I wasn’t impressed with Denmark against Slovenia, but still should be a good game.

I question why TAA was playing as a No.6 when he never plays there for Liverpool, better have him at right back at the expense of Kyle Walker.

With the likes of Eze and Palmer on the bench they should have no problem in terms of creativity but Southgate plays it safe too much with those kind of players, also no Maddison, Grealish and Sancho in the squad is baffling.

I just feel against better sides they will get found out unless Southgate coaches very well especially later the tournament where key details are often won and I don’t think he’s shown he has the tactical awareness to make the right changes and subs at the right time in those big games.

Plus we already seen it with England in previous tournaments where we know they have on paper one of the best sides but often they fall short.

Could it different this time I guess we will wait and see.

Barca, like re the Danes/Slov game, I read Bellinghams comments post game and from other media.
Its the 1st game, the blokes haven't had proper comp gallops for weeks now so like he said, don't judge whilst other scores are 5-1 yaddayadda 1 nil win is still a win.
He's a smart bloke this kid.
So we know we can't pass alot of judgement on 1 game blow outs or not.

The Danes will lift against a big foe and visa versa, 2nd game will be alot more game on.

Re his selections, look I agree, he has been trialing or believes in some odd position selections.
Look Walker is a trusted ol stayer, I actually would struggle to change him as well BUT Trippier on the other hand I would have tried Gomez, he has had a very good LFC season, can play CB LB/RB but LB he has proved his worth otherwise why did he pick him.
TAA shifts into the middle from his RB when LFC in possession more so a added mid using the flank and distribution, he's never started up as a 6 or midfielder as much as many keep harping about its his spot to be......
and yer I reckon his future is RM BUT not straight up in the NT to test him out at 6 but here's some post comments to understand - its Southgate :
"Both Jude and Southgate mentioned in post game interview how they were impressed with TAA, who was instructed to cover the spaces left behind whenever Jude goes front to either attack or press which made Jude life easier, more comfortable and he impacted more. Its clear it doesnt look like his normal game ystday which he usually wanna get on the ball and focus more on creativity and distributions. Hes literally playing with a shackle as a sacrificial role for Jude but for normal viewers and pundits, if they didnt see any sexy plays they expected of his standard, they assume as useless performance. For TAA, he got no choice to follow the instructions and role hes being asked to do by Southgate , if he wants more starting role under him."

My Conservative Southgate would never have put himslef on the line with Sancho yet away from United he had recovered his confidence and had a banger of a season.
Disgusting how he has been treated by the way.
Grealish I agree, HTF he isn't in the squad, don't think Maddison's 2nd half of the season justified selection at all.

80 players in the Euro 2024 will defend teams from countries in which they were not born. Only Czechia, Netherlands, Denmark and Austria do not have naturalized players.

𝐆𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 (1)
– Waldemar Anton, defender born in Uzbekistan

𝐒𝐜𝐨𝐭𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 (6)
– Angus Gunn, English-born goalkeeper
– ⁠Scott McTominay, English-born midfielder
– ⁠Kieran Tierney, Isle of Man-born defender
– ⁠Ché Adams, English-born striker
– ⁠Liam Cooper, English-born defender
– ⁠ Tommy Conway, English-born striker

𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐲 (5)
– Willi Orbán, defender born in Germany
– ⁠Loic Négo, defender born in France
– ⁠Milos Kerkez, defender born in Serbia and Montenegro, in a city that currently belongs to Serbia
– ⁠Callum Styles, midfielder born in England
– ⁠Márton Dárdai, German-born defender

𝐒𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐳𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 (4)
– Breel Embolo, striker born in Cameroon
– ⁠Yvon Mvogo, goalkeeper born in Cameroon
– ⁠Kwadwo Duah, striker born in England
– ⁠Xherdan Shaqiri, striker born in Yugoslavia, in a city that currently belongs to Kosovo

𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧 (3)
– Robin Le Normand, French-born defender
– ⁠Joselu, German-born striker
– ⁠Aymeric Laporte, French-born defender

𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐚 (8)
– Josip Stanisic, defender born in Germany
– ⁠Marin Pongracic, defender born in Germany
– ⁠Josip Sutalo, defender born in Bosnia and Herzegovina
– ⁠Mateo Kovacic, midfielder born in Austria
– ⁠Mario Pasalic, midfielder born in Germany
– ⁠Ante Budimir, 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐤𝐞 born in Bosnia and Herzegovina
– ⁠Marco Pasalic, striker born in Germany
– ⁠Luka Sucic, midfielder born in Austria

𝐈𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐲 (2)
– Jorginho, midfielder born in Brazil
– ⁠Mateo Retegui, striker born in Argentina

𝐀𝐥𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚 (18)
– Etrit Berisha, Kosovo-born goalkeeper
– ⁠Iván Balliu, Spanish-born defender
– ⁠Mario Mitaj, Greek-born defender
– Arlind Ajeti, Swiss-born defender
– ⁠⁠Berat Djimsiti, Swiss-born defender
– ⁠Jasir Asani, striker born in North Macedonia
– ⁠Nedim Bajrami, Swiss-born midfielder
– ⁠Armando Broja, English-born striker
– ⁠Taulant Seferi, striker born in North Macedonia
– ⁠Medon Berisha, Swiss-born midfielder
– ⁠Ardian Ismajli, Kosovo-born defender
– ⁠Mirlind Daku, Kosovo-born striker
– ⁠Ylber Ramadani, German-born midfielder
– ⁠Amir Abrashi, Swiss-born midfielder
– ⁠Thomas Strakosha, Greek-born goalkeeper
– ⁠Marash Kumbulla , Italian-born defender
– ⁠Naser Aliji, North Macedonian-born defender
– Arbër Hoxha, German-born attacker

𝐒𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐚 (2)
– Sandi Lovric, midfielder born in Austria
– Josip Iličić, striker born in Yugoslavia, in a city that currently belongs to Bosnia and Herzegovina

𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐚 (4)
– Miloš Veljković, Swiss-born defender
– Lazar Samardžić, German-born striker
– ⁠⁠Sergej Milinković-Savić, Spanish-born midfielder
– Vanja Milinković-Savić, Spanish-born goalkeeper

𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 (1)
– Marc Guéhi, defender born in Côte d’Ivoire

𝐏𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝 (2)
– Taras Romanczuk, Ukrainian-born midfielder
– ⁠Nicola Zalewski, Italian-born midfielder

𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 (4)
– Brice Samba, goalkeeper born in the Democratic Republic of Congo
– ⁠Eduardo Camavinga, midfielder born in Angola
– ⁠Marcus Thuram, striker born in Italy
– ⁠Mike Maignan, goalkeeper born in French Guiana

𝐁𝐞𝐥𝐠𝐢𝐮𝐦 (1)
– Amadou Onana, midfielder born in Senegal

𝐒𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐚 (1)
– Vernon De Marco, Argentine-born defender

𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚 (2)
– Ianis Hagi, Turkish-born midfielder
– ⁠Bogdan Racovitan, French-born defender

𝐔𝐤𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞 (2)
– Andriy Yarmolenko, striker born in the Soviet Union, in a city that currently belongs to Russia
– ⁠Viktor Tsyhankov, midfielder born in Israel

𝐓𝐮̈𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐲𝐞 (8)
– Orkun Kokcu, Dutch-born midfielder
– ⁠Cenk Tosun, German-born striker
– ⁠Hakan Çalhanoglu, German-born midfielder
– ⁠Salih Ozcan, German-born midfielder
– ⁠Mert Muldur, Austrian-born defender
– Kenan Yildiz⁠, German-born striker
– ⁠Ferdi Kadioglu, Dutch-born midfielder
– ⁠Kaan Ayhan, German-born defender

𝐆𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐢𝐚 (2)
– Giorgi Tsitaishvili, Israeli-born midfielder
– ⁠Georges Mikautadze, French-born striker

𝐏𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐠𝐚𝐥 (4)
– Pepe, defender born in Brazil
– ⁠Danilo Pereira, defender born in Guinea-Bissau
– ⁠Matheus Nunes, midfielders born in Brazil
– ⁠Diogo Costa, goalkeeper born in Switzerland

Tiebreaker is H2H just like at Asian Cup. 

Lol. The Albanians have cast a wide net.

Watched the England Serbia game on catch up.

Serbia well better than England in the second half and had them under the pump for no result. England better in the first half.


How's the big strapping lad for Slovenia with the cannon for a foot? I reckon that right hand post is still rattling. He fired of 3 or 4 long range bombs. 

bloody sensational background work johnsz banging,
So so happy Azzuri just 2, maybe thats the reason of decline last 5/10 yrs lol......
Impressive the ones similar to Italys.
France 4 , was more years past from memory.
tsf will be happy confirmed as the albanians are heading for heinz 57 varietys lol
I'm not surprised of the countries with the many border battles of the past and where families have jumped to safety or work.
McTominay must have flipped the coin re his mum or dad - easier get into the scot NT than 3Lions I suppose.

Interesting they do this for tournaments now, but for qualifying rounds it's still 'overall'


Given that the Italian team historically draws a lot from Serie A - I'd probably put it down to the Italian government giving tax breaks to well paid foreign players joining Serie A (which has been abolished in the past year or two)

Ok NCB but that is only recently as you mention last year or 2.
Don't forget we were buying big name foreigners for many years before as well but still produced monsters of the game.
We have been in the doldrums for quite sometime long before then, we haven't unearthed a Pirlo/Totti types, A Rossi/Inzaghi/ADP for eg.
Christ you name it so many legendary players last 20/30yrs nothing like them.
Since retirements of Gigi/now Bonucci players currently don't have what many of these guys had, checkout our winning euro '21 squad (what a bloody feat) and see who's left, I think Jorginho/Barella/Chiesa pretty much only ones from '21.
Lucky Donnarumma came to be for Buffon was epic.
Anyway could be worse haha, we're in it and I was impressed how we managed the storm, normally like in a important key away game we've blown it like missing the last 2 WC's.
So bring on Spain next, that sure is going to tell us something lol, fingers toes you name it crossed.

I'm not entirely sure of the logic behind it. I personally dislike it at tournaments. While a minnow beating a giant can make it really helpful in that sense, it sucks at the end that one single game can rule out the other two.

Yep, that is the way I see it too. I don't really like it tbh. Makes more sense to flip it around and do it in qualifying (where there's at least two games - when it's a two-way tie).
The thing that does make it slightly interesting, is when it 's a three-way tie, that it takes out the game against the fourth team


Yes, that is all quite true.

On a side note:

Pointless stat of the undisclosed time period time!

• Uruguay - 1935
• Egypt - 1957
• Egypt - 1959
• South Korea - 1960
• Ethiopia - 1962
• Ghana - 1963
• Costa Rica - 1963
• Bolivia - 1963
• Israel - 1964
• Ghana - 1965
• Guatemala - 1967
• Iran - 1968
• DR Congo - 1968
• Costa Rica - 1969
• Sudan - 1970
• Congo - 1972
• Iran - 1972
• New Zealand - 1973
• Czechoslovakia - 1976
• Morocco - 1976
• Ghana - 1978
• Paraguay - 1979
• Ghana - 1980
• Australia - 1980
• Nigeria - 1982
• Saudi Arabia - 1984
• Egypt - 1986
• Saudi Arabia - 1988
• Denmark - 1992
• Japan - 1992
• Ivory Coast - 1992
• Uruguay - 1995
• Australia - 1996
• Egypt - 1998
• New Zealand - 1998
• Canada - 2000
• Australia - 2000
• New Zealand - 2002
• Greece - 2004
• Egypt - 2006
• Iraq - 2007
• Egypt - 2008
• Egypt - 2010
• Tahiti - 2012
• Zambia - 2012
• New Zealand - 2016
• Algeria - 2019
• Italy - 2020
• Ivory Coast - 2023 (If they do not qualify for 2026 FIFA World Cup)
  

Romania Ukraine underway. Wouldn't mind a Romania win.

Romanian wingers aren't afraid to try to beat a man 

For a Monday lunch time kick off a great atmosphere and crowd. 

What a nicely taken goal by Romania. Once again stupid insistence on playing out from the back goes punished. 

Stadium is rocking in this Ukraine Romania game.  Going off.

A league teams should go for Stanciu in the next few years. His 31 and playing Saudi ATM 

https://youtu.be/fXZM2J9r3Q0?si=EBbKbSwY_wBlKCWA

Remember Australia Slovenia in 2010? We had some great Euro friendlies back then. Guests to so many places. The calendar hardly allows for that anyway.

If you think since 2006 we've played the vast majority of European teams in a different type of match. Portugal, Slovakia, Ukraine are some we haven't played off the top of my head. Turkey has been ages since the tour down under.

Have we even played Sweden? Baltic states would be fun away trips. Forgettable mentions, Macedonia away 0:0 and Norway 4:1 for BVM debut. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_men%27s_national_soccer_team_all-time_record

We played Sweden 5 times between 92-96.

Israel probably doesn't count. We've played Greece the most amongst UEFA nations interestingly. 

Exact kinda guy for Asia or MLS. While a good player, I'd rather a local kid get the nod as his body might start cracking. 

Yeah, I wouldn't count Israel as they weren't part of UEFA at the time we played them (last time 1989 World Cup qualifiers when Israel were made to play through Oceania and won)

EDIT: If you go off that Wikipedia list (and count Israel as AFC/OFC when we played them) we have never played these UEFA nations:

Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herz., Cyprus, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, Georgia, Gibraltar, Iceland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Portugal, Russia, San Marino, Ukraine

I despise the Nations League

https://ultra.zone/UEFA-EURO-2024-Group-Stage

It's finally up!

I only dislike it in what it has done to prevent non UEFA getting more practice games against UEFA teams. The flaw is that a big nation could lose every game and still have a playoff safety net. 

I think over the years it shows benefits for smaller nations who've gone up the ranks giving themselves more safety nets. At the same time, shouldn't you just qualify during qualifying?

It's interesting in the obligations it has given nations to play every single window. Teams may have rested every now and then.

So here I am writing about the Nations League during 2 Romania goals. They're in dreamland.

Once again though, total GD is only used if you tie against a team you drew against. Used somewhat so 1:0 wins suffice which hinders scoring more in a way.

This table is really fun to play with haha.

There's 3 teams (if we exclude East Germany) that Australia have only played before our first World Cup, and never since:
Cambodia, Zimbabwe and Philippines

And, interestingly, despite how small the OFC is, 5 nations we played only once - and 3 of them were during the 2002 WCQ (and 1 after during the 2002 OFC Nations Cup)

Yeah, that about sums it up to me. It's great for intra-confederation stuff, but not inter-confederational.

Ah good point.
Although, can count extra goals in the (rare) instance there is a third team involved.

Yep those 3 teams tied on 5 make it very worthwhile then. 

On the Ultrazone tipper I have Serbia, Denmark, Slovenia all ending on 2 pts while Georgia and Turkey only 1 each. I hope with lots of draws we could see some interesting teams get into 3rd. Serbia actually rank the 4th best 3rd team in my list with only 2 points. This can give Scotland hope if they beat Hungary. 

Actually just realised. GD is a massive factor for 3rd place table.