Euro 2024 in Germany

If Zaccagni didn't score in the last second we'd be at home now lol

 

I agree, way too easy. Group stage is almost useless now lol

Anyway yeah, we were almost sure to qualify even with 3 points, but Portugal lost and England didn't win, so we wouldn't be one of the best 4 third. Lucky us!

 

England have a big chance now.

They need to drop the nerves and fear and grab it

 

I haven’t got an issue with the number of teams, they need 16 and that won’t alter. My issue is the way teams qualify for the knockout stage. Instead of how they do it now they should have an overall league table and it’s your position in that which gets teams through to the next round. So top 16 teams go through regardless of the position they finished in their groups. They’re then split into odd and even sides of the draw with the top 4 in each side seeded.
Not only would this stop teams with less points qualifying it might also make teams play to win each game and provide some decent games in the groups.

 

Too many games.

They need 32 teams in it to just have 2 go through each group. The quality is diluted enough already.

 

Austria 9/1 to reach the final. Can be a bit sloppy at the back but might chuck a tenner on that

 

Taken nearly two weeks to get rid of eight.

UEFA to expand the 2028 tournament to 32 teams and after the group stage all 32 go into the knockouts. Now surely Scotland couldn't mess that up.


Nah they would.

 

It’s the same number of games as now, it just avoids the absurd position where teams with more points go out because of their position in their group.
It would hopefully stop all this playing for tactical draws and boring the pants of everyone.

 

I like the fact we’re seeing lesser footballing nations get to these tournaments as it gives them a reason to really invest in football. The new format also gave us our first major trophy so can’t complain on that front

But I did prefer it only being 16 teams in that it felt so competitive. I think the 16 team format makes it harder to win than the World Cup personally

 

I have no problem with the number of teams it’s the quality of the games in the groups I have a problem with.

 

Yeah that’s a fair assessment. There’s only really been Englands group and the Belgium game yesterday where that seemed apparent though

Increasing to 32 teams would make it a whole lot worse though. In theory everyone is playing to go through in the top 2 positions, but if you take the teams that finished 3rd in qualifying you’re looking at Norway, Greece, Wales, Sweden, Montenegro, Finland, Israel and Luxembourg. Would that selection of teams lead to increased quality of games ? I wouldn’t think so personally

 

I think the lack of quality is just a reflection on where international football is these days. The quality isn't the same as we sometimes see at club level.

In terms of competitiveness, it was a pretty competitive group stage in all fairness. You'd probably only say the Romania v Ukraine game and Germany v Scotland game was there a bit of a mismatch. Every team picked up points, most of the games were pretty close.

I don't mind a drop in quality if it's competitive at least. You've had teams picking up no points in the past few Euros and Spain were a level above everybody at the last 16-team Euros.

 

I’m not worried about the quality of the teams involved or if they get zero points. If lower quality sides quality for the Euros then it will probably mean them getting tanked, which means more goals which personally I like to see.
But if a team actually gains more points than others and go out simply because of the group they’re in then I think that’s unfair.
The number of teams doesn’t really matter, fans of lower quality teams that qualify would just be glad to be involved.

 

Put it back to 16, 32 would be ridiculous. Basically everyone half-decent would qualify, the whole process would be a total waste of time for the bigger nations.