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UEFA Nations League

Worktheshaft

By Worktheshaft
in Tartan Army Ramblings

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Coooombe

Coooombe

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Gordon EF said:

Let's face it lads, League C is already in the bag.

The qualifiers proper should be used as an opportunity for the national team to tour the country fielding sides comprised of Billy Gilmour and 10 lucky supporters to be drawn at random from a raffle before each game.

This, and doing a Wales and capping every British national who shows even the slightest glimpse of potential.

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Bully Wee Villa

Bully Wee Villa

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I don't know if @HibeeJibee has commented on it yet, but I saw a mention in When Saturday Comes that this would be used to contribute for World Cup Qualifying spaces, too. It didn't state the format but did say that only Leagues A and B would contribute a place.

I'd guess the Qualifiers would be 10 groups of 5 or 6, with only Group Winners and Best Runner-Up Qualifying along with the League A and League B Nations League Playoff Winners. 

Makes trying to get promoted even more important as there is virtually zero chance of us topping a group ahead of a Spain, Germany, France-type team. 

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HibeeJibee

HibeeJibee

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That's the first I'd heard of it being used for WC qualifying. Europe only has 13 slots for the next tournament and even after that it's only going up to 16 so I'd be amazed if they wanted to give slots to lower divisions... on paper your "top 13" might be the Division A sides and only a single further nation. If they're going to use Nations League it wouldn't surprise if they had something like 11 groups in WC qualifying, leaving only 2 spaces; and then mixed them with say 2 Division A and 2 Division B teams in each rather than segregating each division. Especially given, by the very nature of the format, 4 'top' nations will be relegated and replaced by 4 'second level' nations e.g. you've currently got the Dutch and Italians exiting with Bosnia and Denmark ascending.

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Gordon EF

Gordon EF

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3 hours ago, Coooombe said:

This, and doing a Wales and capping every British national who shows even the slightest glimpse of potential.

Great idea. Send Faddy down to the public parks of England, Wales, Northern Ireland to scout for a few decent players and tie them to Scotland by bringing them on as subs for the last 5 minutes.

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forameus

forameus

Posted
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12 hours ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

I don't know if @HibeeJibee has commented on it yet, but I saw a mention in When Saturday Comes that this would be used to contribute for World Cup Qualifying spaces, too. It didn't state the format but did say that only Leagues A and B would contribute a place.

I'd guess the Qualifiers would be 10 groups of 5 or 6, with only Group Winners and Best Runner-Up Qualifying along with the League A and League B Nations League Playoff Winners. 

Makes trying to get promoted even more important as there is virtually zero chance of us topping a group ahead of a Spain, Germany, France-type team. 

That's an interesting point.  Basically, if you can get yourself up to League B, you stand a very decent chance of being put into the playoffs as long as you don't completely bomb your Nations League campaign (because presumably all of the League A teams will already have qualified).  Get into League A by some magic and you're basically guaranteed a playoff spot within reason.

12 hours ago, HibeeJibee said:

That's the first I'd heard of it being used for WC qualifying. Europe only has 13 slots for the next tournament and even after that it's only going up to 16 so I'd be amazed if they wanted to give slots to lower divisions... on paper your "top 13" might be the Division A sides and only a single further nation. If they're going to use Nations League it wouldn't surprise if they had something like 11 groups in WC qualifying, leaving only 2 spaces; and then mixed them with say 2 Division A and 2 Division B teams in each rather than segregating each division. Especially given, by the very nature of the format, 4 'top' nations will be relegated and replaced by 4 'second level' nations e.g. you've currently got the Dutch and Italians exiting with Bosnia and Denmark ascending.

I was sure I'd heard someone say that they would at least try and bring it into the FIFA  tournaments as well.  I think they're still planning to play it every 2 years, so makes sense to have something at stake each time, unless they treat every second one as a kind of positioning mechanism for the next one when it really matters.  

With Europe having 13 slots, and 54 (?) nations, they could easily just have 9 groups of 6, group winners go through automatically, remaining 4 go to the Nations League as it is for the Euros.  Not ideal, obviously, as it means the World Cup Qualifiers are essentially a procession in most cases, as sides like Germany, France, Spain, England etc romp to an unchallenged qualification, but it'll make the Nations League even more cut-throat.

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forameus

forameus

Posted
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4 hours ago, Bully Wee Villa said:

You can't have nine groups of six as there are 55 teams now, since Kosovo and Gibraltar joined. 

I think HJ's suggestion of eleven groups of five is likely. The Group Winners would be joined by playoff winners from Group A and Group B. 

Lotto draw.  One country drops out.

Yeah, with 55 it doesn't really work now.  Not sure why, but can't see them doing a selective thing from the Nations League, but wouldn't put it past them.  Remains to be seen.  No matter what, the main qualifiers will continue to be a fucking nightmare to get out of.

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HibeeJibee

HibeeJibee

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9 hours ago, forameus said:

Lotto draw.  One country drops out.

Yeah, with 55 it doesn't really work now.  Not sure why, but can't see them doing a selective thing from the Nations League, but wouldn't put it past them.  Remains to be seen.  No matter what, the main qualifiers will continue to be a fucking nightmare to get out of.

You may be onto something here. It could be a random draw to temporarily reunite 2 teams "for one night only"? Relive the glory days of Ireland, Czechoslovakia, Austria-Hungary, Denmark-Norway, or Poland & Lithuania.

I do wonder if they will want to restrict the qualifiers to group winners only, though. Many nations would be playing for nothing quite early on. Perhaps they might run 10 groups and then put all 10 runners-up and 2 Nations League teams (potentially opening door to lower divisions) into 2-stage playoffs for last 3 slots?

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GordonS

GordonS

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You may be onto something here. It could be a random draw to temporarily reunite 2 teams "for one night only"? Relive the glory days of Ireland, Czechoslovakia, Austria-Hungary, Denmark-Norway, or Poland & Lithuania.

If we're cutting numbers, the logical place to start would be with members who are in no sense independent countries. That way you could save 5 from UK, Faroes, Gibraltar straight away.
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GordonS

GordonS

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You may be onto something here. It could be a random draw to temporarily reunite 2 teams "for one night only"? Relive the glory days of Ireland, Czechoslovakia, Austria-Hungary, Denmark-Norway, or Poland & Lithuania.

If we're cutting numbers, the logical place to start would be with members who are in no sense independent countries. That way you could save 5 from UK, Faroes, Gibraltar straight away.
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Honest_Man#1

Honest_Man#1

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1 minute ago, Antiochas III said:

No it would be 5.

4 home nations, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar = 6

But the UK would = 1

Net saving is 5

No, he was suggesting cutting all of those members so the 4 home Nations, Gibraltar and Faroes all cut. It would only be 5 if he was suggesting putting a UK team back in.

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Antiochas III

Antiochas III

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1 minute ago, Honest_Man#1 said:

No, he was suggesting cutting all of those members so the 4 home Nations, Gibraltar and Faroes all cut. It would only be 5 if he was suggesting putting a UK team back in.

And why wouldn't the UK have a team in that scenario?  His statement is correct.

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forameus

forameus

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On 9/15/2018 at 00:04, HibeeJibee said:

You may be onto something here. It could be a random draw to temporarily reunite 2 teams "for one night only"? Relive the glory days of Ireland, Czechoslovakia, Austria-Hungary, Denmark-Norway, or Poland & Lithuania.

I do wonder if they will want to restrict the qualifiers to group winners only, though. Many nations would be playing for nothing quite early on. Perhaps they might run 10 groups and then put all 10 runners-up and 2 Nations League teams (potentially opening door to lower divisions) into 2-stage playoffs for last 3 slots?

I'd really be up for more teams going into a playoff situation, particularly for the World Cup Qualifiers.  I expect the clubs would be dead against it given it would be more games, but we saw how much more exciting and rewarding the qualifiers were for 2016 just by adding more opportunities for qualification.  

I'd put at least all 2nd placed sides (plus whatever Nations League combination you get), and maybe even all 3rd placed sides into the playoffs with seeding.  Play single-legged ties in the host country of the World Cup in March for the last few spots, make an event of it.  

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