Winners & Losers from the UEFA Nations League 2020
When the European Football governing body UEFA announced the Nations League tournament back in January 2017, it was approached with mixed reactions. The club coaches were quick to criticize the 55-nations tournament as it would mean an even congested schedule, keeping in mind the International friendlies and Euro qualifiers too. But, as UEFA confirmed that the winners of the Nations League will directly seal a place in the European Championships, it raised a lot of eyebrows.
Since then every European nation, right from the smaller ones to the giants of the game, have always prioritized the annual tournament. It has gone to the extent of players performing through injury for their countries as the stakes were at an all-time high.
As the first edition of the tournament began in full-swing in 2019 — after the World Cup had concluded a year ago — Netherlands and Portugal emerged as the two finalists of the premier year of the Nations League. The Dutch side, who had failed to qualify for the World Cup in 2018, were heavy favourites due to their new-gen stepping up to the task. But Portugal did a repeat of the Euro 2016 final as they won the Nations League final against the odds and sealed Cristiano Ronaldo’s second major International trophy in his legendary career.
This year though has been a bit different. No prizes for guessing what has hit the world this year. Coronavirus ensured that the Euro 2020 will not be played and will be postponed to 2021, resulting in another Nations League tournament to squeeze in between the clubs’ domestic games. Though the coveted tournament is shaping up nicely, it has led to a lot of COVID cases to the players — which is an obvious downside. But as they say, the show must go on.
Today we take a look at a few winners and losers from the Nations League 2020 and examine what has led to their destiny in this European annual tournament.
Poland (Winner)
Drawn alongside Italy and Netherlands, it was always a group of death if we look at it from Poland’s point of view. Both the former sides had missed upon the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the Nations League is the first step towards making amends for the two heavyweights of the beautiful game. So, Poland were always going to be in a danger zone. Adding to their misery, the fourth side seeded in the group, Bosnia & Herzegovina, also aren’t a clear cakewalk. This was a hell-ride for the Polish camp.
But despite all these possible roadblocks, Poland have performed and how! The side led by Robert Lewandowski in the attack, is sitting atop the Nations League Group A1 with 7 points from 4 games played. Not everything has been controllable for them, with some good luck paving their way as Netherlands have switched off big time in the last few games. But to be ahead of Italy, who are unbeaten since last calendar year, in the group is something which must have boosted the morale of the Polish camp immensely.
Croatia (Loser)
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Croatia were at the top of the world back in 2018. They expectedly lost the World Cup final to France but taking the game to the hosts at the world’s biggest stage and having a career-best tournament in the history of the country really changed the attitude with which the other European nations saw the Croats.
But it has increasingly seemed that the World Cup 2018 was the best chance that the nation could have, at the golden trophy. This is because most of the squad members retired after the quad-annual tournament and the others have aged very poorly in the last couple of years.
The team is still being carried by Luka Modric on his shoulders but the 35-year-old is alas a human and has his own limitations.
This downfall of Croatia has been evident in their performances in the Nations League Group A3. One might argue that it is also due to the presence of France and Portugal in the very group, but Croatia have been next to shambolic in their efforts. The only win of their run has come against Sweden, who is the worst team in the group with 4 losses to their name.
The most important talking point though is Croatia’s pathetic goal difference. A team which scored almost freely in the World Cup back in 2018 has a negative goal difference of 5 goals in the tournament. There is no doubt they are going into the Euro 2021 with a very low morale.
Ukraine (Winner)
An unexpected name on the list but a very well-deserved one is Ukraine. The Andriy Shevchenko led National team has put in some really hearty performances this year. The biggest and probably something which says enough about their successful campaign is the fact that they are tied on points with Germany in the Group A4 of the Nations League.
Ukraine also broke a long-time historical record as they handed Spain the first defeat of the year during the last International Break.
Very rarely does it happen that the statistics very closely correlate with the actual performances on the pitch. But this has been the case with Ukraine this year. With the wins against the Spaniards and the Swiss in their kitty, the Ukrainians almost even got a point at home against Germany. But fate had other plans as the every mighty Germans made a beautiful comeback to secure a 1–2 win in Kyiv.
Nevertheless, if Ukraine are lucky enough to get a simple group in next year’s Euro 2021, they might just have a chance to go deep in the competition.
Germany (Loser)
If we talk about Ukraine, we have to certainly mention Germany too — but in an exactly opposite aura. The Germans have not been at their best and despite ruing most of their chances, they still sit just second behind Spain in the Nations League group — which shows the quality that they actually boast in the camp.
Nonetheless, the egoistic nature of legendary coach Joachim Loew is certainly not paying off from the outside. The manager’s policy of not playing older experienced players and only maintaining a squad of youngsters is backfiring and how. Time and again, Germany have looked clueless on the pitch.
This is because apart from Manuel Neuer in goal, the Germans have no other experienced outfield player who has won trophies with the team in the past. This is hurting the team’s morale as they are failing to close down the games after taking the lead.
This is evident in their form this year in the Nations League as they have drawn 3 of their 4 games in the Group A4. This feels small when compared to the even poor figure of not having won a single game on German soil since November 2019. Disappointing.
Either Joachim Loew will have to concede his policy or the players will have to start firing with immediate effect — or else, the Euro 2021 seems a sunk ship already or the Germans.
You can catch some facts, predictions, betting tips and much more about Germany’s next game this Sunday against Ukraine on Mighty Tips — the one stop destination for daily betting tips and predictions.
With the Nations League heavily approaching its final stage after just two matchdays, stay tuned to more articles revolving around the hottest topic in European Football right now. Happy Footballing!