⚽ UEFA Nations League ⚽ - Discussion Thread

[Lillominato89]

italy is playing far better than turkey. today, turkey can’t even string together a decent pass on the field, and italy has created scoring chances time and time again. it seems to me like this match could end with a historic margin of victory. i thought italy was the team turkey could compete with the most in their group, but right now, this match is going even worse than the one against france. i don’t know if turkey will pull it together in the second half, but it seems impossible for them to make a comeback in this match.

I’d say everyone was expecting a swift response from Italy following their defeat against Belgium. And now they’re leading the match 1–4 against Turkey. But as an Italian, I don’t really feel that euphoria of victory that used to run through my veins, because I’m convinced this result is just a flash in the pan. Against the more technically gifted teams, Italy loses badly, and I don’t think Turkey have an unbeatable side, given that they also failed miserably at the World Cup.

I love italy even though i am not italian, i have been following napoli for 14 years, and i generally love Italian football because it is played with the head and the heart. Believe me, these are also the wins that matter and that are in a way a "stepping stone" for what comes next. italian football is in a crisis at the moment and every win in competitions like this matters. The group is tough, but i believe italy can stay there and show that they belong in division a, which also gives benefits for the qualifiers for the next euro.

I wish I could be as optimistic as you are. But unfortunately, I now see the glass as half empty, if not completely empty. What we’re experiencing isn’t just a temporary crisis, but a genuine decline in Italian football! We’re no longer able to produce young talents as we once did; now we only have good players who are overrated, and that, sadly, is the grim reality. If the FIGC has no intention of taking action, we’ll witness an incredible collapse

[danadc]

spain continues to win against everyone in its path. croatia isn’t normally a team you can score four goals against, but spain played really well. in fact, they could have scored even more in the first half.

Spain is intimidating because they win by a wide margin. I thought Croatia would play a very good match and that it would be difficult for them to beat, but it wasn't like that. I didn't like that they didn't put Modric in from the start. Coaches these days are very strange in their decisions; I don't understand them. If you have your best star player on the field, you should put him in to make the difference. If he comes on and can't continue from fatigue, then take him off, but don't wait until the 80th minute to put him in and try to salvage a game that's completely lost.

[Shadiq]

We actually could see England’s dominance early in the first half or even before Pavel Sulc was sent off with a red card for a foul on Anderson. And we can see that around the 15th minute England managed to penetrate the Czech Republic’s defense with a series of very threatening shots. The Czech national team truly looked helpless in that match as they were outplayed in terms of ball possession by the English national team which held 75% in the first half. And in the second half the Czech national team was only able to defend, where it made the English team appear to dominate with the shots they fired. I personally believe that the English national team truly capitalized on the Czech team’s weakness after they lost one of their players. And they left many fans of the opposing team disappointed in this match. On the other hand England has 3 points the same as Croatia. But England’s advantage in goal difference allowed the English national team to secure second place in the group.

In terms of overall quality, Czechia was far behind England. Before the match started, it was obvious that England was going to win the match by a large margin, but we had expectations of performance from Czechia which they could not fulfill. Czechia was defeated very badly in front of the fans, only 32% possession of the ball in the whole match and only 1 short on target are signs of a bad performance. Especially after being reduced to a team of 10 players, the home team was under a lot of pressure, which is why they had to focus more on defense. Despite such a poor performance by the opposing team, England's victory by only 2 goals seems unfair, they should have won by a larger margin.

[Cyber_warrior]

As for Italy, it's a good ride to trash turkey, but france must be their a real test. I saw some confidence from their gameplay against Turkey., Esposito and Sebastiano have so much potential. I see them as golden players that can help them leave from their curse. These guys must be enough to become their attackers as long as they can be utilized well.

As I remarked after Italy won their second Group 1 match against Turkey, the new foundation Mancini has laid has begun to set, making it ready for a structure to be built upon it. Turkey is not a weak team, but they have not been formidable in the UEFA Nations League; thus, Italy's victory was hardly a shock—the only notable aspect was the margin of the win.
The real test for Italy begins with their third match, an away game against France.
Italy will face a French side that seems to simply refuse to lose.

After losing woefully to Belgium, Italy needed a bounce back and they got a good one when they played against Turkey. The home team is also a good side but they got it all wrong that day, they are very good on the ball, they created good chances but it really bad to see them lose like that, especially with that score line.

Now Italy will be playing their next game against France, they will need to do so much if they really want to beat France. With Mbappe out injured, France looked less threatened In front of goal, they could only scored one.

Italy need to keep this performance up, in the past few years, they have been disappointing, they even missed out in the World Cup. So let see if they can prove there is improvement with the new coach.

[Ale88]

Well, he has all the platform he needs. Starting at such a young age with all the admirations from fans and managers, getting support from team mates, playing from one of the best sides both national and club side, being matched with one of the greatest to have ever played the game (Messi) and the free hand they give him on his roles on the team, he’s just got to be better.

As I said several times I'm not a Lamine Yamal fan because I don't like his attitude but I think you are trying to diminish his abilities and his achievements: he's not there because of the "platforms" or because the "admiration", he is there because he is freaking good at playing football. He potentially is a generational talent. He is only 19 years old and he has already played 35 matches for his national team winning a Euro Cup and a World Cup. It's insane.

No one (it seems) disputes that Yamal is good. The problem is that the hype surrounding him far exceeds the level of his actual output. Two seasons ago, everyone was sick to death of that "he's only 17" slogan - back when Barcelona threw Rafinha (who was clearly better that season) under the bus and hyped up Yamal for the Ballon d'Or. Intrusive advertising is annoying even when the product is good  As for titles, no matter how you look at it, football is a team sport, it is impossible to deny that some players have an incredible advantage over others simply because of the team they play for. Take Ronaldo Nazário, for instance - he was incredibly talented, even genius, but we all remember the team (national) he played for, it would be hard to claim that he single-handedly carried his team and that nothing would have happened without him.

I totally agree with the "intrusive advertising", from himself, his father (who could be his biggest problem in the future), and Barcelona too. It's annoying and unnecessary. But here I read several posts trying to downsize Yamal's talent and seriously, I don't want to defend him because I don't like him, but I must also be honest, and right right he surely is one of the best 3 players in the world.
I mentioned the titles because those are just another incredible achievement. He is the youngest player ever to win both the Euro Cup and the World Cup. That is an insane record because at that age many players are barely starting their career.

[Franctoshi]

After defeating England in their first match, Spain has now defeated Croatia in their second match. In my opinion, the Spanish players really enjoyed the match. Spain managed to score four goals against Croatia, while Croatia unfortunately only managed to score one goal against Spain, ultimately winning the match 4-1

Lamine Yamal performed well in this match, scoring two goals against Spain and providing one assist. Nico and Pubill also performed very well in this match, also scoring one goal against Croatia. It's no wonder Spain can win the World Cup because their teamwork and attack are very good. I think there's great potential for Spain to win the Nations League. What do you think?

Spain has been impressive in their matches even though they managed to face two strong teams already they still managed to win and that has already shown how good they are and how well they will perform in this tournament. It was a strong scoreline for them and to be honest I never expected less from them against Croatia. I thought Croatia would be more of a strong challenge but the were no match for Spain.

Spain look more stronger than other team at the moment but that doesn't guarantee victory. They won the world cup and they are capable of winning the Nations league but there are still strong teams too and the competition will get more serious when it's get to the knock out stages.

When it comes international football, Spain has built a very good reputation and that continues, we all saw the strong teams they played against during the world cup till to the final stage where they won the trophy 🏆. This is no surprising to me couple with the fact that they're the world champions, barely any team can match with their strength at moment. They most likely will beat any team right now and scale through.

[xzone]

At this point, it's time time for Turkey to sack Montella, then bring someone better than him. Enough to see his excuse about his team recorded so many shoots, but they never scored due to how unlucky they are and he always repeat it anytime during his post interview. Their narrow score lost to the France still acceptable, but 4-1 lost against Italy who didn't qualify for last world cup and didn't have proper team is unacceptable.

I'm wondering why he still in a charge of Turkey's national team even after he got a disastrous world cup, which is really amazed me. Does he have special relationship with turkey's government? If he's still in charge, i believe turkey is nothing in the next euro. The decline happened to the club is beyond my expectation.

As for Italy, it's a good ride to trash turkey, but france must be their a real test. I saw some confidence from their gameplay against Turkey., Esposito and Sebastiano have so much potential. I see them as golden players that can help them leave from their curse. These guys must be enough to become their attackers as long as they can be utilized well.

it seems playing with double strikers sound good for them.

Montella is managing this team terribly. After every match, dozens of criticisms of him appear in the media, but the federation continues to support Montella instead of working with another coach. It's absolutely unacceptable that a team with such good players plays so poorly.
We already witnessed a huge embarrassment at the World Cup. Individually, the squad has quite talented players, but this team can't do anything and never succeeds

[$crypto$]

I wish I could be as optimistic as you are. But unfortunately, I now see the glass as half empty, if not completely empty. What we’re experiencing isn’t just a temporary crisis, but a genuine decline in Italian football! We’re no longer able to produce young talents as we once did; now we only have good players who are overrated, and that, sadly, is the grim reality. If the FIGC has no intention of taking action, we’ll witness an incredible collapse

The crisis of Italian football in the national team is long enough even several times not to enter the World Cup, this is the question of many people whether the Federation is really taking action how to get up again? When we play against France, we are very skeptical.

I also read some Italian football comments, from different platforms, is it really a bad Federation? Or are they saying it's corrupt? I don't mean to offend this is what I read in some local or X article.

[Inwestour]

The crisis of Italian football in the national team is long enough even several times not to enter the World Cup, this is the question of many people whether the Federation is really taking action how to get up again? When we play against France, we are very skeptical.

I also read some Italian football comments, from different platforms, is it really a bad Federation? Or are they saying it's corrupt? I don't mean to offend this is what I read in some local or X article.

But it’s obvious that Italy don’t have any really high profile at the moment. Their defense also isn’t as reliable as it used to be, they do have Donnarumma of course, but he clearly isn’t enough to build a solid defense without strong defenders in front of him. I think Mancini is experienced enough to get Italy out of this crisis if there are actually good players available in the squad. If there aren’t, then it’s a problem on a completely different level.

[Unsoldier]

spain continues to win against everyone in its path. croatia isn’t normally a team you can score four goals against, but spain played really well. in fact, they could have scored even more in the first half.

Spain is intimidating because they win by a wide margin. I thought Croatia would play a very good match and that it would be difficult for them to beat, but it wasn't like that. I didn't like that they didn't put Modric in from the start. Coaches these days are very strange in their decisions; I don't understand them. If you have your best star player on the field, you should put him in to make the difference. If he comes on and can't continue from fatigue, then take him off, but don't wait until the 80th minute to put him in and try to salvage a game that's completely lost.

I also didn’t expect Croatia to lose by such a big margin. But Spain were fantastic yesterday, and Croatia simply had no answer to them. Lamine Yamal put in an outstanding performance, and he is really developing as a player. When he is in form, nobody can stop him.

[yudi09]

-snip-

Now Italy will be playing their next game against France, they will need to do so much if they really want to beat France. With Mbappe out injured, France looked less threatened In front of goal, they could only scored one.

Italy need to keep this performance up, in the past few years, they have been disappointing, they even missed out in the World Cup. So let see if they can prove there is improvement with the new coach.

It would be great if Italy could maintain the form they showed when they defeated Turkey, even though we know their opponent isn’t just some newcomer to the world stage of soccer, but the strongest team.
Beating France is no easy task. That must be acknowledged, and many bettors realize just how difficult it will be for Italy when they have to play in France.
The positive takeaway for Italy after the match against Turkey is that Mancini is beginning to find the right formula for the Italian national team’s progress. If they manage to beat France, other teams had better be prepared and on their guard when facing Italy.

[yixichloro2xx]

According to Marca Cristiano Ronaldo has left the Portugal training camp after a tension between him and Jorge Jesus, for no playing him against Norway. This small conflicts made the president of the Portugal national team to travel to Copenhagen in order to settle the rift, but it looks like it didn't end well. Ronaldo is the causing this issue to himself, and alot of Portuguese on X are complaining about his attitude. Like this saying goes You either live long enough to become a hero, or die a villain. Now he is looking as Villian in the Portugal team, even his teammates doesn't regard or give him appropriate respect. At 41 years, he should have retired, and level the national team at the hands of the new generations. Leo Messi left because he realised that he can't do it for the Argentina team anymore and pass the mantle to the younger generation, now he will playing his farewell match soon, where he will be celebrated as a hero. Even Ronaldo should know that he can't do his magic anymore. I just hope he makes his decisions to retire after this hero, so that this disrespect can stop.

[ndutndut]

spain continues to win against everyone in its path. croatia isn’t normally a team you can score four goals against, but spain played really well. in fact, they could have scored even more in the first half.

Spain is intimidating because they win by a wide margin. I thought Croatia would play a very good match and that it would be difficult for them to beat, but it wasn't like that. I didn't like that they didn't put Modric in from the start. Coaches these days are very strange in their decisions; I don't understand them. If you have your best star player on the field, you should put him in to make the difference. If he comes on and can't continue from fatigue, then take him off, but don't wait until the 80th minute to put him in and try to salvage a game that's completely lost.

I understand why the coach decided to bench Modric because the coach knows Croatia needs regeneration, so it's really reasonable for Modric to play in the 80th minute. I don't blame the Croatian coach because right now Spain is really on fire, whoever they face will easily get a win.

You could say that looking at Spain game right now, it's very unlikely that anyone can beat them until the World Cup in the next few years, let alone just in something like the Nations League. Spain not only has a strong squad, but they also have a brilliant coach who makes it so Spain doesn’t need players who are full of skills, yet they can play with a tactical system that’s really well organized. On top of that, Yamal always makes a difference, and his performance this season has been really great. His contribution in winning La Liga with Barca and the World Cup with Spain is also really, really good. Maybe Yamal is the most deserving for the Ballon d'Or this year.

[Somto9Light]

Now Italy will be playing their next game against France, they will need to do so much if they really want to beat France. With Mbappe out injured, France looked less threatened In front of goal, they could only scored one.

Italy need to keep this performance up, in the past few years, they have been disappointing, they even missed out in the World Cup. So let see if they can prove there is improvement with the new coach.

Italy cannot win France even in the absence of Kylian Mbappe. I know that France has been very poor in goalscoring recently, but that doesn't mean that they will allow Italy who is still managing to get up from their slumber. Even without Kylian Mbappe, France still makes a perfect squad because they have Bradley Barcola, Ousmame Dembele and Michael Olise who can still cover up for his absence. France is dangerous in attacking, I don't think Italy can contain the pressure that will come from France attacks. The reason why Italy won Turkey in their last game was because they were very quick to score a lot of goals in the first half. When it got to the second half they literally lost their strength and couldn't continue with same energy anymore.

[Ale88]

According to Marca Cristiano Ronaldo has left the Portugal training camp after a tension between him and Jorge Jesus, for no playing him against Norway.

I've been saying this since before the World Cup: Portugal's biggest problem is Ronaldo's ego. He must accept he is 41 years old, he can't pretend to be playing every single match just because of what he did in the past. Right now he looks like a child who cries because the mother didn't buy the toy he wanted.

It's a sad situation and it's even sadder that Portugal can't even celebrate a big victory against Norway, because it's a huge result but, as usual, it's all about Ronaldo, all the other players don't matter. I'm sure many of them are waiting for him to stop playing with the national team, at this point he's a burden, he just keeps thinking about himself and his records.

[Taricoins]

spain continues to win against everyone in its path. croatia isn’t normally a team you can score four goals against, but spain played really well. in fact, they could have scored even more in the first half.

Spain is intimidating because they win by a wide margin. I thought Croatia would play a very good match and that it would be difficult for them to beat, but it wasn't like that. I didn't like that they didn't put Modric in from the start. Coaches these days are very strange in their decisions; I don't understand them. If you have your best star player on the field, you should put him in to make the difference. If he comes on and can't continue from fatigue, then take him off, but don't wait until the 80th minute to put him in and try to salvage a game that's completely lost.

I don't blame the Croatian coach for that decision, maybe he felt like the game was going to be too intense for Modric to handle, the guy is literally 41years, I think it's time for us to change the Narrative, Moriches is getting too old. And this Spains new tactics De La Fuente is implementing is terrifying, it feels like Barcelona 2.0, they just don't allow the opposition team to breathe when they are in possession and they are more direct this time

[Lillominato89]

The crisis of Italian football in the national team is long enough even several times not to enter the World Cup, this is the question of many people whether the Federation is really taking action how to get up again? When we play against France, we are very skeptical.

I also read some Italian football comments, from different platforms, is it really a bad Federation? Or are they saying it's corrupt? I don't mean to offend this is what I read in some local or X article.

But it’s obvious that Italy don’t have any really high profile at the moment. Their defense also isn’t as reliable as it used to be, they do have Donnarumma of course, but he clearly isn’t enough to build a solid defense without strong defenders in front of him. I think Mancini is experienced enough to get Italy out of this crisis if there are actually good players available in the squad. If there aren’t, then it’s a problem on a completely different level.

Unfortunately, Serie A clubs are not encouraged to invest in young Italian players; instead, they invest mainly in foreign players, and older ones at that.

Just to see for yourself what’s happening in Serie A

The match between Milan and Lecce ended 3–0
The starting line-ups were as follows




Out of 22 players fielded, only two Italians were on the pitch, and both were from Lecce. That number then rose to four with the introduction of Camarda and Bartesaghi, both from Milan.
In other words, 18 foreign players and four Italians in an Italian league – it’s laughable! It’s enough to make you cry! And then we wonder why we don’t qualify for the World Cup anymore?
The Serie A League and the FIGC should put a stop to this! And enforce a rule that there must be at least four Italian players on the pitch for each team

[Adiljutt156]

According to Marca Cristiano Ronaldo has left the Portugal training camp after a tension between him and Jorge Jesus, for no playing him against Norway.

I've been saying this since before the World Cup: Portugal's biggest problem is Ronaldo's ego. He must accept he is 41 years old, he can't pretend to be playing every single match just because of what he did in the past. Right now he looks like a child to cries because the mother didn't buy the toy he wanted.

It's a sad situation and it's even sadder that Portugal can't even celebrate a big victory against Norway, because it's a huge result but, as usual, it's all about Ronaldo, all the other players don't matter. I'm sure many of them are waiting for him to stop playing with the national team, at this point he's a burden, he just keeps thinking about himself and his records.

Here I completely agreed with you because now its right time to have changes and bringing new blood who can handle things with balance and also improve quality and consistency of Portugal team his presence is surely good but now they needed to be change his role from only player to be mentor player.
41 years old done enough for his team but surely now thinking about future and giving enough space to players for giving their best will be boost their performance he is now having not potential like he play few years back its always cycle every great player having his day so its also time for thinking about this surely going to be helpful for all stakeholders.
His presence is also bringing not good results as well because sometime its feel not good specially ego issue is surely needed to be settled.

[Taricoins]

According to Marca Cristiano Ronaldo has left the Portugal training camp after a tension between him and Jorge Jesus, for no playing him against Norway. This small conflicts made the president of the Portugal national team to travel to Copenhagen in order to settle the rift, but it looks like it didn't end well. Ronaldo is the causing this issue to himself, and alot of Portuguese on X are complaining about his attitude. Like this saying goes You either live long enough to become a hero, or die a villain. Now he is looking as Villian in the Portugal team, even his teammates doesn't regard or give him appropriate respect. At 41 years, he should have retired, and level the national team at the hands of the new generations. Leo Messi left because he realised that he can't do it for the Argentina team anymore and pass the mantle to the younger generation, now he will playing his farewell match soon, where he will be celebrated as a hero. Even Ronaldo should know that he can't do his magic anymore. I just hope he makes his decisions to retire after this hero, so that this disrespect can stop.

Sometimes it's funny when I tap into Christiano Ronaldo's news, at his age he is still groveling for minutes like 20 years old players, can't he see that all his mates are accepting the little minutes they are being given, time have changed when teams can afford to lose one player from intensity, we see Lewandowski being benched till the 80th minutes in his last match, Modric the same thing. I don't want to bring Leo into this but he should be more mature than this.

[Volgastallion]

According to Marca Cristiano Ronaldo has left the Portugal training camp after a tension between him and Jorge Jesus, for no playing him against Norway. This small conflicts made the president of the Portugal national team to travel to Copenhagen in order to settle the rift, but it looks like it didn't end well. Ronaldo is the causing this issue to himself, and alot of Portuguese on X are complaining about his attitude. Like this saying goes You either live long enough to become a hero, or die a villain. Now he is looking as Villian in the Portugal team, even his teammates doesn't regard or give him appropriate respect. At 41 years, he should have retired, and level the national team at the hands of the new generations. Leo Messi left because he realised that he can't do it for the Argentina team anymore and pass the mantle to the younger generation, now he will playing his farewell match soon, where he will be celebrated as a hero. Even Ronaldo should know that he can't do his magic anymore. I just hope he makes his decisions to retire after this hero, so that this disrespect can stop.

Sometimes it's funny when I tap into Christiano Ronaldo's news, at his age he is still groveling for minutes like 20 years old players, can't he see that all his mates are accepting the little minutes they are being given, time have changed when teams can afford to lose one player from intensity, we see Lewandowski being benched till the 80th minutes in his last match, Modric the same thing. I don't want to bring Leo into this but he should be more mature than this.

Seems like Cristiano has completly lose his mind!!!!

I cant believe what he is doing, has he become crazy? I mean man you have 41 years old, what do you want? you are not longer the player you were, you have to adapt to your new role and stop behaving like this.

He is only making more and more damage to his image and his legacy this is not a good way to end his career, and he dont need all this drama. I cant believe it.