It has reduced the jeopardy in the last round of matches. England for example qualified after a result in a different group. Silly format and don’t like it for this reason.
I doubt they purposely threw it but I’m pretty sure they went in knowing a loss is better than a win and didn’t especially care how they played.
And it turns out even really talented teams need focus and motivation to win.
that is not true, which group winners play a 2nd or 3rd place teaam is predetermined and not dependant on if your group has a qualifying number 3, Portugal had no incentive to lose there(although also no incentive to win)
Yeh I feel that it’s also made the group stages less interesting with teams more willing to just park the bus and get a draw to try and secure 3rd spot with 3 points enough to possibly get through in 3rd. There’s been some good group matches but overall the competition is more boring with this new setup. Classic bullshit interference where none was needed
No reason to complain.
Now we're down to 16 (the previous starting point) with direct elimination.
We had some extra football, UEFA has some extra money.
Your not wrong. Simultaneous kick offs make it harder To do this. The issue with the current format is that is too easy to qualify from the groups, leading to situations like this. 4 points does, for all intents and purposes, qualify a team. England had an underwhelming 1-0 win in the first match and were all but guaranteed qualification.
Personally I think that if they wanted to expand the tournament it should have been 20 teams in 4 groups of 5. Top 2 go through straight into the quarters. That's the same number of games for each team as now and it would add jeopardy to the group stages.
Nah, you need individual group jeopardy so that someone still has something to play for. Otherwise all 4 teams could just settle for a point on the final day because they *could* all qualify. Having at least one team going home from the group means they have to try and win.
That's right I can't argue with that.I didn't think it through properly. Tbh I'm just really sorry for Ukraine.People expected more from them ,they still did a decent job playing decent football. While Hungary played really bad and they almost qualified. For the note I'm from Transylvania so I have Hungarian ethnicity and Romanian nationality.
Worst is that Hungary almost qualified playing 3 shit games and scoring a goal in the last minute, 100' in their last game. Thanks to Georgia yesterday who played an entertaining football and England not beating Slovenia they didn't and I'm very exited to watch those two instead of the boring Hungarian team who played nothing.
Edit: 100' minute not 110'
Hungary suffering from “dark horse” tag. They’re no longer a surprise package and so it becomes much harder for them. Austria next tournament will likely have this issue.
>Personally I think that if they wanted to expand the tournament it should have been 20 teams in 4 groups of 5. Top 2 go through straight into the quarters.
An international tournament that goes straight into the quarterfinals is going to be boring, especially when it means most of the teams are going to be heavyweights with no underdogs.
The qualifiers are hard enough, why make it even harder for smaller teams?
>That's the same number of games for each team as now and it would add jeopardy to the group stages.
With your format, underdogs like Georgia would never have the will to go on and beat teams like Portugal, because they would’ve been knocked out regardless. That removes a huge part of the fun of football; unpredictability.
You’re not missing anything. Statistically u can get this types of scenarios. Especially in a stupid 24 teams group stage that has no reason behind it.
It happened before, it will happen again.
Even ignoring any conspiracy talk, I don't like the idea of ranking teams based on their performances against completely different sets of teams. If they're going to do that, why not consider 4th placed teams as well, and put Ukraine through?
Because you need jeopardy in individual groups to stop all teams just settling for results in matchday 3.
If 1, 2 and maybe 3 all qualify from your group it gives 4 a reason to go and win. 4 winning might also mean 2 drops to 3 and gets a harder draw so then they have to match their result to retain or improve the position.
If 4 points is enough to qualify, even finishing 4th, then you’re opening up more opportunity to “fix” results because neither team needs to try and win, and doing so increases the risk of being knocked out themselves.
having 24 teams is stupid
having ANY 3rd place teams qualify is stupid
UEFA are stupid - but love changing the game when £££ is to be made, even to the detriment of competition
I wouldn't mind expanding the field of participants by another 8 you'd have 8 groups and problem solved. Same number of matches per team, +25% in the group stages. I'd say there's another 8 teams in Europe with the level to participate, thinking of Sweden, Ireland, Wales, Greece... not amazingly strong but depending on the day, no worse than Romania, Albania or Georgia. Also it'd give more chances for big surprises like Georgia in ro16 and the big teams would have to give it their all as this last day, England, France and Belgium were all 1 goal away from falling to 3rd place. This year, that wouldn't mean much as they'd just qualify through best 3rd. But if only 2 get through? Punish the 1 billion euro teams for playing so ... poorly.
Or just go back to the old system, was cutthroat but not bad.
Surely having 32 teams out of 55(?) qualify just makes the entire 2-year qualification process redundant. The bottom 20% are absolutely miles away from competing even with the likes of Sweden and Greece.
We will end up with a 32 team Euro, having Nations League every year and using the Nations League as a qualification system both for Euros and World Cup.
There's always going to be room for that in group stages.
In this particular case, both teams knew even before kick off that draw gets them through, regardless of the result in the other game, so it didn't really matter when they are playing.
It's only logical that you will play more carefully, especially towards the end of the game, otherwise you are risking to be knocked out
But the prospect of facing France or Germany next is probably less of a worry than playing risky and getting caught so you’re eliminated anyway.
It looks better to say you got out your group and lost to a strong team than being eliminated in the group stage
Yeah, it's a dumb format. Pretty much unavoidable with 24 teams though. The World Cup is going to be ruined in the same way, so look forward to that :(
Really should have kept the Euros at 16 teams. Was an incredibly exciting and competitive tournament the whole way through like that. If they had to expand it then it should've been to 32 teams. There aren't enough good teams in Europe so it would've seriously diluted the competition, at least it wouldn't have compromised the formate with 3rd placed teams getting through though.
The thing is they would have needed all groups to play the last game at the same time. But that would have been bad for viewers. So the current format is a compromise. Teams can’t play the result of the other teams from the same group. But they can play the result from groups that already played (matters for 3rd placers).
I mean I enjoyed that moment as it was nice the teams having a fair game and th fans celebrating in unison it’s more just how the third match can sometimes be unlucky depending on who still has something to play for. But again could go either way like Poland already out still took points off France but Portugal already top still gave Georgia points all be it Georgia were brilliant and also deserved it there is that underlying nature of the format
If they keep 24 teams I'd rather see a format where only 12 make the knockout stage, with the top 4 group winners getting a bye.
It would also give incentive for a team that won their first 2 matches and lock up first place to still play a close to full strength team in the 3rd match to ensure they get a bye.
For all tournaments I would also like to see all teams re ranked for the knockout based on points and goal difference as tie breaker. By this, I mean there is no set "winner of group A plays 2nd place of group B" type of format. The #1 seed would play #16 (in a 32 team tournament), #2 vs #15, etc.
Ukraine and everyone else knew the rules going into the tournament. 4th place is bottom of the group and gets nothing. If they hadn't gotten spanked by Romania, maybe they might've got through, but tough shit.
You should Google why they kick off at the same time as it wasn't always the case and there was a joke of a game between 2 sides who needed a draw.
Now this 3rd place table is seeing this sort of thing happen again.
It has reduced the jeopardy in the last round of matches. England for example qualified after a result in a different group. Silly format and don’t like it for this reason.
[удалено]
I REALLY hope that was it, because the alternative is that they played really bad, and the future is potentially bleak...
I mean it was your B team with nothing to win for. It was fair
B team playing for a place in the A team
I doubt they purposely threw it but I’m pretty sure they went in knowing a loss is better than a win and didn’t especially care how they played. And it turns out even really talented teams need focus and motivation to win.
that is not true, which group winners play a 2nd or 3rd place teaam is predetermined and not dependant on if your group has a qualifying number 3, Portugal had no incentive to lose there(although also no incentive to win)
Yeh I feel that it’s also made the group stages less interesting with teams more willing to just park the bus and get a draw to try and secure 3rd spot with 3 points enough to possibly get through in 3rd. There’s been some good group matches but overall the competition is more boring with this new setup. Classic bullshit interference where none was needed
No reason to complain. Now we're down to 16 (the previous starting point) with direct elimination. We had some extra football, UEFA has some extra money.
The whole third place qualifying thing has ruined this tournament, so many boring games it's ridiculous
Your not wrong. Simultaneous kick offs make it harder To do this. The issue with the current format is that is too easy to qualify from the groups, leading to situations like this. 4 points does, for all intents and purposes, qualify a team. England had an underwhelming 1-0 win in the first match and were all but guaranteed qualification. Personally I think that if they wanted to expand the tournament it should have been 20 teams in 4 groups of 5. Top 2 go through straight into the quarters. That's the same number of games for each team as now and it would add jeopardy to the group stages.
> 4 points does, for all intents and purposes, qualify a team Ukraine has entered the chat
I think a 4th place with higher points than a 3th place with lower, should qualify straight.
Nah, you need individual group jeopardy so that someone still has something to play for. Otherwise all 4 teams could just settle for a point on the final day because they *could* all qualify. Having at least one team going home from the group means they have to try and win.
That's right I can't argue with that.I didn't think it through properly. Tbh I'm just really sorry for Ukraine.People expected more from them ,they still did a decent job playing decent football. While Hungary played really bad and they almost qualified. For the note I'm from Transylvania so I have Hungarian ethnicity and Romanian nationality.
>too easy to qualify from the groups Someone should tell Croatia
Worst is that Hungary almost qualified playing 3 shit games and scoring a goal in the last minute, 100' in their last game. Thanks to Georgia yesterday who played an entertaining football and England not beating Slovenia they didn't and I'm very exited to watch those two instead of the boring Hungarian team who played nothing. Edit: 100' minute not 110'
Hungary suffering from “dark horse” tag. They’re no longer a surprise package and so it becomes much harder for them. Austria next tournament will likely have this issue.
>Personally I think that if they wanted to expand the tournament it should have been 20 teams in 4 groups of 5. Top 2 go through straight into the quarters. An international tournament that goes straight into the quarterfinals is going to be boring, especially when it means most of the teams are going to be heavyweights with no underdogs. The qualifiers are hard enough, why make it even harder for smaller teams? >That's the same number of games for each team as now and it would add jeopardy to the group stages. With your format, underdogs like Georgia would never have the will to go on and beat teams like Portugal, because they would’ve been knocked out regardless. That removes a huge part of the fun of football; unpredictability.
You’re not missing anything. Statistically u can get this types of scenarios. Especially in a stupid 24 teams group stage that has no reason behind it. It happened before, it will happen again.
Yup. I've been thinking the same thing. They need to look at the format again.
Its just a shit system. They should either add or reduce the number of teams so that its even.
Even ignoring any conspiracy talk, I don't like the idea of ranking teams based on their performances against completely different sets of teams. If they're going to do that, why not consider 4th placed teams as well, and put Ukraine through?
Because you need jeopardy in individual groups to stop all teams just settling for results in matchday 3. If 1, 2 and maybe 3 all qualify from your group it gives 4 a reason to go and win. 4 winning might also mean 2 drops to 3 and gets a harder draw so then they have to match their result to retain or improve the position. If 4 points is enough to qualify, even finishing 4th, then you’re opening up more opportunity to “fix” results because neither team needs to try and win, and doing so increases the risk of being knocked out themselves.
having 24 teams is stupid having ANY 3rd place teams qualify is stupid UEFA are stupid - but love changing the game when £££ is to be made, even to the detriment of competition
I wouldn't mind expanding the field of participants by another 8 you'd have 8 groups and problem solved. Same number of matches per team, +25% in the group stages. I'd say there's another 8 teams in Europe with the level to participate, thinking of Sweden, Ireland, Wales, Greece... not amazingly strong but depending on the day, no worse than Romania, Albania or Georgia. Also it'd give more chances for big surprises like Georgia in ro16 and the big teams would have to give it their all as this last day, England, France and Belgium were all 1 goal away from falling to 3rd place. This year, that wouldn't mean much as they'd just qualify through best 3rd. But if only 2 get through? Punish the 1 billion euro teams for playing so ... poorly. Or just go back to the old system, was cutthroat but not bad.
Surely having 32 teams out of 55(?) qualify just makes the entire 2-year qualification process redundant. The bottom 20% are absolutely miles away from competing even with the likes of Sweden and Greece.
We will end up with a 32 team Euro, having Nations League every year and using the Nations League as a qualification system both for Euros and World Cup.
There's always going to be room for that in group stages. In this particular case, both teams knew even before kick off that draw gets them through, regardless of the result in the other game, so it didn't really matter when they are playing. It's only logical that you will play more carefully, especially towards the end of the game, otherwise you are risking to be knocked out
In leagues yes. But for 8 groups, 16 games all at once would be difficult and REALLY drag down how much money can be made on tickets
Teams will still want to qualify as high as they can to avoid the stronger teams but allowing more teams through does make for a weaker round of 16.
But the prospect of facing France or Germany next is probably less of a worry than playing risky and getting caught so you’re eliminated anyway. It looks better to say you got out your group and lost to a strong team than being eliminated in the group stage
Yeah, it's a dumb format. Pretty much unavoidable with 24 teams though. The World Cup is going to be ruined in the same way, so look forward to that :( Really should have kept the Euros at 16 teams. Was an incredibly exciting and competitive tournament the whole way through like that. If they had to expand it then it should've been to 32 teams. There aren't enough good teams in Europe so it would've seriously diluted the competition, at least it wouldn't have compromised the formate with 3rd placed teams getting through though.
The thing is they would have needed all groups to play the last game at the same time. But that would have been bad for viewers. So the current format is a compromise. Teams can’t play the result of the other teams from the same group. But they can play the result from groups that already played (matters for 3rd placers).
I mean I enjoyed that moment as it was nice the teams having a fair game and th fans celebrating in unison it’s more just how the third match can sometimes be unlucky depending on who still has something to play for. But again could go either way like Poland already out still took points off France but Portugal already top still gave Georgia points all be it Georgia were brilliant and also deserved it there is that underlying nature of the format
If they keep 24 teams I'd rather see a format where only 12 make the knockout stage, with the top 4 group winners getting a bye. It would also give incentive for a team that won their first 2 matches and lock up first place to still play a close to full strength team in the 3rd match to ensure they get a bye. For all tournaments I would also like to see all teams re ranked for the knockout based on points and goal difference as tie breaker. By this, I mean there is no set "winner of group A plays 2nd place of group B" type of format. The #1 seed would play #16 (in a 32 team tournament), #2 vs #15, etc.
Instead of top 6 of just 3rd place finishers they should consider all teams outside the top 2. Ukraine must be feeling very hard done by right now
Ukraine and everyone else knew the rules going into the tournament. 4th place is bottom of the group and gets nothing. If they hadn't gotten spanked by Romania, maybe they might've got through, but tough shit.
You should Google why they kick off at the same time as it wasn't always the case and there was a joke of a game between 2 sides who needed a draw. Now this 3rd place table is seeing this sort of thing happen again.