Clyde1998 Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Annoyingly, Ukraine beat Luxembourg in stoppage time avoid dropping points there - which would've made things easier for Serbia going forward. The Serbs held on to draw in Portugal - which is certainly points gained for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magicTs Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 After the nightmare of the last few days tonight has potentially been a very good one for Scotland. Since the Nation's League ended I have wanted to see Serbia qualify automatically so as to avoid the play offs and they have gone to Portugal and got an excellent draw this evening. They have a lot of good players and we want them finishing in the top 2 so we don't face the prospect of playing them in a one off game. Its still early days of course but I think there is every chance looking at the groups and the results so far that we will be looking at a play off scenario whereby we play Finland at Hampden and then one of either Norway/Bulgaria at either Hampden or in Oslo/Sofia. I don't see us or any any of those 3 countries qualifying automatically and if Serbia do that would be the 4 teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clyde1998 Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 1 minute ago, magicTs said: After the nightmare of the last few days tonight has potentially been a very good one for Scotland. Since the Nation's League ended I have wanted to see Serbia qualify automatically so as to avoid the play offs and they have gone to Portugal and got an excellent draw this evening. They have a lot of good players and we want them finishing in the top 2 so we don't face the prospect of playing them in a one off game. Its still early days of course but I think there is every chance looking at the groups and the results so far that we will be looking at a play off scenario whereby we play Finland at Hampden and then one of either Norway/Bulgaria at either Hampden or in Oslo/Sofia. I don't see us or any any of those 3 countries qualifying automatically and if Serbia do that would be the 4 teams. Bulgaria are in a group with the Czech Republic, Montenegro and Kosovo. The Czechs looked very poor against England - so there's a chance that Bulgaria could finish above them (certainly more than us qualifying). Incidentally, we'd play Bulgaria in that scenario; Best-qualified team (us) will play the worst-qualified team (Bulgaria), while the two middle teams will play each other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magicTs Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 2 minutes ago, Clyde1998 said: Annoyingly, Ukraine beat Luxembourg in stoppage time avoid dropping points there - which would've made things easier for Serbia going forward. The Serbs held on to draw in Portugal - which is certainly points gained for them. Yep that was a pity but both Portugal and Ukraine will win there too. Serbia play Ukraine at home in the last game of the group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magicTs Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 1 minute ago, Clyde1998 said: Bulgaria are in a group with the Czech Republic, Montenegro and Kosovo. The Czechs looked very poor against England - so there's a chance that Bulgaria could finish above them (certainly more than us qualifying). Incidentally, we'd play Bulgaria in that scenario; Best-qualified team (us) will play the worst-qualified team (Bulgaria), while the two middle teams will play each other. Its possible yep although I think despite their terrible performance at Wembley the Czech's have dodged a bullet given Bulgaria only managed 2 draws against Montenegro and Kosovo. The Czech's have Bulgaria at home in the next game in June and also a home game v Montenegro so things could change very quickly. Good point re Bulgaria. Suffice to say if we can't beat these teams in a couple of one off games, with at least the first of them at Hampden then we don't deserve to be a anywhere near a major championships anyway! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clyde1998 Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Just going through the play-offs as they stand and you get: Route A Portugal vs Iceland Netherlands vs Croatia Route B Bosnia vs Czech Rep Denmark vs Austria Route C Scotland vs Finland Norway vs Serbia Route D Georgia vs Belarus Macedonia vs Kosovo A lot of sides have only played a single match in their group (compared to two for others), while Denmark haven't played at all, so don't take this as anything like the final picture. Based on this, I'd say either Portugal or the Netherlands from Route A, probably Denmark (possibly Bosnia) from Route B, Serbia from Route C and probably Kosovo (possibly Georgia) from Route D. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjd1972 Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Glad that we won’t have to face Kosovo either. Even though they only drew with Bulgaria they look a very impressive outfit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clyde1998 Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 Just now, sjd1972 said: Glad that we won’t have to face Kosovo either. Even though they only drew with Bulgaria they look a very impressive outfit. Kosovo certainly aren't a country that will be staying in the lower pots for long. They eased through their Nations League group and haven't lost a game since losing 2-0 in Iceland in October 2017; they drew 2-2 in a friendly with Denmark on Thursday too (not sure how strong a side Denmark played in that game though). They're away to Montenegro and Bulgaria in their next two games, which will probably help decide who finishes third in that group (assuming the Czechs finish second). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tartan Chris Posted March 25, 2019 Share Posted March 25, 2019 3 hours ago, magicTs said: No its 2 one off games. We are guaranteed the 'semi-final' at Hampden but should we win the 'final' is drawn and played either at Hampden or at the opponents home stadium. I presume that draw takes place ahead of the semi-final so there will be permutations depending on who wins. Oh right, that feels a little better. Two home games would be like winning the lottery tbh. Team can at least beat likes of Albania and Israel at home still and will be facing similar standard sides in play offs (as long as Serbs go in automatically). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 So who would be in our play off if Serbia and Bulgaria both qualify via the groups? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjd1972 Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 1 minute ago, Toepoke said: So who would be in our play off if Serbia and Bulgaria both qualify via the groups? I think Israel are next in line Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magicTs Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 (edited) 17 minutes ago, Toepoke said: So who would be in our play off if Serbia and Bulgaria both qualify via the groups? The order for Nations League C is..... Scotland Norway Serbia Finland Bulgaria Hungary Israel So in an answer to your question it would be Hungary at Hampden should Serbia and Bulgaria both qualify. Hungary beat Croatia yesterday. As things stand however if nobody qualifies automatically it will be Scotland v Finland and Norway v Serbia. If anyone qualifies automatically then the next team moves up into the play offs. Even though its early doors and Norway have a big game they really need to win tomorrow at home to Sweden its difficult to see us, Norway or Finland qualify automatically but it seems certain after drawing in Portugal tonight that Serbia will be in the mix for a top 2 spot (good as they are very capable!!). The ideal scenario for me is that Bulgaria don't qualify (likely) as I think we can beat them at Hampden and hopefully get the luck of the draw and play either Finland or Norway at Hampden too. Clearly home advantage over either of those two would be very significant for us and make us favorites. Edited March 26, 2019 by magicTs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjd1972 Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 (edited) Israel are above Hungary as they were in Pot 3 for the qualifying draw which was determined by. Nations League ranking, whereas Hungary were in Pot 4. Edited March 26, 2019 by sjd1972 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magicTs Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 3 minutes ago, sjd1972 said: Israel are above Hungary as they were in Pot 3 for the qualifying draw which was determined by. Nations League ranking, whereas Hungary were in Pot 4. You are spot on. Israel are above Hungary on goals scored. Scotland Norway Serbia Finland Bulgaria Israel Hungary https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018–19_UEFA_Nations_League_C#Overall_ranking Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chripper Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 Is this even necessary? The only teams that we can beat over two legs are San Marino and the Faroe Islands. And I'm not even joking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reggie Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 Apologies for further complicating this thread, but I spent about two hours yesterday trying to fully understand how this Play-Off process works because I wanted to understand what happens to the League A play-off place seeing as most (if not all) of those twelve teams which competed in the Nations League will almost certainly finish in the Top 2 places of their Euro 2020 Qualifying groups (therefore they automatically won’t take part in the Play-Off games in March 2020). The only team I think may struggle to finish in the Top 2 of their Qualifying group is Iceland. I believe all four teams who finished top of their Leagues in Section A and B will finish in the top two of their respective groups – so there will be quite a lot of replacement teams going into the Play-Off’s. I predict there’ll be five teams ‘promoted’ from the League B runners-up spots and two teams from the League C runners-up spots that actually take the places of the current play-off spot holders. The current Play-off games are as follows, with a more realistic prediction of who’ll replace the teams I believe will qualify in the top two spots in their own prospective Qualifying Leagues… League A Portugal (Iceland) v Switzerland (Romania) Netherlands (Czech Republic) v England (Hungary) League B Sweden (Austria) v Denmark (Northern Ireland) Ukraine (Wales) v Bosnia and Herzegovina (Republic of Ireland) League C Scotland v Finland Serbia v Norway League D Belarus v Georgia FYR Macedonia v Kosovo All will become crystal clear on 22nd November 2019 when the draw for the Play-off’s takes place. Until then, the Play-Off line-up will chop and change depending on who is occupying the two top spots in the Qualifying Groups. This thread is therefore going to be quite long if the intention is to keep it going throughout the Qualifying campaign! For those who are still struggling to understand how the Play-Off’s are going to work – here is 1min 41sec video that explains the process… Euro 2020 Play-Off Process Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceudmilefailte Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 10 hours ago, Tartan Chris said: Oh right, that feels a little better. Two home games would be like winning the lottery tbh. Team can at least beat likes of Albania and Israel at home still and will be facing similar standard sides in play offs (as long as Serbs go in automatically). If we perform like we did this week we can't or won't beat teams like Albania and Israel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonny78 Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 England will win euro 2020. pains me to say it, but they are on fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PASTA Mick Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 39 minutes ago, bonny78 said: England will win euro 2020. pains me to say it, but they are on fire. I can see them winning both the 2019 Nations League and Euro 2020. They look very good at the moment and they have so much talent coming through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 The fact the semis and final will be at Wembley should certainly help them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bonzo Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 2 minutes ago, Toepoke said: The fact the semis and final will be at Wembley should certainly help them. As they were in 1996 🤔 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weekevie04 Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 1 hour ago, bonny78 said: England will win euro 2020. pains me to say it, but they are on fire. Surely you should be happy with fellow Brits winning it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 5 minutes ago, bonzo said: As they were in 1996 🤔 Indeed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ceudmilefailte Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 20 minutes ago, PASTA Mick said: I can see them winning both the 2019 Nations League and Euro 2020. They look very good at the moment and they have so much talent coming through. They also have Che Adams and Angus Gunn coming through Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weekevie04 Posted March 26, 2019 Share Posted March 26, 2019 Finland winning in Armenia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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