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Thanks, however, the answer was already in the linked Football Seeding article, I was just posing a riddle.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
Quote:
If you don't know then try and figure out what would or could happen in that circumstance before reading the answer in the article.
It'd be interesting if we got either Wales/Austria along with Denmark. O'Neill's results would be a true barometer of whether we're improving or degrading.
Tough luck for the unqualified top teams in our league B left vying for the play off-spot, should there be less than 4 teams left unqualified (the conventional way) in League A.
If say 2 teams from League A drop down to League B looking for a play-off partner, they will be paired against the top 2 play-off candidates from League B who will not only have to face (much) stronger opposition but will also have to play away from home, instead of a banker home play-off against lowlier opposition.
From the Football Seeding article
'Play-off slots are dropped down to lower Leagues if less than four teams remain available for a play-offs. Best-ranked team will play against fourth best-ranked team and second best-ranked team will play against third best-ranked team (higher-ranked teams play semi-final at home field, venue for the final will be drawn in advance between the two semi-finals' winners).'
Denmark!
Wales!
Well, here we are.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
When will the dates be announced? Particular interest in the Cardiff game
about 3.30Quote:
Originally Posted by backstothewall
oops, deleted by acident.
Quote:
Nations League: League B
Group 1: Czech Republic, Ukraine, Slovakia.
Group 2: Turkey, Sweden, Russia.
Group 3: Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria.
Group 4: Denmark, Republic of Ireland, Wales.
So, our next two competitive games will be against the same opposition as our last two competitive games.
I really don't want to face Denmark again so soon. Wales will be out for revenge, and will be unpredictable with a new (and unproven) manager in charge
Fixtures
Quote:
Nations League: When will the games be played?
Specific fixtures will be announced by Uefa in due course, but this is when matches will take place. Teams in League A and League B only have four matches so will play on four of the six matchdays.
Matchday 1: 6–8 September 2018
Matchday 2: 9–11 September 2018
Matchday 3: 11–13 October 2018
Matchday 4: 14–16 October 2018
Matchday 5: 15–17 November 2018
Matchday 6: 18–20 November 2018
Nations League Finals draw: early December 2018
Nations League Finals: 5–9 June 2019
I'll spin that in a different way - Denmark after a world cup hangover and Wales with an unproven manager. We will be singing ; we are the champions ( of group 4b ) come November.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
What's the aim here? Second? Or should we be pushing for first? That would presumably require six points from the four games, minimum.
I think first may be beyond us given the Denmark thrashing. I know we had to go for the win, but they were streets ahead of us even over the whole 180 minutes. Not sure what's going to change between now and then.
Also, now is the time to start asking whether we want to finish third and get relegated to League C so we can have an easier shot at winning a Euro spot through the play-offs. (It has been suggested that the back-door play-offs will be available for the World Cup as well, though it's not confirmed)
I haven't been this excited since I last tied my shoelaces.
Finish First:Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
- Promoted to Nations League A for 2020/21
- Guarenteed a play-off for Euro 2020 no matter what happens in Qualification
- Enter Pot 2 for Euro 2020 Draw
Finish Second:
- Stay in Nations League B for 2020/21
- Enter Pot 2 for Euro 2020 Draw
Finish third:
- Relegated to Nations League C for 2020/21
- Enter Pot 3 for Euro 2020 Draw
I wouldn't have minded some alternative opposition seeing as our last three competitive games were against Denmark and Wales. Being drawn against NI might have added a bit of spice to things. At the minute, I'm still finding it difficult to feel properly enthused about this (mainly due to the fact that the first games are still nine months away and I know we have no World Cup to look forward to before that in the summer), but I'm sure that mild apathy will disappear once the games eventually come round.
As has been pointed out, I guess facing the same opposition again will be a good way of testing who has improved, stagnated or regressed. Despite the 5-1 loss in the second leg of the play-offs, I'm not overly daunted by facing Denmark again. They looked toothless enough when we kept things tight in the first leg whilst the heavy loss in the second leg resulted from us having to chase the game and Martin O'Neill losing the plot by giving their talisman more space within which to operate than he could ever have dreamed of. It was a total tactical ****-up. They're obviously a better team than us technically, but they're not a Germany, a Spain or a France either.
The Wales games will be tough slogs again. They have 0-0 written all over them. In fact, I could see us drawing every game in the group here.
Thanks, that's by far the clearest post and or media article on how this worksQuote:
Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid
When will the draw for the qualification proper be made?
2nd December
Horrid draw. Last thing we needed. He's going to have to make good use of the March and Summer friendlies.
First up Wales away on the 6th of September.
Full list of Fixtures
6/9/18 Wales v Republic of Ireland 7.45pm
9/9/18 Denmark v Wales 5.00pm
13/10/18 Republic of Ireland v Denmark 7.45pm
16/10/18 Republic of Ireland v Wales 7.45pm
16/11/18 Wales v Denmark 7.45pm
19/11/18 Denmark v Republic of Ireland 7.45pm
Well we're both free in the 9-11 September window (along with 7 other European teams, 6 of whom we've played competitively since 2013 plus England).Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
I can see another 'closed' friendly in Dublin as in 2016.
Most NI fans I've spoken to are quite pleased to avoid any spiciness (or as I prefer to call it, inevitable public disorder and associated whataboutery/ mopery from cousin Jude and co :eek:)
This draw is bad deja vu,
though the fixture schedule is kind with 2 home games in succession inside the short turnaround.
I feel like it's time to grasp the nettle and play each other in Belfast. Given how friendlies are poisonous for rankings I like the idea of a B internationalQuote:
Originally Posted by Gather round
Agree on both points. I thought on first viewing that starting and ending with away games could only be a bad thing, but on closer inspection having the two games in a few days at home should be a little bit of an advantage.Quote:
Originally Posted by geysir
except don't wales have the advantage of only playing us in that fixture window that we have 2 games?Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
Good point, but Wales have to travel to Copenhagen after a potentially bruising battle with us too. I think I'd prefer our schedule overall.Quote:
Originally Posted by jbyrne
FIFA are looking to expand this concept to every other confederation, with the best teams going to a "Final 8" knock-out, possibly as a replacement for the Confederations Cup. Also looking to turn the Club World Cup into a bigger deal, with 24 (!) teams every four years.
Essentially it looks like they want a major tournament of some description every summer.
At what point does player welfare become a concern? Playing that much, non stop, is going to cause injuries.
I was reminded of this comment after a note on Alexis Sanchez during tonight's EPL opener: between World Cups, Copa Americas and Confederation Cups, this was his first summer in eight years without international football of some kind.Quote:
Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
Squad set to be announced on Monday, according to some reports.
And yet he's injured for the start of this epl season isn't he?Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
Northern Ireland lost to a late, late Austrian goal, a goal that could yet be significant if we need to use the last-chance play-offs to qualify as it ensures that The North will be ranked below us in the League B standings (although a win in Denmark would definitely be welcome to ensure that we would be in a position to take advantage of this route, if necessary, with Turkey, Slovakia and the Czech Republic all sitting on three points): https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46167891
Mentioned on SSN earlier that UEFA are (somewhat cynically) looking at rejigging the Nations League format so that the likes of Germany, who were relegated this time around, get to stay in the top division. They would do this by increasing the top division to four groups of four instead of four groups of three. The teams promoted from Division 2 would still be promoted to Division 1.
Presumably the knock on effect of this would be that the teams relegated from Division 2 (e.g. Ireland) would also have to be spared relegation so that there are enough Division 2 teams left and we would therefore return to Division 2 alongside the teams promoted from Division 3 for the next season of the competition.
Ah that's getting ridiculous.
It's looking more like UEFA haven't really thought this through to be honest. With groups of 3 in League A, of course someone big was going to get relegated.
But the point of the groups of 3 were to enable the big countries to have some NL games and space to organise their own friendlies.
Absolute madness that they would change, which by all accounts was a very successful first edition of what threatened to be a maligned tournament.
I'd say they've realised that there's more money to be made in having two extra NL games than having two friendlies. From a purely profit point of view (which is usually all that matters in these situations) having groups of four in division 1 makes more sense than having groups of four in division 4. Nobody is relegated, the promoted teams are still promoted, everybody wins.
Although it would result in an even weaker division 4 team qualifying for the Euros in future - actually I wouldn't be surprised if they dropped the place for the division 4 team to free up the spot for the host nation next time.
Sounds like the GAA has been put in charge of the Nations League.
If the GAA or IRFU was running the FAI, it wouldn’t have half the off-field issues of recent years.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter