just not as good as them.

Again, I need to disagree. In my opinion, Livaković is at the same league as Marc-André ter Stegen or David de Gea. The fact that he is playing for Dinamo Zagreb should not be used as a tool to attack him. He is playing for them since 2015 and the reason maybe that he just want to stay in Croatia. Anyway, I would stick to my arguments. Without Livaković it was not possible for Croatia to get past Brazil during the quarter-finals of Qatar 2022. During regular time, he made some spectacular saves, and the way he saved the penalty kick from Rodrygo was just amazing.

[slapper]

I think the analysis forgets the fact that the names he replaced are much better than the players that they have now. Sure they have some good players, but to say Livakovic as one of the best goalkeepers in the world now? That seems like overrating him a bit, maybe barely top 10, but that's it.

To say the least, they have a roster value that is matching teams that are not even in the world cup, surely they played better than their roster value but that is exactly the reason why they are doing good. They do not have great players, they never did, they had a few here and there, but none of their players were stars aside from Modric, who is the sole ballon d'or winner during Ronaldo/Messi domination period, but this game is played with 11, so they had 10 other players who were not really finalist level good. The thing that makes Croatio good is not the players, it's the team spirit they play with.

I would consider Dominik Livaković as one of the best goal-keepers in the world right now. And you are admitting that you would include him in the top-10 list. In case he is in top-10, then automatically he becomes one of the best, right? What separates Livaković from others such as Emi Martinez, Yassine Bounou and Wojciech Szczesny? I can't find anything. IMO, he is at the same level as them. Do you remember the match between Croatia and Brazil during Qatar 2022? Croatia won the match mainly because of Livaković. Unfortunate that he didn't got the Golden Glove.

Dominik Livakovi, unquestionably one of the world's dopest goalkeepers, is in the house. He gave you a good vibe with his top 10 ranking. Seriously though, Croatia vs. Brazil in Qatar in 2022 - that guy was a beast!

You may be comparing him to Wojciech Szczesny, Yassine Bounou, and Emi Martinez right now, but hold on. They may even be tied, but Livakovi still has that competitive fervor. Perhaps he isn't with a major club yet, but don't underestimate his abilities.

And let's be honest, you are genuinely showing some love to De Gea, Ederson, and Alisson. They may be winning championships with their teams, but that doesn't mean Livakovi is being outdone. While carrying his squad on his back, Livakovi is supported by a major player.

[sana54210]

Those names you named could be around the same level, I am not arguing about that, and top 10 is a stretch but I can put him at 10th place. But remember that this is a dude that played in Croatia national team and Dinamo Zagreb, no big team so far and he is already 28. If he was one of the best, he would have been bought by a big club already.

Ederson, Alison, De gea, Courtouis, Lloris, Der Stegen, Neuer, there are many goalkeepers I could still name that are better than him, these players played at the top teams and won top awards with their teams and they deserve to be considered much better than Livakovic without a doubt, they are definitely not even close in talent, I would consider livakovic one level below those type of big club goalkeepers and still good, just not as good as them.

Again, I need to disagree. In my opinion, Livaković is at the same league as Marc-André ter Stegen or David de Gea. The fact that he is playing for Dinamo Zagreb should not be used as a tool to attack him. He is playing for them since 2015 and the reason maybe that he just want to stay in Croatia. Anyway, I would stick to my arguments. Without Livaković it was not possible for Croatia to get past Brazil during the quarter-finals of Qatar 2022. During regular time, he made some spectacular saves, and the way he saved the penalty kick from Rodrygo was just amazing.

You may, that is your own opinion and nobody could argue that, you could even think he is the best goalkeeper that ever played, nobody can do anything about it, it's your thoughts. But that guy is 28 years old and goalkeeper for Dinamo Zagreb, Ter Stegen is goalkeeper for Barcelona, and De Gea is goalkeeper for Manchester United, which shows you that the world of football do not agree with you. That doesn't mean you should change your view, you can think whatever you want to think, nobody can do anything about that, but football world do not agree with you and I agree with them not agreeing with you.

If a goalkeeper is at Dinamo Zagreb at 28, and the other is at United, I am sorry but I will think that there is a vast difference between them, and that is what the football world thinks too.

Just because of a few fancy saves at world cup won't change that. Maybe he will leave to a better team at the end of this year, but he will be 29 by the time he plays at a better club, still not a big achievement like other names I mentioned.

[Slow death]

I also want to believe in Belgium to do a nice work at least in the qualifiers. They have a Lukaku who has been in great shape recently. His latest performance in the qualifiers was also very impressive. Maybe he was disappointing in the latest World Cup and maintained this bad look for a while later on too. But now it seems like he has found his rhythm. His scoring contribution is so valuable for this team now.

I have also heard about the arguments between some players. But this team shouldn't just be the victim of this kind of mutual problems. There are great players like Lukaku, De Bruyne and many more in the squad. This combination deserves to play for a title indeed. Chemistry is everything for a team so they need to keep their chemistry level as high as possible.

funny that in the past i questioned myself why belgium was at the top of the world ranking of the national teams, i just didn't accept the way the national teams were, then the world cup came and clearly showed how many teams in the ranking didn't deserve to be in certain positions, now I see that argentina is at the top, then comes france, then comes brazil in position 3, and once again to my surprise i see belgium in position 4, it is unbelievable that england is in position 5 and croatia in position 7. i wonder where is belgium better than england? I just don't see Belgium being better than England

in the world cup belgium had a bad performance, so we'll see if they can make it to the euro and how far they will be able to get in the euro, in my opinion lukaku is not as good as he was in the past before he returned to play for chelsea , I agree that De Bruyne is undoubtedly a great player for Manchester City and that he creates many problems for opponents, but a team needs many other players to be playing well to have good results and in my opinion I don't see Belgium getting very far in the euro and I can't even understand why the hell they are in position number 4 in the fifa ranking

[Daniel91]

First of all thanks for the detailed reply. Excellent analysis, I should say. I don't know whether I will agree with the last sentence though. Winning the Euro Cup in 2024 will be a huge achievement, but I don't know whether I should consider them as one of the favorites. I went through your reply a few times, and then asked this question to myself - why not Croatia? When we talk about teams that are considered as the favorites to win Euro 2024, we always talk about France, Italy, Spain, England and even Germany. Croatia has been pretty consistent over the last decade or so, but a lot of people have difficulty in placing them at the same league as the other favorites. And I suspect this has to do with issues other than football. Croatia is a small country with 4 million people. It is difficult to imagine that they can perform at the same level as France or England.

I think the analysis forgets the fact that the names he replaced are much better than the players that they have now. Sure they have some good players, but to say Livakovic as one of the best goalkeepers in the world now? That seems like overrating him a bit, maybe barely top 10, but that's it.

To say the least, they have a roster value that is matching teams that are not even in the world cup, surely they played better than their roster value but that is exactly the reason why they are doing good. They do not have great players, they never did, they had a few here and there, but none of their players were stars aside from Modric, who is the sole ballon d'or winner during Ronaldo/Messi domination period, but this game is played with 11, so they had 10 other players who were not really finalist level good. The thing that makes Croatio good is not the players, it's the team spirit they play with.

First of all, let's get a few things straight. Why did I say that Livakovic is one of the best goalkeepers in the world? Because according to almost all statistical indicators, it was he, not Martinez, who was the best goalkeeper of the World Cup in Qatar, especially in terms of the number of saves.
For most neutral analysts, it is obvious that the main reason why Martinez was declared the best goalkeeper of the world championship is the fact that Argentina became the world champion and Croatia was third in the world cup.
In addition, it is really an exaggeration to say that Croatia achieved better results in the last 2 world cups and in the last League of Nations competition compared to the quality of its team, then that would really be a world miracle. 
Is it really so difficult to admit to Croats that they are a quality and strong team, with players who play in the best clubs in the world such as Real, Bayer, Chelsea, Inter and others, and that they are not a one man show (Modrić)?
Many other national teams in the world have team spirit, but in order to continuously play in the finals and semi-finals of the biggest world and European competitions, you need to have something more than team spirit, and that is the quality of the team.

[Sithara007]

If a goalkeeper is at Dinamo Zagreb at 28, and the other is at United, I am sorry but I will think that there is a vast difference between them, and that is what the football world thinks too.

Do you know how ridiculous you sound when you post this? It is like saying that Anthony Elanga and Alejandro Garnacho are better than Cristiano Ronaldo, just because the former bunch plays for Manchester United, while CR7 plays for Al Nassr (let me know if you have the same opinion). Just because a particular player is not selected by ManU or RealM doesn't mean that they are bad. In club football, a lot of focus is on forwards. Usually the clubs don't spend a lot of money on goal-keepers. One exception is Manchester United, where David De Gea receives £19,500,000 per year.

[RaltcoinsB]

You can't compare France to any of the other UEFA teams. During the last one decade or so, every other UEFA team has become weaker. Netherlands and Germany are prime examples. But France is probably the only UEFA team that has got stronger. They have a steady supply of young players and at this point their best player is the 24-year old Kylian Mbappé. Italy on the other hand is a relatively young team (despite the rapidly ageing population in that country), but their younger players are yet to prove their worth at the international level.

What can you say about England? It seems that they are consistently getting stronger, but so far this is not reflected in the titles. But this is a separate conversation, since short tournaments and their small number introduce a large degree of randomness into the results of national teams' games. France is undeniably top, but England isn't much farther away plus there are always bad days for any team (like when France was knocked out by Switzerland on penalties).

England is one of the favorite teams of every tournament. France is one of the best teams in Europe. When I look at this tournament, I see many candidates. Italy, France, England, Croatia are the teams that can play well. There are also ecole teams such as Germany and Belgium. An organization that attracts as much attention as the world cup. I can't wait for it to start.

[swogerino]

You can't compare France to any of the other UEFA teams. During the last one decade or so, every other UEFA team has become weaker. Netherlands and Germany are prime examples. But France is probably the only UEFA team that has got stronger. They have a steady supply of young players and at this point their best player is the 24-year old Kylian Mbappé. Italy on the other hand is a relatively young team (despite the rapidly ageing population in that country), but their younger players are yet to prove their worth at the international level.

What can you say about England? It seems that they are consistently getting stronger, but so far this is not reflected in the titles. But this is a separate conversation, since short tournaments and their small number introduce a large degree of randomness into the results of national teams' games. France is undeniably top, but England isn't much farther away plus there are always bad days for any team (like when France was knocked out by Switzerland on penalties).

England is one of the favorite teams of every tournament. France is one of the best teams in Europe. When I look at this tournament, I see many candidates. Italy, France, England, Croatia are the teams that can play well. There are also ecole teams such as Germany and Belgium. An organization that attracts as much attention as the world cup. I can't wait for it to start.

England always start as a favorite in almost all tournaments but the fact is that they have only won 1 World Cup so far and 1 European Cup and I am not even sure about this second one,meaning that most of the times it is all about hype and when it comes to performing on the field they usually fail to deliver and the funny thing is that they usually have some of the best players,let me remember you the 2002 with Owen and company and they failed to deliver in that event.

Other teams like Italy are more pragmatic and we have the latest Euro where Italy won it after beating England in the final and the final was even played in England,that shows that hype does not win you games and as such for me England is no real favorite in this upcoming Euro 2024.