⚽ UEFA Nations League ⚽ - Discussion Thread

[Princess Leah]

Mbappe's injury is a very sad news for both France and Real Madrid, although it is a short-term matter. I think it is especially sad news for Real Madrid because he is the main player of the team and without him, Real Madrid will feel a lot of weakness. For France and Real Madrid, Mbappe is a striker, if he is, the players of the opposing team have a lot of difficulty in stopping his attacks. Although this injury of Mbappe is not for a long time, we hope that he will recover quickly and return to the French national team and he will take the field for Real Madrid. If Mbappe is on the field for Real Madrid, it will be difficult for the team to win the match and his void will definitely be felt. He is an important player for France and Real Madrid. If this injury had been long-term, then of course the equation would have been very difficult for France and Real Madrid, but in any case, we hope that he will recover very quickly and return to the field.

Mbappe's injury will probably take less than two weeks to fully recover. It is very good news that his injury is not too serious and will be cured with a few days of regular rest. He is a very important striker for France and Real Madrid and without him the attack will be affected a lot. In particular, Real Madrid's attack is still very dependent on Mbappe. It is also true that the strikers in the team without him will be able to handle the team properly. If his injury were to last longer, it would be a matter of concern for Mourinho because the club's performance is not satisfactory and if one of the key players in the attack is out of the field, it will have a huge negative impact on the team. Fans are hoping that he will recover and return to the field very soon.

If it's just two weeks, that means he'll miss Real Madrid's next match against Villarreal, Champions League match against Roma and probably the league match with Sevilla cause the coach wouldn't rush his return even though it's just two weeks, although it's disappointing to have a key player injured but there's hope that without Mbappe' they can survive their next fixtures before he returns.

 Luckily for them, those are not though fixtures, even the one against Roma that's the toughest is a game Real Madrid is expected to win. I also heard that Konate suffered same fate but i didn't verify to know how serious it is, can anyone verify that news? This is not the right time to lose a key defender.

[mandown]

The England-Spain match was a highly entertaining affair. I really admired the way Bellingham fought right up to the very last moment.
He battled fiercely, refusing to accept defeat. Had Kane successfully converted his penalty, we might well be talking about an England victory today.
Spain managed to win their opening group match 3-2.

[B-BossMan]

Snip

If am not mistaken, Harry Kane didn't performed so much in the game apart from the 1 or 2 shorts he had in the game and this was because Spain never gave him that opportunity to play.

Some games can be like that for strikers. A striker must not always be involved in play until it's time to score or attempt a goal.

Snip

I don't remember expressing this opinion before, but I would rather agree that the Ballon d'Or should go to a player who won the World Cup. Because last year, that was probably one of the most significant tournaments, or it should be one of the players who won the Champions League. So in my opinion, the Ballon d'Or should go to someone from the squad of champions. But honestly, I don't really understand how the Ballon d'Or winner is chosen, and I've never followed it that closely, so I suppose it could go to anyone who is among the top ranked players.

If the award always goes to the player who won the world cup then it would easily lose its credibility. You can't just win a single tournament and win the award, what if the player struggled through out the season? Then he is definitely not qualified to win it. You don't only have to perform or win the World Cup alone, you must have a stand out performance even in club football to win it because a season comprises of different competitions and matches.

There is an award for the best player of the tournament and it mostly goes to someone in the squad of champions but balon Dor should not be like that.

Though normally that's how it used to be, the award exepecially the Ballon D'Or are rewarded based on the player's qualities and performances throughout the whole season, not just a single tournament or league rather, even if a player lifted the world cup trophy and there wasn't enough performances from different seasons and matches, the player doesn't deserve the award. But word cup trophy can serves as an influence, but if a player has a world cup and the other season tournament were at average, I don't think the player's award should be putting I to an account. Well the officials may still have some other things they do put into consideration.

[Ahli38]

Kane’s missed penalty opportunity played a major role in this defeat, although there were other reasons behind England’s failure to hold onto their lead in the match. One thing that impressed me about England yesterday was their ability to bounce back and take the lead after Yamal scored an early goal; what Bellingham did was remarkable.
The final 2–3 loss—after initially leading—gives Tuchel a task to address the team's shortcomings; I would point to the defense as a likely area for improvement.

Superb game to watch yesterday, with a quick goal and two comebacks. Truly a great game, just as I anticipated it would be. Yamal on one side and Bellingham on the other were superb, and I think the missed penalty turned the game around. Can't believe Kane missed it, but surprises happen, and they surprised me with the penalty miss and the comeback.

There are indeed many unexpected things in football, where Harry Kane’s failure to convert a penalty when he had that huge opportunity was also one of the most unexpected things. And I don’t think anyone expected Kane to miss that penalty in that match. But Kane’s performance wasn’t that bad by considering that he also contributed to the second goal scored by the England national team. On the other hand Spain’s performance looked very impressive in this match with plenty of big chances that could have allowed them to dominate or even stage a spectacular comeback. The Spanish national team’s winning mentality was truly proven once again by the final result of that match against England. And they will certainly be one of the top favorites to win this tournament. Next they’ll face the Croatian national team in the next round at Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán. And this is also a match not to be missed considering that the Croatian team is one that shouldn’t be greatly underestimated.

[LFC_Bitcoin]

Superb game to watch yesterday, with a quick goal and two comebacks. Truly a great game, just as I anticipated it would be. Yamal on one side and Bellingham on the other were superb, and I think the missed penalty turned the game around. Can't believe Kane missed it, but surprises happen, and they surprised me with the penalty miss and the comeback.

It didn’t surprise me that England threw it all away. They’ve been doing it my entire life, often having some very good players but never having the nous to get over the line and complete the job.

Spain are a great team but if Kane scored the penalty, it probably would have been game over.

[Lannakosa]

The England-Spain match was a highly entertaining affair. I really admired the way Bellingham fought right up to the very last moment.
He battled fiercely, refusing to accept defeat. Had Kane successfully converted his penalty, we might well be talking about an England victory today.
Spain managed to win their opening group match 3-2.

And if Kane had scored the penalty, the score could have been 3-1 at that point. Kane may have made a mistake by deciding to take the penalty with power, I think an even bigger positive for Spain in this match is that they managed to beat England away. And once again, that shows just how strong they are right now.

[Joca97]

The England-Spain match was a highly entertaining affair. I really admired the way Bellingham fought right up to the very last moment.
He battled fiercely, refusing to accept defeat. Had Kane successfully converted his penalty, we might well be talking about an England victory today.
Spain managed to win their opening group match 3-2.

And if Kane had scored the penalty, the score could have been 3-1 at that point. Kane may have made a mistake by deciding to take the penalty with power, I think an even bigger positive for Spain in this match is that they managed to beat England away. And once again, that shows just how strong they are right now.

Mentally Spain is the strongest team and this shows how good they are when they are even down in the game. This game could have been really bad for England if Spain took all of those chances in the first half,but they were lucky enough to turn the game around in the first half. Still that penalty if it was scored by Kane i dont know how Spain would have recovered from it. Still Kane slipped and hitted the bar and from him i didnt expect that but honestly it can happen to anyone.

[Lucius]

~snip~
I knew it was going to be a great game the moment I saw that they are playing at the same time as we are vs Czechia, so unfortunately I had to missed it. Speaking of our game, once again we had issues in the back, even though on paper that should be one of our biggest strengths. I guess Gvardiol and Vuskovic will have to learn how to play together as they are somewhat similar type of players.

The local media (most) reduce everything to one sentence "new/old coach, same problems as before". Given that the Czech Republic is realistically weaker than when we played them last time, such a hard-fought victory with a lot of luck due to a disallowed Czech goal and that big miss before that raises a logical question - what to expect in the match against Spain on Tuesday?

The Spanish team is obviously in excellent shape and it's hard for me to imagine that we can get away with an honorable defeat. I have a feeling that their attackers will walk through our defense without any major problems, and that the result will ultimately depend on the number of shots they take on goal and how Livakovic is in his mood that day.

However, since anything is possible in football, one should always hope for a surprise.

[KingsDen]

It's clearly Spain has more edge than England in this game. Honestly, 3-2 result is beyond people expectation because most of them though England would be losing with 0 goals. In fact, England successfully dragging spain to play similarly like them. that's why i found spain faces difficulty to score during the first half and the start of second half.

It's rarely to see Spain's midfielder is often losing control, and it's happening in this game, but it's getting solved with some subs being made from spain. So i still consider England is success though they lose the game with narrow score.

England give Spain a tough game, and it's also speaking about England's quality is improving. The problem England is lacking of the momentum player like Oyarzabal.

Other than that it's such unfortunate moment for Kane by missing his pen. He could destroy Spain's mentality if he didn't miss it.

I expected England to win the game, although I expected Spain to dominate the game just like they did in the world cup, but no, England controlled most of the first half and had chances to go score alot of goals, but they could only score two goals. Coming into the second half, Harry kane had a chance to seal the game for England, but he missed the penalty. Harry kane missing the penalty immediately pushed momentum to Spain, and surprisingly came back to win 3–2.

I would say, England played very well compared to how they did in the world cup, and there's possibility that they might contest for the title this time. On the other hand, congratulations to Spain, they are now have 8 consecutive wins across all competitions, they are truly showing why they are the world champions.

[letteredhub]

It was an interesting comeback by Spain after losing their early lead to England. I knew it was going to be a hard game because the two teams are filled with quality players at all departments. England couldn't hold the game and not because they weren't good but because they ain't better than Spain. It takes only a possession controlling team to do what Spain did against the Three Lions.

With this first game played in the group A3 standings Croatia and Spain are already with 3 points respectively leaving England and Czech with zero points, this gonna put much pressure on Thomas Tuchel should he fail to qualify to the next round from this group stage.

England have every opportunity to win against Spain but they became unlucky to do that and allow Spain to win. I know that Spain has a good team for them to even win the World Cup isn't easy, England has the opportunity to make the lead 3-1 but Harry Kane couldn't convert the penalty given to him into goals, Spain come back was a remarkable one they are still in a very good form and i don't think they can easily be eliminated from this UEFA Nation League and it wouldn't shock me if Spain still wins the Nation League after winning the World Cup.

About England being unlucky in that game is what I wouldn't agree with in any way, it was their own making that got them to lost the game to Spain, they had their chances and couldn't cut edge with them after scoring those 2 goals in the first half.  When playing a world champion like Spain you'll need to make good result with any chance you have to score that goal to increase your scores because this Spain team isn't a team you hold a 1 goal up against and feel you can hold it to the end.

The odds on analysis is that England still has a good chance of qualifying if they can beat Croatia and then Czech in their next games all things being equal that Croatia drops points against Spain. There's still interest games to watch in this group and I can't wait to see them unveiling.

[Unsoldier]

Today’s Nations League match of the day is Norway vs. Portugal. Both teams managed to pick up their first wins in the opening round, but the games were very different. Norway were involved in a goal-fest against Denmark, while Portugal beat modest Wales 1-0. In my opinion, Norway and Portugal are fairly evenly matched. However, Norway look a bit stronger to me, and they also have home advantage, so I think they are more likely to win.

[meser#]

Turkey will play a crucial match against Italy tomorrow, as both teams lost their opening games.
I expect Türkiye to win the match, given that Italian football is no longer at its former level of strength and quality; they have failed to qualify for the last three World Cups.
The Italian league is in decline. There will likely be plenty of scoring opportunities, and both teams should find the net. I hope Türkiye emerges victorious at the end of the match.

[KTChampions]

This match doesn't belong to last season (isn't that obvious?) and shouldn't affect the award for last season in any way, but yes, Yamal's chances rose slightly after this game, while Kane's dropped a bit. It is illogical and unfair, yet I view it as an opportunity. The day before yesterday, Kane was the clear favorite; if you set aside emotions and remain rational, nothing has changed - which means current odds are undervaluing Kane, and there is value to be found in them.

Penalties can be missed by anyone so I wouldn't say this will affect his chances of winning since you already said that this game doesn't count for last season. It's a new season now and the game shouldn't in any way affect the Balloon Dor award for last season. Kane scored a goal and even with the penalty missed he still played good.  Kane definitely is the favorites to win the award if emotions are set aside but still it's a tough decision because every contender did well too

It’s certainly disappointing that Kane missed the penalty, but looking at the stats, he has one of the highest conversion rates (among those who have taken more than 100), I believe he ranks fifth or sixth. As for the match ratings, he received a 6.8 on SofaScore, while Yamal got an 8.0.
But yes, that shouldn't affect the assessment of last season in any case.
I am surprised by the odds for today's Norway vs. Portugal match:

2.34 - 3.80 - 2.76

Since when can Norway be the favorite here, lol, even if they have 10 Haalands. Betting on Portugal with the Double Chance option at 1.58 looks like free money.

[Juicyhome]

Kane’s missed penalty opportunity played a major role in this defeat, although there were other reasons behind England’s failure to hold onto their lead in the match. One thing that impressed me about England yesterday was their ability to bounce back and take the lead after Yamal scored an early goal; what Bellingham did was remarkable.
The final 2–3 loss—after initially leading—gives Tuchel a task to address the team's shortcomings; I would point to the defense as a likely area for improvement.

It was a tough game, my accolades goes to the Spanish team that refused to give up after England bounce back and lead them, the Spanish team fought till the end. England were very poor in the defense and it cost them a hard point. I'll not blame Harry Kane for missing the penalty anybone can miss a plenty,  and he was on scorelist he did his bet for the team. The defense couldn't stop the Spanish attackers.

Tonight we have another tough game , Norway vs Portugal,  Norway was one of the best European team at this world cup, they won their first game against a top team Denmark by 3 goals to 2. Portugal also won their game against  a weak wale by just a goal to nil. In this encounter Norway is favorite to win,  the Portugal team has not found a system to play , they are still depending on 41 years old Ronaldo to win a game for them,  if he's not in form the younger players in the team won't try to win a match.  There will be a goal ,goal in this game, both team are capable to score. I'll be rooting for Ronaldo Portugal to win.

[YUriy1991]

The England-Spain match was a highly entertaining affair. I really admired the way Bellingham fought right up to the very last moment.
He battled fiercely, refusing to accept defeat. Had Kane successfully converted his penalty, we might well be talking about an England victory today.
Spain managed to win their opening group match 3-2.

You are absolutely right I watched the match, and it was incredibly exciting. Spain dominated the game early on. Lamine Yamal played exceptionally well scoring the opening goal and creating plenty of space for his teammates to score, though many chances ultimately went to waste. On the England side, Jude Bellingham was outstanding, he seemed tireless, constantly running to chase the ball and create opportunities for his team. It was a thrilling match. The 3-2 scoreline in Spain favor was well deserved they played brilliantly. The quality of play made last night game feel truly special it was like watching a 2026 World Cup final.

[nelson4lov]

The England-Spain match was a highly entertaining affair. I really admired the way Bellingham fought right up to the very last moment.
He battled fiercely, refusing to accept defeat. Had Kane successfully converted his penalty, we might well be talking about an England victory today.
Spain managed to win their opening group match 3-2.

Ngl, I really liked seeing Bellingham with the England captain band last night. He pushed the hardest when England was trying to get an equaliser in the final minutes, which didn't happen. Kane's penalty miss and Guehi's fumbling in the first few minutes contributed to Spain's victory. I've never been a fan of Guehi because, even if he is a solid defender on most days, he still looks very shaky whenever he is on the ball.

[cocadalcan]

The England-Spain match was a highly entertaining affair. I really admired the way Bellingham fought right up to the very last moment.
He battled fiercely, refusing to accept defeat. Had Kane successfully converted his penalty, we might well be talking about an England victory today.
Spain managed to win their opening group match 3-2.

And if Kane had scored the penalty, the score could have been 3-1 at that point. Kane may have made a mistake by deciding to take the penalty with power, I think an even bigger positive for Spain in this match is that they managed to beat England away. And once again, that shows just how strong they are right now.

Mentally Spain is the strongest team and this shows how good they are when they are even down in the game. This game could have been really bad for England if Spain took all of those chances in the first half,but they were lucky enough to turn the game around in the first half. Still that penalty if it was scored by Kane i dont know how Spain would have recovered from it. Still Kane slipped and hitted the bar and from him i didnt expect that but honestly it can happen to anyone.

Before the match I thought England as the favorite team but based on their recent performance and overall, I saw Spain as the better team. In reality, Spain started well and despite the fierce competition, they won. Everyone says that England missed the win because of the missed penalty but I say that not every attack is effective and not every penalty can be scored. There are psychological factors involved here, so many people compare it to luck. The truth is that England played well and were almost on par with Spain but unfortunately they fell behind and lost in the end.

[Adbitco]

I learnt that the England national team coach Thomas Tuchel finally called Cole Palmer and Mainoo for the Nation's League matches but it these players turned it down. Some people will argue for or against the players, saying they were wrong or right for the decision. Here I will give my opinion, personally, I feel these players has the right to say no as well, especially Mainoo, the young lad was called up for the world cup but didn't get a single minute. Like Mainoo didn't play a single second in the whole of England matches, these guys made it up to the last 4. It's even funny how this young man played and acted so maturely. No press conference, no tweets, no post about him not being selected all through the WC without playing. He came and resumed duties for his club. He refused a call up and the coach is already talking about it.

It is an immature decision by Cole Palmer. Emotionally it is completely comprehensible, rationally it is utterly stupid.

First of all, England played an amazing World Cup without him. This must be respected. Tuchel made mistakes against Argentina, but other than that England hasn't achieved a result like that for many decades and they have played really amazing matches.

Now in two years Great Britain will be hosting the Euro 2028 an Tuchel now send a signal to Palmer that times can change and he will get his chance. What people forget is when you complain about not getting nominated, you also complain about your colleague getting nominated for you instead. It is a question of respect and getting nominated now should not be turned down. As a fan I would approach this rationally and not emotionally. If I was a Cole Palmer fan, I would say go for it now and prove Tuchel wrong, prove that you could have added value for your World Cup team and become the superstar when GB hosts the Euro 2028. I wouldn't like it if was one of those buying his merchandise and then he says no to an invitation to the national team.

It would earn him a thousand times more respect from everybody, not just his own fans, if he now returned to the national team, communicates smartly, says he respects the decision the coach made in the past (he does not of course), and plays like a god. Tuchel would have no choice but to nominate him for the Euro because he would cross a red line if he then didn't.

I love your submission, it's very matured and every rational thinker will agree with you but like you said, emotionally his correct. One think I have learnt is we humans deals with a particular situation differently and if course we are all emotional in some way or the other. Personally, I won't totally blame him, he was left out entirely from the whole squad. He would have brought in some sparks when things were difficult for them, his that kind of a player. Thinks would have turned out differently for England Vs Argentina if he was present. Maybe he would have converted a chance since Kane was marked out of he would have created a chance after Bellingham was exhausted, just maybe he would have that special difference in that match that mattered to them to move to the next stage.

[Oluwa-btc]

The England-Spain match was a highly entertaining affair. I really admired the way Bellingham fought right up to the very last moment.
He battled fiercely, refusing to accept defeat. Had Kane successfully converted his penalty, we might well be talking about an England victory today.
Spain managed to win their opening group match 3-2.

Not because of statistics, but because I saw with my own two eyes, Jude Bellingham, Anthony Gordon and Harry Kane are thr only English players who impressed me. But it was something else for Jude Bellingham, he was literally everywhere. He was tireless, and was fortunate to get a penalty but sadly, Harry Kane couldn't see it converted. The display of the Spanish national team was a walking work of art! Goddammit! Everything about what they did ws pure class! They displayed why they're Champions of the world for a reason. The introduction of Pedri was beautiful, the high intensity game all of a sudden felt like a calm nervous system. I love that game! It is the mental orgasm you get from games like that.

[Comeacross]

The biggest underdog are San Marino, who are taking on Finland. As far as I know, San Marino consists mostly (or entirely?) of amateur players who have "normal" jobs. But Finland are also not titans themselves, so who knows, maybe San Marino could squeeze out a draw.

Getting a draw against Finland? That would be one of the biggest shocks in this ongoing edition of the UEFA Nation's League and definitely a great achievement for them.

I revisit this because I know it'll take grace of God for San Marino to get a draw against Finland 

Finland won 7-0 and the refree was inconsiderate for issuing a red card to San Marino. Even if they fielded x2 players on the game, they obviously can not achieve anything. Finland controlled the game as expected, San Marino had no single shots on target.

I would suggest them to be banned from participating in any competition to save them from the regular embarrassment