UEFA have announced the groups for the forthcoming UEFA Nations League with Netherlands amongst the top nations in Group A.
- By Michael Bell
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Despite not reaching the World Cup, Netherlands wins over Belarus and Sweden have seen them sneak into the top seeds for the new tournament, which will offer a route to EURO 2020.
Oranje are in Group A alongside Germany, Portugal, Belgium, Spain, France, England, Switzerland, Italy, Poland, Iceland, and Croatia.
According to UEFA’s website:
- The teams will be split into four groups of three next January, with the group winners then contesting the UEFA Nations League Finals (semi-finals, third-place match and final) in June 2019 to become the UEFA Nations League winners. One host country will be appointed in December 2018 from among the finalist teams.
- The four sides that finish bottom of their groups will be relegated to League B for the 2020 edition.
- The top four-ranked League A teams that do not qualify for UEFA EURO 2020 will enter play-offs in March 2020, with one finals place on offer.
The Group Stage draw takes place on the 24th of January.
CONFIRMED: The four leagues for the UEFA Nations League! ⚽️?
More details ? https://t.co/sg2Z1S9r78 pic.twitter.com/zWM4xt288O
— UEFA EURO (@UEFAEURO) October 11, 2017
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It sounded from Advocaat’s comments as though the KNVB really wanted them to get into League A.
I understand that playing teams like Germany and Italy carry prestige and money, but what’s the point of playing matches against teams that are overwhelminingly superior, as was vividly demonstrated in the recent France match? It would have been better to play against teams of similar current level, such as Austria or Ireland.
Its a long way off, but I fear that all being in Leauge A will do is dent the team’s confidence going into the Euro 2020 qualifiers.
Good teams always want to play against the best competition possible. A match like 4-0 in Paris should motivate the team to get better, not destroy their confidence. Oranje will never learn how to beat teams like France, Germany, etc, again unless they play against them regularly. Individual players will get to play against players from leagues they have ambitions to get to, and will learn more about how to get there playing in League A than they will in League B.
If there’s one thing that yesterday showed us, is that even though Robben was leading us, Oranje is still better than Sweden’s level (and the standings would have shown that if they weren’t stuck in the stone age using goal differential as the first tiebreaker). It wasn’t just Robben that was playing with some ambition. If they play with the same fire as they did yesterday in every match, they are simply a team in transition to a new generation. If they don’t, we’ve seen the results already.