You are pointing out one game from ten. Monaco lost 4-0 in Nice in france before ending french champions and reach champions league semi finals last season. As they say better to lose once 4-0 than 4 times in a row 1-0. Belgium is better now than 4 years and 2 years ago. Lukaku and De Bruyne stepped up.
Nice finished 3rd in Ligue 1 and really took both PSG and Monaco for a ride last season. Not entirely the same as Denmark... I also think Poland play very poorly against non-UEFA opposition and I don't expect them to get past CONMEBOL teams or even a good CONCACAF or CAF team.
Denmark is top 20 in fifa rankings as i write. I don't think that Nice is in top 20 uefa clubs rankings are they? So...one big loss against a top 20 squad doesn't mean you can't have a run in the main tournament.
If you do well in UEFA you are bound to be high in the overall rankings. The way the FIFA system works the points are a pretty closed system creating a pool of points. Points only exit the system during interconfederational games.
Still...i just said in beginning that Monaco lost against Nice 4-0 before reaching top 4 in champions league. A team that had a good season in France but is even not a top 30 in europe. Denmark is a better squad in europe than Nice is in UEFA clubs category. There are many teams that had deep runs in world cup history after struggling in qualifiers there or there. It would not be something new.
Yea, they lost to Danmark 0:4. Big thing. And France tied with Luxembourg. Matches like that happen. It is football. There are days, when your oponent just nets completely unbelievable goals and you just keep shooting into own forehead. That's how football is, anyone who ever played knows this. Poland is in the first pot, because of the consistency they had in the recent 3 years. They were ranked at 60 when they won 2:0 against Germany and started to climb. They are where they are because they earned it. They paid the iron price. Any team is allowed to do the same.
Many people here don't get that teams that are in the 16/32 range for a while can improve. They think that only the ones that have been out for years and come back improve to do big things. They don't get that the team that was 16-24 for a while might have found the missing pieces to go top 8 top 4. As england has been blocked in first round top 16 top 8 for 20 years they think england can't do more. They don't get that england that was already more or less around the top got now u20 world champions and world class youngsters in kane and delle alli that will do damages.
It will be quite a challenge for Russian team to recover from that Host Nation Fall... we on #65 position, and draw results after WC2018 will be very tough for us.
Being seeded and playing world cup at home. Russia got to make a run. Russia got the opportunity to make important points with both confederations cup and world cup at home. It's up to them to catch up the missed points they need. If the USA could reach round 16 in 94 and South Korea reach semis in 02. Russia can at least make a round 16 at home. And i am sure they will. None of asian or african team will beat Russia in Russia on an official game. Only Mexico from concacaf zone can. Only Argentina or Brazil can beat Russia there from commebol zone. The others will tie at best.
Is this league that important? All the winners will qualify for the euro? Or only the winner from the A league?
It's quite complicated. Nations League Group Winners will play in the play-offs for the 4 last free spots for Euro 2020. If that team has already earned the Euro 2020 place during regular qualification tournament, then the next team from it's Nations League Group will replace them in the Play-offs. http://www.uefa.com/uefanationsleague/news/newsid=2507364.html#/
Ok got it. But the teams that fail to qualify to euro from the a or b league got to face stronger opposition than the teams that fail to qualify from the d league which is not fair.
Did you watch Confederations' Cup? Russia looked pretty bad. Their WC group will probably be at least that difficult, unless they are really lucky in the draw. Yes, although USA came in third in their group which doesn't cut-it under the existing WC format. With 32 teams it is now more difficult for the home nation to advance. Although I sorta agree that one can never count-out the home team. History suggests Russia (the home team) will get at least 4 points.
Heck, South Africa got 4 points in a difficult group in 2010 despite being eliminated before the knockout round.
True, although France had come undone by the time South Africa played them. They were playing like a pot 4 team - anyone could've beaten them to be frank. So it wasn't that difficult of a group in reality.
Confederations cup is bs. You give more importance to this competition and friendlies than europeans do. For us only world cup and euro are meaningful. Russia will be much more competitive next june. You really think Poutine will watch his nation organize this competition to lose from first round? They lost against Portugal and Mexico. I said in my previous message only Mexico from concacaf, none african or asian team will beat Russia in Russia. Mexico won't beat Russia either in a knock out phase. Mexico is specialised in getting a draw from the favorite and then force their main opponent in last round game for second place to open up the game to win or to die with a tie. But once knock out stages start they can't do that anymore. Anyway Russia won't have such opponents in their group. They will face africans asians and costa rica panama teams like that or iceland peru....and they will go through.
Yes. One of the most important games they played against an opponent that has similar quality to some of the teams they might be facing the World Cup. Sure, it depends on their group and they can go far depending on the draw but would it really shock me if they play like Switzerland 2014 and get pounded by a team that did not get seeded? (Nope.)
They were 6-9 points ahead of denmark when this game came. It was more important for Denmark than for Poland seriously. And international matches in september are always special in europe....the players just started playing again after heavy preparation in their clubs. The way Poland could tie Germany and Portugal at euro, and qualify for world cup with 4-5 points ahead is much more relevant than one poor performance from ten games.
Maybe it is relevant to you but not really to me. We have seen teams play well in the Euro and then stink it up in the World Cup. But as I said, I am not going to hold anything against Poland. They have a clean slate and I will keep an open mind.
I did not say that Poland is sure to do well at world cup but being seeded after their 3 last years results open them doors. As far as i am concerned from 2014 i announced that among Russia Poland Croatia Serbia England Belgium Portugal there will be 3-4 teams that will do well. Then i took Portugal out cause they are european champions. So 2-3 among Russia Poland Croatia Serbia England Belgium. I can add Switzerland. I know european football i know which nations got the upcoming players to perform. Russia at home is something very special. Poland is solid with one of the best strikers in the world. Serbia won euro u19 2013 world cup u20 2015 they have a golden generation coming. Croatia if they qualify got world class midfield and depth they did not have before. Belgium is much better now than 4 years ago they matured. England got world class youngster to add to their team they did not have 4 years ago. It will be played in europe now. They won't all perform. But at last half of them will. We will see.
well, Russia looked pretty bad in the last Euro and World Cup too. I struggle to name one player on their squad.
Ivory Coast already beat Russia in a friendly 2-0 in Russia Costa Rica has also beaten Russia on home soil 4-3 also Russia could not even beat Iran at home. In official competition they could only beat New Zealand at home. There is nothing to suggest that top African sides, or top sides from any other continent could not beat Russia even with home advantage. That's just your wishful thinking. Russia has already lost at home to sides from both CAF and Concacaf (not the best sides either) and failed to beat the best AFC team at home. Not a convincing record at all. In fact I predict Russia will exit in the first round unless they have an easy group. best case scenario they get a group like this Russia Switzerland Iran Panama I could see them getting through this group, but then again they did fail to beat Iran just weeks ago. I really think the odds are Russia goes out in the first round without referee help, which will likely be mitigated with video replay.