One must say that UEFA have made a cow’s arse of this whole thing.

[SWv2]

I am all for diversity and inclusivity but in the rush to allow ‘minnows’ have a summer holiday in France the workings of the first qualifying round are terribly confusing.

You have your Albanians who have finished third in their group on Sunday but don’t know if they can go home or not for a few days, so they can’t really kick back and go on the beer. They must continue to prepare and train, yet they could still be sent back to Albania wherever that actually is.

Then you have group winners playing 3rd place finishers, while other group winners play 2nd place finishers, presumably stronger and in theory a ****ter draw.

My solution would be to play the group stages and let everybody have fun and then simply put Italy, France, Spain and Germany into the semi-finals and let them take it from there.

[Billy Goat Sverige]

I am all for diversity and inclusivity but in the rush to allow ‘minnows’ have a summer holiday in France the workings of the first qualifying round are terribly confusing.

You have your Albanians who have finished third in their group on Sunday but don’t know if they can go home or not for a few days, so they can’t really kick back and go on the beer. They must continue to prepare and train, yet they could still be sent back to Albania wherever that actually is.

Then you have group winners playing 3rd place finishers, while other group winners play 2nd place finishers, presumably stronger and in theory a ****ter draw.

My solution would be to play the group stages and let everybody have fun and then simply put Italy, France, Spain and Germany into the semi-finals and let them take it from there.

Why not just have eight groups? I mean there's some decent teams not there to make an extra two groups. Bosnia, Greece, Netherlands, Denmark, Serbia etc.... They'd have to tweak the qualifying but having 8 extra teams is no more ridiculous than having 3rd placed teams go through to the first qualifying round.

[7sisters]

I am all for diversity and inclusivity but in the rush to allow ‘minnows’ have a summer holiday in France the workings of the first qualifying round are terribly confusing.

You have your Albanians who have finished third in their group on Sunday but don’t know if they can go home or not for a few days, so they can’t really kick back and go on the beer. They must continue to prepare and train, yet they could still be sent back to Albania wherever that actually is.

Then you have group winners playing 3rd place finishers, while other group winners play 2nd place finishers, presumably stronger and in theory a ****ter draw.

My solution would be to play the group stages and let everybody have fun and then simply put Italy, France, Spain and Germany into the semi-finals and let them take it from there.

The whole thing's an utter borefest.. Can anyone remember such a dull event in the history of national competition, aside from the Welsh and Icelanders. ?
How any idiot can devise a competition of 24 teams, each playing 3 games and resulting in only a third getting eliminated.. Complete ****wittery tbh

[Luis Anaconda]

I am all for diversity and inclusivity but in the rush to allow ‘minnows’ have a summer holiday in France the workings of the first qualifying round are terribly confusing.

You have your Albanians who have finished third in their group on Sunday but don’t know if they can go home or not for a few days, so they can’t really kick back and go on the beer. They must continue to prepare and train, yet they could still be sent back to Albania wherever that actually is.

Then you have group winners playing 3rd place finishers, while other group winners play 2nd place finishers, presumably stronger and in theory a ****ter draw.

My solution would be to play the group stages and let everybody have fun and then simply put Italy, France, Spain and Germany into the semi-finals and let them take it from there.
Funny way to spell England, sw

But yes - the sight of a team playing for a 0-0 draw so they can finish third in a four team group does make a farce of the whole competition (not that I blame Slovakia - just that had the only been two qualifiers they would have to have made an effort to try and win the game at some point)

[Sir C]

The whole thing's an utter borefest.. Can anyone remember such a dull event in the history of national competition, aside from the Welsh and Icelanders. ?
How any idiot can devise a competition of 24 teams, each playing 3 games and resulting in only a third getting eliminated.. Complete ****wittery tbh

:shrug: I haven't seen a single boring game yet.

You don't really like football much, do you?

[Luis Anaconda]

:shrug: I haven't seen a single boring game yet.

You don't really like football much, do you?
:nod: Italy v Belgium was a thing of beauty for a start

[7sisters]

:shrug: I haven't seen a single boring game yet.

You don't really like football much, do you?

It's sport of diminishing returns I'm afraid.. Probably the onset of old age and an inability to concentrate on anything much beyond half an hour before inevitably dozing off. :-\

[SWv2]

The whole thing's an utter borefest.. Can anyone remember such a dull event in the history of national competition, aside from the Welsh and Icelanders. ?
How any idiot can devise a competition of 24 teams, each playing 3 games and resulting in only a third getting eliminated.. Complete ****wittery tbh

I must say I have enjoyed (or perhaps endured) watching most matches without being overly bored. I did struggle at times last night with your so called Three Lions but was able to flick down a channel and watch the brave sons of Cymru.

France v Switzerland is a game I saw pilloried as an end of group stage relative borefest but a game I thoroughly enjoyed. Xhaka, Pogba, Sissoko. Marvellous.

[Burney]

I must say I have enjoyed (or perhaps endured) watching most matches without being overly bored. I did struggle at times last night with your so called Three Lions but was able to flick down a channel and watch the brave sons of Cymru.

France v Switzerland is a game I saw pilloried as an end of group stage relative borefest but a game I thoroughly enjoyed. Xhaka, Pogba, Sissoko. Marvellous.

I dunno. I think I increasingly struggle to give a **** about any game in which I'm impartial, tbh. **** it, I even struggle with some Arsenal games, if I'm honest.

Basically, I'm starting to think the whole thing would be improved if you had more goals.

[Burney]

It's sport of diminishing returns I'm afraid.. Probably the onset of old age and an inability to concentrate on anything much beyond half an hour before inevitably dozing off. :-\

Yes. I'm much the same - although not with the dozing off so much as just sitting down to watch a game and realising after five or ten minutes that I just don't give a monkey's. :shrug:

[Ash]

I am all for diversity and inclusivity but in the rush to allow ‘minnows’ have a summer holiday in France the workings of the first qualifying round are terribly confusing.

You have your Albanians who have finished third in their group on Sunday but don’t know if they can go home or not for a few days, so they can’t really kick back and go on the beer. They must continue to prepare and train, yet they could still be sent back to Albania wherever that actually is.

Then you have group winners playing 3rd place finishers, while other group winners play 2nd place finishers, presumably stronger and in theory a ****ter draw.

My solution would be to play the group stages and let everybody have fun and then simply put Italy, France, Spain and Germany into the semi-finals and let them take it from there.

The Albanians have already won the tournament, according, it seems, to the substantial and highly spirited contingent that spent half the night driving round Luxembourg City after they beat Romania, tooting their horns non-stop, cheering, and singing UCK songs.

[Luis Anaconda]

The Albanians have already won the tournament, according, it seems, to the substantial and highly spirited contingent that spent half the night driving round Luxembourg City after they beat Romania, tooting their horns non-stop, cheering, and singing UCK songs.

They were like that around here when the qualified - lovely bunch. Fortunately I watched the game at home on Sunday (well the France one) - they were out in force again