Essexyellows
Well-known member
- Joined
- 7 Dec 2017
- Messages
- 17,322
Can only see a Neds win myself......
Don`t gamble kids you`ll never win.
Don`t gamble kids you`ll never win.
16 was fine.I used to really like the euros when it had 8 teams, the standard was very high and you had to hit the ground running. 24 teams is an odd number as you have the third place team quality from some groups and there is not the depth to ensure quality.
16 was fine.
I guess that the extra numbers does allow teams like Scotland play in a competition, but some of the middling teams have shown no ambition at all.
Very disappointing.
In fairness I think North Macedonia have been pretty good in their two games. The scoreline flattered Austria in the first game and they ran Ukraine all the way yesterday.It needed to expand to 16 especially when the USSR broke up and Yugoslavia too. There were more European nations to qualify and the competition justified it.
24 is too many. Half of Europe qualifies almost straightaway and when at the finals you have a better chance of making it through the group stage than going out. Add in the Nations League pathway to qualification too and you have a number of teams who simply don’t have the ability to play with the big boys. The only argument for it is that it gives fans of lesser nations a chance to see their team at a major tournament but does the colour of Northern Ireland or North Macedonia fans really improve the overall product? Not for me.
Netherlands through and comfortably so. I have nagging doubts over their quality to win it though. Some great players and some average ones in that squad.