The Euro Quailifers..

[Spursex]

Somewhere to debate/discuss all Tottenham players involvement in each game:


England vs Czech Republic
Euro 2020 qualifying
Venue: Wembley Stadium
Kick-off: 7:45pm GMT | Friday, 22 March, 2019


Welcome to the Evening Standard’s LIVE coverage of England’s Euro 2020 qualifying matches against Czech Republic and Montenegro.


Gareth Southgate’s side take on the Euro 96 runners-up at Wembley Stadium on Friday night, before facing Montenegro at Podgorica City Stadium three days later.


There is a freshness about the England camp with West Ham's Declan Rice, Chelsea’s Callum Hudson-Odoi and Southampton’s James Ward-Prowse has been called up after Fabian Delph, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, John Stones and Luke Shaw withdrew through injury.


The players have been at St George’s Park since Monday, and Southgate with Southgate holding a press conference this afternoon.

Of course, Callum Hudson-Odoi's arrival, as well as that of Southampton star James Ward-Prowse, was prompted by the withdrawals of John Stones, Fabian Delph, Luke Shaw and Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

Here's the full squad as it stands now:

Goalkeepers: Jack Butland (Stoke City), Tom Heaton (Burnley), Jordan Pickford (Everton)

Defenders: Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool), Ben Chilwell (Leicester City), Michael Keane (Everton), Harry Maguire (Leicester City), Danny Rose (Tottenham Hotspur), James Tarkowski (Burnley), Kieran Trippier (Tottenham Hotspur), Kyle Walker (Manchester City)

Midfielders: Ross Barkley (Chelsea), Dele Alli (Tottenham Hotspur), Eric Dier (Tottenham Hotspur), Jordan Henderson (Liverpool), Declan Rice (West Ham), James Ward-Prowse (Southampton), Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea)

Forwards: Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur), Marcus Rashford (Manchester United), Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), Raheem Sterling (Manchester City), Callum Wilson (Bournemouth)

 

[muttley]

Southgate must be a little concerned. He's lost his best centre half partnership of Stones and Gomez and is left with 2 out of Maguire, Keane and Tarkowski. That is 3 average players to select from. In midfield, both Henderson and Barkley are doubts and if it had been a friendly I'm sure both would have withdrawn. I would have recalled Lallana for this one to add depth.

The good news is we have Dele, Sancho, Sterling, Rashford and Kane all fit and in the same squad. If Southgate can get the full-backs flying forward and the attackers on the ball then we should be OK.

 

[Spursex]

If he sets us up right and shows the confidence he should, we can score 3, 4 or even 5...and yes they might easily get a couple back, but at least it would be better than alot of the mind numbingly boring England home games I seem to always be attending...

 

[muttley]

Wednesday 20 March
Ben Davies – Wales home friendly against Trinidad & Tobago – kick-off 7.45pm
Jack Roles – Cyprus Under-21s home European Under-21 Championship qualifier against Gibraltar – kick-off 1.30pm
Jonathan De Bie – Belgium Under-19s away European Under-19 Championship qualifier against Italy – kick-off 2pm
Luis Binks and Paris Maghoma – England Under-18s SportsChain Cup away match against Japan – kick-off 4pm

Thursday 21 March
Toby Alderwerield and Jan Vertonghen – Belgium home Euro 2020 qualifier against Russia – kick-off 7.45pm
Christian Eriksen – Denmark away friendly against Kosovo – kick-off 6pm
Anthony Georgiou – Cyprus home Euro 2020 qualifier against San Marino – 5pm
Kyle Walker-Peters – England Under-21s home friendly against Poland – kick-off 7.45pm
Brandon Austin and Japhet Tanganga – England Under-20s home friendly against Poland – kick-off 7pm

Friday 22 March
Davinson Sanchez – Colombia away friendly against Japan – kick-off 10.20am
Heung-Min Son – South Korea home friendly against Bolivia – kick-off 11am
Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Harry Kane, Danny Rose and Kieran Trippier – England home Euro 2020 qualifier against Czech Republic – kick-off 7.45pm
Hugo Lloris and Moussa Sissoko – France away Euro 2020 qualifier against Moldova – kick-off 7.45pm
Juan Foyth – Argentina friendly against Venezuela in Madrid – kick-off 8pm
Tom Glover – Australia Under-23s away Olympic qualifier against Cambodia – kick-off 1pm
Luis Binks and Paris Maghoma – England Under-18s SportsChain Cup away match against Czech Republic – kick-off 4pm

Saturday 23 March
Serge Aurier – Ivory Coast home Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Rwanda – kick-off 5pm
Victor Wanyama – Kenya away Africa Cup of Nations Qualifier against Ghana – kick-off 6pm
Jonathan De Bie – Belgium Under-19s away European Under-19 Championship qualifier against Serbia – kick-off 10.30am

Sunday 24 March
Ben Davies – Wales home Euro 2020 qualifier against Slovakia – kick-off 2pm
Anthony Georgiou / Toby Alderwerield and Jan Vertonghen – Cyprus home Euro 2020 qualifier against Belgium – kick-off 7.45pm
Tom Glover – Australia Under-23s away Olympic qualifier against Chinese Taipei – kick-off 10am
Luis Binks and Paris Maghoma – England Under-18s SportsChain Cup away match against Mexico – kick-off 1.30pm

Monday 25 March
Dele Alli, Eric Dier, Harry Kane, Danny Rose and Kieran Trippier – England away Euro 2020 qualifier against Montenegro – kick-off 7.45pm
Hugo Lloris and Moussa Sissoko – France home friendly against Iceland – kick-off 7.45pm

Tuesday 26 March
Heung-Min Son / Davinson Sanchez – South Korea home friendly against Colombia – kick-off 11am
Christian Eriksen – Denmark away Euro 2020 qualifier against Switzerland – kick-off 7.45pm
Juan Foyth – Argentina away friendly against Morocco – kick-off 7pm
Serge Aurier – Ivory Coast home friendly against Liberia
Kyle Walker-Peters – England Under-21s away friendly against Germany – kick-off 7.45pm
Tom Glover – Australia Under-23s away Olympic qualifier against South Korea – kick-off 10am
Brandon Austin and Japhet Tanganga – England Under-20s away friendly against Portugal – kick-off 6pm
Jonathan De Bie – Belgium Under-19s away European Under-19 Championship qualifier against Ukraine – kick-off 2pm

 

[muttley]

So this is interesting. Here's part of what Kane said about Odoi today in a Sky interview:-

"We will see how his career progresses over the next year or so, whether he does that where he is now or maybe out on loan OR another team"

I heard that on TalkSport and thought to myself that might rub the Chelsea fans up the wrong way. What Sky wrote on their website.....

"We will see how his career progresses over the next year or so, whether he does that where he is now or maybe out on loan WITH another team."

It's subtle, but does change the context of what Kane actually said :-)

 

[Greavswasthegreatest]

How is Trippier in the squad?

 

[muttley]

From the Telegraph following today's interview with Trips.....

Kieran Trippier has admitted he has struggled to live up to his World Cup reputation for Tottenham Hotspur this season.

Right-back Trippier was one of England’s star performers in Russia, but the 28-year-old has struggled at times for Spurs.

England manager Gareth Southgate has kept faith with Trippier for the Euro 2020 qualifiers against Czech Republic and Montenegro, but the former Burnley man acknowledges he needs to improve.

“I could have done a lot better this season,” said Trippier. “I've picked up a lot of injuries and there's been games when I've looked back and watched, and thought 'I could have done this better', 'I could have done that better'.

“It's all about learning, but I admit I could have done a lot better. I am here now and I need to try to impress to try and start for England and try and do the best I can with every opportunity I get between now and the end of the season.”

Asked whether or not he could explain his loss of form, Trippier added: “Obviously, I don't go into a game not wanting to do well. I go into every game to try to do my best for my team-mates and the club.

“It's just one of those things, it just happens. You know when you've had a bad game. You can always improve, and we've got a good manager back at the club. He sits us down individually and as a group, shows where you could have done better, and with a good manager like that you can always only learn.”

Trippier, though, dismissed that he has suffered from World Cup burn-out, adding: “Obviously, it's a long World Cup getting to the semis and stuff. The Premier League come around straightaway, but it's what we do it. It's our job.
“If we get picked, we all want to play. People can say the World Cup is the reason why, but, for me personally, I don't think it was. I think it's just one of those things, you pick up injuries.

“Obviously rest is the most important thing and it would have been nice to get an extra week or something, but the season came around early, so you've just got to get on with it.
“There's big games for England coming up and then obviously when we get back there is a massive six, seven weeks towards the end of the season at club level.

“There's teams just behind us trying to catch us for the top four. We have just got to do as well as we can. We know how well we can do and, hopefully, it'll be a good end to the season for us.”

 

[Nick Real Deal]

Some kind of foreign small game bird manager , is that a Euro Quailifer ? 2 i's in the wrong place in one word in a thread title......shoddy. !!!

 

[freundorfoe]

He sits us down individually and as a group, shows where you could have done better, and with a good manager like that you can always only learn.”

"Kieran pass to players wearing same colour kit as you, not the other guys. Also don't kick it in the goal that Hugo is standing in, kick it in the other one"
"Thanks boss. Think I've got it now. You're a top manager."

 

[freundorfoe]

So. Am I right in thinking if we win the nation's league thingy these games are irrelevant as we'll qualify through that?

 

[Spursex]

So. Am I right in thinking if we win the nation's league thingy these games are irrelevant as we'll qualify through that?

Not quite...



Nations League explained: How the new format works What about this being a back door to the Euros?
This is where things start to get a little bit tricky.

The actual qualification process for Euro 2020 has been simplified, with the top two nations in the 10 groups claiming a place in the finals.

The seedings will be determined by how teams performed in the preceding Nations League and the 10 fixtures will be wedged into an eight-month window from March-November 2019. So far, so familiar.

However, that leaves four places at the finals - which will be held in 12 host cities around the continent - still to be filled, which is where the fun starts.

Remember those Nations League groups? The four group winners in each tier will then play-off in March for a first crack at claiming one of those four vacant spots.



However, should a nation already have qualified, their place will go to the next highest-ranked team from their Nations League tier. To confuse things further, that will not necessarily be the runners-up in their group.

Furthermore, should there not be enough teams in one of the tiers… actually, let's not confuse ourselves with that. Another Uefa video might help...

 

[Spursex]

Uefa European Qualifiers Play-offs explained Could you 'game' the system, then?
As you may have deduced from that video, the structure of the play-offs means that one nation from each tier will claim a finals place. So one of Azerbaijan, Macedonia, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Latvia, the Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Liechtenstein, Malta, Andorra, Kosovo, San Marino or Gibraltar will qualify for a major tournament.

Likewise, Scotland are looking at League C and thinking that, as the third-highest ranked nation, they have a decent chance of winning their section before emerging from the four-team knockout play-off against, perhaps, Hungary, Slovenia and Romania.

All that might raise the question, then, whether it could be in some nations' interests to strategically tumble down a tier with a couple of experimental team selections in the hope of securing a circuitous, but more forgiving, route to a major tournament.

It wouldn't be the first time that teams have shown some street smarts around fixture scheduling.

With friendlies hitherto only garnering 40% of the Fifa ranking points that competitive games do, some nations have fathomed that they are better not playing exhibition matches at all. That way, they protect their ranking and reap the benefit when it comes to qualification draws.

Romania and Wales are among those who have been rumoured to have dabbled in such sly scheduling but the Nations League should end that practice.

"The more matches played in competition makes it all the better," said Marchetti. "Clearly there is more harmonisation as all the teams will play roughly the same number of games, without a free choice of opponent.

"And these finals are not an add-on to the calendar. They are on dates that are currently on there. We are not asking more sacrifice of the players, they will simply play something else."

So why else are we doing this?
Uefa is concerned by the relative strength of the club game and sees this as a means to redress the balance.

But, perhaps more importantly, broadcasters have committed to a package that runs until 2022. Who wouldn't watch Germany playing Spain in a competitive final in an otherwise fallow football summer?

There have even been murmurs that Fifa is enthused enough by the plans to be considering a global equivalent.

But in reality, the changes will have little real effect on the top-tier nations - save a handy safety net should they mess up qualification - as their glamour friendlies are simply replaced with a more codified competition against the same elite countries.

But for those for whom qualification is a dream rather than an expectation, this provides a significant glimmer of hope.

"It is a new competition and like every newborn it takes time to establish itself, settle down and be recognised, but we think we have good ingredients for success," said Marchetti.

"This will turn most of the friendlies into competition matches and that will be a much better proposition for fans."

 

[muttley]

As an England fan, I would say that so far the UEFA Nations League has been fantastic compared to the pointless friendlies we had previously wrapped around uncompetitive Euro qualifiers in the autumn. The England / Spain / Croatia group was very entertaining and what we needed after the momentum of the World Cup.

Personally, I'd happily see the Prem reduced to 16 clubs and more emphasis given to the international team like we see in other sports like rugby and cricket. What's actually happening is some of the Prem games are a war of attrition and very boring to watch whereas the England games have been way more entertaining.

The money monopoly in football won't let common sense prevail though.

 

[spurdon]

As an England fan, I would say that so far the UEFA Nations League has been fantastic compared to the pointless friendlies we had previously wrapped around uncompetitive Euro qualifiers in the autumn. The England / Spain / Croatia group was very entertaining and what we needed after the momentum of the World Cup.

Personally, I'd happily see the Prem reduced to 16 clubs and more emphasis given to the international team like we see in other sports like rugby and cricket. What's actually happening is some of the Prem games are a war of attrition and very boring to watch whereas the England games have been way more entertaining.

The money monopoly in football won't let common sense prevail though.

No way! 16 team prem to watch worse football at international level. I'll pass! it's Spurs way first, England second. That question about a world cup win or a champions league or league win for the club side is not even a moment's hesitation in my mind. Rugby and Cricket have never been comparable nor should they be.And saying their have been poor attritional EPL matches and the Nations league "fixed" the international game belies the last twenty years of horror football featuring Andorra, Moldova, and Liechtenstein we have endured, and the Infantino sponsored 40 team world cup at Christmas and 80 team Euro ahead. The standard of both is set to near kill the international game. Mark my words the Nations league has been welcome but there is way more wrong with the international game than the club game. I say this Muttley as a bloke who fell in love with football via International's. Before evil Blatter turned it into the "Fifa world cup". Like fuck it is.

 

[freundorfoe]

The seedings will be determined by how teams performed in the preceding Nations League and the 10 fixtures will be wedged into an eight-month window from March-November 2019. So far, so familiar.

However, that leaves four places at the finals - which will be held in 12 host cities around the continent - still to be filled, which is where the fun starts.

Remember those Nations League groups? The four group winners in each tier will then play-off in March for a first crack at claiming one of those four vacant spots.

View attachment 31930

However, should a nation already have qualified, their place will go to the next highest-ranked team from their Nations League tier. To confuse things further, that will not necessarily be the runners-up in their group.

Furthermore, should there not be enough teams in one of the tiers… actually, let's not confuse ourselves with that. Another Uefa video might help...

Thanks. That's as clear as mud now.

Can someone dumb it down for me, I'm jet lagged...

"four group winners in each tier will play off in March" is that March next year? Or is that what we're about to do now?

 

[muttley]

No way! 16 team prem to watch worse football at international level. I'll pass! it's Spurs way first, England second. That question about a world cup win or a champions league or league win for the club side is not even a moment's hesitation in my mind. Rugby and Cricket have never been comparable nor should they be.And saying their have been poor attritional EPL matches and the Nations league "fixed" the international game belies the last twenty years of horror football featuring Andorra, Moldova, and Liechtenstein we have endured, and the Infantino sponsored 40 team world cup at Christmas and 80 team Euro ahead. The standard of both is set to near kill the international game. Mark my words the Nations league has been welcome but there is way more wrong with the international game than the club game. I say this Muttley as a bloke who fell in love with football via International's. Before evil Blatter turned it into the "Fifa world cup". Like fuck it is.

Looking backwards is always a fruitless exercise though Spurdon. Nobody is going to disagree that the last couple of decades were less entertaining than the domestic game since probably Euro 96. Worth mentioning that a load of countries like Germany and Spain have had a whale of a time whilst we been suffering. That's because they did a better job of finding a balance between internationals and domestic football in their priorities. They didn't have 2 FA's like we do, with The Premier League being our second. They had grass roots strategies to win major tournaments and executed. Therefore they had entertaining football to watch.

The club World Cup is a stupid idea in my opinion. I do like the single league club approach that we're now seeing in pre-season though. That's taking football back to the viewing public that pay a lot of money but can't normally watch it live. It's competitive for the squad and brings in TV revenues. Even though neither FIFA or UEFA regulated, I hope that builds a little momentum.

 

[Removed at own request]

So all the big boys have pulled players out the squads.

We of course haven’t.

Small time

 

[muttley]

So all the big boys have pulled players out the squads.

We of course haven’t.

Small time

Here's my current list out of the top 6 players all listed as back on Mar 30/31 and not with their international teams
City - De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Delph, Otamendi, Mendy
Pool - Shaqiri, Keita,
Spurs - Winks
Utd - Shaw, Martial, Matic, Lukaku
Ars - nobody
Chels - Loftus Cheek

As for England, I have no clue whether Delph, Winks, L-Cheek, Shaw are fit enough to be involved. Pretty confident that Stones couldn't make it and Trent was sent home by the England physio anyway. What's positive is that Henderson and Barkley could have probably withdrawn based on their in-game injuries but are with the England setup. Same with Trips who missed the last 2.

Still shades of grey with me on this one. If there's a finger to point it might be more with Pep than anyone else. Saying that, if Spurs had a crucial game in these next few days I have a feeling Winks would be involved so not really prepared to throw stones.

 

[Removed at own request]

Here's my current list out of the top 6 players all listed as back on Mar 30/31 and not with their international teams
City - De Bruyne, Fernandinho, Delph, Otamendi, Mendy
Pool - Shaqiri, Keita,
Spurs - Winks
Utd - Shaw, Martial, Matic, Lukaku
Ars - nobody
Chels - Loftus Cheek

As for England, I have no clue whether Delph, Winks, L-Cheek, Shaw are fit enough to be involved. Pretty confident that Stones couldn't make it and Trent was sent home by the England physio anyway. What's positive is that Henderson and Barkley could have probably withdrawn based on their in-game injuries but are with the England setup. Same with Trips who missed the last 2.

Still shades of grey with me on this one. If there's a finger to point it might be more with Pep than anyone else. Saying that, if Spurs had a crucial game in these next few days I have a feeling Winks would be involved so not really prepared to throw stones.

TAA has pulled out for Liverpool now as well - Arsenal don’t actually have any England players.

Liverpool is a can not lose game, We need Alli not to be injured in a qualifying game against a c rank side in a group the top 2 go through.

 

[muttley]

TAA has pulled out for Liverpool now as well - Arsenal don’t actually have any England players.

Liverpool is a can not lose game, We need Alli not to be injured in a qualifying game against a c rank side in a group the top 2 go through.

We can now add Rashford to the list. Ankle injury. Sent home.