There is a good chance of Ireland and the O6 being drawn together in a playoff.
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Well it depends on a “good chance”. If Bosnia don’t qualify automatically (which they won’t) they’ll be #1 seed. They’ll play #4 so we can only play the 6 counties if we are #2 and #3 seeds which could happen but requires a fairly precise outcome for teams in Leagues A and B in qualifying for it to materialise. It would be in Dublin though if it happens - a great day out.
Are they not all held in a host country like the Nations League finals?
It would basically require by my calculations 5 of teams above Ireland (including Bosnia) not to get automatic qualification spots. It would also necessitate Sweden and Ukraine to get automatic spots.
8 surely across Nations League A and B.
The A and B pathways both have to be filled out.
Nope in that circumstance, only Iceland would have not qualified from the A pathway.
So Iceland and the three highest ranking B sides who did not top their group would fill the A pathway.
Bosnia (presuming the other group winners all qualify) and the remaining highest ranking B/C sides who did not top their group would face off for the B pathway.
It’s wonderful in its complexity.
Northern Ireland’s record under Michael O’Neill in EURO qualifying matches
P: 14
W: 10
D: 3
L: 1
F: 23
A: 10
Unrale
Bizarre that they’ve played Belarus & Estonia twice already. Their next 4 competitive games are Germany, Netherlands, Netherlands & Germany. Woof
The record might not look so good after that.
So are you saying that a second placed position in Nations League C is worth more than a third placed position in Nations League B?
Here’s the current standings from 1-36 on Nations League placings
We know the bolded teams are guaranteed at least a play-off
A
1 Portugal
2 Holland
3 England Q
4 Switzerland
5 Belgium Q
6 France Q
7 Spain Q
8 Italy Q
9 Croatia
10 Poland Q
11 Germany Q
12 Iceland
B
13 Bosnia
14 Ukraine Q
15 Denmark Q
16 Sweden Q
17 Russia Q
18 Austria
19 Wales
20 Czech Republic Q
21 Slovakia Q
22 Turkey Q
23 Eire Q
24 Ireland Q
C
25 Serbia
26 Norway
27 Finland Q
28 Scotland
29 Romania
30 Bulgaria
31 Hungary Q
32 Israel Q
33 Greece
34 Montenegro
35 Cyprus
36 Albania
As it stands, how would the play-offs look?
A pathway
Portugal v Croatia
Holland v Switzerland
Iceland would go out?
B pathway
Bosnia v Bulgaria?
Austria v Wales
C pathway
Serbia v Romania
Norway v Scotland
No. As things stand now (current qualification standings)
League A - correct
League B
Iceland v Wales
Bosnia v Austria
League C
Scotland v Greece
Serbia v Norway
League D
Georgia v Belarus
Macedonia v Kosovo
Greece would get in due to Hungary and Finland both currently occupying automatic doors and they were the next best team in the Nations League group with them.
Iceland would get in as all the B sides either qualified for the playoffs or automatically and they are the next highest overall ranking team.
Northern Ireland were excellent last night
that is x2 consecutive games now where they have dug out late goals away from home to win away games
they are a very organised side with players who seem to row in 100% behind the cause
a brief look at their squad wouldnt exactly convince you that there is a lot of quality but mick o neill can certainly get a tune out of them
Jordan Jones was outstanding again BTW and Lafferty coming in was a gamechanger
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On paper we’ve a better team than them, but they are so much better organised than us. It’s not exactly samba soccer they play but they do go out and try and win games
This gets even more confusing
Surely that would then mean 8 teams above Eire would have to fail to qualify for them to be denied a play-off?
It would but I was referring earlier that in order for Ireland to face the O6 in a playoff they would need:
5 teams ranked higher than Ireland would need to miss out on automatic qualification. One of those teams is likely to be Bosnia and I’m assuming the other 3 teams that topped their Nations League B groups secure automatic qualification.
In that case the 4 teams above Ireland excluding Bosnia fill the A pathway.
Bosnia stay in the B path as the top ranked team
Ireland are the 2nd ranked side, O6 the 3rd.
Ireland draw the O6.
@Cicero_Dandi - please do out the play-off pathways based on the following scenario, which is something like what I expect
A
1 Portugal Q
2 Holland Q
3 England Q
4 Switzerland Q
5 Belgium Q
6 France Q
7 Spain Q
8 Italy Q
9 Croatia Q
10 Poland Q
11 Germany Q
12 Iceland
B
13 Bosnia
14 Ukraine Q
15 Denmark Q
16 Sweden Q
17 Russia Q
18 Austria Q
19 Wales
20 Czech Republic Q
21 Slovakia Q
22 Turkey Q
23 Eire
24 Ireland
C
25 Serbia
26 Norway
27 Finland Q
28 Scotland
29 Romania
30 Bulgaria
31 Hungary
32 Israel
33 Greece
34 Montenegro
35 Cyprus
36 Albania
37 Estonia
38 Slovenia
39 Lithuania
D
40 Georgia
41 North Macedonia
42 Kosovo
43 Belarus
Iceland v O6
Wales v Ireland
Bosnia v Romania
Israel v Bulgaria
Scotland v Hungary
Norway v Serbia
Georgia v Belarus
Macedonia v Kosovo
I’m going on the Wikipedia rankings there.
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I’m not sure what happens in the case of Hungary/Greece.
Hungary could stay in pathway C as a replacement for Finland who win their group. If that is the case then Greece miss out and Israel would benefit by going into path B.
There’s no way we’ll come out of a 4 way playoff against teams of even moderate quality the way we are going. We need to stumble into second in our qualifying group with draws IMO.
No, the way you did it is correct.
There will be Honours Maths Leaving Cert questions on this next year
I could even see UEFA knocking a popular board game out of it
It’s very snakes and ladders-esque
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