Euro 2020 Play-offs

[Burnie_man]

On ‎18‎/‎09‎/‎2019 at 20:56, HibeeJibee said:

We get this garbage about our U21s every time they pull-off a good result. They beat the Netherlands home-n-away in the last qualifying... but also lost at home to Latvia, plus drew away to Andorra, and finished 4th. In some friendlies we drew with Estonia and crashed 4-0 at home v Slovakia. In the previous campaign they lost home-n-away v FYR Macedonia, took 1pt off Iceland, and finished 5th. Nothing encouraging there.

We have done well at the Toulon Tournament but that's somewhat deceptive as other countries were fielding teams 1 or 2 years younger than us (or their 2nd string in the case of at least England).

In terms of the historical question - we last qualified for Euro U21s in 1996. Somewhat worryingly we haven't even won more than half our qualifiers since 2009 and have won 9 out of 28 in the last 3 campaigns. We have only once ever qualified for Euro U19s in 2006. We have had a much better recent record at U17s - qualifying 4 times this decade.

Obviously results are not everything but it'd be wrong to think they're of little or no importance either.

We were pretty average against San Marino, but then managed the game tactically well in Croatia and got a last gasp win.

Going on past performances, we will struggle against Lithuania at home next month and maybe get a draw, and lose in Czechia.

Lithuania is now a crucial game to show that Croatia wasn't a flash in the pan and that we're actually contenders in this group. Win that and we might get something in Czechia. If they do that, then I'll believe that for the first time in a long time we're making progress at that level.  Even 9 points from 12 is a big step forward.

[craigkillie]

3 hours ago, Burnie_man said:

NL semi-finals confirmed as being played on Thursday 26th March, with the 4 finals matches on Tuesday 31st March.  They're not being spread across the week.

On 22nd November at 11.00GMT, the draw will be made to decide which semi-final winner hosts the final. Hosts then have 4 weeks to confirm venue.

England get to host because they will qualify automatically via their current qualifying group (almost certainly), whilst Scotland's only realistic chance is via the NL play-offs. Yesterday UEFA decreed that if two hosts are in the same group, the one who qualifies automatically hosts the game.  It was supposed to be the toss of a coin.  Nothing to do with the extra 40,000 tickets that can be sold obviously......

There is a practical reason for this tbf. The draw is held in November and the play-offs don't take place until March. If you have a toss of a coin in November and then we lose our play-off then you could end up with England coming up to Glasgow to face, say, Serbia, while another match is going on at Wembley. Or alternatively if you wait until the play-offs are finished in March, then you have 20 teams sitting around for months not knowing where and when they're playing their matches.

[Burnie_man]

5 hours ago, craigkillie said:

There is a practical reason for this tbf. The draw is held in November and the play-offs don't take place until March. If you have a toss of a coin in November and then we lose our play-off then you could end up with England coming up to Glasgow to face, say, Serbia, while another match is going on at Wembley. Or alternatively if you wait until the play-offs are finished in March, then you have 20 teams sitting around for months not knowing where and when they're playing their matches.

Well I suppose you have 16 teams who wont know if they're in Euro2020 or not until late March as it is.

Either way, it's done. Hopefully it's Wembley here we come.

[Marten]

Play-off update after match day 7. The following teams are now in the PO:

 

A: Switzerland, Iceland

B: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Wales, Northern Ireland

C: Scotland, Norway, Serbia, Bulgaria, Israel, Hungary, Romania

D: Georgia, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Belarus

 

A draw will be held with Bulgaria, Israel, Hungary and Romania. Two of them will go to the A play-offs, one to B and the remaining one will play Scotland at Hampden. This results in the following semi-finals:

 

A

Switzerland v Israel/Hungary/Romania

Iceland v Bulgaria/Israel/Hungary

 

B

Bosnia and Herzegovina v Bulgaria/Israel/Hungary/Romania

Wales v Northern Ireland

 

C

Scotland v Bulgaria/Israel/Hungary/Romania

Norway v Serbia

 

D

Georgia v Belarus

North Macedonia v Kosovo

 

 

[Fuctifano]

He seems to be fairly certain if Romania (a host nation) are in the playoffs then they'll get bumped to Pot A as UEFA are keen to avoid hosts playing each other where possible, and all the league A host countries are either through (Italy) or near certainties (Netherlands, England, Germany, Spain) so there will be no hosts in the Pot A route. Which of course means we'll avoid Romania.

Serbia will probably lose out to Portugal for auto qualifying despite tonight's results but Norway are still  in with a chance and play Romania away tomorrow, which they almost certainly need to win.

[C4mmy31]

On 12/10/2019 at 21:26, Marten said:

Play-off update after match day 7. The following teams are now in the PO:

 

A: Switzerland, Iceland

B: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Wales, Northern Ireland

Scotland, Norway, Serbia, Bulgaria, Israel, Hungary, Romania

Georgia, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Belarus

 

A draw will be held with Bulgaria, Israel, Hungary and Romania. Two of them will go to the A play-offs, one to B and the remaining one will play Scotland at Hampden. This results in the following semi-finals:

 

A

Switzerland v Israel/Hungary/Romania

Iceland v Bulgaria/Israel/Hungary

 

B

Bosnia and Herzegovina v Bulgaria/Israel/Hungary/Romania

Wales v Northern Ireland

 

C

Scotland v Bulgaria/Israel/Hungary/Romania

Norway v Serbia

 

D

Georgia v Belarus

North Macedonia v Kosovo

 

 

After tonight's carry on in Bulgaria, they might not have a draw to go into.....

[BFTD]

I'm not sure I'm prepared for the dark, dark depression that will follow when we fail to make it past Bulgaria  

[Ray Patterson]

The play-offs work upwards, so the teams lowest down that are not in the top 4, should go to the groups highest up, if that makes sense.

I'm pretty sure that assuming all the groups stay the same it will be:

D: Georgia vs Belarus and North Macedonia vs Kosovo

C: Scotland vs Bulgaria* and Norway vs Serbia

B: Bosnia-Herzegovina vs Northern Ireland and Slovakia vs Wales

A: Switzerland vs Romania (6th best non-qualifier in League C) and Iceland vs Israel (5th best non-qualifier in League C)

[craigkillie]

That's not how it works. It is a random draw between all the teams who are "moved up", with the exception that all hosts are kept apart if possible.

[Rodhull]

3 minutes ago, ArabAuslander said:

The play-offs work upwards, so the teams lowest down that are not in the top 4, should go to the groups highest up, if that makes sense.

I'm pretty sure that assuming all the groups stay the same it will be:

D: Georgia vs Belarus and North Macedonia vs Kosovo

C: Scotland vs Bulgaria* and Norway vs Serbia

B: Bosnia-Herzegovina vs Northern Ireland and Slovakia vs Wales

A: Switzerland vs Romania (6th best non-qualifier in League C) and Iceland vs Israel (5th best non-qualifier in League C)

With Scotland being promoted for next time round it looks like even if we finish bottom of our group we have a good chance of a playoff if that lineup is anything to go by.

[Ray Patterson]

Just now, Rodhull said:

With Scotland being promoted for next time round it looks like even if we finish bottom of our group we have a good chance of a playoff if that lineup is anything to go by.

If you're in the B League, you're almost guaranteed a playoff. Plus you'll be 2nd seeds in you're World Cup Qualy group

[craigkillie]

There will be lots of differences for the next campaign though.

1) League A and League B have both changed to groups of 4 rather than groups of 3. That means there are 32 teams rather than 24.

2) The next Nations League is before a World Cup, not a Euros, and so it's not guaranteed that there will even be play-offs via this path.

3) If there are play-offs, they will most likely be for only a small number of qualifying places, and they may work differently.

[George Parr]

8 hours ago, BigFatTabbyDave said:

I'm not sure I'm prepared for the dark, dark depression that will follow when we fail to make it past Bulgaria  

If we can't beat that shite at Hampden then I'm out.

[Marten]

9 hours ago, ArabAuslander said:

The play-offs work upwards, so the teams lowest down that are not in the top 4, should go to the groups highest up, if that makes sense.

I'm pretty sure that assuming all the groups stay the same it will be:

Georgia vs Belarus and North Macedonia vs Kosovo

Scotland vs Bulgaria* and Norway vs Serbia

B: Bosnia-Herzegovina vs Northern Ireland and Slovakia vs Wales

A: Switzerland vs Romania (6th best non-qualifier in League C) and Iceland vs Israel (5th best non-qualifier in League C)

No, that's not exactly how it works. With how the groups stand, there are 4 non-qualifiers in B, so all will be in the PO. There are 2 non-qualifiers in A, so they will need 2 teams from C (as B have none left). In C there is 1 qualifier out of the group winners (Finland), who will need to be replaced. The 3 best non-qualifiers (Bulgaria, Israel & Romania) will fill the 2 spots in A and remaining spot in C, in which order they finished is not important. Romania will be bumped up to A to avoid 2 hosts in the C play-offs (I missed that bit out in my previous post), they will play Switzerland. A draw will be held between Bulgaria and Israel, one of them will play Scotland in C, the other will play Iceland in A.

The way how you put it would be the sensible approach, but that's not how UEFA works.

[charger29]

The playoff situation is updated here every night after the games.

https://www.uefa.com/european-qualifiers/news/0254-0d40fc7db8ee-f6fe04623679-1000--uefa-euro-2020-play-offs-as-they-stand/

If there's 4 teams under the C path then we play whoever is listed 4th. If there's more than 4 then we play either 4th or 5th or 6th etc. decided by a draw.

Even with Portugal's result last night I don't see Serbia making it. Same with Norway, although there is a slight chance with some positive results for them tonight. They've both left it too late.

[Estragon]

Playoffs taking place on a Thursday/Tuesday it seems.  If anything, UEFA's new approach to fixture scheduling has really brought into sharp focus the extent to which I find Scotland internationals indivisible from extreme boozing, and the pre-planning required for it's aftereffects now I've become ensconced in my mid-30s.

[eez-eh]

2 hours ago, charger29 said:

The playoff situation is updated here every night after the games.

https://www.uefa.com/european-qualifiers/news/0254-0d40fc7db8ee-f6fe04623679-1000--uefa-euro-2020-play-offs-as-they-stand/

If there's 4 teams under the C path then we play whoever is listed 4th. If there's more than 4 then we play either 4th or 5th or 6th etc. decided by a draw.

Even with Portugal's result last night I don't see Serbia making it. Same with Norway, although there is a slight chance with some positive results for them tonight. They've both left it too late.

Serbia looks unlikely given Portugal’s last two games but Norway have a decent chance - their last two games are against Malta and the Faroes. If they beat Romania tonight they have a good chance.

[forameus]

I have very little fears about the playoff semi-final, as if we can't get through a home tie against dross like Bulgaria, we don't deserve to be anywhere near a tournament.  But that final...the fear.  I can see us getting through a semi, but losing the final away from home.  

I assume if Serbia pip Portugal to qualifying, then Portugal go into Path A, and the draw becomes one of Bulgaria. Israel and Romania going to path A and two staying in C?  

EDIT: I've just looked at fixtures, Portugal playing Luxembourg and Lithuania while Serbia have to beat Ukraine.  Och well, look forward to getting bodied in Belgrade in the final.

[SpoonTon]

I reckon it might still be Finland in the semi final. I fancy Armenia to take something from them in the next match, and then it will be a very tight group. Still a tough ask for Armenia and Bosnia, but I don't think that group is anything like clear cut yet. 

[charger29]

Serbia looks unlikely given Portugal’s last two games but Norway have a decent chance - their last two games are against Malta and the Faroes. If they beat Romania tonight they have a good chance.

It'll likely come down to the Romania games now. Wouldn't be completely surprising if Sweden get something tonight though.