⚽ UEFA Nations League ⚽ - Discussion Thread

[Hypnotizer]

France actually surprised me with their performance. I was never expecting France to come back and win the match. I was just expecting a draw, but I was shocked with the performance of France.
Olise is a very good player. He’s level of performance is shocking everyone, why did the coach even kept him on bench? They would have lost the match. Such a player should be a starter for you.

People are not really talking about how good Olise is, is it because of he’s nonchalant attitude?

Zidane seems to be intentionally leaving Olise on the bench against Belgium, maybe he doesn’t consider them a very big threat because even in their first encounter this international break, Olise wasn’t a starter, he later came in as a substitute and scored the winning goal. However, in the game versus Italy which ended up a draw, Olise was a starter and he scored the only goal for France. It looks as though, Zidane is saving him for important moments when he’s about to lose…

Olise is a really good player and I doubt his nonchalant attitude has anything to do with why people aren’t talking much about how great his performances are, he probably lacks the PR that other good players like Yamal have.

[Princess Leah]

Spain is not easy to beat, they are the strongest team in the world, and they are not a losing team. Croatia lost 4-0 to Spain in the previous match, and Spain will be expected to win this match just like before.
And if we talk about England, then the great offensive performance they showed in the previous match was really surprising, they lost 7-0 to Croatia, even though the match was at Croatia's home ground, and so Czech is definitely not a strong team compared to Croatia, and they have lost all their previous matches, and so in today's match I am expecting a great victory for England against Czech by a big margin.

And I was really surprised to see the match against France yesterday, after conceding a goal in the 35th minute, they could not score any goals, they could not even equalize the score, but they started a wonderful comeback from the 77th minute, after scoring the first goal, their offensive performance started and scored 4 goals in a row, it was really a great comeback.

Both England and Spain are expected to win their matches, those are two of the strongest teams in the tournament and their opponents wouldn't stand a chance, if England could beat Croatia so mercilessly you could imagine what the current best football team would do to them, Croatia has become so weak and can't withstand Spain.

 After France Beat Belgium in their home, I expected a victory for the French team at home and they delivered as expected. Belgium goalkeeper really tried his best but the defense exposed him, they were too wea at some point and couldn't withstand France consistent pressing.

[Daniel91]

Croatia vs Spain, England vs Czechia.

Croatia lost tremendously to England the other night, and Spain is the best team currently in the world. This will be a must win for Spain.

Czechia is not a better team compared to England. A team that has big stars and great attackers. I will say a win for England.

Yes, Croatia suffered a real disaster against England, and their players are surely quite shaken by that shock.
In such situations, two scenarios are possible: either the players sink into despair and lose faith in their own strength and quality, or they decide to prove that the previous match was simply a bad day at the office—and play above their usual level against the other favorite, Spain, to achieve a much better result.
It might surprise you, but something similar has happened before; Croatia played against Spain and England in the UEFA Nations League group stage in 2018, right after competing in the World Cup final in Russia.
Back then, they also suffered a crushing 6–0 defeat against Spain, yet they went on to beat that same Spanish team 3–2 in the return fixture.
Of course, I am not claiming that the exact same scenario will play out this time.
I simply want to point out that Croatia's players haven't forgotten how to play football overnight; this is football, after all, and even bigger surprises have happened in the sport.
In the group's other match, I expect England to defeat the Czech Republic.

[knowngunman]

Zidane seems to be intentionally leaving Olise on the bench against Belgium, maybe he doesn’t consider them a very big threat because even in their first encounter this international break, Olise wasn’t a starter, he later came in as a substitute and scored the winning goal. However, in the game versus Italy which ended up a draw, Olise was a starter and he scored the only goal for France. It looks as though, Zidane is saving him for important moments when he’s about to lose…

Olise is a really good player and I doubt his nonchalant attitude has anything to do with why people aren’t talking much about how great his performances are, he probably lacks the PR that other good players like Yamal have.

I agree Zidane is using him as a finisher but I don't think he considered Belgium as a less threatening opponent. He's just rotating his squad to manage and maintain balance in his team. He made this know in an interview before their encounter with Belgium.

"There will be changes, that's for sure. It is our fourth match, and we can't just do anything,"
"We will make smart changes, and above all, we will do it to be competitive."

Those were his statement. His smart change worked for him as we can see the game took another dimension after those changes came in to turn the scoreline around. I agree with you on PR part by the way.

[KingsDen]

England's heavy win over Croatia is the first huge score line I've seen since this tournament started and it was able to cover for their previous poor performance. England aren't very consistent in their winning ways which is quite a disappointment considering the high class players they have so maybe today they might have another chance to dazzle fans or still play average football depending on how the defense of their opponents will be

England has been one of the most consistent team since the start of this nations league campaign. They have won 2 games out of 3, kept 2 clean sheets, and the loss was against a strong team Spain, so where is the inconsistency?. I don't know for you, but I will say England has been great since the start of this campaign, and I think they're strong title contenders. They are even performing well compared to how they performed in the world cup. Kane has been consistent in scoring goals, Gordon has been outstanding as well, Bellingham has been perfect as well, so I don't know why you're still disappointed or not confident of them.

[leea-1334]

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People are not really talking about how good Olise is, is it because of he’s nonchalant attitude?

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Olise is a really good player and I doubt his nonchalant attitude has anything to do with why people aren’t talking much about how great his performances are, he probably lacks the PR that other good players like Yamal have.

Well we have loads of players with the same attitude with much better profile. I can think of Modric and Berbatov, both at Spurs, not really rated highly until they both left for shinier clubs. Same as Pogba, very 'nonchalant' but all became superstars.

The same will happen for Olise if he moves to a shiny club  

[letteredhub]

France actually surprised me with their performance. I was never expecting France to come back and win the match. I was just expecting a draw, but I was shocked with the performance of France.
Olise is a very good player. He’s level of performance is shocking everyone, why did the coach even kept him on bench? They would have lost the match. Such a player should be a starter for you.

People are not really talking about how good Olise is, is it because of he’s nonchalant attitude?

Check the records, France has had a 6 consecutive wins against the Belgium side which I have on my stomach that for this reason it made Zidane not perceive Belgium to be a big threat in that game, hence he kept Olise in the bench for any big moments that may arise for his input. Even when Belgium took the lead I was still strongly rooting for a France victory in the game and it was all sensational at the end how Olise was later brought in at the right moment he's known for and he came in scored a brace up after Doue equaliser.

[meser#]

Croatia vs Spain,

I have done research between Spain and Croatia and in this research I can see that Spain will definitely be able to win. Because currently Croatia's performance is not very good, so Croatia has performed very badly against England. If Spain is the best team at the moment and applies their performance and aggressive attitude to Croatia, then the results can definitely be the same as in the past matches. So in this match, Spain is definitely a bet, which team do you want to bet on?

You didn't need to do any research for this. Spain is in great form, whereas Croatia is out of form and low on morale, having conceded seven goals against England.
After the match, Modrić said he had been playing football for 20 years and couldn't recall a moment that made him feel so ashamed.
Yesterday, I predicted over 2.5 goals for the Italy-Turkey match, and that’s exactly what happened. If there are over 2.5 goals in today's Croatia-Spain match as well, my betting slip will be a winner.

[Slow death]

The results of yesterday's games came as a bit of a surprise to me, especially regarding the following matches:

Italy 3 – 1 Turkey

Italy dominated the first half and scored in the 26th minute, heading into the break with the lead. It looked like it would be a low-scoring match until Turkey equalized; at that point, I thought Turkey might finally secure a point in this game and in Group A. However, incredibly, Italy scored their second goal just three minutes later. Turkey tried to equalize but failed, and things got even worse for them in the 87th minute when Italy scored their third goal.



The Italian player (wearing a blue shirt and white shorts) pushed the Turkish player ( wearing a red shirt and red shorts ), yet surprisingly, it wasn't called a foul. It was thanks to this incident that Italy managed to score their third goal; the credit really goes to the Italian player in the photo. After that moment, he took the ball, ran toward the Turkish goalkeeper, and took a shot. The keeper made a save but a very poor one and the ball fell right back to the Italian player's feet, allowing him to score the third goal. With this defeat, Turkey has gone four consecutive matches in this competition without a win.

France 4 - 1 Belgium

This is an unbelievable defeat for Belgium. I know France is an extremely strong team I have no doubt about that and that, at least before the match started, France was seen as the favorite; naturally, I also expected France to win. However, the *way* they won is what’s unbelievable. They fell behind early on; France was actually losing at halftime. The match was tied until the 77th minute, but the nightmare for Belgium unfolded in the final 10 minutes. Between the 80th minute and stoppage time ( 90+1 ), Belgium conceded three goals in just 11 minutes.

[paco92x]

Final day of the longest international break. We have seen many great comebacks, fantastic games, and moments of pure football elegance and beauty—like last night's match between France and Belgium. It was 0:1 in the 75th minute, only for France to stage a comeback in just 20 minutes to finish 4:1. Simply an amazing France squad. Still, we have one more day of Nations League action. What are your predictions for League A—can there be any surprises? Can Croatia rise from the ashes and deliver a victory over the Goliath that is Spain at the moment?

[cxtreenal]

France actually surprised me with their performance. I was never expecting France to come back and win the match. I was just expecting a draw, but I was shocked with the performance of France.
Olise is a very good player. He’s level of performance is shocking everyone, why did the coach even kept him on bench? They would have lost the match. Such a player should be a starter for you.

People are not really talking about how good Olise is, is it because of he’s nonchalant attitude?

Check the records, France has had a 6 consecutive wins against the Belgium side which I have on my stomach that for this reason it made Zidane not perceive Belgium to be a big threat in that game, hence he kept Olise in the bench for any big moments that may arise for his input. Even when Belgium took the lead I was still strongly rooting for a France victory in the game and it was all sensational at the end how Olise was later brought in at the right moment he's known for and he came in scored a brace up after Doue equaliser.

France are always favourites against Belgium, everyone will agree, but the reality is that the favourites had to try relentlessly for 77 minutes to score. Zidane looked frustrated as the second half wore on as his attacking players tried but failed to score. After Désiré Doué equalised France looked more aggressive. Zidane brought on substitute Michael Olise to make good use of his time, scoring two goals and assisting one in just 31 minutes. Olise was lucky to score two goals in a short period of time. Zinedine Zidane strategy in using Olise who was in excellent form was brilliant.

[Lucius]

Yes, Croatia suffered a real disaster against England, and their players are surely quite shaken by that shock.
In such situations, two scenarios are possible: either the players sink into despair and lose faith in their own strength and quality, or they decide to prove that the previous match was simply a bad day at the office—and play above their usual level against the other favorite, Spain, to achieve a much better result.

If we're going to be honest, Croatia experienced a debacle in the match before against Spain, and the victory against the Czech Republic is a matter of luck, nothing else.

It might surprise you, but something similar has happened before; Croatia played against Spain and England in the UEFA Nations League group stage in 2018, right after competing in the World Cup final in Russia.
Back then, they also suffered a crushing 6–0 defeat against Spain, yet they went on to beat that same Spanish team 3–2 in the return fixture.

You repeat the same things again without context, because it happened after the final of the world championship and it is logical that the players were completely exhausted emotionally and physically.

Of course, I am not claiming that the exact same scenario will play out this time.
I simply want to point out that Croatia's players haven't forgotten how to play football overnight; this is football, after all, and even bigger surprises have happened in the sport.
In the group's other match, I expect England to defeat the Czech Republic.

These guys haven't forgotten how to play football, but it's obvious they want to send a message to the idiot who leads them and those who put him in charge. Today we will see if there is any truth to what has been written in the Croatian media these days, and well-informed sources have revealed that the incompetent Slaven Bilic will become a former coach if Croatia experiences another debacle today.

The only advantage Croatia can get today is the fact that the Spanish coach wants to rest some important players, but they still want to play.

[LUCKMCFLY]

Fabrizio Romano continues to shed light on the situation involving Jesus and Ronaldo. In a recent press conference, Jesus explained that the conflict arose because Ronaldo warmed up but ultimately did not play in the match, something he apparently took offense to. At the same time, Jesus noted that many players warmed up without entering the pitch, yet none of them took issue with it. Meanwhile in his latest post, Romano reports that the president of the Portuguese Football Federation is intervening, calling for dialogue and reconciliation.

Portuguese Federation president Pedro Proença: “The FPF resolves situations internally. I reiterate: there is a very strong relationship between Jorge Jesus and Cristiano Ronaldo. If that weren't the case, perhaps Ronaldo would have already left our national team”.

“Everything that will happen in the coming days will be a time of tranquility, conversation, and discussion, and what we want is for us all to be back with our national team in November”.
Fabrizio Romano

The reality is that Portugal is in a disaster. CR7 went to Saudi Arabia and wants nothing to do with Jorge Jesus. This isn't reported in the news; what we have here is called betrayal, and someone like CR7 doesn't like this. I think, like everyone else, nobody likes being betrayed. Everyone here is in a bad way, both the federation and Jorge Jesus, who is killing a legend by pretending to be the best coach.

I think that if CR7 leaves the Portuguese national team for good, the world won't forgive Jorge Jesus and the Federation. Many of us followed Portugal only because of CR7, not because of Portugal itself.

The world tries to normalize or romanticize humiliation and disrespect. CR7 is demonstrating that values do exist and that one must learn to respect a career when you are something like a hero to the country, and even if you are not a hero, no one should let anyone get away with disrespect.

[Sim_card]

France are always favourites against Belgium, everyone will agree, but the reality is that the favourites had to try relentlessly for 77 minutes to score. Zidane looked frustrated as the second half wore on as his attacking players tried but failed to score. After Désiré Doué equalised France looked more aggressive. Zidane brought on substitute Michael Olise to make good use of his time, scoring two goals and assisting one in just 31 minutes. Olise was lucky to score two goals in a short period of time. Zinedine Zidane strategy in using Olise who was in excellent form was brilliant.

I feel that Zidane knows what he's doing. He is trying to study every player strength and see what their contributions will add to the game. This was why he rested his best squad. When the game was unbearable for Zidane, he has to unleash his dragons who are goal thirsty to finish up the job. Look at how these substitutes came in turned the game around and scored four goals within 15 minutes. It was a bad night for Belgium who took the lead in the first half.

[Sammye3]

Both England and Spain are expected to win their matches, those are two of the strongest teams in the tournament and their opponents wouldn't stand a chance, if England could beat Croatia so mercilessly you could imagine what the current best football team would do to them, Croatia has become so weak and can't withstand Spain.

That England game against Croatia came as a really big surprise, at some point I was beginning to wonder whether the Croatia team was playing on red card but I doubt that they would let the same mistake happen with Spain too. Though with the current Spain team's performance, there is no doubt that they would win the game.

[KTChampions]

~
France 4 - 1 Belgium

This is an unbelievable defeat for Belgium. I know France is an extremely strong team I have no doubt about that and that, at least before the match started, France was seen as the favorite; naturally, I also expected France to win. However, the *way* they won is what’s unbelievable. They fell behind early on; France was actually losing at halftime. The match was tied until the 77th minute, but the nightmare for Belgium unfolded in the final 10 minutes. Between the 80th minute and stoppage time ( 90+1 ), Belgium conceded three goals in just 11 minutes.

Zidane's Magic  And, of course, Olise. It is truly incredible that he is not part of the serious conversation regarding the Ballon d'Or. On the one hand, in France he is in the shadow of Mbappe, and in Bayern in the shadow of Kane, but if you look at it impartially (not taking into account all the previous credibility and brand), it is still unclear who is in whose shadow.
As for the situation in the group, to my surprise, Italy has a chance to overtake France for first place if they win the return match. Who could have imagined this after the first 0-2 defeat against Belgium.

[laspol65]

Both England and Spain are expected to win their matches, those are two of the strongest teams in the tournament and their opponents wouldn't stand a chance, if England could beat Croatia so mercilessly you could imagine what the current best football team would do to them, Croatia has become so weak and can't withstand Spain.

That England game against Croatia came as a really big surprise, at some point I was beginning to wonder whether the Croatia team was playing on red card but I doubt that they would let the same mistake happen with Spain too. Though with the current Spain team's performance, there is no doubt that they would win the game.

In this match, Croatia may be able to correct their mistakes and perform well, but it is very difficult to win against East Bengal. So I definitely think that Spain will win this match but it may not be by much. Since Croatia has performed poorly against England, this poor performance must be corrected and a major change is needed in the defender department.
If Croatia is able to make this change, then the match with Spain will definitely be very competitive. But let's see, I support Spain in this match and have bet some money.

[Sally9256]

France are always favourites against Belgium, everyone will agree, but the reality is that the favourites had to try relentlessly for 77 minutes to score. Zidane looked frustrated as the second half wore on as his attacking players tried but failed to score. After Désiré Doué equalised France looked more aggressive. Zidane brought on substitute Michael Olise to make good use of his time, scoring two goals and assisting one in just 31 minutes. Olise was lucky to score two goals in a short period of time. Zinedine Zidane strategy in using Olise who was in excellent form was brilliant.

I feel that Zidane knows what he's doing. He is trying to study every player strength and see what their contributions will add to the game. This was why he rested his best squad. When the game was unbearable for Zidane, he has to unleash his dragons who are goal thirsty to finish up the job. Look at how these substitutes came in turned the game around and scored four goals within 15 minutes. It was a bad night for Belgium who took the lead in the first half.

Belgium have really improved, I can’t deny that but France will always be favorite to win against them, especially when they play at home. Yesterday Belgium took the lead in the first half, it look like they were going to take it till the end but when Zidane made some changes, they scored 4 goals. Michael Olise always sees to amaze me each time I watch him play. You will feel you know him already then he will come up with another outstanding performance.

This France squad is very scary, every player is a threat, every player can cause problems to the opposition. Who would have believed they would score 4 goals in that game yesterday. With a good coach now, I think I wont be surprised if they win the nations league.

[Ale88]

We lost to Italy again, marking our fourth defeat in the group. League A is not the right fit for us; it was our first time competing at this level. League B would be ideal for our squad, but League A proved to be too much for us.
We have two matches left on the schedule, but I am not at all happy about them.
Yesterday, while trailing 0–1 against Belgium, France scored four goals in the final 15 minutes to win the match 4–1.
Olise came off the bench and demonstrated his class.
France is a team packed with exceptional players. If they can manage to gel as a cohesive unit, they are currently the only team capable of beating Spain.

After the drawing it was clear that Italy and Turkey would have fought to avoid relegation to League B. I must admit I was negatively surprised by Turkey, once again, because until the World Cup the team did great things and then, after the tournament began, defeat after defeat. And it kept going in the Nations League too. I wonder what it is because the team is more or less the same, maybe it's more a psychological thing at this point?

[Rgram]

The reality is that Portugal is in a disaster. CR7 went to Saudi Arabia and wants nothing to do with Jorge Jesus. This isn't reported in the news; what we have here is called betrayal, and someone like CR7 doesn't like this. I think, like everyone else, nobody likes being betrayed. Everyone here is in a bad way, both the federation and Jorge Jesus, who is killing a legend by pretending to be the best coach.

I think that if CR7 leaves the Portuguese national team for good, the world won't forgive Jorge Jesus and the Federation. Many of us followed Portugal only because of CR7, not because of Portugal itself.

The world tries to normalize or romanticize humiliation and disrespect. CR7 is demonstrating that values do exist and that one must learn to respect a career when you are something like a hero to the country, and even if you are not a hero, no one should let anyone get away with disrespect.

Is it really? I don’t see a Portugal in disaster all because Ronaldo isn’t featured in the team the way he would have hoped to. It isn’t betrayal, it’s more of forcing the hand of time to come to terms with a passing era. Ronaldo has indeed put the face of Portugal on the map and for that, his legacy would always remain. There isn’t a need to soil it further by pushing the narrative of being disrespected, even though that’s what it looks like and that is so because he isn’t ready to leave the scene just yet even though, his international performance is declining.

The Legend of Cristiano can’t be killed, that’s a fact in football history and even more so, to Portugal as a nation. In others to be a Legend, you’ve got to step out of the scene and become history.

In as much as I like Cristiano, I do feel it’s about that time, to leave when you are winning rather than be the reason why there is some discrepancies in the team.