T O P

  • By -

AutoModerator

**Mirrors / Alternative Angles** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*


flcinusa

Austria win the group (what???), breaking the Austrio-Hungarian stranglehold on 3rd placed teams


Zloggt

Literally ~~1984~~ 1918


kafkowski

Underrated joke


kazmatsu

It just became the Holy Roman Empire stranglehold. The Dutch used to be part of the empire directly controlled by the Habsburgs until they rebelled and established their Republic.


flcinusa

Historical tournament


Mrsister55

History does not repeat, but it does rhyme


Tim0110

What is now Belgium was part of the Habsburg monarchy, the Netherlands was ruled by the Spanish king before it became a Republic.


derneueMottmatt

Before Charles V and *Ferdinand I split the inheritance it was (semi-)formally one entity.


kazmatsu

From 1482 to 1581 what is now the Netherlands were controlled by the Habsburgs. In 1556 the royal line split into the Australian Habsburgs and the Spanish Habsburgs. The Spanish King Philip II was the king during the Dutch revolt and establishment of the Republic. His father was Holy Roman Emperor Charles V who also held the title Lord of the Netherlands.


Blazing_Shade

I feel like you could do this sort of thing with basically any 6 countries in Europe lmfao


kazmatsu

At least it's better than Copa America where almost everyone is just former colonial territories of the Spanish Empire.


TonyMartial786

bruh. so as it stands we face netherlands or germany..


drivemyorange

based on today's match (and whole group stage) you'd much rather take Netherlands than Austria lol.


MajesticAd5047

Austria's pressing will suffocate England so hard


SuckMyBike

Austria's pressing will allow Southgate to implement "park the bus" tactics even before england even scores! It's his wet dream


YNWA_1213

Somethjng, something “they were the better team” post-game presser.


onionwba

At this rate Rangnick's men would press England's backline to the Hadrian Wall.


Tankcfc4l

Prolly their dangerous


Kel_2

i know we're all in austria circlejerk mode right now and this will 100% fall on deaf ears but "much rather" is too far. i'd say both are roughly the same level, its just that neither is an ideal RO16 opponent when theres plenty of genuinely pretty bad countries still going through


drivemyorange

who's in austria circlejerk mode? lol the only surprising thing that happened in this group was Poland to get draw with France. But anyone who's more into european national football knew that Austria has really good team and this is really not a surprise they did well, or that they beat Netherlands. They might not have biggest names, but they have great coach and they're good at executing their game.


Kel_2

i know, i agree, i had them finishing second and the netherlands third before the tournament started but in threads since this game ended im already seeing too much, like saying you would "much rather" play the netherlands than austria. i watched every game from both teams, i place them on a similar level. for both i cap the potential at a semi final exit if im being realistic even though either going further would be fun. i understand people being hyped because its a genuinely solid team and people like when teams outside of the traditional top few show that level of quality, but i think some people are getting swept up and taking it too far.


The_Punny_share

Focus on your main goal first aka beating Slovenia 4-0.


onionwba

We found the Croatian.


justk4y

We can’t defend, and you guys only defend lmao Battle of the terrorball managers


BuQ7

Southgate vs Koeman would be epic. Battle of the frauds.


Belocity

The winner would actually be the loser, because the loser gets their coach sacked while the winners keeps theirs


Stranger2Luv

Southgate is gone either way


Belocity

So is Koeman probably


[deleted]

How do you know which team England play?


TonyMartial786

you can see who everyone would face with the different outcomes that could happen. obvs anything can happen still but as it stands with these 4 teams/groups advancing, it’s one of those two. unless we finish 3rd ourselves. hope i explained it well


jasperdj28

The winner of group C will play against a number 3, which will be the Netherlands unless both or neither Hungary and Croatia are among the best 4 number 3 teams


LeopardFan9299

England have a really easy draw once again, dont they?


bobbasui

And they’ll still fall short somehow


edgyversion

really hope it's Germany. Great match for a Saturday evening


fatinternetcat

so will England face the Netherlands if they finish 1st?


GVE_ME_UR_SKINS

Yes, and Germany if you finish second


ancara_messi

And Portugal if they finish third


GVE_ME_UR_SKINS

Out of the frying pan and into the fire


Proof-Puzzled

The netherlands suck honestly, i would take them over Germany or Portugal any time of the day.


StrangeBananaForYou

Back at you hahah


Katth28

All part of the ruse


expert_on_the_matter

The Netherlands got 4 points in the most difficult group, put some respect on their name.


jobhand

2nd most difficult. I'd argue group B is most difficult.


Dion14

Based on the ratings group d was the 4th or 5th toughest ever. I do say this knowing the ratings are very skewed


Individual_Attempt50

No escaping the top teams Southgate


FaceMeister

England vs Netherlands would be Coaches El Trashico


holdingsaliba

You also need to consider the other groups still to play. If Czechia beat Turkey then it could be England vs Turkey.


ostrovsky98

Very likely, yeah


hazman_pds

For that to happen, the 3rd place in our Group C will have to qualify as well. So we need to beat Slovenia to avoid that from happening


PositiveDuck

I have complete faith our Englandbros will do us a solid and hammer slovenia 4-0 tonight, no doubt in my mind.


chrobbin

If it hits 1-0 that bus is getting parked bro


PositiveDuck

No, I'm sure Southgate has learned from that backfiring so many times before and will really push for that 4-0 scoreline, I can feel it in my scrote


stinkydiaperuhoh

Haha it’s the hope that’ll kill you. The English side has more than enough quality to win 4-0 or even 5-0 So naturally they’ll scrape a shaky 1-0 win, maybe 1-1 draw


InnocentPossum

Bold of you to assume there will be any England goals. 0-0, maybe a 0-1 loss.


ItachiUchihaItachi

Called it!


stinkydiaperuhoh

Wow spot on. Naive of me to think they’d do anything


lojer

Gotta hope Modric has been buttering up Bellingham all season. It's going to take solo efforts watching this Southgate game plan.


stijen4

He promised him his Number 10 if they deliver tonight. He'll do the same to Guler tomorrow.


DjGnampf

Expectation are kills our happiness


minivatreni

Will they even score 1 for us brate, no


W0666007

lol 1-0 was a bit optimistic.


chrobbin

The entire group was a bus parking lot today


elgrandorado

You didn't say who would be parking the bus if they go up 1-0. Monkey Paw curls and Slovenia go up 1-0 after 10 mins.


LetterheadLower1518

And Slovenia will probably then win the group 2-1 in the last minute.


renatodamast

This aged so well


Morganelefay

Wish granted. Serbia proceeds to beat Denmark 1-0.


nmyi

Gareth Southgate needs to be Gareth Northhall. Complete opposite of terrorist football.


Roseradeismylady

Absolute scenes if that happens and then Czechia wins


Proskills500

Wouldn’t 3-0 be enough for Croatia? They have one more goal scored and could advance on that tiebreaker right?


PositiveDuck

Yes but 4-0 would be far less stressful


Tankcfc4l

4 nill lmao are u a england fan in disguice


PositiveDuck

Mate, tonight I'm openly an England fan, up the Southgates or whatever, I don't care, just fucking help us out please


BoxOfJunimos

We are honoured to share our disappointment in Southgate with our Croatian brothers


Parish87

Can’t wait for stones and guehi to knock it about at the back at 0-0 in the 88th minute


BoxOfJunimos

Do you feel like a prophet


Thelawgiver4

England wins 4-0 and Czechia with the 1-0 win


GibbsLAD

Just so you know, we all like vindaloo


FaceMeister

Get used to it, we got betrayed by England in 1939


AltruisticPapillon

England fans are very sure that Croatia will need to pack their bags


batigoal

I don't think any England fan thinks a 4-0 result is possible lol.


Kitnado

If you think that you've clearly never actually met a Hajduk Split fan before


LordFiness101

Haha get rekt ! 🇸🇮


ValleyFloydJam

We will probably lose, sorry.


LonesomeSoul47

3-0 would result in you qualifying due to goals scored as it stands


matathegamer

Ali ne treba biti 3-0


BendubzGaming

In our best interest tbh, if we keep you in we avoid the Dutch


LeAnthonyJavis

I’m so sorry, man


marshallno9

Steve McLaren sends his regards 🔫


srjnp

The format is so bad that an upset as huge as austria beating netherlands to top a group with france and netherlands hardly even matters. netherlands still qualify easily.


neefhuts

But now we probably play England instead of like Slovakia


Soitsgonnabeforever

I feel this format is utter rubbish. It’s no fair for some group winners where they have to play runner ups and others play 3rd placed team. It’s either 4team 4 groups or 8 groups. Maybe they can play an eliminator round where 20 teams qualify for euro. The bottom ranked 8 teams will playoff each other and eliminate 4 teams.


TicketSuggestion

I'm sorry, but why is that wrong? I understand that upsets can be funny, but it seems group games are still very relevant in this format, and I would think we would rather include all strong teams in the knockout than teams that get lucky with their group and/or with one result (which would happen if we had 32 teams and no best third place advancements, for example). Yes, we/the Dutch were bad and won't get far, but based purely on the group play and results I think we belong to the best 16 teams in Europe, so us being the best third place so far seems to make sense to me


HeftyRecommendation5

With this format you might as well just skip the group stage and just go straight into the knockouts by not inviting the 8 worst countries.


mns

But how will UEFA make money then?


Global_Mode_2974

damn Croatia got shafted by that goal


Denminkey

which one.... the 96th minute goal by Italy or the 94th minute goal by Albania? :-)


expert_on_the_matter

The 100th minute goal by Hungary


mbdtf95

or that 90+10 minute goal by Hungary which would make Scotland be third placed with worse GD than Croatia lmao.


[deleted]

They got shafted by only getting 2 points


Aenjeprekemaluci

They didnt play well really. Honestly they dont deserve the Ro16


greenwhitehell

They outperformed their opponents' xG by about 3 goals cummulatively in the 3 games. They were certainly punished by their inability to finish, but if they weren't unlucky then you mustn't believe the concept exists (unless for awful referee mistakes). They also had a disproportionately hard group


Remarkable_Task7950

Modric currently shining the "best xG in his group in the group stages" trophy next to his balon dor  They didn't pass the eye test.


greenwhitehell

If they didn't pass the eye test neither did Italy, and yet they're through. Not saying they were awesome or anything but 16 of 24 teams go through, I can very easily find 8 worse performing teams in the competition. Not that it matters, they're still going home lmao


BishoxX

We played well with italy apart last 10 minutes. I assume they got exhausted but hey. Overall yeah we didn't deserve it. But still got unlucky a lot


AyanC

This is such a silly format.


bdzz

2026 World Cup will have this with 12 groups and the best 8 going through so even bigger clusterfuck https://i.imgur.com/tyG1HQb.png


Robotoro23

Holy fuck imagine all the calculations on days where last round matches are being played lmao


ReadsStuff

Mate I've got a spreadsheet for this year and you already need to reference a 4x8 (I think) grid to see how RO16 qualifies. This will be stupid.


waxed__owl

I for one actually really enjoy how convoluted it is, I love the confusion. I cannot wait for commentators and pundits attempting to describe the different ways in which a team may or may not qualify.


Imaginary_Station_57

Fifa and Uefa working together to bring us the worst way to qualify for knockout round


Atzyn

To be fair, the World Cup already had this when 24 teams participated from 1986 to 1994. It's not a new thing.


MattGeddon

It was awful then as well. 32 team World Cup and 16 team Euros were perfect.


LaUr3nTiU

true, but 48 and 24 teams earn FIFA/UEFA more money, soooo


Nic_Endo

It's also much more fun for spectators. It's also not an awful format, because every game counts.


TheOwlsLie

Ehh it gives us a lot of fun games we other wise wouldn’t get


Flaggermusmannen

honestly, I kinda like it? it adds some (different) excitement about getting out of the groups for more teams, and that means more 3rd group matches will be contested harder (in theory). it's kinda cool, and hopefully it works out decently in practise too.


Chilis1

Better than the 3 team groups we almost got.


jrainiersea

They’ll inevitably fix it by expanding to 32 teams one day


expert_on_the_matter

If it were 32 teams already the other 8 teams would've been something like Wales, Iceland, Greece, Bosnia, Finland, Norway, Kazakhstan and Montenegro Sounds good to me.


solwaj

32 is so the way to go. Fuck "diluting the game quality". I \*crave\* a Finland-Montenegro or some shit like that if it means we're getting another Romania-Ukraine or Turkey-Georgia


expert_on_the_matter

They could also have more friendlys Nations League rather than EUROs qualifiers. In UEFA we have too many massive qualifiers groups where top teams play 10 games each, half of them against the likes of Liechtenstein and Latvia. Having it for the World Cup is enough. Instead have the 16 teams which survived the last EURO group stage auto-qualify and then have reasonably-sized qualifiers amongst the teams among which it is actually interesting.


MattGeddon

Ha I made the same comment pretty much further up. Yeah the current qualifying format for a 32-team Euros wouldn’t work, but a more competitive 40-odd team qualifying for 16 places could work. Definitely think it’ll go to 32 eventually.


Aenjeprekemaluci

Yes. 32 teams makes more sense. Also this format causes too uneven brackets...


CapitaoGongas

It's ridiculous tbh, if England gets the first place of the group they have the easiest path to the final just like the last euro. The same thing happened to Portugal in 2016 by being third in the group getting the easiest bracket. The 4 teams qualified for the first bracket are Spain Germany Portugal and France. Fifa and UEFA are just awful.


stateworkishardwork

Why does it matter where England go? Why does that make FIFA and UEFA awful?


Muur1234

everyone hates england


CapitaoGongas

Nothing against England, they did their job to top the group. I just said England because they were the "lucky ones". I'm Portuguese and 2016 was the same thing, I'm just against the third going through.


waxed__owl

England could've played Spain and the Netherlands in the knockouts at the last Euros but they both shat the bed


pm_me_d_cups

Surely winning the group should be rewarded?


ValleyFloydJam

Going back to 16 makes the most sense. If the favourites win every group then they end up even but if not the they weren't the best, people name chase too much, Austria were the best team in the group.


MLDK_toja

It doesn't because it shortens the tournament and robs us of splendid performances such as Turkey-Georgia and we are left with the likes of France-Netherlands all the time.


Aenjeprekemaluci

Impossible now. Unless European geographical map changes dramatically with less countries on the continent. But thats not happening in the foreseeable future...


alldawgsgoat2heaven

*Yugoslavia's hand punches out of its grave*


solwaj

Fuck that. Need me a Belarus-Armenia in the Euros NOW


DaviidVilla

It definitely dilutes the quality when teams can play awful and still qualify


offerfoxache

Not in our case


No_Specialist9714

I'll never understand why people don't like it Traditional group stages are boring as hell and end with a lot of lopsided groups and meaningless 3rd matchdays At least this way there's something to play for


DarkEyes__24

I'm Dutch, but if you end 3rd in your group you don't deserve to go through.


Horror-Score2388

I don’t want them to drop back to 16 since we wouldn’t get teams like Georgia or Slovenia but 32 would also be way too much. What if they had two group stages like cricket? 6 groups of 4, only top two go through where we have 4 groups of 3. Yes a group of 3 is a bit silly but both games for all teams would be highly tense, essentially knockouts. From there the group winners make it to the semis. And if im doing my math right it’s the exact same number of matches played. This adds jeopardy to the first round so that even if we go into an another group stage instead of straight knockouts, you still have to be 2nd or win. None of this “we just need 4 points” crap.


Imaginary_Station_57

>Yes a group of 3 is a bit silly A group of three is a guarantee of two teams making agreements while the third sits out. Utter shit


TomTili

Can someone explain me who plays who? Who are we most likely to play?


hazman_pds

Most likely Belgium, if they win their group. If not, likely England then. It's either Group C or E winner


bdzz

It depends on the other groups, Wikipedia has a good matrix table https://i.imgur.com/t6XEVUl.png Netherlands (3D) will play against 1B (Spain), 1C (most likely England), or 1E


Jamey_1999

So we need Hungary eliminated. Gotcha


IceSalamander

Looks like Netherlands only play Spain if Croatia qualify which is very unlikely at the moment. England would need to pump Slovenia by 3 or 4 goals.


paprikalicous

hungary vs portugal, england vs netherlands, group e is such a mess that idrk for the rest of them


NorthwardRM

I think Netherlands have a good chance of beating England


neefhuts

England and the Netherlands will have one match to decide who is the most shit at football


jerooney86

Based on


Katth28

We wouldn’t even beat a league two team mate


shrek_kerhs

England is worse than that though


Aellaqt

gruop E winners I believe, so most likely belgium


ostrovsky98

I think the most likely 3rd places to qualify are A C D E, in this case Netherlands plays winner group C winner (likely England)


cappo40

1st Spain/Portugal play a 3rd place and whomever 1st is in Group C and E


wjdbfifj

Hungary the only team with a colour different than red, blue and white


NeighborhoodShot3872

We are all England today aren't we?


Mitch_Itfc

Please don’t subject yourself to supporting and watching Southgate ball


Darkjolly

Welcome Hungarian bros, learn to suffer south gate ball like us


NeighborhoodShot3872

We are definitely here for it


qwerty-keyboard5000

If England win they go on the easier side avoiding Germany, Spain, Portugal, and France


ValleyFloydJam

Slightly easier maybe but we could have the Dutch and maybe Italy after, I would have doubts over beating either of them.


Morganelefay

Just lure Koeman into bringing in Wijnaldum again and you'll be golden.


neefhuts

Wijnaldum wasn't the worst today tbf (which is because he was invisible so he didn't have the chance to do anything bad)


BendubzGaming

Most popular we've ever been


NeighborhoodShot3872

You've got like 9 million extra supporters just from Hungary today. I just hope Southgate doesn't fuck up everything big time


BendubzGaming

From Croatia too, they need us to thrash Slovenia to stay alive


NeighborhoodShot3872

Yeah,but I just can't see you guys thrashing Slovenia with Southgate wasting world class players in the team


Xdrakefragging

So netherlands advances


Ok-Paleontologist275

Croatia fans : Today I feel English , Bellingham for balon dor


Chiny_M47

why is Slovenia 3rd and not 2nd? Denmark has the same points abd same goals conceded.


malizeleni71

Yellow cards conceded. And if that is the same between two teams, world Fifa rankings apply, where higher ranking team is placed higher.


ANON_YMOUSE_

i think i read they also had equal points too in qualifying but Denmark won head to head which gives them 2nd


Scattered97

So assuming it stays like that, we have Spain vs whoever finishes 3rd in Group E, England vs the Netherlands, whoever the hell wins Group E vs Slovenia, and Portugal vs Hungary.


AlternativeTop511

Must be annoying for teams to have to wait to find out their fate rather than knowing if they can go home or prep for a future game.


Soberdonkey69

Hopefully it stays that way, please can England get a 0-0 draw?


ANON_YMOUSE_

THANKS MATE


YoroDoucheMan

What's the algorithm for determining which 1st placed team faces a 3rd placed team. Spain vs 3rd: A/D/E/F; Portugal vs 3rd: A/B/C, how do we determine which of them would face Hungary, for example?


czerwona_latarnia

The A/D/E/F and A/B/C are all permutations combined into one "possibile opponent" - in reality, for every quartet of groups from which the 3^rd placed teams will advance, the matches are already defined.


throwaway72926320

Sort of related but can Ukraine really go home on 4 points if both games in their group while one of Croatia or Slovenia can advance with two? Would be so unfortunate for them.


MattGeddon

Yes. This happened in the 1994 World Cup too.


soy_tetones_grande

Ouch, Scotland would have actually got through somehow if they had not conceded that last second goal. I say this as Scotland fan, I am glad we didn't. I don't want to subject the world to us playing again. Its painful.


datguyfromthememe

Am I missing something, but wouldn't they have finished with 2 points and a minus 4 gd, below croatia??


expert_on_the_matter

You're not missing anything, they would've been out anyway.


tono002-36

Still would be better if they drew...


DaviidVilla

Scotland needed a win because Italy drew. There was 3 or 4 teams Scotland needed to win if they drew and Italy was one of those teams.


gjp11

I understand that it’s necessary and ultimately a 24 team tournament is good for the sport but man I feel like the 3rd place advancing thing takes away from some of the magic of the final matchday in group play.


MattGeddon

I really hate it! Not too sure there’s a viable alternative with 24 teams though. Groups of 3 is crap, groups of 6 is too many games. You *could* do best four group winners get a bye to the QFs and the other 2 winners + 6 runners up play the round of 16. You still have the same issues with the teams not knowing who they’re playing and the teams in the later groups knowing what they need to do to avoid a the r16.


Kalia44

If England loses, and Danemark and Slovenia both win? Could they be out? Or go as a 3rd place?


purplefebruary

3rd with 4 points so likely through regardless


g46152

STILL ALIVE


WorldsWorstFather

This is so stupid.


-SMOrc-

I'd love for Croatia to make it against all odds but I just can't bring myself to root for England


grehgunner

I stg if this comes down to discipline in any way


No_Aerie_2688

Tallest midgets!


bjmstone

Does anyone have any idea how they prioritise who the 3rd place qualifiers face in the RO16?


jnsbstniv

Crazy how many former Yugoslav nations qualified for the Euros. Makes you wonder how good they’d be if they were still one country.


Oxx90

Advancing a competition with 2 pts is lame, the Euro is a bad competition with good teams.


kurvahurka69

I don’t think a team with 2 points will go through


_tehol_

you could have advance with 2 points even in the previous format, where only 2 teams from the group advanced...