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Nations League Thread


cidercity1987

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Now the two anticlimatic sideshows are over, the focus will rightly switch to the national team trying to win its first trophy for many many years.

Semi final v Netherlands on Thursday followed potentially by a final on Sunday. I'm not entirely sure how we are all going to feel if we win, presumbly not the pure euphoria of a World Cup/Euros but a trophy is a trophy.

Based on Kane's lack of fitness he must surely be benched. Sterling our key man?

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England are enjoyable to watch at the moment, exciting times. Good performances will surely bolster confidence going into next years euros.  I’m really looking forward to this. 

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1 hour ago, The Horse With No Name said:

Meh, little more than friendly matches.

As someone who has followed England home and abroad for years, I can honestly say this is much more than that. For years people have moaned about having friendlies, UEFA have replaced these with a league competition which includes promotion and relegation. so you are playing games against equal opposition, yet people still moan about it.

When we scored our 3 goals out in Seville against Spain you could tell that it meant something to everyone there. We are taking over 10,000 fans to Portugal next week, that's more than we have taken to some major tournaments in recent times. Every person i have spoken to who attend England games thinks its a brilliant competition, the only people unsure are the armchair England fans who have little interest in the national team.

I for one cant wait to go to Portugal, we have a realistic chance of winning something which is worth winning. Not as grand as the world cup or Euros, but still a legitimate competition worth winning.

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1 minute ago, elhombrecito said:

Well, I'm really looking forward to it.

I've been bored senseless in recent years by England friendlies, but these games have been a breath of fresh air and have been a very rare good decision by UEFA!

Agree completely! 

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12 minutes ago, antlers said:

As someone who has followed England home and abroad for years, I can honestly say this is much more than that. For years people have moaned about having friendlies, UEFA have replaced these with a league competition which includes promotion and relegation. so you are playing games against equal opposition, yet people still moan about it.

When we scored our 3 goals out in Seville against Spain you could tell that it meant something to everyone there. We are taking over 10,000 fans to Portugal next week, that's more than we have taken to some major tournaments in recent times. Every person i have spoken to who attend England games thinks its a brilliant competition, the only people unsure are the armchair England fans who have little interest in the national team.

I for one cant wait to go to Portugal, we have a realistic chance of winning something which is worth winning. Not as grand as the world cup or Euros, but still a legitimate competition worth winning.

I think the other thing it’s introduced is competitiveness and proper refereeing, none of this “that would’ve been a red in a qualifier” type stuff.  Subs are limited to save the mass h-t changes that lose impetus in the typical friendly game too.

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Could be an awkward one for Southgate to deal with following the Tottenham and Liverpool  players exertions last night. Interesting how he deals with the dynamics of that when the squad are together. Hopefully the Spurs players can get over the defeat and the Liverpool players don’t go too mad on the celebrations

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5 hours ago, elhombrecito said:

Well, I'm really looking forward to it.

I've been bored senseless in recent years by England friendlies, but these games have been a breath of fresh air and have been a very rare good decision by UEFA!

So when do we and other nations blood the youngsters and the fringe players?  If we do it in this tournament then we could argue that we arent serious about winning it, which defeats the object really. The other downside, is that it severely limits the games against non-European opposition, denying us experience of different styles of play, cultures and of course extreme heat and cold weather. 

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8 hours ago, cidercity1987 said:

Anyone going? I was seriously thinking about it but yet again flights got a little silly either in price or routing.

Yep, me and 2 other City fans are going. We will try to get our flag right behind the goal on the upper tier.

Seville was incredible and an experience I will never forget. Surprised that a lot of fans aren’t that interested in the nations league.

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2 minutes ago, Martin89 said:

Yep, me and 2 other City fans are going. We will try to get our flag right behind the goal on the upper tier.

Seville was incredible and an experience I will never forget. Surprised that a lot of fans aren’t that interested in the nations league.

They will be by next Sunday imo once there is a bandwagon to jump on.

Enjoy.

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9 hours ago, cidercity1987 said:

Anyone going? I was seriously thinking about it but yet again flights got a little silly either in price or routing.

I’ve got tickets for the final, haven’t worked out a reasonably priced route yet though! Any ideas are welcome ?

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Been here since yesterday but obviously with different objectives  ? That said I do think England are the form team coming into the competition and winning this is the sort of marker Southgate will really want.

Speaking of which I have "follow my team" tickets for both games so if Portugal and England both make it to the final I currently have two spare as were a lot easier to buy from FPF (Portuguese FA) so I got extras.

Shame it's up in Oporto but can't have everything. 35 degrees in Lisboa today but comes down during the week otherwise I honestly think travelling fans would melt.

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1 minute ago, cidercity1987 said:

Lisbon and train it?

Not completely out of the question, but it’s the flights back Monday that are expensive it seems, from both Porto and Lisbon. I could take another day off and come back Tuesday maybe

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Flying out to Porto on Tuesday. Looking forward to England matches 174 and 175 - and hoping that 175 is in Porto (for the final) rather than Guimaraes (for the third place game). 

The weather forecast looks decent and as mentioned above, it’ll be hot, but not ‘off the scale’ hot. Certainly not as hot as Volgograd and Samara were last summer. 

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1 hour ago, MarcusX said:

Not completely out of the question, but it’s the flights back Monday that are expensive it seems, from both Porto and Lisbon. I could take another day off and come back Tuesday maybe

We're doing Porto Dublin, Dublin Bristol on the way back on Monday with Ryanair. Was only £100 or so when booked not sure what it is now.

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3 hours ago, MarcusX said:

I’ve got tickets for the final, haven’t worked out a reasonably priced route yet though! Any ideas are welcome ?

Doing London to Brussels then on to porto sat morning from London with Brussels air line then Monday morning porto to Vienna then on to Bristol back at teatime if that helps 

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Didn't realise its this week. I guess it's somewhere on TV?

Recall about this time of year being in Paris to see England lift Le Tournoi, having lost their final game to Brazil.

Sums summer football up for me.

 

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