Euro Qualifiers questions

goalscrounger

goalscrounger

Moderator
1) When did Albania and Austria become so good?
2) When did Sweden become so bad?
3) Who will win the big battle on Monday evening to qualify alongside England?
4) Did England break Scotland when they beat them in that friendly?
5) Can Wales hold off Croatia? Or will Armenia beat both teams and qualify ahead of them both?
 
1. Never.
2. After playing England.
3. Hopefully Ukraine.
4. They've just snatched a late equaliser against a country with a very similar flag.
5. I think Croatia will pip them.
 
Sweden is a funny one. Have some very decent technical attacking players (isak, Kula etc) but don't really play in a way which maximises their talent.

A lot of domestic Swedish football is still in thrall to Roy Hodgson after his European success years ago. Tend to be fairly solid and quite reserved in attack.

I was at the Sweden Czech playoff game couple of years back in Stockholm, one of the dullest 120 minutes from I've ever witnessed .
 
Euro Qualifiers Answers;

1) When did Albania and Austria become so good? - its all relevant, which means I dont know.

2) When did Sweden become so bad? - When the lanky karate kid retired.

3) Who will win the big battle on Monday evening to qualify alongside England? - Italy, but dont tell Ukraine that, they've had it rough, and thats the last thing they need.

4) Did England break Scotland when they beat them in that friendly? - Hopefully. It was a cold fish slap to the face, perhaps McTominay and Co. aren't the next golden generation of football after all

5) Can Wales hold off Croatia? Or will Armenia beat both teams and qualify ahead of them both? No, i think Croatia will nick the second spot.
 
I think this tournament format means that some very average teams qualify, and that performing well in these qualifying groups doesn't mean much.

I give you Luxembourg. They can't qualify, but they're 3rd in their group and will finish there. Given the final match is away to Lichtenstein, they'll probably finish with 17 points from 10 matches, which is a respectable total. To be fair, they have done really well: they've beaten, and will finish above the likes of Iceland and Bosnia, both of whom have qualified for tournaments in the past.

However, in their 2 matches vs Portugal they lost by a combined total of 15-0: they're not really very good, and they've come close to qualifying.

There is a balance to be struck between having an elite competition and a celebration of the sport. Having the likes of Iceland and Northern Ireland at past tournaments has added something, and it's certainly made qualifiers more interesting for those with no chance of making a 16 team tournament.

However, I don't really believe there are enough good teams in Europe to really justify 24 teams.
 
goalscrounger said:
1) When did Albania and Austria become so good?
2) When did Sweden become so bad?
3) Who will win the big battle on Monday evening to qualify alongside England?
4) Did England break Scotland when they beat them in that friendly?
5) Can Wales hold off Croatia? Or will Armenia beat both teams and qualify ahead of them both?
Click to expand...
1) Austria have been decent for a while now. In the last Euros, they were unlucky to be KO'd by Italy. Albania are impressive though. Although their group isn't the hardest, they've been brilliant. If they can get Broja fit, then they could be even better.
2) Their manager is a clown. The fans are wanting him out. They have some good players, but their manager doesn't know how to get the maximum out of them.
3) I think Italy will manage to get through, however, it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't because this Italy team has been terrible for a while. That final game away to Ukraine is huge.
4) Don't think so. We are clearly better than them, by a distance too, but they're doing remarkably well.
5) All comes down to if Wales can get over the line against Turkey in the final match day (who have already qualified). I think Wales will choke and open the door for Croatia to pip them to 2nd spot.
 
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