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Mariner93er |
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After seeing that, I’ll be very disappointed if we don’t finish with maximum points. Will watch the group of death with interest now as we’ll be playing one of them in the next round.
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Poojah |
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After seeing that, I’ll be very disappointed if we don’t finish with maximum points. Will watch the group of death with interest now as we’ll be playing one of them in the next round.
Interestingly, if England beat Scotland and assuming there’s a winner in the Croatia / Czech Republic game, we would be in a position to effectively opt to finish second by losing our final group game by a couple of goals. Would we be that cynical? Southgate certainly put out a weakened side in our final group game at the World Cup; not sure if he’d be permitted to do so on this occasion given it wouldn’t be the dead rubber that the Belgium game was, but the path to the final looks fraught with difficulty should be top the group.
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Knut Anders Fosters Voles |
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Interestingly, if England beat Scotland and assuming there’s a winner in the Croatia / Czech Republic game, we would be in a position to effectively opt to finish second by losing our final group game by a couple of goals.
Would we be that cynical? Southgate certainly put out a weakened side in our final group game at the World Cup; not sure if he’d be permitted to do so on this occasion given it wouldn’t be the dead rubber that the Belgium game was, but the path to the final looks fraught with difficulty should be top the group.
I don’t think our B team is that much weaker than our A team. Different strengths and talents. If we are in that position I would rather he played the remainder of the squad. Long way to go of course. Grealish, DCL and Sancho are worth over £200m collectively for instance.
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Abdul19 |
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That'd be quite an effort though. A fully changed 11 would still contain some quality players and it'd be against the Czechs - last time we brought in Phil Jones (probably) and it was against a Belgium side who beat Brazil a week later!
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toontown |
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Interestingly, if England beat Scotland and assuming there’s a winner in the Croatia / Czech Republic game, we would be in a position to effectively opt to finish second by losing our final group game by a couple of goals.
Would we be that cynical? Southgate certainly put out a weakened side in our final group game at the World Cup; not sure if he’d be permitted to do so on this occasion given it wouldn’t be the dead rubber that the Belgium game was, but the path to the final looks fraught with difficulty should be top the group.
In what way do u think he wouldn't be permitted to play his chosen side for the final game of the group? Its entirely up to him and if a team has won the first 2 they are entirely in their rights to rest their entire first 11 and teams have done so in the past. Its the fault of the teams relying on other countries results if that doesn't suit them.
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Meza |
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Hungary v Portugal looks like there is nearly a full stadium.
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Abdul19 |
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Yeah full. All vaccinated, so John Oster not in attendance.
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DB |
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Lucky first goal for Portugal and the pen wraps it up.
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Knut Anders Fosters Voles |
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If France beat Germany later, which I suspect they will, Germany could be in a bit of trouble and relying on results in other groups.
Portugal could easily pick Germany off on the break on Saturday.
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GollyGTFC |
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Interestingly, if England beat Scotland and assuming there’s a winner in the Croatia / Czech Republic game, we would be in a position to effectively opt to finish second by losing our final group game by a couple of goals.
Would we be that cynical? Southgate certainly put out a weakened side in our final group game at the World Cup; not sure if he’d be permitted to do so on this occasion given it wouldn’t be the dead rubber that the Belgium game was, but the path to the final looks fraught with difficulty should be top the group.
Why on earth would we want to finish 2nd? I totally disagree that the path is easier if we finish 2nd. If we win the group... R16 - Home match at Wembley against 2nd in Group F (Germany? Portugal? France?) QF - Winner of Group E or a 3rd placed team in Rome (Spain? Slovakia? Sweden?) SF - Group C Winner or 2nd from either Group A or B at Wembley (Netherlands? Wales? Switzerland? Denmark?) In we finish 2nd... R16 - 2nd in Group E in Copenhagen (Slovakia? Sweden? Spain?) QF - Winner of Group F or a 3rd placed team in Saint Petersburg (France?) SF - Winners of Group A or B at Wembley (Italy or Belgium) I think we'd be mad to want to be in a half of the draw that will likely include Italy & Belgium and will probably include France. Better to be in the side of the draw with the poor by their standards Germany, Spain & Netherlands. If we finish 3rd (and are one of the top 4) we would have a 50% chance of facing the winners of Group C "the group of dearth"... R16 - Group C winners in Budapest (Netherlands?) QF - Runner-up from either Group A or Group B (Switzerland? Wales? Turkey? Finland? Denmark?) SF- Winner of D or E or Runner-up from F (Czech Rep or Croatia? Slovakia or Sweden? Germany or Portugal?)
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