⚽ UEFA Nations League ⚽ - Discussion Thread

[Rgram]

This appears to be one of the best come back for france this season,  at first I never believed they could do it because of how confusing Belgium's goal made all look but they never gave up and believed it is not yet over which was the only reason they where able to turn the table around in there favour at the die minutes of the game.
With this super performance from France, I will say they are one of the best team in this tournament. They did what know one expected from them especially when it got to that 70th minute without an equaliser from France.  I won't also fail to commend Zidane's tacticality in the introduction of those players that turned the table around for there favour because it takes a great coach to understand the game as he did.

France isn’t the type of team you would expect to give up and neither is one goal or even 2 goals when playing against any team at all. Thats always something to come back from.

France might have had the best of Belgium today because they are actually that good but, to say they are the best team of the tournament, I highly doubt that. There performance has being doubtful, only winning by chance although, they had their very best today, Zidane’s technical changes saved the day.

He’s got way much players for options than most teams for sure.

[trendcoin]

It was already expected that Türkiye would likely lose all its matches in this group, but no one predicted it would look this helpless... We put in the same bad performance at the World Cup, and we are continuing our bad streak in the Nations League as well...

But I don’t have entirely negative thoughts about Montella.

- There isn’t a good forward in the pool of players at his hands.
- He was the one who got us into League A in the Nations League.
- He was the one who took us to the World Cup after 20 years.

Even though we’ve had very bad results in our most recent matches, when we make an objective assessment of him, we need to acknowledge his successes. However, I think the end of the road is slowly coming for him...

[Jasmyne]

Zidane might have just done this one. Making 4 substitutes and those 4 substitutes has made expected changes to the result of this game, Cunha with an assist for Doue, Olise with an assist for Cherki and then, Doue gets an assist for Olise, then Cherki with another assist for Olise to bring the game to a France 4:1 Belgium. That’s just strategy and no better manager to get it done than Zidane. One would have thought this game would have potentially ended in a draw but, France had other plans and they found ways to make it happen.

Sir, I feel like Zidane for saw the outcome of this game before it began because no coach other coach will take the risk that he took this night without being scared of losing the game due to the time he made those four wonderful substitutions. The substitutions was completed in the 71 minutes it took all the 4 super sub only 6 minutes to understand the game and change it because they were constantly at the box of Belgium for more than 4 minutes before the first goal was produced, the 4 players caged the Belgium team and scored 4 goals in less than 15 minutes it is only an insane manager that could come up with the kine of substitutions that was made by Zidane tonight which is why I believe that he has seen the outcome before coming in to the game.

Cherki, Doué,Cunha and  Olise will not forgot their performance today in a hurry, they disappointed everyone who predicted the game to be draw by winning with good numbers of goals I believe Mbappe will be happy because his brothers made him so proud tonight.

[BIT-BENDER]

Sir, I feel like Zidane for saw the outcome of this game before it began because no coach other coach will take the risk that he took this night without being scared of losing the game due to the time he made those four wonderful substitutions. The substitutions was completed in the 71 minutes it took all the 4 super sub only 6 minutes to understand the game and change it because they were constantly at the box of Belgium for more than 4 minutes before the first goal was produced, the 4 players caged the Belgium team and scored 4 goals in less than 15 minutes it is only an insane manager that could come up with the kine of substitutions that was made by Zidane tonight which is why I believe that he has seen the outcome before coming in to the game.

Cherki, Doué,Cunha and  Olise will not forgot their performance today in a hurry, they disappointed everyone who predicted the game to be draw by winning with good numbers of goals I believe Mbappe will be happy because his brothers made him so proud tonight.

The four substitutions which are De Cunha, Doue, Chieki, Olise. They were actually watching the game from the beginning and already had talks with the manager so they did not just understand the game when they got into the pitch, the already had instructions on what to do even before touching the grass and the game plan worked.
France are work in progress so what even zidane is doing be needs time to actually work it out, Olise has been the shining armor this international break and they owe him praises because he has been influential.

[pawel7777]

Matchday 4 has not been the best in terms of number of goals so far, with the average being below 2 goals per game for yesterday's and today's games.
Hopefully things will get better tomorrow.

One notable exception today was France finally performing according to expectations. In their first 3 games they only scored one goal in each, but today they defeated Belgium 4-1. But it wouldn't be fair to say it was an easy game for France. They conceded a goal in the 35th minute and were 1-0 down until the 77th minute, when Doue equalised. But they managed to add 3 more in the last minute, so it should be enough to please their fans.

Portugal without Ronaldo earned another win. This time over Norway. There have been some rumours/fears about Haaland getting injured, as he was limping and got substituted in the 66th minute, but apparently he's alright.

[Richbased]

As for Italy, it seems to be on the right path to recovery, but I would wait before saying that Italy has returned, for me it is still too early to give this judgment.

I think it’s too early to say that Italy is back to its former self because I don’t see the right level of commitment from the older players, and unfortunately, young players alone aren’t enough to win because italy don't have a Lamine Yamal. Anyway, let’s keep the faith, but I don’t see any great players coming through the Italian youth system; perhaps the young players need more playing time so we can see how they develop, but the clubs still prefer young foreign players. Perhaps the Football Association should introduce stricter rules.

We shouldn't use because Italy won Turkey at home and away then say that they are back to their good form. Before we can confidently say that Italy is back, they will have to go above 10 winning streak with strong European teams, not just the mediocre ones. Italy should also learn to explore young players from their youth leagues.

Before Italy can become a team that they used to be in the past, the coach will have a big work to do in bringing out the best in the players because that's where every coach should focus when rebuilding the team.

[SUPERSAIAN]

We are continuing a day where Türkiye has lost again and remains at zero points. Four matches, four defeats a perfect record. Italy arguably has its weakest squad in years, yet the Turkish national team failed to secure even a single point against them. By the way, Barış was absent today and Aral played instead I can say he performed much better.

[Rashlyowl]

Portugal without Ronaldo earned another win. This time over Norway. There have been some rumours/fears about Haaland getting injured, as he was limping and got substituted in the 66th minute, but apparently he's alright.

After Cristiano Ronaldo is not in the squad, Portugal looks better now. Do any of you feel the same?

They are on a positive run, four wins out of four games, something I hadn't previously seen from the Portugal national team. To be frank, I think it is time for Cristiano Ronaldo to retire from national team, if he remains in the national team, it will hinder the team's generational transition.

[JiiBs]

We are continuing a day where Türkiye has lost again and remains at zero points. Four matches, four defeats a perfect record. Italy arguably has its weakest squad in years, yet the Turkish national team failed to secure even a single point against them. By the way, Barış was absent today and Aral played instead I can say he performed much better.

That’s by far one of the worst result for such an elite team of the Turks. There least win has being against France which is considerably one of the best teams in the league. After that game, we would have hoped to find them coming up with better performances but, they just got worst as the league progressed.

Belgium which has surprised everyone with their performance in the league were at their worst today, with France producing their very best.

Olise just showed his importance in the French team to by far exceed what they might have measured it to be. Not only is he the one producing the assist, his getting the goals too and with him on the pitch, you just know it’s a matter of time before he comes up with something. The fans were truly behind him today and was so excited when he was to be substituted in, good enough he didn’t disappoint them.

[Jessie2121]

They are not doing well in this first half of the game, holding the ball but that last strike to give them a goal is a problem, now it has become a problem because the hang onto the ball without doing anything useful to help the team come back. I never knew Zidane would drop some of the regular players on the bench, this should be a game to go all out and get the needed 3point or maybe they are not interested in this particular game since they're still leading in their group. 1nil in favor of Belgium at least this will motivate them to keep pushing for another goal, second half won't be as weak as it has been for France I hope.

Zinedine Zidane is not taking this game seriously if you ask me because why bench Michael Olise? He do know that his team doesn't have their best man, Kylian Mbappe who happens to the their top goal scorer in France. They're missing him a lot and check their stats after Mbappe left camp, they're struggling to win games and scoring of goals have become a huge hurdle for them.

As it stands, it's halftime and they're losing 1 nil to Belgium. This is the time for Zinedine Zidane to take things seriously and not longer slowly, he need to make sure France secure atleast a point in this game because they can't just have this poor result. France is a very elite and competitive side and I see no reason why they will be dropping points like irrelevant team.

There are some teams you'd see playing against France and you'd just conclude that it's going to be a win for the French team and Belgium is one of them. The Belgian side haven't won against France in so very long that somehow they've forgotten how to do it anymore, they almost did in today's game but they couldn't hold that lead for long. I watched the game and thought it will be their first time losing but Zidane had so much confidence in his subs and they ended up delivering. All three subs; Olise, Cherki and Doue confounded Belgium with their brilliant goals so that Belgium gave up defending. For me I think Zidane was doing a test run with the other guys that was why some of his best was sitting on the bench, waiting for the right moment to strike the tired legs of Belgium.

[EL MOHA]

After Cristiano Ronaldo is not in the squad, Portugal looks better now. Do any of you feel the same?

They are on a positive run, four wins out of four games, something I hadn't previously seen from the Portugal national team. To be frank, I think it is time for Cristiano Ronaldo to retire from national team, if he remains in the national team, it will hinder the team's generational transition.

 No I don’t feel the same with you because I feel it’s a baseless attack on Ronaldo.

I haven’t seen extraordinary thing that this Portuguese team has done behind Cristiano Ronaldo, and if you say you haven’t seen this before from them then I will gladly say you started watching this Portugal team in the World Cup then, this is because the team was excellent just like the recent form before heading to the world cup finals they were beating every team they faced and even highly favorite for the title but as usual went to a major tournament to just have a bad World Cup

[GbitG]

That's super hilarious.....!!!
Maybe the problem was Cristiano Ronaldo....

The presence of Cristiano Ronaldo doesn't make any productive display for the team like we all know that he is grandfather and due to old age his performance slightly drop off from the average scale. So that's why manager took the decision to keep him on bench but Cristiano Ronaldo got frustrated. I don't know why but maybe due to selfishness....like  he want individual rather enjoying the team victory form bench.

However, Portuguese coach has done a good job like without a key players he just regain the missing loops between the field and won back to back 3 match with pretty awesome display. I hope this consistency will be remain til the big stage because tactical team are delivering a good job. Let's see what happens next.

No world class football player will ever be happy to be on the bench, when he is supposed to be out making an impact in the match...Benching wasn't even the issue, but he was also informed that he wouldn't feature in subsequent matches...We think Ronaldo is the problem, how about a coach doing the same to other players... Enrique did this same thing to Mbappe after he announced his departure from PSG and we all could remember how frustrated he even became because of that...

On a second thought, I don't think Jorge Jesus mean Ronaldo any harm, the benching could even be him trying to teach the team how to play and survive without Cristiano Ronaldo, since Ronaldo would soon be retiring from football....

Don't make it merge.... Kilyan Mbappe situation was different despite Cristiano Ronaldo situation was different. Like Cristiano Ronaldo was still in wish to play more but coach already knew it that from the World Cup til now Portugal haven't even delivered any productive display in attacking sense in the presence of Cristiano Ronaldo. Despite his ego are not even accepting to took a retirement and handed a role to others. So that's why the coach decided to keep him on bench and trail other players for better results.

But Cristiano Ronaldo got frustrated and even his teammates is also got too surprised that why he got too much frustrated like it's the matter of only few matches but he got frustrated. So this is the fact like if coach knew it that Cristiano Ronaldo have intentions to took retirement then definitely he will give him little time to play his last ever match at big competition because he was the legend of Portugal. His really deserve better fair well. but before the match Ronaldo haven't any intention for retirement.....

[Donneski]

We are continuing a day where Türkiye has lost again and remains at zero points. Four matches, four defeats a perfect record. Italy arguably has its weakest squad in years, yet the Turkish national team failed to secure even a single point against them. By the way, Barış was absent today and Aral played instead I can say he performed much better.

Italy played like they wanted nothing but a victory and got it. I'm not surprised they won, Turkiye didn't stand a chance to get a victory away against the Italians. Away from the Victory, I think Riccardo Calafiori's incredible performance this season isn't talk about as much as it should. The Italian defender since the start of the season has been very instrumental for Arsenal and now for his national team. If he continues with this form till the end of the season, he'll definitely be included in the discussion of the best left backs I. Europe, at least for the 2026/27 season.

[EL MOHA]

Italy played like they wanted nothing but a victory and got it. I'm not surprised they won, Turkiye didn't stand a chance to get a victory away against the Italians. Away from the Victory, I think Riccardo Calafiori's incredible performance this season isn't talk about as much as it should. The Italian defender since the start of the season has been very instrumental for Arsenal and now for his national team. If he continues with this form till the end of the season, he'll definitely be included in the discussion of the best left backs I. Europe, at least for the 2026/27 season.

This game all but confirms Turkey’s relegation from this group because I don’t see them getting back again. Seriously there are certain players you would wish actually play for a much stronger footballing nation than their current team and one of those players is the Arda Guler of Real Madrid. This lad has been really a great gem and has put in a A plus performance in each of their four games this period and yet he cannot inspire them to any win and it’s sad for someone like him.

As for Italy this is rather more impressive because after four games under the new manager Roberto Mancini they have managed to pick up seven points out of possible 12 and I will say it’s a good start for a nation trying to build back their reputation, they just need to stay on this track and hopefully we get the Italy we all cherish back. While I do think it’s a very long road for them considering the squad they currently have I think this break brings hope for them

[Solokan]

In the first half, Belgium led 1-0 with a goal scored by Lukebakio Unfortunately, France failed to score in the first half. However, in the second half, France managed to turn things around thanks to a good French attack, which ultimately led to France successfully scoring 4 goals through Doue, Cherki, and Olise, but Olise scored the most goals because he scored 2 goals

In the first half, France conceded a goal due to the weak French defense, which ultimately led to France conceding At that time, Lukebakio looked very happy when scoring a goal against the Belgian goalkeeper But fortunately Zidane was able to create a good strategy and correct his mistakes in the first half Finally, in the second half, France performed even better Fortunately, I won my bet on this match because I predicted France would win. Did you also win your bet on this match?

[laijsica]

In the first half, Belgium led 1-0 with a goal scored by Lukebakio Unfortunately, France failed to score in the first half. However, in the second half, France managed to turn things around thanks to a good French attack, which ultimately led to France successfully scoring 4 goals through Doue, Cherki, and Olise, but Olise scored the most goals because he scored 2 goals

In the first half, France conceded a goal due to the weak French defense, which ultimately led to France conceding At that time, Lukebakio looked very happy when scoring a goal against the Belgian goalkeeper But fortunately Zidane was able to create a good strategy and correct his mistakes in the first half Finally, in the second half, France performed even better Fortunately, I won my bet on this match because I predicted France would win. Did you also win your bet on this match?

I had doubts about the French winning so I didn't bet but the team played very well without Mbappe. It was a surprise to score 4 goals in the second half after not being able to score in the first half. Belgium started very cautiously as the opponent was French and everything was going well and they were leading by one goal in the first half. After 77 minutes of the match, French made an impressive performance and won the big win. Michael Olise tried many times throughout the match and as a result of his efforts, he scored 2 goals in a span of 3 minutes towards the end of the match. This attacking midfielder's excellent performance increased the goal gap even further.

[kizilhare]

We are continuing a day where Türkiye has lost again and remains at zero points. Four matches, four defeats a perfect record. Italy arguably has its weakest squad in years, yet the Turkish national team failed to secure even a single point against them. By the way, Barış was absent today and Aral played instead I can say he performed much better.

Italy played like they wanted nothing but a victory and got it. I'm not surprised they won, Turkiye didn't stand a chance to get a victory away against the Italians. Away from the Victory, I think Riccardo Calafiori's incredible performance this season isn't talk about as much as it should. The Italian defender since the start of the season has been very instrumental for Arsenal and now for his national team. If he continues with this form till the end of the season, he'll definitely be included in the discussion of the best left backs I. Europe, at least for the 2026/27 season.

If my friend Montella had been more careful when selecting players for the national team and had actually managed the team properly, Turkey would have beaten this Italy side in both matches.
Did Italy play all that well yesterday? No.
Italy won simply because Turkey didn't field the right players.
I agree with your comment about Calafiori; he’s excellent for both Arsenal and the national team.
He’s putting in impressive performances at left-back.
We’ve suffered four defeats in four matches during the international break and remain at the bottom of the table with zero points. Montella will likely be dismissed, and we’ll go on to beat Belgium at home.

[*Ace*]

As for Italy, it seems to be on the right path to recovery, but I would wait before saying that Italy has returned, for me it is still too early to give this judgment.

I think it’s too early to say that Italy is back to its former self because I don’t see the right level of commitment from the older players, and unfortunately, young players alone aren’t enough to win because italy don't have a Lamine Yamal. Anyway, let’s keep the faith, but I don’t see any great players coming through the Italian youth system; perhaps the young players need more playing time so we can see how they develop, but the clubs still prefer young foreign players. Perhaps the Football Association should introduce stricter rules.

You're not the only one who thinks this way. Unfortunately, if we want to see Italian players play, you have to watch Frosinone's games. If you want to see all foreigners instead, watch AC Milan's matches. Not a single Italian was on the pitch in the official lineups. If even our most representative teams don't invest in Italian players, how can we ever expect the national team to return to its former glory?

[Livingleged]

Sir, I feel like Zidane for saw the outcome of this game before it began because no coach other coach will take the risk that he took this night without being scared of losing the game due to the time he made those four wonderful substitutions. The substitutions was completed in the 71 minutes it took all the 4 super sub only 6 minutes to understand the game and change it because they were constantly at the box of Belgium for more than 4 minutes before the first goal was produced, the 4 players caged the Belgium team and scored 4 goals in less than 15 minutes it is only an insane manager that could come up with the kine of substitutions that was made by Zidane tonight which is why I believe that he has seen the outcome before coming in to the game.

Cherki, Doué,Cunha and  Olise will not forgot their performance today in a hurry, they disappointed everyone who predicted the game to be draw by winning with good numbers of goals I believe Mbappe will be happy because his brothers made him so proud tonight.

Honestly at halftime I didn’t believe France will even get a win from the game yesterday, even though I know how good the team can be. I thought the injuries would really affect the result. while I also carried away with some few players that are injured I didn’t look at the squad debt in the team. It was later I discovered that they had loose, Ryan Cheki, and many other quality players on the bench. However, zidane might just look like a genius now because he was able to comeback and win the game following his substitution but I honestly do not like coaches gambling like that. People will say it’s a good strategy but I will still consider it as good substitutions together with a bit of luck also.

[ArabBTC]

It was indeed a wonderful come back from France yesterday, it has been long i saw substitutions come into a match and blend immediately leading to a quick 4goals score line in the late minutes, once again Zidane has shown his coaching capabilities and France has maintained their quality.

Meanwhile Belgium defense should be queried, how can you concede 4 goals between 77 - 90mins in a match that you have held down since first half, it is a clear sign of defensive weakness, even if France would win the match, it shouldn’t be 4:1, i was expecting a 1:1 draw or a 2:1 win considering the time but to my greatest surprise France won 4:1, football is indeed unpredictable.