will play against PSV or Feyenoord
ExpandAbsolutely tragic night for Italy
The chance for an extra team in the CL next season just plummeted
At now only 3 times in a row we fail to qualify for the World Cup and calcio will be should down. It is just sad that this sport is given so much attention and money that it doesn`t deserve at all. There are 100 other sports that deserve it more and if more money were allocated to them, it would bring concrete results.
Edited by copravolley
Bologna is unfortunately is a team for the Conference League, not the Champions League 
Juventus are plagued by injuries and are struggling. On top of that they have a terrible schedule in the CL. In their case qualifying for the play-offs would be a success in this season but I'm not sure how many points they will need to do that. Actually they chave 8 points.
Atalanta is probably playing the most beautiful football in Europe right now: spectacular and effective. It's nice to watch and they don't have to spend a lot of money for it.
Inter is playing very economically. It's not impressive but it's consistently collecting points. It's also the only team in the Champions League that hasn't conceded a goal this season.
Milan played very poorly yesterday but they won. They have 9 points and are close to qualifying for the play-offs.
Edited by copravolleyExpandIt’s according to predicted November FIFA ranking i guess
Scotland in October was at the turn of the 2nd and 3rd pot. In November they won 2 matches against 2 higher ranked rivals: Croatia and Poland. In my opinion they must to advance a few places higher. Maybe this portal is based on the ranking from October?
Edited by copravolleyExpandUEFA pots according to Polish media
Scotland in 3 pots after 2 recently wins? I don`t think so...
ExpandWe actually have a very good group of players on paper, of course not as good as England but we have underachieved a lot in the last decade (quite the opposite of the previous decade before that when many felt we overachieved). Jovanovic as our new manager has made a huge impact already, so nice to finally have someone who understands the Greek culture and language. Some of our previous failed managers in recent years who were not Greek seemed to only care about themselves and making a salary.
On a more serious note, this match took place less than 24 hours after it was announced Greek-English RB George Baldock was found dead inside the pool at his house in Athens. I was surprised he has not been called up to our national team since March but apparently he had some injury problems and is just now coming back to club football and that's why he was left off the squad. He just played in the big Greek derby for Panathinaikos against Olympiacos on Sunday. Had he been called up to the national team like he usually is, he would still be alive...
Kind of crazy that this happened the day before England vs Greece, the two countries he "belongs" to. He was born in England but has Greek ancestry and got Greek citizenship and started playing for our national team a couple years ago. They did a little tribute for him at the game which was nice. Some were complaining that the game should have been cancelled or postponed due to his death.
He actually played his entire career in England and just joined Panathinaikos for this season and played in 3 games. I remember thinking how wonderful it would be for him to play for a Greek club now and have the chance to connect with his Greek roots and learn the language especially since he is now on our national team. What a tragic turn of events...
Euro 2004 was definitely above par, but the following years up to 2014, e.g. under Santos, showed that it wasn`t entirely a coincidence (not qualifying for the 2006 World Cup was, in turn, a result below par and this has evened out to some extent). In retrospect, I can write that Greece from the first decade of the 21st century wasn`t a much weaker team than current Italy, which also won Euro 2021 (I also consider this a result above par and some lucky).
Edited by copravolleyExpandYeah, England going back to mediocrity from now. Useless.
In the previous edition of the Nations League, they lost, for example, 0-4 at home to Hungary. It`s no coincidence that they are now playing in the 2nd division. However, they will certainly return to good form in the World Cup qualifiers and one of the seeded teams will have a problem if they draw England from the 3rd pot (I remind you that the seeding will be based only on this Nations League). Knowing our bad luck: Italy - drawn from the 1st pot will fall on England
This is a golden time for Slovak football. Great Euro 2024 and now Slovan Bratislava in the CL.
in a women's football final, just like the old days. ExpandI mean 2021 was definitely a missed opportunity. But that's sport!
But within reason it is also the nature of cup competitions as well. They tend to even the odds more than a league campaign does (which is why the big clubs want the CL to be more like a league/they tried to shoot off to the Superleague).
I just don't attribute our failings to our mentality - if we were really weak in that area I don't think we would have made successive Euro finals.
And our past history of being good but not great shows that the current crop is hardly letting the side down, so to speak. If we had been serial winners in the past, I'd say our current 'failings' would be more worthy of criticism.
You are right that the current generation of England has already won much more than the generations of Beckham, Gerrard, Terry or Rooney etc.
Edited by copravolleyExpandI don't think it is down to
not having a winning mentality, so much as it is that we're just not *that* good.
We're good, but we're not true world beaters. Our club football has been greatly enhanced by all the foreign players.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think we're some kind of minnows. But we're not
or
, or 21st century
.
It's worth noting that pre-Southgate we had only reached the SFs of either Euros/WC on 3 occasions in our entire history and 2 of those were when we hosted the tournament.
The football may not be pretty at times - and we've had some lucky draws - but Southgate has got to 2 Euro finals, a WC SF and QF. For an England manager that's a heck of an impressive record.
Anywho, fair play to
Yesterday of course, but the final in 2021 was lost by England at their own request. They had everything perfectly: good form, their own pitches and a goal scored very quickly. In addition, Mancini's Italy was no longer the same Italy as a dozen or so years earlier, although they were certainly in better shape than the one under Spaletti. If England weren't able to win the title then, it's hard to expect they will be able to do so in the coming years.
Two, on paper England and France definitely have the best squads. Of course, some players are overestimated due to the fact that they play in the Premier League, but they are certainly very good players. Perhaps the fatigue of a very difficult league played a big role?
Edited by copravolleySo the 2026 World Cup. Is it going to be bad?
ExpandKickoff now postponed to 1:15 hours past the originally scheduled time.
Why?
Objectively speaking, only Spain and Germany were in top form here and it was a premature finale. France and England - the strongest on paper, literally crawled to the next rounds - England could have been eliminated in the 1/8 finals by Slovakia. Only individualities kept them going. I will not say anything about Italy, because we had no form, no individuality and even no the will to fight and looking at the summer mercato, most of the leading clubs are looking for foreigners again 
It's sad to see this fall of Calcio
Expandand this is because of 2 reasons:
1. Because of their youth football development (they have 9 medals in euro-21 from 90s to today, far ahead from any other team)
2. They developed the best national championship from 2000s and beyond
Exactly, although after 2010 looking at the Uefa Ranking, the Premier League was more often in 1st place. Certainly mainly thanks to money, because in Spain only Real Madrid and, to a certain point, Barcelona had very high budgets.
Edited by copravolleyI remember that when I started watching national football in the 1990s, no one took Spain seriously. You could say that it was a meme team with a motto that stuck with them: "We play like never before. We lose like always." The metamorphosis they have undergone since the beginning of the 21st century is incredible.
England don`t have a winning mentality in football and I`m writing this from the perspective of 30 years, not just today's match. In turn, Spain, since the beginning of the 21st century, has undergone a real metamorphosis from an eternally unfulfilled team into real killers who win every final they enter (both national and club: Real, Barcelona, Sevilla, Atletico, etc.). I don't remember in the 21st century when Spain/a club from Spain lost a grand final: World Championship, European Championship, Champions League, Uefa/Europe League, etc. (they lost the Confederations Cup in 2013 to Brazil and the Olympic Games in 2021 + 2-3? clubs Super Cups but these are smaller tournaments).
ExpandLegendary meltdown from Slovenia in PSO.
Sesko is worth 50 million Euro? Yeah, right. That miss might haunt Slovenia for the next 20 years or something.
Slovakia and Slovenia were close to the 1/4 finals but something was missing. It looks like only Austria/Turkey will make it from non-favorites to 8. Switzerland has already been in 8, so I don't count it.
Portugal takes penalties very well, I don't remember the last time they lost.
The little ones are fighting but the favorites are advanced - except for the Italians, but they played so poorly that Switzerland was the favorite. Tomorrow the Netherlands will surely join.
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Posted (edited)
In the autumn there will be 3x missed World Cups in a row for us and we can dissolve this entire federation, league, and clubs where, for example, no one Italian plays in the first team in Milan
Edited by copravolleyLink to post
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