Women's Football UEFA European Nations League 2023 - 2024 Road to Paris 2024

[CCB 455]

UEFA gets what it wants. England and the Netherlands will fight it out on goal difference to see who will go to the semi-finals of the Nations League and therefore have a chance of going to the Olympic Games. England plays against Scotland, and Scottish players have an interest in the biggest possible defeat, so that they can go to the Games on behalf of Great Britain. It is incomprehensible that England and Scotland are in the same group: the competition is rigged and the Netherlands has no chance in advance.

[EselTheDonkey 698]

23 minutes ago, CCB said:

UEFA gets what it wants. England and the Netherlands will fight it out on goal difference to see who will go to the semi-finals of the Nations League and therefore have a chance of going to the Olympic Games. England plays against Scotland, and Scottish players have an interest in the biggest possible defeat, so that they can go to the Games on behalf of Great Britain. It is incomprehensible that England and Scotland are in the same group: the competition is rigged and the Netherlands has no chance in advance.

 

Don't be so pessimistic. Right now, Netherlands is three goals better than England. And if they beat Belgium in the last game, they will at least add one other goal. So if the Netherlands wins against Belgium, England will need at least a 4:0 against Scotland. If Netherlands wins with two goals, England will already need 5.

Edited December 1, 2023 by EselTheDonkey

[TeamGB 71]

The national pride of the Scottish team beating England far outweighs playing for GB, so I can't see Scotland letting England scoring any easy goals.

[Benolympique 1,665]

so we will have 3 countries for 2 places…

[Rafa Maciel 1,261]

46 minutes ago, CCB said:

UEFA gets what it wants. England and the Netherlands will fight it out on goal difference to see who will go to the semi-finals of the Nations League and therefore have a chance of going to the Olympic Games. England plays against Scotland, and Scottish players have an interest in the biggest possible defeat, so that they can go to the Games on behalf of Great Britain. It is incomprehensible that England and Scotland are in the same group: the competition is rigged and the Netherlands has no chance in advance.

Sorry, but the assumption that Scotland are going to allow themselves to be steamrollered by England shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the dynamics of football within the UK - most Scottish players would happily sell their right kidney to beat England.  At best, only 3 or 4 Scottish players would be considered for Team GB so most of them don't have an any skin in the game when it comes to Olympic qualification. 

 

England will beat Scotland because they are a better team - but Scotland wont go down without a fight and a 2-1 final score wouldn't surprise me so GB's best hope of keeping their Olympic qualification alive probably lies with the Belgians sneaking out a win against Netherlands.

[CCB 455]

4 minutes ago, Rafa Maciel said:

Sorry, but the assumption that Scotland are going to allow themselves to be steamrollered by England shows a fundamental lack of understanding of the dynamics of football within the UK - most Scottish players would happily sell their right kidney to beat England.  At best, only 3 or 4 Scottish players would be considered for Team GB so most of them don't have an any skin in the game when it comes to Olympic qualification. 

 

England will beat Scotland because they are a better team - but Scotland wont go down without a fight and a 2-1 final score wouldn't surprise me so GB's best hope of keeping their Olympic qualification alive probably lies with the Belgians sneaking out a win against Netherlands.

Hopefully you're right and Belgium and Netherlands have a fair chance to win group A.

[Benolympique 1,665]

therefore   and  qualified in the semi-final

[mpjmcevoy 202]

1 hour ago, CCB said:

UEFA gets what it wants. England and the Netherlands will fight it out on goal difference to see who will go to the semi-finals of the Nations League and therefore have a chance of going to the Olympic Games. England plays against Scotland, and Scottish players have an interest in the biggest possible defeat, so that they can go to the Games on behalf of Great Britain. It is incomprehensible that England and Scotland are in the same group: the competition is rigged and the Netherlands has no chance in advance.

I'm afraid that's a ridiculous comment that shows no understanding at all of the football dynamics of the UK. More to the point, ye had a two goal lead and you blew it - frankly, ye were lucky in the end to still have it in your hands, it could very easily have been 4-2.

 

The last - the very last - scenario England would have wanted was to go to Hampden Park needing a goalfest against a Scotland team already embarrassed - and then relying on Belgium to show up v the Netherlands. The perverse delight Scotland fans would take in preventing GBR getting to the Olympics would be off the scale. Have you any idea how much it grates on Scotland to have to adopt the GBR moniker when going to the Olympics for Curling?

[Nickyc707 305]

1 hour ago, CCB said:

UEFA gets what it wants. England and the Netherlands will fight it out on goal difference to see who will go to the semi-finals of the Nations League and therefore have a chance of going to the Olympic Games. England plays against Scotland, and Scottish players have an interest in the biggest possible defeat, so that they can go to the Games on behalf of Great Britain. It is incomprehensible that England and Scotland are in the same group: the competition is rigged and the Netherlands has no chance in advance.

In one sense you're right. For the sake of probity England, Scotland and Wales should never be in the same group when Olympic qualification is at stake. Why UEFA has allowed it is beyond comprehension.

 

In another sense you're worrying about nothing. Neither England or Scotland would EVER roll over for the other in any sporting contest no matter what was at stake, particularly when they are the home side as Scotland are on this occasion. They would never be able to return home again. 

 

Anyway don't exclude Belgium from this. If they complete the double over the Netherlands and Scotland/England is a draw they'll be going to Paris not GB or NED.

Edited December 1, 2023 by Nickyc707

[AsensioWillemsen 123]

I don’t see Belgium topping. Surely England is going to win their match. Scottish fans would be disgusted when they would give away a goalfest though, cannot see that happening so easily.

 

even though this situation shouldn’t have happened.