⚽ UEFA Nations League final four ⚽

[slackovic]

I know that not many people like the UEFA Nations League competition as it is referred as a replacement for all the friendly games that national teams played throughout the year. However, I didn't see any topic covering the upcoming final four that is scheduled in two weeks so I started a new topic. I hope it catches up...

So, for those of you that don't know, the four finalists that qualified are Spain, Croatia, Italy and Netherlands. The first game will be between last year World Cup runner up Croatia and Netherlands as the country hosting the final four. Some say that it will be the last competition for Croatia's brightest star - Luka Modric. I'm not certain but I'd say there is more chance for him leaving the national team than for him staying. As for the odds, I would say that Croatia is maybe a slight favorite just because of their third place in the last World Cup but I wouldn't agree. Netherlands lost in the World Cup against Argentina who won the title in the end. Also, they are playing at home so I would dare to say that they are a slight favorite.

The other semi-final game is Spain vs. Italy. Spain is probably a favorite as Italy didn't even qualify for the World Cup last year. Also Italy lost to England at home in the qualification game for the EURO 2024.

All in all, I think we get to see four good football games. Maybe the title doesn't mean much, but I'm sure that all four national teams that qualified would like to win the title after coming this far.

[1714240027]

1714240027

[1714240027]

1714240027

[1714240027]

1714240027

[1714240027]

1714240027

[Lucius]

It seems that there is not too much interest in this competition, but considering that it is only about 4 countries, it seems that most of forum members do not consider it too important - although this is in a way very similar to playing the semi-finals and finals of the European football championship.

As for Croatia and the Netherlands, I can only say that I expect a very good match in which both teams will give their best, and it should be noted that this is a match between the sixth and seventh national teams in the world according to the FIFA ranking with the fact that the Netherlands is in 6th place with only one point more than Croatia.

The first match is played only 4 days after the final of the Champions League, and as far as I can see, the Netherlands has at least 3 players who should play in that final, and Croatia can only have one (Brozovic). I would say that the Netherlands has a slight advantage due to the home field, but that Croatia in its standard good form can beat any team.

I also think that Spain is the favorite in the second game, but even though Italy has been in bad shape for years, they should not be completely dismissed in advance.

[slackovic]

Yeah, not much interest. I guess people whole nations aren't competing are not interested as many fans think of think of this competition as a little harder games tha a friendly. Nevertheless, I'm sure we will watch four great games. I just hope Croatia and Netherlands won't play too defensively. I know that Croatia tends to play knockout games just like that.

[Distraction]

Yes most of top countries in this league see this as a chance to prepare for much bigger tournaments like Euro and World Cup. However actually this isn't that much of an unimportant tournament. If I'm not mistaken the winner of the Nations League will have a quota in the qualifying stage of 2026 World Cup.

My source for this information: https://en.as.com/soccer/what-does-the-winner-of-the-nations-league-final-four-get-and-what-is-the-prize-n/

If this is true then this should actually be some extra motivation for the teams in the semi finals here now. In addition to that there is some prize money for teams competing in the group stage but the biggest prize is for the winner which is around 10.5 million euros according to the source. But of course it must still not be feeling like the Champions League for example which pays a lot of money to the teams even for participating in the group stage.

[rdluffy]

I'm interested to watch all remaining matches 

These are the odds:


Croatia is not the bookmakers' favorite again, but the risk/reward ends up being very worthwhile in my opinion. The team is fully capable of beating the Netherlands.
In Spain's match I even agree that they are the favorite against Italy. From the matches I watched of both teams, Spain already has a better and well formed team, with a possession style of play.

But I want to watch these two matches, I think they will be very competitive and exciting.

My bet is on Croatia vs. Spain in the final, and I will certainly bet some money on these 2 matches. The odds of qualification of Croatia is paying 2.46 (maybe some penalties again  )

[Daniel91]

The Nations League may not be the most famous and prestigious UEFA competition, but it is still an official competition in which the winner gets a trophy and that is what is remembered in the end.
This competition is also probably the last chance for Modric to retire with a trophy for Croatia.
Croatia won the first place in a very difficult group with France and Denmark after winning against them away from home, and that is already a huge success.
Now only 2 matches separate them from the trophy and they will certainly give their all to succeed. I believe that we have at least the same chance as the other 3 national teams.

[Ulven]

The UEFA Nations League is indeed a competition that has received mixed reactions from fans and critics since its inception. some see it as a meaningful tournament that adds more competitive matches to the international calendar,While there are dissenters who disagree with the public opinion!!!!
The 4 finalists you mentioned, Spain, Croatia, Italy, and the Netherlands, have certainly earned their spots in the tournament and will be competing for the title. The first semifinal between Croatia and the Netherlands sounds like an intriguing matchup. Modric, who has been a key figure for Croatia, may potentially be playing his last competition for the national team. While it's uncertain whether he will retire from international football, it adds an extra layer of significance to the game. Given the Netherlands' home advantage and their strong performance in the World Cup, it's reasonable to consider them slight favorites.
We will see if these finals are worth betting on

[Lucius]

~snip~
This competition is also probably the last chance for Modric to retire with a trophy for Croatia.

The man was honest and left the door completely open on that issue, and my personal opinion is that Modric will stay for the next European Championship in Germany. I say that because I believe that he really wants the trophy from that competition, regardless of what he won with Croatia at the world championships. He is a completely different person from, say, some who left the national team, and then continued to play club football for years. In addition, he can significantly reduce the number of minutes in the game, and his presence in the team means a lot, even if he does not play.

Ivan Rakitic is an obvious example of such a player, because he can still play at a high level, but he no longer wanted to play for that national team.

[Slow death]

I didn't even know that there would still be UEFA Nations League games, this competition makes teams lose money due to their players always returning tired and injured, but talking about the games:

Netherlands - croatia

well, croatia have their good players limited by age so i doubt very much that they will still manage to be a great team in the coming months unless great new players appear to play in the national team, meanwhile netherlands is not the same team as many years ago there were great players, it was a national team made up of many stars who played in the great teams in europe, today we have a mid-level netherlands, so this is a game in which I don't see a favorite, I even think that this odd should be the same for both teams, I don't see Netherlands as superior to croatia

spain - italy

well, the same thing i said about croatia i will have to say almost the same things about italy and spain, both teams a few years ago had a national team made up of many very famous players, anyone who followed a little about soccer knew the names of all the players on these two teams, unfortunately today that doesn't happen anymore, both teams are very weak, we can see that by looking at the big teams like real madrid, manchester city, barcelona, inter, milan, juventus, roma, manchester united , liverpool, napoli, bayern, psg, chelsea, manchester united and others... if we ask how many players from spain and italy are the best strikers in these big teams that i mentioned, there aren't many, maybe even 4 aren't enough. so both teams are weak compared to the past. that's why in my opinion the doss should be more balanced

[tusandii]

I didn't even know that there would still be UEFA Nations League games, this competition makes teams lose money due to their players always returning tired and injured.

It's the same with me, who didn't know and never even thought that there would still be a UEFA Nations League match.
I haven't seen this match in a long time and maybe this will be the first time in a while not watching it.

What you say is true that a UEFA Nations League match will even risk causing make a loss for each team because a player could get injured and make him have to rest for injury Recovery.
But it will be quite an interesting match.

[slackovic]

I'm interested to watch all remaining matches 

These are the odds:


Croatia is not the bookmakers' favorite again, but the risk/reward ends up being very worthwhile in my opinion. The team is fully capable of beating the Netherlands.
In Spain's match I even agree that they are the favorite against Italy. From the matches I watched of both teams, Spain already has a better and well formed team, with a possession style of play.

But I want to watch these two matches, I think they will be very competitive and exciting.

My bet is on Croatia vs. Spain in the final, and I will certainly bet some money on these 2 matches. The odds of qualification of Croatia is paying 2.46 (maybe some penalties again  )

I'm surprised that bookies give that high odds on Croatia. I guess they see Netherlands playing in front of their fans like a really big advantage. It could be. But then again, if I would be betting, I would probably go with x2 because of the way Croatia tends to play these knockout games.

The man was honest and left the door completely open on that issue, and my personal opinion is that Modric will stay for the next European Championship in Germany. I say that because I believe that he really wants the trophy from that competition, regardless of what he won with Croatia at the world championships. He is a completely different person from, say, some who left the national team, and then continued to play club football for years. In addition, he can significantly reduce the number of minutes in the game, and his presence in the team means a lot, even if he does not play.

Ivan Rakitic is an obvious example of such a player, because he can still play at a high level, but he no longer wanted to play for that national team.

Everyone in Croatia knows how Modric feels about playing for the national team. I think that he will retire after the Nations league, but only he knows what is going on in his head. Knowing how Croatia played in the UEFA Euro in the past, I don't think that they can win the title so winning the Nations league would be a real crown of his career in the national team.

[swogerino]

I think these games do not spark that much of an interest in football fans,consequently also in the gambling zone as most gamblers are not looking that much forward to these games especially knowing a huge number of surprise results that did happen last time around when playing games from this league.

For me the teams remaining are very good and if they were playing in another competition most probably they would produce very entertaining games but I highly doubt that it will be the case in this tournament where teams do not take it that seriously and most of the times let the young players play for the team giving them minutes to evaluate them better.I am not looking forward to these games as I would not know what type of bet to play here,mostly over 2.5 should be the ideal but who knows,why risk it.

[Lucius]

I'm surprised that bookies give that high odds on Croatia. I guess they see Netherlands playing in front of their fans like a really big advantage. It could be. But then again, if I would be betting, I would probably go with x2 because of the way Croatia tends to play these knockout games.

I'm not surprised, even if the game was played in Croatia, I think the bookies will set the odds slightly in favor of the Netherlands, or in the best case, the odds of winning would be equal. Consequently, most bookmakers give Croatia the least chance to win the League of Nations.

Everyone in Croatia knows how Modric feels about playing for the national team. I think that he will retire after the Nations league, but only he knows what is going on in his head. Knowing how Croatia played in the UEFA Euro in the past, I don't think that they can win the title so winning the Nations league would be a real crown of his career in the national team.

Past tournaments have nothing to do with the next one in Germany, which will be special because there will be tens of thousands of our fans in the stadiums and even more on the streets. Our coach emphasized several times that he can't wait to feel that atmosphere, and that will only be an additional incentive for the players to make a good result. Apart from that, playing in the semi-finals would be a great success, I don't see why only the first place should be considered a success.

[slackovic]

I think these games do not spark that much of an interest in football fans,consequently also in the gambling zone as most gamblers are not looking that much forward to these games especially knowing a huge number of surprise results that did happen last time around when playing games from this league.

For me the teams remaining are very good and if they were playing in another competition most probably they would produce very entertaining games but I highly doubt that it will be the case in this tournament where teams do not take it that seriously and most of the times let the young players play for the team giving them minutes to evaluate them better.I am not looking forward to these games as I would not know what type of bet to play here,mostly over 2.5 should be the ideal but who knows,why risk it.

I don't think that the teams will take this final four so lightly that they will leave it to the young players. At least I know that Croatia will try to win the title. They have good results in the last few years, but they have never won any title so this is their chance. Maybe Dalic will use younger players, but I'm sure the backbone of the national team will play.

/snip

Past tournaments have nothing to do with the next one in Germany, which will be special because there will be tens of thousands of our fans in the stadiums and even more on the streets. Our coach emphasized several times that he can't wait to feel that atmosphere, and that will only be an additional incentive for the players to make a good result. Apart from that, playing in the semi-finals would be a great success, I don't see why only the first place should be considered a success.

Yeah, the fans will surely give some performance boost to Croatia. But I don't know if that will be enough to win a medal. I remember when Germany hosted the World Cup in 2006. There was a lot of Croatian fans on the stadium, but Croatia didn't even qualify for the next round. They ended up with one loss from Brazil and two draws from Australia and Japan.
I admit that this time the Croatian national team is much better and I'm sure that failing to qualify for the next round after the group stage will be a huge disappointment.

[emrecemsan]

I tried my luck with betting on some matches in the Nations League before but my betslip lost big time.    Indeed we have witnessed so many unexpected results in especially the matches of favourite teams. But still France and Portugal are the winners of this tournament so far. We don't see any surprising team reaching the title at the end I mean. When I look at the remaining teams in the semi finals now I don't see any surprising team again. Netherlands, Croatia, Spain and Italy all are strong candidates to win the title.

Netherlands are the host country this time as you know. Hence I assume they would be even more competitive to be the champions. But Croatia is a really dangerous opponent. They have a really solid defense line so I wonder what Netherlands will do about it.

[Lucius]

Yeah, the fans will surely give some performance boost to Croatia. But I don't know if that will be enough to win a medal.

A small country like Croatia cannot expect a medal at every competition, but we definitely have the potential to go towards that goal.

I remember when Germany hosted the World Cup in 2006. There was a lot of Croatian fans on the stadium, but Croatia didn't even qualify for the next round. They ended up with one loss from Brazil and two draws from Australia and Japan.
I admit that this time the Croatian national team is much better and I'm sure that failing to qualify for the next round after the group stage will be a huge disappointment.

It's not only about the players, but also the coach who has vision and continuity, which was definitely not the case in 2006 when the coach was Kranjcar, who succeeded Baric, and frankly both were bad, especially the latter who, like many others before him literally destroyed our national team. We only need to remember what Dalic did in just two games when he took over the team from the incompetent Cacic.

[slackovic]

Well... It didn't take long to get some troublesome news about Marko Livaja leaving Croatia national team after the incident at the practice on Monday. For those of you who are not that familiar with Livaja, he tends to be pretty rude to the players from the opponent team and that's the reason a lot of people in Croatia doesn't like him. I don't think that his absence will be a problem for Croatia because they still have other good attackers on the team.

[LTU_btc]

Thanks for making this topic, I forgot that we have Nations league final 4 soon. There is not much hype around this tournament and importance of this tournament is something similar like Confederations Cup was.
I think that Croatia have quite good chance to reach final, Netherlands can't be considered as heavy favorites.
Spain - Italy is difficult to predict, but I'm backing Spain here.

[Daniel91]

Well... It didn't take long to get some troublesome news about Marko Livaja leaving Croatia national team after the incident at the practice on Monday. For those of you who are not that familiar with Livaja, he tends to be pretty rude to the players from the opponent team and that's the reason a lot of people in Croatia doesn't like him. I don't think that his absence will be a problem for Croatia because they still have other good attackers on the team.

I'm more concerned about the impact of that incident on the entire Croatian team before the start of an important tournament they want to win.
The whole situation is very strange because after the unfortunate incident with the fans, Livaja received the full support of the players, coaches and the football association, and the incident was actually not too serious.
That is why it seems to me that this is not a personal decision of Livaja, but of coach Dalic, who wants to get rid of a conflicted player and additionally mobilize the team for the UEFA Nations League final four.
A similar strategy worked for him at the 2018 World Cup when he excluded Kalinic from the national team, if you remember, which was also a big shock but additionally mobilized the entire team.

[Lucius]

Livaja is to blame for the fact that some fans criticize him, because if you want to celebrate your victories in a way that insults others, then be prepared that others will return it in the same or similar way. Given that this is not his first time and that he has already been punished for the same things, I think that his club should perhaps take some steps in terms of counseling regarding self-control.

Croatia definitely has problems with attackers, but Livaja is not irreplaceable, so this should not be seen as something that should affect the players and their game. What I would personally do if I were a coach is to close all training sessions to the public, and apparently none of the staff thought about that before the incident.