Messi still had the highest player ratings on his team in the Copa according to OPTA. Not just highest on his team but among the best XI overall. If there's a criticism its the one you alluded to- not as good as Messi normally is. Or it could be said the opposition was fairly weak.
El Loco Bielsa and depth keeps me from adding them to the list. But they are in the "other" category that can catch fire.
i expect Panam to b a positive suprise. they are competitive at the Copa and became runner-up at the Gold cup. they have some very good players and i like them to play Georgia and we have the clash between Carrasquilla and Khvaratskhelia. Jokes aside, I think they can do. the Rof16 if they are also backed by panamese Fans.
Serbia and Wales are a level below Denmark. In fact Serbia has never managed a win against Denmark and the last win for Wales in an important qualifier vs. Denmark was in 1998, still better than Switzerland that has had no win against Denmark in 40 years.
I actually kind of hope that you finally are going to win, but I expect that it will be a draw, much like the 3-3 result in 2019
Still can’t believe we gave up a 3:0 lead in that match. I do have a Denmark chip on my shoulder (right next to the England one) and it doesn't help that one of my best friends, who's Danish, keeps rubbing my nose in our record since the 80's. But I normally do root for you lot. Us small countries with red and white flags have to stick together. I even hold my nose and root for Austria these days.
Denmark usually have good 50/50 results against England and France, but are highly unlucky and do terribly vs. Spain, just as Switzerland are highly unlucky and do terribly against Denmark for some reason.
Yeah, sometimes you just struggle against a team. In the relatively recent past (since 2010) we have beaten and/or eliminated Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, and Belgium in competitive games. Belgium when they were world class (2018). We have also beaten Brazil and Germany in friendly matches. We only missed the 2012 Euros since 2004 and have been in League A throughout since the launch of the UNL. But, for some reason, just can't beat England and Denmark. We have been very consistent, but Denmark has been better at making deeper runs when it counts. That is our main shortcoming - even if we get close and only penalties keep us out. But I believe this thread is about contenders.
Last cycle Denmark looked great in the Euros and horrible in the World Cup. Maybe this time they will do better in the World Cup cause their Euro was just meh.
The Danish NT coach quit after the poor performance Euro-24, and with the new temporary manager Lars Knudsen + Daniel Agger as his assistant, Denmark have not looked this good since they beat France home and away in the Nations League back in 2022, and now even without the likes of Andreas Christensen, Mæhle, Højlund and Matt O'Riley all out with injuries. The new big "relevations" for Denmark are Albert Grønbæk, really adding some attacking power, and only 19-yo Patrick Dorgu.. To be honest the former Danish NT coach was vastly more focus on woke agendas than the actual team and results, unlike the present coaching team. So lets be honest here, Denmark has never been woke, but on the other hand also never liked the crazy evil Putin lover Trump.
Denmark played two good games against Switzerland and Serbia. But we have to take in account that Switzerland were 10 men, and Serbia played without their best players. So I want to see some more, before I judge Denmark. Its difficult predicting a tournament that is going to be played in 2 years. This Euro everybody had France to win, and very few talked about Spain. Now, Spain is the hottest thing around, so things change quickly, specially in International football. If the tournament was to be played now, Spain and Argentina Would be my favourites. Argentina has Been crazy consistent and won everything they Can. While Spain plays the best football in the World.
I totally agree that it is difficult to predict this far in advance however the 2022 thread was created about this amount of time before that tournament (19 months) so I just kept with the precedent.
Also, whether its 2 years or 2 minutes in advance, its still difficult to predict. What @Iran fan says about Spain and how few people talked about them 2 years before the 2024 Euros, was also true 2 minutes before the Euros. So yeah.... might as well start the predictions now because they're going suck regardless of when they are made.
Not to toot my own horn but I had Spain winning the Euros before the tournament, but yes not too many people agreed with me.
Serbia is predecessor of Yugoslavia and has numerous wins against denmark. The last was 1990 in Euro Qualifiers in Copenhagen, if i recall it correctly.
Yes, you do. While predicting the winner is difficult, it's relatively straightforward to identify the group of teams from which the winner will come which - for me - is England, Germany, Italy and Spain.
While I discount the possibility of a first-time winner in this cycle, it's instructive to look at the historical sequence of first-time winners. 1930 Uruguay - 0 years 1934 Italy - 0 years 1954 Germany - 12 years* 1958 Brazil - 4 years 1966 England - 8 years 1978 Argentina - 12 years 1998 France - 20 years 2010 Spain - 12 years 2026 ? - 16 years *discounting the 1942-50 period There's more likelihood of seeing the next first-time winner in 2030: Portugal at home or even the Netherlands in Europe seem the most likely to me.
have you read what others wrote? many people doubt that European teams will perform well. One shall also not forget, that American teams will have much more fan support which surely will have an effect.
Yes, I read it, but it's not true. We already know that UEFA teams will be heavily present in the latter stages, like in 1994 when they had 7 of the 8 QF teams. The fact that UEFA will have a record low number of teams proportionally - only 33% compared to 54% at the last 24-team tournament in 1994 - changes very little.
Well, 1994 will be 32 years gone in 2026. In 1i994 there was no Morocco dark horse, Japan not even had 1 single WC appearence and in 2022 they won against the 2 of the last 3 World Champions in 2022. other confederations than UEFA and Conmebol giants are much more competitive these days with many of their players engaged in top 5 leagues in Europe. and to add, i think that is a criteria as you can see that those countries where players in the top 5 leagues were coming in the 90es and 2000es, but which have been now "replaced" by japanese, korean, ecuadorian, morrocan players, those countries have declined. Especially the Balkan Teams except Croatia and Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland.
The way things are looking right now I'd hedge my bet on the next first-time winner for 2034. As of now my bet would be Portugal. I think exactly 30 years after Portugal hosted EURO 2004 and came very close to lift their first silverware could be a good omen and the time for them to win it. While I'm super confident 2026 won't have a new winner I rate also 2030 as rather unlikely as it stands. But a lot can change. But just in general I think we have reached a point where it might take a bit longer to see new nations win. Historically it looks like a new winner happens on average every 12-16 years. At worst every 20 years. I believe we might have to wait this time 24 years if my guess is correct with 2034 producing the next new winner.