https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2020_qualifying 2 Dec. Preliminary Draw EURO2020 seeded based on the 2018/19 NL overall ranking (last League A game on 20 Nov.) and the 4 NL Final Event participants will be drawn into groups of 5 teams (Final Draw NL2019 in early Dec.). On 21 March 2019 ECQs start.
Let's see how could be the squad during the euro 2020 qualifiers: Goalkeepers: Obviously Courtois will be the goalkeeper. Defence: Kompany and Vermaelen have to go and should be replaced by Engels and Wout Faes. Alderweireld and Boyata should keep their place. Vertonghen and Meunier will be the main fullbacks. Midfield: Fellaini's time maybe is over. Witsel and Nainggolan are still good, but also Dendoncker, Julien De Sart and Tielemans need their chance. Wingers / Advanced Midfielders: Not much to change, Hazard, De Bruyne, Carrasco, Januzaj, Chadli and Mertens are ok. Forward: Lukaku obviously but as his backup i'd consider Depoitre.
Almost forgot, Belgium have secured top seed status. Currently Germany are hovering above the bottom two League A teams, Iceland and Croatia. In a month we'll know all of the other top seeds, which two League A teams will end up in pot 2, and so on.
Belgium will play the final in 2020 (unless they meet the eventual winner earlier). You've heard it here first
The race for top seeds: Belgium, Switzerland, Portugal and Spain are nailed on. Three sides on 4pts. France have a "superior" GD, only +1 though, with England and Italy breathing down their necks (GD = 0). Then you have Holland on 3pts. Lastly, there three sides on 1pt, with Poland (GD -2), Germany (-3) and Croatia (-6) hovering above Iceland who've lost every game so far. With a win tomorrow, in and against France, Germany would go top of their group but a top seed wouldn't be guaranteed. Still their odds would look good if that's the case. For France a draw would be enough to guarantee top seed status. PS thanks @PuckVanHeel but honestly I'm more into the Nations League already. The 24 team EURO2016 was a borefest, the expansion a mistake, while the NL games up to this point have been a joy. Given time I'm confident the NL, either UEFA's NL or a World League, will be a massive success and will gain prestige. The EUROs aren't that old, EURO2020 is only the 16th edition, and in the early ones, until the 80s, the main event was also a Final Four.
After November's NL games we'll know who'll join top seeds France, Belgium, Switzerland, Portugal, Italy and Spain: - England (4pts/3 games) and Holland (3pts/2 games) are closest to joining the top seeds - Germany (1pt/-4GD) and Poland (1pt/-2GD) aren't in great shape, with Poland already relegated and Germany on the brink - Iceland (0pts/-10GD) and Croatia (1pt/-6GD) are currently the bottom two but Croatia have two games to avoid pot 2 (and relegation)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2020_qualifying_Group_I Can't really moan about our group but hey-ho let's give it a try: - Two hosts, the maximum, were drawn into our group while zero hosts were drawn into the groups of most top seeds. - No group of 5 and instead two games v. San Marino that won't count for the overall ranking: would have been better to play two friendlies on home soil against more challenging opposition. - I wouldn't have minded drawing Germany or other strong opponents: it's virtually impossible not to qualify, so might as well make the ECQs a tougher test and be better prepared for when you face those teams at the EUROs. Still the overall ranking will decide the seeding during the final draw but it isn't a huge advantage as 16/24 advance to the KO phase. - Russia are hugely undervalued on FIFA's ranking, i.e. 1424pts (hosts in 2018, had to play friendlies and dropped to their lowest ranking before the conversion). Any other team from pot 2 was ranked higher and even several pot 4 teams were ranked higher than Russia. For ranking purposes we got the worst deal. Last month, in and against Switzerland, Belgium looked frozen and again in 2019 we'll have an away game, this time in and against Russia, during the coldest possible moment. - Scotland and Cyprus: we played them enough already. Bobby seems to like Scotland though, e.g. his wife, his staff, Boyata being so high in the pecking order, the recent friendly, ... - Kazakhstan: even though there's no excessive travel distance restriction for Belgium, there are no flights from Belgium to there. Oddly, we will have to travel to a country with such a restriction first before we can fly to Kazakhstan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2020_qualifying#Overall_ranking
will Mignolet ever get to start a game again for Belgium? btw how's Laurent Ciman doing in France since his move from LAFC?
Being benched won't help his cause. Last season Casteels was the highest rated goalie in the Bundesliga according to Kicker. This season he's still in the top 5. Sels is the number 2 rated goalie in Ligue 1. Migs faces competition from those two (and slowly but surely the youngsters need to get a look in). Courtois remains the undisputed number 1 for Belgium. I don't watch Dijon and don't know anybody who does. He's well off the pace of the top 10 defenders according to: http://www.sports.fr/football/joueurs/0/laurent-ciman-26080.html http://www.sports.fr/football/ligue-1/notes.html
https://www.torontofc.ca/post/2018/12/27/toronto-fc-select-ciman-top-allocation-ranking Ciman is going back to Canada. Previously he uprooted to go to Montreal, in the first place to get better treatment for his daughter, and this time round he'll play for Toronto.
The usual suspects, minus injured and retired players of course, were called up (Vermaelen, Dembele and Lukaku are doubts). Engels would have been a solid addition. Vanheusden is probably the closest to making his debut and Lukebakio is having a great season but they're needed for the U21 EC (and qualification for the Olympics). Yari Verschaeren is the latest talent to make waves. You can find more talents there or in this post.
If we win on Sunday as well, we should have a platform to make this a very comfortable qualifying cycle especially now that Scotland has lost in Kazakhstan.
The return, in the freezing cold of Russia, will be a tougher test. A lot of new faces in this Russia team. Expecting to see improvement when we face them in November. It's virtually impossible not to qualify for a 24 team EUROs that even includes a safety net/linked with the NL. Belgium should always take one of the top two spots in what's a soft group or win in the play-offs. Still the ECQ overall ranking will decide the seeding during the final draw. This isn't a huge advantage as 16 of the 24 teams advance to the KO phase. In 2016 Portugal showed that you can be poor in the groups, survive as a 3rd placed team and still get a soft path to the final. Besides, evidently Belgium is not in the least bit interested in the path of least resistance, as proven in Russia2018.
The recent stadium plans reminded me of what should have been the case, the Euro for Europe taking place in the capital of Europe. - Brussels rumoured to get the opener, incl. up to four extra days of rest for our players, Belgium were guaranteed home advantage in two or more games and the benefit that co-hosts can plan ahead plus less travel/basecamp near our own stadium - wouldn't have been replaced by England and instead Belgium could have been paired with Scotland (most likely group pairing) - so no Scotland in the qualis as 2 hosts per group was the maximum (Belgium, Russia and then we'd get Finland instead) - at the final event Belgium couldn't be drawn into the groups of Spain, Germany, Russia/Denmark, Italy and Holland while being drawn into a group with an easy opponent was a possibility (if Belgium and Scotland qualified we'd automatically go into the same group) Now we'll have to pay about €200M for another lousy stadium renovation ... without the honour of hosting and after forfeiting home advantage in EURO2020 ... seeing Belgium couldn't resist dragging its own name through the mud better start begging for one of those soon-to-be EL2 finals.
Results against sixth-placed teams are not considered in the ranking (for the final draw). So only 8 games will decide the pot we'll end up in and 2 of those have already been won. Currently we're ranked No.1 in the ranking and headed for pot 1. In the second matchweek, the June ECQs, half of our (relevant) results will be in already. The pot 1 teams could very well be Spain, England, Italy and Germany, all hosts, plus France and Belgium. If that's the case we'll either play in group B (St.Petersburg/Copenhagen) or group C (Amsterdam/Bucharest). A lot can change of course.
Players that were "injured" for this week's qualis but miraculously recovered, just in time to play for their clubs the weekend right after: KDB Witsel Lukaku Dembele It was the start of the EURO2020 campaign, immediately had to play Russia, first game after the 5-2 defeat in the NL, ... SMH.
Steve Clarke is named new Scotland manager on three-year deal - https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48303984 Scotland will come to Brussels next month. I expect them to up their performance now that they've a new manager.
Still ranked No.1 with half of our (relevant) results being flawless. Played everybody once, except for lowly San Marino, but as they'll finish bottom those results won't count wrt the overall ranking. Edging ever closer to pot 1. These qualis are very short, only 3 international breaks to go, then the final draw on 30 November. Not much has changed. Belgium could still be joined in pot 1 by Spain, England, Italy and Germany that all have been flawless as well in the ECQs so far. France suffered defeat in Turkey, putting Poland in the drivers seat for a pot 1 spot (seeing Norn Iron will most likely start dropping points with their 4 hardest games, against Germany and Holland, coming up).
Plenty of players out with injuries, as usual. Hazard bros are also injury doubts. Welcome to new additions, Raman and Verschaeren.
This Friday: the highest ranked team in the world v. the lowest ranked team. No.211 against No.1 ... quite the clash.