So, England (apparently through nomination) are the only team that can qualify Great Britain for the Olympics. I initially questioned Scotland being in the same group as England because I thought about what if they just didn't try their best vs England while giving their all vs the Netherlands. However, since the Nations League is acting as qualification for the next Euros, Scotland would have no incentive for that. Instead, Scotland could hinder England's chances of qualifying Great Britain for the Olympics if they managed to take points off England.
The Nations League 2024/25 (Group A,B and C) act as qualification for the Euros. The Nations League 2023/24 (Group A) act as qualification for the Olympics. Only 13 out of 16 teams in Group A can qualify for Paris.
Right, but I thought I read group placing in the Nations League 2023/2024 impacts the Nations League 2024/2025. So, you wouldn't want to finish last in your group. I can't remember if there's a benefit to finishing second instead of third in your group. I could be wrong though.
There's promotion and relegation, and the most straightforward path to Euro 25 qualification is by being in League A for the 24/25 Nations League. Fourth place in the 23/24 League A groups is automatically relegated, and third place has a playoff against a League B runner-up that it must win to stay in League A.
Matchday 1 Thursday 21 September 2023: Group C4 Israel vs Armenia Friday 22 September 2023: Group A1 England vs Scotland Belgium vs Netherlands Group A2 France vs Portugal Norway vs Austria Group A3 Denmark vs Germany Iceland vs Wales Group A4 Sweden vs Spain Switzerland vs Italy Group B1 Albania vs Hungary Group B2 Finland vs Slovakia Croatia vs Romania Group B3 Ukraine vs Serbia Greece vs Poland Group B4 Slovenia vs Czechia Belarus vs Bosnia and Herzegovina Group C1 Moldova vs Andorra Latvia vs Malta Group C2 Lithuania vs Luxembourg Georgia vs Türkiye Group C3 Azerbaijan vs Cyprus Faroe Islands vs Montenegro Group C4 Estonia vs Kazakhstan Group C5 North Macedonia vs Bulgaria Saturday 24 September 2003: Group B1 Republic of Ireland vs Northern Ireland
Promotion/relegation rules League A The top two teams in each group remain in League A for the European Qualifiers for UEFA Women's EURO 2025. The four third-placed teams play off against against the second-placed teams in each group of League B. The winner of each match play in League A for the European Qualifiers phase; the defeated teams will play in League B. The fourth-placed teams are relegated to League B. League B The four group winners are promoted to League A. The four second-placed teams play against the third-placed teams in League A. The winner of each match play in League A; the defeated teams will play in League B. The three best third-placed teams play off against the three best-ranked second-placed teams of League C. The winners play in League B for the European Qualifiers phase; the defeated teams will play in League C. The lowest ranked third-placed team and the four fourth-placed teams are relegated to League C. League C The five group winners are promoted to League B. The third best-ranked second-placed teams play-off against the three best third-placed teams of League B. The winners play in League B for the European Qualifiers phase; the defeated teams play in League C. The remaining teams stay in League C
Tie breakers if teams finish level on points: If, on completion of the league stage, two or more teams in the same group are equal on points, the following criteria are applied, in the order given, to determine their rankings: higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question; superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question; higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question; if, after having applied criteria a) to c), teams still have an equal ranking, criteria a) to c) are reapplied exclusively to the group matches between the remaining teams to determine their final rankings. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria e) to k) apply, in the order given, to the two or more teams still equal; superior goal difference in all group matches; higher number of goals scored in all group matches; higher number of away goals scored in all group matches; higher number of wins in all group matches; higher number of away wins in all group matches; lower disciplinary points total based only on yellow and red cards received by players and team officials in all group matches (red card = 3 points, yellow card = 1 point, expulsion for two yellow cards in one match = 3 points); higher position in the UEFA women's national team coefficient rankings (see Annex D).
Hey Y'all... Olympic qualifying as I call it. Nations League international TV guide !!! https://www.womenssoccertv.info/uefa-womens-nations-league
Dutch fans complaining about Spitse starting and not having a good World Cup while I'm just wondering if most people think Pelova actually had a good World Cup or Spitse is taking attention off her.
And drama in Sweden! Hosts scored first, but Spain were leading 2-1 with less than 10' from time. Sweden equalizes at 82', then gives up a PK at the end of stoppage time, meaning Spain are now on top of the "live" FIFA rankings!
So Jonker sticks with the same 3-back system? Maybe you can beat most teams with it and this group--but top-tier opponents? I'm skeptical.
The Dutch weren't good today, but that would have been a 1-0 win with Van Domselaar in goal. Weimar could/should have done better on the first goal, gave up the winning corner instead of holding onto the ball for whatever reason, and had a bad punch into her own net on the winning corner. Groenen, Van de Donk, and Brugts had good/decent matches overall in my opinion; everyone else was fine/average. Van de Donk off a great Groenen dribble and cross and Roord off of a good Van de Donk cutback were great chances not taken for the Dutch to win the match.
Interestingly no big scoreline today. One win by four goals, one win by three. Others by two or one as well as many draws. The days of 6,7,8,9 and up to 20-0 are now gone or should be gone.
Group A1 Belgium defeating the Netherlands 2-1 is a huge surprise. Obviously the Netherlands played their third goalkeeper choice, but you would have expected them to be good enough to win. The Netherlands really need to get maximum points from the remaining games if they want to win the Group and go to the semi-finals. England not firing on all cylinders as the League as not started yet and English clubs are still in pre-season, alongside many Scottish players who play in the WSL. 2-1 win for the Lionesses Group A2 France struggled to defeat Portugal 2-0 with a late second goal. Herve Renard has decided to raise the players fitness level and also do more S&C as our players were not good enough in that department compared to other countries, but this has lead to a lot less creativity on the ball from the players. Good result for Austria drawing in Norway. Group A3 Denmark beat Germany 2-0. Rumours of internal disagreement between players and staff and also between staff have hit the German papers after the world cup failure. Great result for Denmark. Iceland defeated Wales 1-0 and these are precious points in the relegation battle. Group A4 Spain defeated Sweden 3-2 and will go top of the FIFA ranking next time as per the FIFA ranking thread. For all the off the field mess, Spain are incredibly resilient and are looking strong. Italy won 1-0 away in Switzerland and again three precious points in the relegation battle. A reminder that it is critical for teams in League A to stay up as next season are the Euro qualifiers and the top two teams in each A group qualify directly for the tournament, while League B and C teams can qualify via the play-offs. League B teams also have a huge incentive to win their Group and be promoted to League A and have a shot at direct qualification for the euros.
The Dutch also don’t have their best CB anymore. I rate Dijkstra, but Van der Gragt wouldn’t have lost the duel for Belgium’s equalizer like that. Dijkstra also allowed Fon to recover the ball with close to no pressure in the build up to the winning corner. This match was kind of like the 1-0 win vs Portugal where the Dutch were largely dominant but couldn’t finish more of their chances. They didn’t have Van der Gragt and Van Domselaar helping with keeping a clean sheet though. Belgium did close to nothing offensively, but they were gifted two goals to win the match. I think Egurrola for Roord would have made sense earlier, like around the 70th minute mark. However, going into the last 5 minutes plus stoppage time, I would have kept the Groenen-Roord midfield as it was.
Hope to see a replay of the match. Yea, there is no replacing Van der Gragt. When she put her body on you, you were stopped. And she was an outstanding header of the ball. Dijkstra apparently has other qualities, but if you aren't physical you are going to get beaten/out-muscled to balls, and goals often result from lost 1v1s. Hard to believe both keepers were out--and no word on why. Who knows--but a lousy loss. The 3-back again against England? I think Jonker is asking for trouble.