OK, so the Euro 2024 qualification campaign gets underway in a few weeks: Here are My Predictions: Group A: 1. Spain 2. Norway 3. Scotland 4. Georgia 5. Cyprus Group B: 1. France 2. Netherlands 3. Republic of Ireland 4. Greece 5. Gibraltar Group C: 1. Italy 2. England 3. Ukraine 4. North Macedonia 5. Malta Group D: 1. Croatia 2. Turkey 3. Wales 4. Armenia 5. Latvia Group E: 1. Poland 2. Czech Republic 3. Albania 4. Faroe Islands 5. Moldova Group F: 1. Belgium 2. Sweden 3. Austria 4. Azerbaijan 5. Estonia Group G: 1. Hungary 2. Serbia 3. Montenegro 4. Bulgaria 5. Lithuania Group H: 1. Northern Ireland 2. Denmark 3. Slovenia 4. Finland 5. Kazakhstan 6. San Marino Group I: 1. Switzerland 2. Israel 3. Romania 4. Belarus 5. Kosovo 6. Andorra Group J: 1. Portugal 2. Slovakia 3. Bosnia-Herzegovina 4. Iceland 5. Luxembourg 6. Liechtenstein What are your thoughts and predictions?
My Predictions (some might be still subject to change) Group A 1. Spain 2. Georgia 3. Scotland 4. Norway 5. Cyprus Georgia will keep flying high by sealing direct qualification. Kvaratskhelia's individual brilliance plus the team covering a lot of ground will make them succeed. Norway have got still issues at the back plus they constantly choke when all the chips are down. Group B 1. Netherlands 2. France 3. Greece 4. Rep. of Ireland 5. Gibraltar Greece will give France a hell of a fight (win one match against them) but in the end France just edge it. Ireland can play only the role of a spoiler here. Group C 1. England 2. Italy 3. Ukraine 4. North Macedonia 5. Malta Both favourites will qualify but especially Italy might get seriously challenged by Ukraine and to lesser extent North Macedonia. Group D 1. Croatia 2. Turkey 3. Wales 4. Armenia 5. Latvia Croatia have got themselves a nice opportunity here to run away with it and seal a seed for the draw. I don't rate Turkey but Wales will have a tough time to deal with Bale's void. Group E 1. Poland 2. Czechia 3. Albania 4. Faroe Islands 5. Moldova I hate to say it but it looks to me a rather straightforward group. Group F 1. Belgium 2. Austria 3. Sweden 4. Estonia 5. Azerbaijan The point gap between first to third will be close. Sweden will fail since they have been struggling on the road lately. Group G 1. Hungary 2. Bulgaria 3. Serbia 4. Montenegro 5. Lithuania I use in this group one of my jokers for a surprise. Serbia underperformed in EURO qualifiers many times before and Bulgaria have been showing signs of coming back. Group H 1. Finland 2. Denmark 3. Slovenia 4. Kazakhstan 5. Northern Ireland 6. San Marino Every qualfying cycle has at least one unexpected group winner. I think Finland can do it. Kazakhstan will give a good accounting of themselves. Group I 1. Switzerland 2. Israel 3. Kosovo 4. Romania 5. Belarus 6. Andorra Israel have been in the queue to qualify for a major tournament for long time. It's now their best chance to pull it off. Kosovo will give them a run for their money though. Group J 1. Portugal 2. Bosnia and Herzegovina 3. Slovakia 4. Luxembourg 5. Iceland 6. Liechtenstein Bosnia and Herzegovina are at the moment simply better than the rest of the teams contending for second place. Slovakia will struggle at the start, but grow into it as the qualifiers proceed. Luxembourg will continue to improve. My Playoff Predictions If all my predictions are correct it will give us the following clatches: (for the semi-finals it would be already clear who would host it but for the final a draw would decide who would host it) Path A Wales - Estonia ( Wales pass) Ukraine - Iceland ( Ukraine pass) Ukraine - Wales ( Ukraine qualify) Path B Serbia - Slovenia ( Serbia pass) Scotland - Norway ( Norway pass) Norway - Serbia ( Serbia qualify) Path C Greece - Azerbaijan ( Greece pass) Kazakhstan - Luxembourg ( Luxembourg pass) Greece - Luxembourg ( Greece qualify) Overview of the 24 teams I think will qualify for UEFA EURO 2024: Germany__________________________(hosts) Spain_____________________________ Georgia___________________________(debutants) Netherlands_______________________ France____________________________ England___________________________ Italy_______________________________(defending champs) Croatia____________________________ Turkey____________________________ Poland____________________________ Czechia___________________________ Belgium___________________________ Austria____________________________ Hungary___________________________ Bulgaria___________________________(first appearance since 2004) Finland____________________________ Denmark__________________________ Switzerland________________________ Israel______________________________(debutants) Portugal___________________________ Bosnia and Herzegovina____________(debutants) Ukraine____________________________ Serbia_____________________________(first appearance since 2000 - as Yugoslavia back then) Greece_____________________________(first appearance since 2012)
We disagree on a couple things but while I can make a case for almost all your predictions your picks for Group H throw me off. What makes you think that Northern Ireland can finish first? And why do you reckon Finland will struggle? I see it the other way around actually.
Northern Ireland is a very organized team, especially in defense. They might lack quality on paper, but their chemistry is very good! Do you follow them at all? They only missed out on World Cup 2022 due to finishing behind Switzerland and Italy. Not to mention, they tied both teams once. They beat Bosnia on penalties and only lost to Slovakia in extra time in Euro 2020 qualifying. They finished third in a group with Germany and Netherlands and even tied Netherlands once. They only missed out on 2018 World Cup in a playoff to Switzerland which they only lost 1-0 on aggregate. Michael O’Neill is a very experienced coach that has been there for years. And don’t forget they even made the knockouts in Euro 2016. Northern Ireland is a good team and is NOT to be underestimated. Finland has had some good results recently but had much easier paths and have not achieved as much as Northern Ireland in the past 8 years. Finland missed out on a playoff spot to Ukraine in World Cup qualifying; a team that Northern Ireland beat 2-0 in 2016. It’s true the Finland might’ve seemed impressive in Euro 2020, but they only qualified ahead of Bosnia and Greece, which I believe are overrated teams. Bosnia and Greece might look decent on paper but they are not real teams and don’t have much chemistry at all. Even at Euro 2020, they only beat Denmark after all the drama with Eriksen which completely ruined the team that day. It was a huge distraction. Northern Ireland are definitely favorites against Finland.
I don't think so. It's true that Kvaratskhelia is a great player, but I don't think he has enough to take the whole team through. Why Netherlands over France? I am puzzled. Netherlands even has a route through the Nations League and France doesn't. I think France wins the group. Also, Netherlands do not have the magic of Van Gaal anymore. I do NOT trust Ukraine at all. If you can trust them, you have a lot to learn. I can see why you pick England first, but Italy always has the upper hand against England in head to head competitive matches. So has Austria; they've been struggling as well. I don't think so in regards to Bulgaria. I know Serbia was disappointing in the World Cup, and their defense must be fixed. However, don't forget that Mitrovic, Vlahovic, and Kostic were not fully fit during the World Cup, and kind of had to play with injuries. Also, all the teams Serbia faced in the World Cup are much better than Bulgaria. Already said my thoughts in the post above. What makes you say Bosnia is better than Slovakia? I have a lot of proof of Slovakia proving to be better by quite a bit. I don't remember anytime since 2014 World Cup, where Bosnia outperformed Slovakia in Qualification or any Tournaments.
It looks like our divergences of opinion comes by the virtue that you build your opinion by looking at campaigns in the last years while I actually took some time and looked at each nation's current form. For me anything that was before 2018 is pretty much unrelevant. In fact I believe in order to have a good gauge on the teams it's better to look at their performances and results of the last Nations League season and 2022 WCQ. Northern Ireland are right now a far cry of the team they used to be at EURO 2016 or in 2018 WCQ. Most of their best players have aged and there is little good talent coming through the ranks. Michael O'Neil was actually away for a couple of years. After they missed out on EURO 2020 they parted ways with him and brought Ian Baraclough. He did a bad job and was sacked eventually a couple months ago. However I don't think bringing back O'Neil will change much on the situation. Northern Ireland just don't have the team anymore to seriously challenge for a spot at EURO 2024. Keep in mind that second spells rarely ever turn out well. In the last Nations League they looked dreadful. Finishing only barely over the likes of Cyprus. Northern Ireland have declined a lot and won't play any role whatsoever in this qualfying cycle. Finland had to deal with a couple of retirements after EURO 2020. Especially in defense. Marku Kanerva has been Finland's coach for 7 years and it was him who brought Finland up to the next level. They are one of these teams that overachieve by playing very well as a team. What sets them apart from Northern Ireland is that they've got also capable goalscorers upfront in Pukki and Pohjanpalo. Finland have developed a nice possession based style and they just play well as a team. Their WCQ group with France, Ukraine, Bosnia and Kazakhstan was for me overall the toughest group and they were in contention to seal a playoff spot up until the very end. The Nations League season brought a mixed bag of results but it was due to having to build a new defense after several retirements. Finland hold their own in League B of the Nations League while Northern Ireland struggled in League C let alone hardly looked any impressive there. I regard Northern Ireland as finished. I don't think they'll make a comeback anytime soon. For Finland I believe they have built something more durable and they can build on their EURO 2020 success and reach another EURO tournament.
Fair enough. I did some research on Georgia and they are from being a one man team. They've got good players in goal, midfield and attack. If they work well as a team and cover a lot of ground they can make the difference upfront with Kvaratskhelia and the other players they have. I was even close to pick Greece over France to get 2nd. France will have a subpar qualfying cycle. In fact they showed already glimpses of struggling in their last qualfying cycle for both EURO 2020 and World Cup 2022. France are not a very dominant qualfying team. They always have at least a couple of hickups. There is also some turmoil in the French FA and the president stepped down. I personally don't agree with the decision to stick to Deshamps. His time is up. It was the perfect time to bring Zidane but they didn't. France are still a world class team but I don't think they are right now in their prime anymore. They are vulnerable. As for the Netherlands they did well when Koeman had a short spell with them before he joined Barcelona. It's not the most star-studded Dutch squad but surely good enough to capitalise on France not being at their best anymore. Greece will spice this group up. They have been rebuilding well for the last couple of years. They showed glimpses of a comeback in 2022 WCQ and backed it up with a dominant display in League C of the latest Nations League where they won five of six matches. Greece got rid of some troublemakers and they have built a great atmosphere in the squad. They've got also a couple of promising young players. I believe Greece will turn some heads. I see them winning in France and causing for the group to go down the wire. First I didn't pick Ukraine to finish ahead of Italy. I just said that I don't think Italy will have an easy time against them. England will finish first since they have'got more in their ranks to dispatch sides like Ukraine and North Macedonia. Italy on the other side can get frustrated by these teams. Austria hired Ralf Rangnick as their manager and they play now a much more proactive and modern football than under Franco Foda. They had a couple of very good showings in League A of the Nations league even though they still got relegated in the end. This is also somewhat Austria's golden generation. There is a lot of talent in this team and someone like Rangnick might be able to get the best out of them. I don't write off Sweden. They can always recover at anytime. It will be a very close race.
Every cycle brings some suprises. I know that picking Bulgaria over Serbia is bold. But I believe it can happen. Sometimes you need to make these bold calls. Remember Morocco? Slovakia are another of these nations being in a decline. Albeit it's not nearly as bad as with Iceland or Northern Ireland. Did you see Slovakia's performance in League C of the Nations League? They for some reason struggle to put it together. They've got still a few very good players but something is just wrong if you lose to the likes of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. They changed their manager in midst of the Nations League but I guess the new manager will need some time to get them going again. As for Bosnia they had a decent WCQ in a tough group but faltered at the end. Ivalo Petev did a good job with them rejuvenating the defense. Dzeko and Pjanic are still around and can decide a match by themself. Bosnia had a good campaign in the Nations League where they sealed promotion to League A of the Nations League. On current form they look like clear favoruites to qualify.
As I said every qualfying cycle comes up with surprises. Some teams rise other teams go down. It's a very common and normal process. For the EURO 2024 qualifiers I see overperformances from Georgia, Bulgaria and Finland. You can add also Greece to that list since I see them coming close to seal direct qualification in a group with France and Netherlands.
@Mean Machine You have shown time and again that you don't keep track of things regularly. Saying that Michael O'Neil has been Northern Ireland's manager is technically wrong. He was reappointed as their manager just in December. Someone like you thinks probably that Marek Hamsik still plays for Slovakia lol..... How can I have a fruitful discussion with someone who clearly isn't in the same picture? I would suggest you to invest some time into profound research and come up with revised predictions. Predicting that Northern Ireland will finish top while Finland will come in fourth is very odd my friend. Please do your proper research mate.
i knew that Michael O’Neill was sacked and came back. I didn’t mention it, but he was only gone for like 2 years.
Also, I really think you look too much into the Nations League. You can get an idea but teams are not as serious there. It’s equivalent to the national teams version of Coppa Italia, Coppa del Rey, FA Cup. Remember how England and France struggled in the nations league but had a much better World Cup?
I think I might read a tad bit too much into the Nations League while you read not enough or nothing at all into it. Probably something in the middle would be the best. Regardless, I think the Nations League is a solid parameter of a nation's current form. For EURO 2020 for instance only few teams qualified that had done poorly in the Nations League season before. And as I said WCQ 2022 is also a very important reference for me. I looked also at results in youth football in the years before etc.....
Oh WCQ 2022 is definitely an important reference. I looked mostly at the 2022 World Cup, Euro 2020, 2018 World Cup, and Euro 2016 as well as the qualification phases for all those tournaments. I always look at the past 4 tournaments. I sometimes look into the Nations League and Friendlies but not that much into them. Also I’d say the Nations League A might be something to look at but I really doubt that you can judge teams in Nations League B, C, and D. I don’t think they care that much.
As mentioned before, the Nations League was a decent barometer until the 2022-23 edition. The format change of having 4 matchdays taking place basically in the off season greatly impacted, imo, how much one should read into 2022 NL results. The non-existent pre-WC friendlies I think also forced national teams into treating the September 2022 NL games as warm-up friendlies. On the other hand, teams that didn't qualify for the WC might have treated the results from these two games relatively seriously. So, the context under which all six matchdays of the NL group stage were played were quite different compared to 2020 or 2018, especially in league A.
My revised and finalised predictions 1. Spain 2. Georgia 3. Norway 4. Scotland 5. Cyprus 1. Netherlands 2. France 3. Greece 4. Rep. of Ireland 5. Gibraltar 1. England 2. Italy 3. Ukraine 4. North Macedonia 5. Malta 1. Croatia 2. Wales 3. Türkiye 4. Armenia 5. Latvia 1. Czechia 2. Poland 3. Albania 4. Faroe Islands 5. Moldova 1. Belgium 2. Austria 3. Sweden 4. Estonia 5. Azerbaijan 1. Hungary 2. Bulgaria 3. Serbia 4. Montenegro 5. Lithuania 1. Finland 2. Denmark 3. Slovenia 4. Kazakhstan 5. Northern Ireland 6. San Marino 1. Switzerland 2. Israel 3. Kosovo 4. Romania 5. Belarus 6. Andorra 1. Portugal 2. Bosnia and Herzegovina 3. Slovakia 4. Luxembourg 5. Iceland 6. Liechtenstein Playoffs Path A Ukraine - Estonia => Ukraine Iceland - Norway => Norway Ukraine - Norway => Ukraine Path B Serbia - Slovenia => Serbia Scotland - Rep. of Ireland => Scotland Serbia - Scotland => Serbia Path C Greece - Luxembourg => Greece Türkiye - Kazakhstan => Türkiye Greece - Türkiye => Greece Overview of all 24 teams I think will be at UEFA EURO 2024 here in Germany Germany Spain Georgia Netherlands France England Italy Croatia Wales Czechia Poland Belgium Austria Hungary Bulgaria Finland Denmark Switzerland Israel Portugal Bosnia and Herzegovina Ukraine Serbia Greece Good luck to all 53 teams in qualfying.
Agree. Pretty close to the worst possible draw for a struggling Dutch side. I could see them struggling to qualify again, though I think they will manage to slide into second place in the end. True, but we are now in the real golden generation for England. I barfed in my mouth a little when I typed that because I know its something that was said in the mid-2000s and probably in the mid-1990s and many times before, but this time it is actually true (imho).
Matchday 1+2 Predictions Thursday, 23/03 Kazakhstan - Slovenia_________________Draw Bosnia - Iceland______________________Draw Denmark - Finland____________________Denmark Win Italy - England________________________England Win North Macedonia - Malta_______________North Macedonia Win Portugal - Liechtenstein________________Portugal Win San Marino - Northern Ireland___________Northern Ireland Win Slovakia - Luxembourg_________________Slovakia Win Friday, 24/03 Bulgaria - Montenegro_________________Bulgaria Win Austria - Azerbaijan___________________Austria Win France - Netherlands__________________France Win Gibraltar - Greece_____________________Greece Win Moldova - Faroe Islands________________Draw Czechia - Poland______________________Czechia Win Serbia - Lithuania_____________________Serbia Win Sweden - Belgium_____________________Draw Saturday, 25/03 Scotland - Cyprus_____________________Scotland Win Armenia - Türkiye_____________________Armenia Win Belarus - Switzerland__________________Switzerland Israel - Kosovo_______________________Israel Win Andorra - Romania____________________Romania Win Croatia - Wales_______________________Croatia Win Spain - Norway_______________________Draw Sunday, 26/03 Kazakhstan - Denmark_________________Denmark Win England - Ukraine_____________________England Win Liechtenstein - Iceland_________________Iceland Win Slovenia - San Marino__________________Slovenia Win Northern Ireland - Finland_______________Finland Win Luxembourg - Portugal_________________Portugal Win Malta - Italy__________________________Italy Win Slovakia - Bosnia_____________________Bosnia Win Monday, 27/03 Austria - Estonia______________________Austria Win Hungary - Bulgaria____________________Hungary Win Ireland - France_______________________Draw Moldova - Czechia_____________________Czechia Win Montenegro - Serbia___________________Draw Netherlands - Gibraltar_________________Netherlands Win Poland - Albania______________________Poland Win Sweden - Azerbaijan___________________Sweden Win Tuesday, 28/03 Georgia - Norway_____________________Georgia Win Scotland - Spain______________________Spain Win Kosovo - Andorra_____________________Kosovo Win Wales - Latvia________________________Wales Win Romania - Belarus____________________Draw Switzerland - Israel____________________Switzerland Win Türkiye - Croatia______________________Draw
Fair enough. And I have my reasons why I think France will make a meal of qualfying and not only finish second but even barely second. I expect that group contrary to popular belief to go down the wire. Especially Greece and also Ireland will challenge. England will finally beat Italy in a competitive game. If it doesn't happen tomorrow it will in the return leg. Italy are getting weaker while England are getting stronger. Considering that you can't look at history too much any longer. What I want to say is history goes out of the window if there is a chancge in dynamics.
Here are My Detailed Predictions for the first match day: Kazakhstan 0-1 Slovenia Bosnia 2-1 Iceland Denmark 2-0 Finland Italy 2-1 England North Macedonia 2-0 Malta Portugal 8-0 Liechtenstein San Marino 0-3 Northern Ireland Slovakia 3-1 Luxembourg
France has taken the path of biological warfare, as today 5 Orange Squad players all of a sudden had to leave with a virus infection. Out are now Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt,Joey Veerman,Cody Gakpo, Sven Botman and Bart Verbrugge. Text says: Koeman might have been preparing whatever he likes, alot at once seems all for nothing.
My predictions for tomorrow: Bulgaria 0-0 Montenegro Gibraltar 0-2 Greece Moldova 1-1 Faroe Islands Serbia 5-1 Lithuania Austria 3-1 Azerbaijan Sweden 1-2 Belgium Czech Republic 2-2 Poland France 4-0 Netherlands