AsensioWillemsen

Also Track Cycling coming up in four days at the WC in Glasgow. Still doing fine. The hard week for me will be the bridge gap between the cycling WC and the athletics WC.

Italy is definitely the third strongest country in Europe right now. And tbh France look pretty lackluster behind Marchand and Grousset, but they could be worth 6 medals in Paris nonetheless.

What does he need to achieve for a Q here? He didn't seem to be on top form in the TDF naturally, so that might be tough.

Speaking of van der Poel, will he try qualifying for MTB again? And what's the plan to manage this? Or is there no actual (known) plan right now?

There will be more chances for Spain to get into the Olympics, faring well on the next WC will do, but tough luck to blow it like that.

And then there is Keirin, Show Jumping which are lotteries by itself, as well as Sailing in which rarely is delivered at Olympics, pregnant van Dijk, Bol who is second best behind McLaughlin as long as she participates at the hurdles. And men's field hockey.. well, yeah. Don't see that one happening either. Obviously there are some solid chances missing here as well, mainly the already mentioned road race and Puck Pieterse come to mind.

1-1 will do. Still some stamina issues. We looked strong until the equalizer, but without many big chances. Hope we can take P1, although I think only Spain would be an immediate exit in our half. Which is fine, but I rather have a SF rather than a QF vs Spain.

Volpi!!! Really happy with that one.

Australia will take the continental quota at the next WC. And if they don't, I doubt they will be able to threaten for any other qualifying spot, because then they fared worse than New Zealand at the next WC.

Throwback to Phelps, Cseh and Le Clos really.

Tbh hope some other countries can challenge the Aussies as well as the States, although they have not really delivered so far, at least on the individuals.

Dutch TV just call it quits before the final race for some interviews concerning the womens Tour de France. Well..

Another penalty, another re-take, another goal. Well.

A penalty. I'm getting the feeling I have seen that before.

Zambia was semi-interesting at the Olympics, but this game they look totally useless.

The problem to me is moreso that it is really dependent on the draw next time around. Draw early and you are in a messy situation. Still able to get out of it though, 3rd place will be enough. What also is a problem to me is the proximity of the Europeans and the next worlds, but the difference to the smaller nations makes that it should be fine. If edge out a surprise and fails to make the finals, then five teams is on the cards. But seems very unlikely. The latter is more important to me though, if qualifies now I'm pretty positive will take on of the spots for grabs later on.

So much for our government. Another year of status quo with all the issues going strong. Not that Spain is faring much better, sadly.

Georgia should have beaten Israel as they dominated that match, and that's all there is. Ukraine played fine and this is well-deserved.

Surprised they don't finish at Champs Elysees.

Definitely. Any team that's in now has an outside chance of medaling. Would be great if they could take it that far, but for that they at least need to qualify.

They already shorten the races more and more. The longest stage at, what, 200 km? Pretty bland. Also, the Belgian meltdown yesterday was just great. I completely don't mind van Aert but yesterday was childlike and there is no reason one of the potential winners should work for a stage win, definitely at this moment in the race. Although I would rather see Pogacar win anyway.

The penalty nonsense is ridiculous.

Also, Spain and Israel will be qualified once Portugal loses. They are still 1-0 down at the start of extra time. If that holds up, final quotum will go to Ukraine if they win either against France or Georgia. Otherwise it will go to Georgia.

I don't know with Israel. They seem to have something extra when it really matters. Just in: Another cheap penalty for France.

Erwin van der Looi misses some attacking talent himself. But really, they should have won all three. At least happy that Spain has come on top in Group B, but still a hard match against probably Italy to go. It also didn't impress me all that much against Croatia and Ukraine. Kinda hope will qualify for the Olympics, seems like basically the only chance for Kvaratskhelia to qualify for a major tournament (although the 24 Euro spots nowadays.. you'll never know). However, are really holding their own against better quality teams, so I think they are the favourites if they beat Israel. They wouldn't really be interesting at the Olympics I fear, although it would be justified.