⚽ UEFA Nations League ⚽ - Discussion Thread

[X-ray]

Germany isn’t as bad as it seems, even though they lost to Greece. Klopp is doing something that will make this squad more solid going forward. He’s testing out several new players who seem different from the Nagelsmann-era squad. The current German squad is very different in terms of its players, and Klopp has already explained what he’s doing: if you want to criticize, direct your criticism at him—not at the new players who are projected to develop, as reported by Fabrizio Romano. I support that.

I strongly disagree with what you said, and i think you just need to accept the fact that Germany is so lame under Klopp. Calling they are not as bad as it seem is just bias when Bastian Schweinsteiger is not even recognizing his club as a top team during the live broadcast.

Even Schweinsteiger emphasized how his team is lacking of players who can give difference to the squad.

Germany has always been considered as the top nation, and i think their lose to the Greece is hard to accept. You bring Klopp to the squad, but you get worsen result with one draw and one lose.

I know there is still a very long way to go, but Germany is as bad as people think.  

[Slow death]

Let's say Ronaldo isn't that smart and sharp any more compared to the these young blood due to his age which I believe is the problem with him. It was a beautiful performance yesterday from the Portuguese team despite the threats from Norway. Let's just forget about Ronaldo and enjoy this tournament with all the entertainment in it.

Smart and sharp in what aspect? The mind? Body or what? Most of you on here go on disrespecting greatness. After Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, and Harry Kane, Cristiano Ronaldo is the smartest of all strikers in the world. But I get it though, to everyone his own perspective so it is all fine and dandy. You want to forget about the first person who brought them their first ever international trophy in a long time? Pure delusion! Cristaino Ronaldo is as important as the president of Portugal to these Portuguese fanbase.

You're talking about the past; he used to be a player who scored a lot of goals. Nowadays, his age means he doesn't have the same abilities he once did. Look at his current playing style: he waits for the ball to be passed to him and often ends up offside. In the past, when he was younger, he would drop back to the defense to win the ball, make powerful runs past opponents, and score. If you have a player who just hangs around the opposition's defense waiting for the ball, it creates problems when defending against counter-attacks, as well as when trying to build up play in midfield and score. When Ronaldo is in the team, the playing style has to change to suit him, and opponents focus their marking on him. My honest opinion is that he should have retired from the national team after the World Cup, I really thought he would.


I’m going to talk about a match where the result left me shocked:

Germany 0 - 1 Greece

Yes, it’s a result that really shocked me. It was a game where Germany could have scored at least two goals and won, but instead, they conceded in a way that made me think: "What on earth is Felix Nmecha doing?" To clarify who I’m talking about: Felix Nmecha is a German player who plays as a midfielder for Dortmund he’s the guy in this photo:



He didn't chase the ball or clear it away; on the contrary, he took up a strange position that allowed the Greek player to get the ball and score. Other German players did nothing to prevent the goal. It is difficult for a coach to deal with players who behave like that; the guys don't put in the effort and lack motivation. For instance, the German player Karim Adeyemi could have scored in this match he was in a great position to take a good shot—but he missed; the ball didn't even reach the Greek goalkeeper. Yet, at Barcelona, ​​he wouldn't make that kind of mistake perhaps out of fear of ending up on the bench.

[Uhde]

imo Spain is definitely the most terrifying and hardest football team to play against in the world right now. they won the World Cup conceding only a single goal and could beat England as well. great play.

I think we are both seeing things from the same perspective, the Spain national team is currently one of the most difficult team to play against right now because of their excellent teamwork, intelligent passing and ability to control ball from start to finish, Spain have a squad full of talented young players who combine skills with confidence such as lamine yamal.  Even in football games, like dream league, I always find it dedicult to defeat the Spain national team because they are too strong, so far Spain national team is one of the dangerous opponent for any team in the world.

yeah. Spain is actually giving a football masterclass without any superstars. don't get me wrong, ofc they have top tier players but there isn't really a superstar per se. and you know what i mean by that. as much as i love Argentina and Messi if they had won the World Cup, i would have felt really bad for Spain.

[Jubilee58]

Germany isn’t as bad as it seems, even though they lost to Greece. Klopp is doing something that will make this squad more solid going forward. He’s testing out several new players who seem different from the Nagelsmann-era squad. The current German squad is very different in terms of its players, and Klopp has already explained what he’s doing: if you want to criticize, direct your criticism at him—not at the new players who are projected to develop, as reported by Fabrizio Romano. I support that.

I strongly disagree with what you said, and i think you just need to accept the fact that Germany is so lame under Klopp. Calling they are not as bad as it seem is just bias when Bastian Schweinsteiger is not even recognizing his club as a top team during the live broadcast.

Even Schweinsteiger emphasized how his team is lacking of players who can give difference to the squad.

Germany has always been considered as the top nation, and i think their lose to the Greece is hard to accept. You bring Klopp to the squad, but you get worsen result with one draw and one lose.

I know there is still a very long way to go, but Germany is as bad as people think.  

The outcome of the result between Germany, and Greece was highly unexpected, and what I cannot say is if I will blame the coach or the players. When we talk about soccer presently, Germany is well known far more than Germany, but allowing Greece to beat them in their own home is a sign that they lack formidable team, and are not well prepared to win this very trophy. If Greece will defeat Germany what will be their hope as they come to play these top countries. The German team has few shorts on target with hood ball possession compared to Greece but were unable to to convert the ball to goals. I also observed that they were not with their full squad, some of their key players were not on the pitch, and the reason is what I don't know, and is also the fact why they find it difficult to defeat Greece, but instead suffered defeat in their own home. However, the performance of Germany disappointed many gamblers because anyone who picked them gave them winning, and even many other options failed. With this, I don't see Germany scaling through in the very UEFA nation's league tournament.

[KTChampions]

Strange enough most games in the UEFA Nations League so far came as predicted. Except Germany of course who was the biggest surprise results so far in this early start of the Nations League. It appears that these national teams encounter are much better than the weekend games for making money, I didn't bet here but I will surely do starting from the next round which will be very soon. We think it is better in weekend chasing teams like Liverpool, RealMadrid and others and end up losing almost always.

It depends on what exactly you expected For example, Italy was the favorite against Belgium and Norway was the favorite against Portugal, but both underdogs won. Considering Germany's defeat, and France's victory, for example, which was more modest than expected, things aren't so simple with betting in the Nations League. I regret not betting on Belgium, even though the odds seemed obviously skewed to me, but I’m glad I bet on Portugal and they didn’t disappoint.

[ChocolateBitcoinK]

It's 70+ minutes in the second half of the match between Norway against Portugal, and the game is still 1 goal to 2 goals in favor of the Portuguese National team, football is really one game one can't understand to the end, how Portugal managed to score these goals is still what baffles me, like Norway is by far better than them in the pitch this night, but it seems as Norway is busy playing the game Portugal is busy scoring, what an interesting game, I hope now they've gotten two goals they should bring in CR7 if sun can shine on him to score more goals tonight.

Without Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal sored against Norway two goals. Norway had the ball for a long time but could not find the right result in their attack. Portugal was too busy defending because they were leading by one goal. You are right, Norway was busy playing today's match, but Portugal took advantage of the opportunities at the right time. Despite 20 attacks, Norway could not score. Portugal beat Norway on their own ground without CR7. But the match was really exciting, I enjoyed today's match a lot because there have been no good matches for a while. Norway 1 - 2 Portugal.

Honestly, most people didn't expect Portugal to win the match against a strong team like Norway, but Portugal made the impossible possible. Cristiano Ronaldo wasn't on the field at the start of the match, I thought he might be on in the second half or towards the end, but we didn't see him on the field the whole match. Portugal scored in the 17th minute and the first half ended 1-0, but the way the second half started, Erling Haaland scored a goal in just 51 minutes to equalize the score and 3 minutes later in the 54th minute, Portugal scored another goal to make it 2-1. Seeing the 2 goals at the beginning of the first half, it seemed that there would be more goals in the remaining time, at least Norway would score another goal to equalize the score, but they tried hard, but Portugal's defense was also very strong, which is why there were no more goals and Portugal won the match with a score of 2-1, they won the match brilliantly even though they play in Norway's home field, it was very great.

[Pablo-wood]

Strange enough most games in the UEFA Nations League so far came as predicted. Except Germany of course who was the biggest surprise results so far in this early start of the Nations League. It appears that these national teams encounter are much better than the weekend games for making money, I didn't bet here but I will surely do starting from the next round which will be very soon. We think it is better in weekend chasing teams like Liverpool, RealMadrid and others and end up losing almost always.

There is nothing strange about Germany's result. I won't be shocked if they end the first leg with 2 points in total. The Nations League is currently more interesting than the weekend games, but I wouldn't say it is completely better for betting.

National teams can be just as unpredictable as any other league, especially now we are in the beginning of a new Nations League campaign when coaches are still trying different players and tactics. Germany already showed this by drawing with the Netherlands and then losing at home to Greece. I anticipate their next game against Serbia which will end the first leg of the group stage.

[Curious T]

Smart and sharp in what aspect? The mind? Body or what? Most of you on here go on disrespecting greatness. After Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, and Harry Kane, Cristiano Ronaldo is the smartest of all strikers in the world. But I get it though, to everyone his own perspective so it is all fine and dandy. You want to forget about the first person who brought them their first ever international trophy in a long time? Pure delusion! Cristaino Ronaldo is as important as the president of Portugal to these Portuguese fanbase.

Bro, this is 2026, not 2016. Wake up. Ronaldo is not as smart and sharp as he used to be. He is no longer good, and that is normal, he is 41 years old. Many strikers today are better than Ronaldo right now. This takes nothing away from what he used to. He was a monster in his prime, he led Portugal to the Euro win, but all those are in the past. You can't use the fact that he was once considered the best player in the world to still rate him now. You've watched him, you've seen how he performs. He is very easy to dispossess. As long as he doesn't pass the ball, when he is in tight spaces, he would be dispossessed. No Portugal striker might have the experience he does, but the team plays better without him. The fact that he doesn't see this and always wants to play doesn't change the fact. Ronaldo is not among the top 10 strikers in the world right now. He should have retired from the national team by now.

[Humblevirus]

Smart and sharp in what aspect? The mind? Body or what? Most of you on here go on disrespecting greatness. After Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, and Harry Kane, Cristiano Ronaldo is the smartest of all strikers in the world. But I get it though, to everyone his own perspective so it is all fine and dandy. You want to forget about the first person who brought them their first ever international trophy in a long time? Pure delusion! Cristaino Ronaldo is as important as the president of Portugal to these Portuguese fanbase.

Bro, this is 2026, not 2016. Wake up. Ronaldo is not as smart and sharp as he used to be. He is no longer good, and that is normal, he is 41 years old. Many strikers today are better than Ronaldo right now. This takes nothing away from what he used to. He was a monster in his prime, he led Portugal to the Euro win, but all those are in the past. You can't use the fact that he was once considered the best player in the world to still rate him now. You've watched him, you've seen how he performs. He is very easy to dispossess. As long as he doesn't pass the ball, when he is in tight spaces, he would be dispossessed. No Portugal striker might have the experience he does, but the team plays better without him. The fact that he doesn't see this and always wants to play doesn't change the fact. Ronaldo is not among the top 10 strikers in the world right now. He should have retired from the national team by now.

That is what some set of people don’t want to understand: that Ronaldo of now is being compared to the Ronaldo of a few years ago. I don’t know what is giving them the courage to still see Ronaldo of the past in the current Ronaldo. Is it because of the goals he is scoring in the Saudi League, or what? I don’t understand.But if that is their reason, they should know that the Saudi League can’t be compared with this international competition, where great countries with great players are participating.Seriously, I agree that there are many strikers who are currently better than Ronaldo in that position, and that is just the fact. Even those who will argue that Ronaldo is a top-five striker in the world, I think it is not within the other strikers playing ahead of Ronaldo, except probably a few.

[Xackie]

Let's say Ronaldo isn't that smart and sharp any more compared to the these young blood due to his age which I believe is the problem with him. It was a beautiful performance yesterday from the Portuguese team despite the threats from Norway. Let's just forget about Ronaldo and enjoy this tournament with all the entertainment in it.

Smart and sharp in what aspect? The mind? Body or what? Most of you on here go on disrespecting greatness. After Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, and Harry Kane, Cristiano Ronaldo is the smartest of all strikers in the world. But I get it though, to everyone his own perspective so it is all fine and dandy. You want to forget about the first person who brought them their first ever international trophy in a long time? Pure delusion! Cristaino Ronaldo is as important as the president of Portugal to these Portuguese fanbase.

It's either you accept the fact or not that Ronaldo don't have the pace and sharpness he had ten years back because of his current age. I am not disrespecting him and it seems you don't get the message clearly. Why is Ronaldo not scoring and playing like he use to seven years back. You cannot stay young forever neither, can you cheat nature. This young boys currently, have the pace, sharpness and speed just like Ronaldo when he was of their age.

Ronaldo fans can't accept the fact that his form his declining due to his age. Although he might still look okay physically but his body is the one that determines how he plays. In this kind of crucial games , you can't play Ronaldo against young players with alot of energy, he won't be able to perform well. The last 2 world cups was an eye opener, even though his fans were blaming his team mates for not creating chances for him. No one can deny Ronaldos greatness but I think at this stage of his career he should step aside for the young players.  His greatest rival Leo Messi did it, why can't he also follow that same step.  He will just be drawing more blame and media insult to himself if Portugal losses while he is playing, and it doesn't feel alright for  Ronaldo. Jorge jesus decision to bench Ronaldo was the best , he can't do his magic against strong teams anymore. He can be coming on as a sub , or start in an unimportant games.

[meser#]

In the second group, Greece has really shaken things up. After trailing 1–0 in their first match, they came back to beat Serbia 2–1. Yesterday, they defeated Germany 1–0 away from home.
The team that was expected to finish last in the group has now taken the top spot.
The Netherlands also beat Serbia 2–1 away.
There hasn't been a single home win in this group so far.
I hadn't anticipated that Germany would perform so poorly under Klopp; they didn't look good in the match against the Netherlands, either.
There are two more matches left in this phase; if they fail to pick up points, they will either be relegated or forced to play in the relegation play-offs.

[SFR10]

I regret not betting on Belgium, even though the odds seemed obviously skewed to me,

They're playing France tonight, so I wonder if you'll be going with a moneyline bet or something else.
^{- FWIW, I see Mbappe's injury as a blessing in disguise because without him, they tend to play better as a team, so I'm predicting a high-scoring game with France as the winner (the safest bet is probably BTTS, but I'm going with over 3.5).}

[Judith87403]

When Ronaldo isn't playing, everyone bets on Portugal and win. That's the general consensus I've seen over and over on local forums. Portugal is better without Ronaldo. Unfortunately that's the truth, even if his fans refuse to accept it. They secured an important victory against Norway. And it was on the road. That was crucial for taking the group lead.
For some reason Portugal is playing much better in this tournament than in other ones. The forward duo of Ramos and Felix is working better than Ronaldo Felix duo. They could finish the group on top and gain a major advantage again.

Let's say Ronaldo isn't that smart and sharp any more compared to the these young blood due to his age which I believe is the problem with him. It was a beautiful performance yesterday from the Portuguese team despite the threats from Norway. Let's just forget about Ronaldo and enjoy this tournament with all the entertainment in it.

I don't even know why Ronaldo not being featured is becoming a problem. Is it that people do not understand how some coaches will reserve an important player then when he sees that the team is not making any progress then he will send the player to go and deliver the job. Portugal was doing just fine without Ronaldo, that's what is important. If Portugal were losing or the match was becoming tough, that's when Ronaldo would have come in. It is not necessary that Ronaldo must start every match of Portugal or come as a substitute. Who knows if the coach was reserving him for future matches which is still not a bad idea.

[KingsDen]

Let's say Ronaldo isn't that smart and sharp any more compared to the these young blood due to his age which I believe is the problem with him. It was a beautiful performance yesterday from the Portuguese team despite the threats from Norway. Let's just forget about Ronaldo and enjoy this tournament with all the entertainment in it.

You are right, Ronaldo is 41yrs, he is getting weaker, which is making him miss alot of chances and not being sharp in front of goal. I believe the manager started him in the game yesterday just to please him, but seems like he finally discovered that Ronaldo will cause a set back for them, so he dropped him. Ronaldo is a great football icon and can never be forgotten, he's one of the best players in football history, I believe he'll retire after getting to 1000 goals.

[SmartCharpa]

In my opinion, the Norway vs. Portugal match was a very exciting match because both teams competed seriously. Eventually, both teams found a way to win, with one of them losing. Norway ultimately had to accept defeat, losing to Portugal 2-1. Portugal finally earned three points against Norway. This certainly made Portuguese fans happy because their team had won, and Portugal is now in first place in Group D

Joao Felix performed well, scoring the first goal against Norway. He utilized a pass well. Ramos also performed well in that match, scoring a goal against Norway. However, unfortunately, Norway couldn't capitalize on all their opportunities. If only Norway had done so, there would have been potential for Norway to score more than one goal. Now, I'm curious about their second meeting. Who do you think will win?

I knew something like this would happen in this game after Ronaldo was benched. The Portugal manager started the young players over Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes and Vitinah. When I saw the lineup, I was wondering what the manager was up to against Norway. This team has Haaland, who is one of the best striker in the world right now. Felix is in another prime since joining the Saudi League, and he’s having enough playing time in the national team than usual.

To be honest, Portugal needs a young striker like Ramos who can be a threat to their opponent goalkeeper. We saw how he was pressing yesterday, I didn’t understand why his second goal was canceled due to a foul. Norway performance was very impressive, but they missed their chances, they could have score more goals with their chances, but victory wasn’t on their side.

[KTChampions]

I regret not betting on Belgium, even though the odds seemed obviously skewed to me,

They're playing France tonight, so I wonder if you'll be going with a moneyline bet or something else.
^{- FWIW, I see Mbappe's injury as a blessing in disguise because without him, they tend to play better as a team, so I'm predicting a high-scoring game with France as the winner (the safest bet is probably BTTS, but I'm going with over 3.5).}

I’ll pass on this one, the odds seem completely fair:

4.00 - 3.85 - 1.84

Mbappé's absence really isn't a problem for France, they have a versatile squad and might not even notice he's missing. If I were to bet, it would be on France Double Chance, and definitely not on Total, because it is not in France's interests to force the game and take risks - it is more profitable for them to leave the decision to the home game. So, we might even see a dull draw here.

[Chilwell]

Let's say Ronaldo isn't that smart and sharp any more compared to the these young blood due to his age which I believe is the problem with him. It was a beautiful performance yesterday from the Portuguese team despite the threats from Norway. Let's just forget about Ronaldo and enjoy this tournament with all the entertainment in it.

You are right, Ronaldo is 41yrs, he is getting weaker, which is making him miss alot of chances and not being sharp in front of goal. I believe the manager started him in the game yesterday just to please him, but seems like he finally discovered that Ronaldo will cause a set back for them, so he dropped him. Ronaldo is a great football icon and can never be forgotten, he's one of the best players in football history, I believe he'll retire after getting to 1000 goals.

I think not even the coach that will see it as a setback even himself we also see that things are not like before, Cristiano Ronaldo is an icon, his presence alone give confidence to the fans. Cristiano Ronaldo  been in the stadium motivate a lot of fans to come and watch the match, that alone equally put fear on the opponent side. Right now as far as Portugal is concerned without Ronaldo they will not have any value again, because even me personally is because of him that I am watching their match and also following them.

Ronaldo cannot improve anything for the Portugal like he used to, but putting him in the squad is a great advantage for the entire team, it was because of him that I was annoyed with some of their players because they are just jealous of him, which I actually pity some of them because they still have long way to go and if they point negative fingers to him definitely it will reciprocate with another person.

[Cgrexp]

Today's France vs Belgium match, the match will be held at Belgium's home ground, who do you think will win? Kylian Mbappé is out of the field due to injury, but apart from him, the team is able to play quite well, I think that now their main 3 players in the attack will be Ousmane Dembélé, Michael Olise and Désiré Doué, their attack is also very strong. And besides, even though the game is at Belgium's home ground, I expect France to win.
And besides, Portugal really surprised me yesterday, the victory they snatched against Norway is really extraordinary, and that too at Norway's home ground, Portugal performed quite strongly, they also attacked very well, and the defense was also the best, because of the great defense, Norway could not score another goal despite trying so hard.

[Out of mind]

Despite being a strong team like Germany, they lost the match against Greece and lost their points which has left them in a very challenging position. In the first match, Germany drew with the Netherlands and shared the points, as a result of which they now have one point, but the Netherlands team won the next match and is leading the points table with 4 points. Germany team has 1 point. They will face Serbia in their next match and it is expected that they will win that match and they should win by a big margin. However, I think that Germany team will be in the relegation playoffs from Group A in this Nations League. If they can win the next match with a good result, then there may be a chance of qualifying. However, we can see that the performance of the German team is not good at all. They have played two matches and could not win any match. No one thought that Germany, being a strong team, would perform so badly, but anyway, they should improve their game.

[Tmoonz]

Let's say Ronaldo isn't that smart and sharp any more compared to the these young blood due to his age which I believe is the problem with him. It was a beautiful performance yesterday from the Portuguese team despite the threats from Norway. Let's just forget about Ronaldo and enjoy this tournament with all the entertainment in it.

Smart and sharp in what aspect? The mind? Body or what? Most of you on here go on disrespecting greatness. After Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, and Harry Kane, Cristiano Ronaldo is the smartest of all strikers in the world. But I get it though, to everyone his own perspective so it is all fine and dandy. You want to forget about the first person who brought them their first ever international trophy in a long time? Pure delusion! Cristaino Ronaldo is as important as the president of Portugal to these Portuguese fanbase.

You're talking about the past; he used to be a player who scored a lot of goals. Nowadays, his age means he doesn't have the same abilities he once did. Look at his current playing style: he waits for the ball to be passed to him and often ends up offside. In the past, when he was younger, he would drop back to the defense to win the ball, make powerful runs past opponents, and score. If you have a player who just hangs around the opposition's defense waiting for the ball, it creates problems when defending against counter-attacks, as well as when trying to build up play in midfield and score. When Ronaldo is in the team, the playing style has to change to suit him, and opponents focus their marking on him. My honest opinion is that he should have retired from the national team after the World Cup, I really thought he would.


I’m going to talk about a match where the result left me shocked:

Germany 0 - 1 Greece

Yes, it’s a result that really shocked me. It was a game where Germany could have scored at least two goals and won, but instead, they conceded in a way that made me think: "What on earth is Felix Nmecha doing?" To clarify who I’m talking about: Felix Nmecha is a German player who plays as a midfielder for Dortmund he’s the guy in this photo:



He didn't chase the ball or clear it away; on the contrary, he took up a strange position that allowed the Greek player to get the ball and score. Other German players did nothing to prevent the goal. It is difficult for a coach to deal with players who behave like that; the guys don't put in the effort and lack motivation. For instance, the German player Karim Adeyemi could have scored in this match he was in a great position to take a good shot—but he missed; the ball didn't even reach the Greek goalkeeper. Yet, at Barcelona, he wouldn't make that kind of mistake perhaps out of fear of ending up on the bench.

You're almost right, Christiano Ronaldo should have been retired long ago because he's no longer what he use to be, but one thing we must understand is, Ronaldo actually has a goal he's chasing, which is the 1000 career goals and again him being on that pitch is not also by his making, the Portuguese system will be affected if he should retire today, so he didn't just call himself up, so if his team mates see his not what he use to be now, they should look for a way to adjust to his pattern, after all there are still players that hang round the box waiting for the ball to come to them even now they are still young and they sometimes win games with it, so Ronaldo hang is not really a big deal, as I believe any good ball that gets to him will be converted accordingly.