Three Takeaways From Italy’s UEFA Nations League Games

Italy punched its ticket to the final four of the UEFA Nations League this past weekend, with crucial wins over Poland and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The final round is set to be played in October 2022. Roberto Mancini has not shied away from calling up a plethora of budding talents, naming a 41-man squad for the latest slate of games.

Gli Azzurri are currently riding a 22-game unbeaten run and have since emerged as legitimate contenders for the UEFA Nations League. Here are three takeaways from Italy’s latest training camp:

1) Domenico Berardi and Lorenzo Insigne emerge as first-choice contenders. 

Mancini has called up a number of wingers in recent training camps, indicating the starting roles are up for the taking. Vincenzo Grifo, Federico Chiesa, Stephan El Shaarawy, and Federico Bernardeschi among others have all staked their claim for a more prominent role, but if Italy’s latest games were anything to go by, none of them will likely start come Euro 2020.

Lorenzo Insigne and Domenico Berardi have demonstrated they are ready to lead Gli Azzurri’s frontline, combining to devastating effect in the final third. The Sassuolo man has made the most of his opportunity, scoring goals in consecutive games this international break. Berardi has emerged as one of Italy’s elite creators with Sassuolo and should be handed a more significant role.

Insigne, on the other hand, has kicked into another gear this season, taking his game to another level. The diminutive playmaker was arguably Italy’s man-of-the-match in both of his nation’s games this past break, assisting Berardi’s goal against Bosnia and Herzegovina with an inch-perfect pass. In many ways, the left-wing position is Insigne’s to lose going into the Euro.

In any case, there are a number of players ready to step up in their absences, as Mancini has regularly demonstrated with his callups. As of right now, there is no reason why the Insigne-Berardi tandem should not start.

2) Locatelli sets himself apart from his midfield counterparts. 

The Sassuolo midfielder’s recent ascent to stardom has been nothing short of meteoric, with Locatelli emerging as one of Italy’s midfield maestros. As it is the case up front, Italy has no shortage of midfield options and could turn to a wide array of options in the middle of the park. Jorginho seems to be a mainstay under Mancini and has impressed when called upon, while it is hard to argue against Nicolo Barella.

The Inter man has been in sensational form under Antonio Conte and has proven he is more than ready for regular minutes with the national team setup. This leaves the third and final midfield position up for grabs. Naturally, it is Marco Verratti’s to lose, but the Paris Saint-Germain man has regularly failed to translate his domestic dominance in an Azzurri shirt.

Manuel Locatelli dominated the proceedings in Italy’s games, indicating he may just be the missing link in the midfield. The Neroverdi midfielder offers the side some much-needed balance, both in and out of possession. While Verratti may be seen as the favourite to start going into Euro 2020, Locatelli can easily overtake him with more consistency.

3) There are still more questions than answers at #9. 

Andrea Belotti spearheaded Italy’s attack in both of Italy’s games in Ciro Immobile’s absence, and frankly, did not disappoint. The Torino man led the line with great aplomb, netting an important goal against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Despite impressing in both games, Belotti has his limitations and is yet to take the leap alongside Europe’s elite hitmen.

If Italy is to have a shot at major trophies, Mancini will need to assess his striking options and determine his preferred number nine. Immobile and Moise Kean are in the running, while Francesco Caputo has an outside shot. It may just come down to who’s in form going into the tournament.

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Is the UEFA Nations League and friendlies really needed?

International football has taken over from domestic football for the past 10 days, and there seems a growing number of football fans who do not like when their seasons are interrupted. Could it be that international football has simply grown tired, and that the football in many ways feels like it is taking something from the more exciting domestic fixtures.

Normally international games break up the traditional leagues in Europe 3 times a season. In October, November and March, which means that for 30 days in a season there is no domestic football.

Friendly games have rubbed up for fans the wrong way for some time. Whilst the advantage of such games means that fans can see some of the best players in the world and exciting fixtures, they really offer very little in return. In truth you are watching a training exercise- does it matter if your team beat Brazil, Germany or Argentina? It’s just a friendly.

Thankfully the large bulk of friendly games have been replaced by competitive games and yet despite an extra competition being introduced by UEFA friendly games remain a constant fixture. Clubs loathe them because their players can get injured on international duty, even if they get injured at a World Cup that is bad news, but getting injured for a game that means nothing just seems pointless.

So UEFA introduced the Nations League- this could have been more welcomed if it had put an end to the friendly round of games, but of course it hasn’t. Witness how England had to play Republic of Ireland days before a crunch tie in the Nations League against Belgium- what purpose did the game against Ireland serve? Some could argue that it gave England manager Gareth Southgate a clearer view of the qualities of his players going into the Belgium game- one could counter that argument and say that after being in the job for four years he should have a clue what his best team line up is.

The Nations League seemed like a decent idea, but at the same time one has to wonder if it ever was? The complexes of the group stage can leave many an adult dumbfounded by all the rules- and not every team can qualify for the knock out stages that goes straight to the semi-finals. Though if you play well in this competition it can help for European and World Cup qualifications. There are groups in the Nations League where even if you win all of your games, because you are not a band A team, your competition still ends at that point. And so on.

But even if the Nations League was a straight group games and knockout competition- it just feels like one more competition for already tired players, who have a full on schedule in their domestic leagues. Remember the bulk of these players are going to be their best in their countries, which means they will be playing for the best sides who are going for the trophies.

Until it actually gets to the final the Nations League doesn’t seem very important at all. Are current holders Portugal remembered for winning it in its first year or will that team be more remembered for winning Euro 2016 instead? England have just been knocked out in the group stages of the Nations League as they lost 2-0 to Belgium, and yet the media that are always ready to crucify England managers simply haven’t dedicated column inches to their demise. Could you imagine the stories that would have been generated had England crashed out of the group stages of the Euro’s or World Cup? Manager Southgate would be packing his bags now.

Another example is the recent Spanish victory over Germany, where Spain beat them 6-0. It is a groundbreaking result until you learn it happened in the Nations League- it will be forgotten in a few weeks time by everyone outside of Spain and Germany.

Football can feel very over saturated and with UEFA adding another tournament in a calendar which can only run 12 months just feels like over kill. Take in mind that there is actually very little difference between the Nations League and the European Championships, and both competitions will clash next year.

The Nations League final was scheduled for June 2021, but has been pushed back to October. This means that teams who have made the semi-finals of the Nations League will be waiting almost 1 year to get to a final. It also means that UEFA of course recognise that the Euro’s are more important, they keep their original summer outing with the Nations League being pushed back. Also what happens if Germany win the Euro’s and a few months later Spain win the Nations League? Who will care truly? and who will believe that Spain are the best nation in Europe if they don’t win (the big one at the Euro’s)?

So what is the solution, as international fixtures have to co-exist with domestic football? One would be only having international fixtures as a means to qualifying for the respective summer tournaments that are coming up. Whilst some fans may love the idea of the Nations League one has to wonder if long time if it can work alongside all of the other competitions. So it may be best to end it- remember we have 2 international competitions that take place every 2 years to determine the best international teams- why do we need 3?

If UEFA insist on friendly games, because TV money is hard to turn down and when fans are allowed back into stadiums, it is easy gate receipt money, then these need to be limited. Possibly in the summer only, although this would be tricky in a World Cup or Euro’s year. The other possibility would be having them take place over a 10 day period but just once a season.

It is very important that domestic football takes place first and foremost with that in mind. International football can be very exciting at times, but with disjointed teams and players not being able to gel with one another like in club football it also means that international standard can drop, which means that us, the viewer, doesn’t get the very best product on show. It would be beneficial if UEFA could think through their schedules, because the current one seems painfully wrong.

 

 

Phil Foden, Mason Greenwood and Harry Maguire have embarrassed England and Gareth Southgate has a huge job on his hands

Nothing has changed from the England mental attitude of the 1970s, 80s, or 90s, and this is something that current manager Gareth Southgate learned in the most direct way in the past few weeks.

Players that are supposed to be upstanding professionals have let themselves down and let football down, and let Southgate down. So much so that even some sections of the press are wondering if Southgate is up to the job. Here is the man that led a very average England side to the semi-finals of the World Cup and the Nations League in its first edition. There is a lot of potential in this England side but Southgate ultimately might never get the chance to realise it, but he is not the major problem. The players are.

Not every player of course, but once one player makes off the pitch mistakes it just seeps into the squad. A laugh here, a jibe there. Harry Maguire the captain of the national side getting involved in a reported punch up in Greece with police, Phil Foden and Mason Greenwood arranging for two women to join them in a hotel, it all just harks back to tabloid heaven from the 1990s.

You don’t see continental and international players keep getting themselves in the headlines for the wrong reasons, scandal after scandal seems to follow England and football, if it isn’t the fans it’s the players- and they are supposed to be the role models.

Southgate has tried to play down what Foden and Greenwood did, and true they are young, 38 years between them, they will hopefully learn. But still. The problem that Southgate has is that they are two very good players and are important to the England set up. They will miss perhaps one game, like they did yesterday, the Denmark one.But Southgate should write them off for the next 3 games at least- punish them properly make them really think about what they have done.

Young players will make mistakes but it also showed a lack of respect for preparation for the Denmark game. Do they not care about the UEFA Nations League or representing their country? Would they have tried the same on had this been a knock out World Cup game?

Scandals followed the England team even when Southgate was a player, as a manager he is trying to advance the team and put them in a more professional light. But Maguire, Foden and Greenwood have sent his plans hurtling back to the drawing board faster than a janitor hitting the ground after being punched by the Rock. His plans are in tatters, and one suspects after next summers Euro’s Southgate could be departing early, sadly little has changed within the England set up, even on the surface that doesn’t look like the case, it seems as if the problems are very deep rooted.

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Has Euro 2020 qualifying been too predictable with ultimately too many miss matches?

Euro 2020 qualification is shaping up with all of the big guns qualifying easy, but have the bigger nations just had it too easy this time?

UEFA has increased the competition from 16 teams to 24, their excuse is that more nations who normally don’t qualify will get that chance and Finland have reaped that reward as an example. Wales are their too. But at the same time increasing by 8 teams also means it is very unlikely that we will get any shocks. For example the Netherlands have failed to qualify for a couple of major competitions this decade and Italy not being at the 2018 World Cup was a major surprise. Increasing teams chances also means that the bigger nations can have off days and still qualify.

England are a good example of how qualifying for the competition has basically become mundane, boring and predictable. Yes if you’re an England fan you would love the fact that the nation scored 11 goals in their last two qualifying games and didn’t ship any in their 7-0 win over Montenegro and 4-0 victory over Kosovo. But once you see that a whole domestic weekend of Premier League football had to be shifted in order to see such a miss match it just makes no sense.

England are not the only ones. There has been huge victories for the likes of Portugal and Spain and Italy recorded a 9-1 win over Armenia. Talk about competitive football.

In truth it is hard not to think that qualifiers exist for two reasons: Gate receipts and for UEFA to spread their brand and sponsorship. The solution seems an easy one not to have a qualification process. Qualifying has simply become too easy for the big nations whilst other nations are producing miss matches. Yes lesser footballing nations need that competitive football and they will get that with the UEFA Nations League, a rather silly idea but better than friendlies. Though let’s remind ourselves that friendlies still exist.

So just have no qualification and have all European national sides qualify for the competition proper. True it means the likes of San Marino could get hit for 10 goals in the competition proper, but the match would still feel more important being in a major competition than tucked away on a Monday night in Group E.

Qualification is here to stay though and it is just a thought. For now international football seems quite redundant as long as it’s not one of the major competitions- it is an advert in the blockbusting and interesting movie that is domestic football.

The rise of the UEFA Nations League

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As the finals of the UEFA Nations League took place on Sunday in the beautiful city of Porto, between the home country Portugal and Netherlands, majority of football supporters will look back at the contest and will wonder what the actual strengths and positives are of the competition.

To start off with, the lively challenge and crucial thrill has been instantly injected into when the international break arrives, rather than the usual pointless friendly matches that take place here and there. Because of these futile games, a large number of well-known players feel their hunger for success and concentration decreases during the 10 to 14 days they spend in another environment.

Now, looking back at the UEFA Nations League from a fans point of view, it can easily be stated that the tournament is closely watched and followed by nearly everyone as the manager as well as the players have began to take it serious.  The winners receive a trophy as the prize award and another chance to qualify for the 2020 European Championships should they fail to do so through the qualifiers.

Given that the chances of winning either the Euros or the World Cup are very little for the countries outside of the top ten teams, this short competition will allows the likes of Croatia, Denmark and Serbia to potentially be successful in the long run. Not only that, both the players and the managers from these respective countries would receive more recognition going into the major tournaments.

Thanks to this incredible format, the supporters of the beautiful sport of football had the chance to see Netherlands overcoming France and Germany, England dominating Spain and having revenge on Croatia as well as both Portugal and Switzerland magically making it through their respective groups. On that note, there shouldn’t really be any issues or queries that downfalls this entertaining system.

Digging more into it, the system has been organised by four leagues and where they are placed separately by their current world rankings, with the motivation and inspiration being to reach League A before heading onto the knockout stages of the competition. The winners of the league move up a level, on the other hand, those who finish at the bottom are relegated to the tier below.

When reviewing it from the UEFA’s prescriptive, they have turned the friendly matches into a more meaningful list of fixtures, which gives the governing body of European football a better reputation for what they stand out for. And financially, the Union of European Football Associations can make a huge amount from the contest compared to making nothing at all from the international friendlies.

Overall, with how straightforward and effective the Nations League has been, it would not be a surprise to see a similar setup for the international football countries that are based in Asia and South America. If it was to end up happening, all the parties would see it as a win-win outcome, from the people making the decisions off the pitch to the supporters watching it live or at home.

Portugal win first ever UEFA Nations League as Ronaldo revels in the glory

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Portugal beat the Netherlands 1-0 in the final of the first ever UEFA Nations League to crown only their 2nd ever international trophy and both have been won with Cristiano Ronaldo in the side.

The win which was deserved only underlined Portugal’s status, after all they did win the last European Championships in 2016, but this win will sit nicely with a team that have to surely be regarded as one of the favourites to win Euro 2020 next year.

While the European Championships remain much more important than the Nations League this was still an incredibly special night for Portugal given that the final was in Portugal. Ronaldo was part of the Portuguese team who in the 2004 final lost against Greece in what was seen as a shock 1-0 defeat. This happened in Portugal in front of their home fans, so even though this isn’t another European Championship it was a UEFA final and surely meant a lot to Ronaldo and his teammates.

But it wasn’t Ronaldo who was the goal scoring hero that went to Goncalo Guedes who struck what turned out to be the winning goal on the hour mark. Portugal deserved to win the game and had more clear cut chances, but they also looked more hungry and determined for the win.

As for the Netherlands, reaching a final marks a huge improvement for them, after reaching the 2010 World Cup final the Orange as they are so famously called have really struggled this decade and failed to qualify for major tournaments. They look to be back on the right track, but they will have to be less naïve in the future if they are to remain consistent and win trophies.

The match was very telling on how one team wanted the win and the other in the Netherlands felt that their semi-final victory over England where they won the match 3-1 after being a goal down was their personal final.

Ronaldo played his part too as he usually does and was seen in defence giving orders- when one sees Ronaldo like this just like in the Euro 2016 final when he was forced off with injury, but supported the players from the side lines one sees a potential future coach in the player.

And what of the UEFA Nations League? Has it been a success? Well in a nutshell yes and it does give the football fan something extra to cheer about and watch after the domestic season has ended. What is clear is that when it comes down to the semi-finals and final we are not watching friendly exhibition games anymore, all teams at that point want to win, that is the positive of it. However it still has a long way to go in convincing some of the bigger nations in the group stages of the competition to get their best game on, some like Italy and Spain didn’t seem too bothered. With time that might just change.

 

From England to Portugal who will win the first UEFA Nations League?

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We know now who will take part in the very first UEFA Nations League semi finals which will be held next year in Portugal in June.

Even though there have been mixed reactions to the new competition it does seem like the majority of teams are at least taking the games seriously enough and if the group stages didn’t convince some the semi final and final of this competition will and they are sure to be classic and intense matches.

The first thing we need to know is that the draw has not been made yet for the semi finals- this happens in December. We do of course know who will have the chance to pick up the very first Nations League trophy and below we will look at each teams chances.

England

What a year it has been for Gareth Southgate and England, reaching their 2nd semi final of a competition after their World Cup exploits in Russia this summer. England have had to beat Croatia who knocked them out of the World Cup in the last four and Spain away from home to get here, so there has been no lucky games for the three lions. Southgate has believed in youth and has shown hands on managerial one to one expertise which has run through this team. England want to play to win and have their best team in a generation. This could be England’s first chance of silverware since winning the World Cup in 1966.

Portugal

Portugal will be the favourites to win the competition- mostly because of two things; they are at home and they have Cristiano Ronaldo- although after what should be a taxing an thrilling season for Ronaldo, his debut one in Serie A with Juventus they will be hoping that their man is fit enough and ready for the occasion. The last time Portugal hosted a tournament at home they lost in the final to Greece. Although they have more than made up with that in recent times winning Euro 2016.

Switzerland

Switzerland will be seen as the rank outsiders to win this, although their 5-2 demolition of Belgium, a side that dazzled at the World Cup should have raised some eyebrows. They are here on merit and always put in a solid display making them a hard side to beat. Switzerland have never won a major trophy, and will be 100% motivated to do so.

Netherlands

It’s fair to say that since reaching and then losing in the 2010 World Cup final, the Netherlands have been very poor, failing to qualify for the last World Cup and going through many coaches and a transition of sorts. It’s also fair to say that they played poorly in their final Nations League group game against Germany and yet claimed a 2-2 draw which saw them beat France on goal difference to be here. Perhaps the Germany draw was a real turning point for the nation, and they could be a genuine danger to any side come next June.

 

 

Caution should be applied as Gareth Southgate’s England reach UEFA Nations League semi finals

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England have had a superb calendar year which has culminated in reaching their second competition semi final in a row, the UEFA Nations League after this summers World Cup. Ironically to do so they had to beat Croatia, the team that they lost to at the World Cup.

The game against Croatia which was held at Wembley Stadium in London was awash with revenge, but it was the away team that took the lead, and with just thirty minutes left it looked like England would yet again lose to the World Cup runners up. But an equaliser followed and Harry Kane got the winner and it’s true that the weight of that World Cup loss was lifted.

The nation is lifted and England will now go to play in the semi finals in Portugal next June- their opponents will not be known until December when the draw is made.

The press have put down England’s opponents. Croatia have been called wannabe’s whilst there was plenty of jibes at Germany after they were relegated from League A. The question though is does any of this really matter? After all Croatia did knock England out of the World Cup and did reach the final. Germany won the World Cup in 2014, and although they have had a rough 12 months will bounce back. Some respect needs to be afforded to these teams.

Imagine if England go on to win the Nations Cup, it would be the first real trophy England would have won since winning the World Cup in 1966- no we are not going to count the Le Tournai tournament in 1998 where the winning captain Alan Shearer had a face like thunder. If England win, the country may just go into hyperbole. But hold your horses, this isn’t the European Championships and it isn’t the World Cup, it is just a glorified competition borne from UEFA that just adds more football to an over inflated season.

In some ways you can’t blame coach Gareth Southgate and the players- they play too win, and there is a trophy and prestige to be won. You beat who is in front of you and now there is an extra final to be played, so of course you are going to take it seriously. But should pundits and fans? Does there not come a time where we can separate the competitions that matter? If we fixate over every small competition are we all just settling for second best? So if England do win it, congratulations, but hopefully there won’t be an everlasting love in, after all it is a competition that just feels like batched glorified friendlies with points.

Southgate is a good coach, a good listener and has a real chemistry with his players. This squad wants to play for him, and let’s not be churlish here, England does have a very good team, good enough to win Euro 2020? Right now that would be in balance, but in 2 years time with progress made and no hitches, England have every chance. Don’t fall for second best has to be the mindset here. Play these games, win them and move on to what really matters.

 

Germany’s latest woes in the UEFA Nations League should spell the end for Joachim Low

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Germany, the great international side that are usually compared to the very greatest footballing nations in the history of football have been relegated in the UEFA Nations League.

What this means is that the team cannot win the next edition of the new international cup set up by UEFA. This is all by and large and the competition is still under scrutiny as to whether nations are really taking this seriously. After all it isn’t the World Cup or European Championships and feels like glorified friendlies. Still whichever way you look at it relegation means you are not getting results and this has been a quite woeful year for the Germans so accustomed to winning.

But when will the finger point to coach Joachim Low. Low has been in charge of the national side for an incredible 12 years- surely his tenure is up now? In that time he has won the ultimate prize- the World Cup in 2014 as Germany became the first ever European side to win it in South America when that edition was held in Brazil.

Many expected Low’s time was up this summer when Germany exited the World Cup in Russia at the group stages. It was the first time in 80 years that Germany had done so and pardon the pun was a new low for the national side. His sacking seemed inevitable and yet the German FA gave Low the choice- he remained in the hot seat.

Low has done fantastically well for the national side, reaching the European Championship final in 2008 and making the latter stages of major competitions but surely now is the time to walk.  Since the World Cup things have hardly improved for Low with just 2 wins from 5 games and now failure in the Nations League.

What Germany need now is another strong character in order to qualify for Euro 2020 which shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Low has actually done very little wrong in his time with the national side and him stepping down should just be an occurrence of time, and he has certainly had his. It would be a major surprise if the FA do not take action and let him go if he doesn’t want to.

If anything Low who is almost 60 needs to give others a chance and there are a lot of ex German players now that are reaching that age where they would like to give the national team a decent shot. Change is needed because if not the great German side may just stagnate, something that we couldn’t see coming in a generation. Low’s time is up.

 

England manager Gareth Southgate is right to question why the Premier League kicked off so early this season

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It took just 27 days after England were defeated by Belgium in this summers World Cup for the 3rd place play off for the English Premier League to kick off. When it did on August 10th it was, as ever. welcomed but it did feel that the league was starting incredibly soon after the World Cup.

Neither player or fan have had much time to recuperate after such a major finals and now England manager Gareth Southgate has spoken out about this. Southgate said: “Everyone adapts their training load appropriately. But I think when you see the league, there are a lot of teams who haven’t started yet at the level when they are at their maximum. There have been a lot of injuries across certainly our league, too. I don’t know about the rest of Europe.

Southgate added: “I don’t really understand why our league started so early but they did, so it’s been a really difficult situation for the clubs. Some of the clubs couldn’t field a team without, look at Tottenham Hotspur, who had so many players in the semi-finals of the World Cup. They had to put players straight into matches on the back of very little pre-season. It was an impossible situation for the coaches really. I didn’t really know, and I hadn’t looked into when the season started until when we got back from the tournament. Maybe they were expecting us to be back by the end of June. I assumed the rest of the world were going to be there until the middle of July.

“It’s always easy to make a comment like that and not know the complex scenario the decision makers had to go to, because that happens to me quite a lot. But everybody knew when the final was going to be, and the semi-final, and that the players would be away for a period of time.”

It was quite a statement for Southgate who, as an example has seen the national side looking weary and tired as he hooks up with them for their Nations League matches. But Southgate is spot on in his assessments of why did the Premier League start so early?

Given that there is no major tournament next summer it seems odd, and the league could have started in late August or even at the beginning of September. The Spanish and Italian leagues both started a week later than the Premier League. And it was no surprise to find that the German Bundesliga did not kick off until the end of August, this is the same league that takes a month off for Christmas and New Year.

An explanation from the Premier League would be welcomed, though one would not want to hold their breathe on a reply.