Euro 2020 Qualifiers and associated friendlies

[Gangster Octopus]

I'm assuming that they're talking about Rotherham United's Will Vaulks's debut...

[Lang Spoon]

Fuckin McCleish. Fuckin Scotland

[Satchmo Distel]

It must be Scotland's worst ever competitive performance.

[Southport Zeb]

It was definitely a bad result, but we're already off the bottom of the group.

[Satchmo Distel]

I'm also not sure if the result affects Scotland's ranking for future draws since they won their Nations League group. Do they still get a 3rd pot draw for 2022 and 2024 qualifiers?

[Ray de Galles]

I'm assuming that they're talking about Rotherham United's Will Vaulks's debut...

He was good actually, set up the goal and was definitely one of the positives out of the game.

[Southport Zeb]

I'm also not sure if the result affects Scotland's ranking for future draws since they won their Nations League group. Do they still get a 3rd pot draw for 2022 and 2024 qualifiers?

Nothing official has been decided on seeding for the next lot of European qualifiers, but there is a possibility it could be linked to the 2020 Nations League. If that is the case then Scotland would be in League B and so would be ranked somewhere between 13 and 24. The number of qualifying groups for 2022 hasn't been determined yet but Scotland would be placed in the second or third Pot in this scenario. Of course if they decide to use FIFA rankings to determine seedlings then todays result will not help.

2024 seedings will presumably determined by the 2022 Nations League. Depending on how they do in 2020 Scotland could be anywhere from League A to League C, meaning a seeding of anywhere from 1st to 39th.

[Wouter D]

Netherlands 1-0 up against Belarus in no time. This group looks like it's going to be extremely boring.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Fair dues to scotland. That's some going entirely I see that there is a Dutch player called Denzel Dumfries. That's just an extraordinary name

[Satchmo Distel]

Netherlands 1-0 up against Belarus in no time. This group looks like it's going to be extremely boring.

2-0 now.

[Ray de Galles]

Azerbaijan leading 0-1 in Croatia.

[Ray de Galles]

Fuck's sake, Belgium in change kit at home to Russia!

[ad hoc]

Ooh I've just noticed that one of the teams is now listed as "North Macedonia". New team spotter's badge

[Nocturnal Submission]

Ooh I've just noticed that one of the teams is now listed as "North Macedonia". New team spotter's badge

Not on the BBC website where they've gone for just Macedonia* (ouch) and the old FYR Macedonia.

* When I worked for Reuters I was partly responsible for "Northern Cyprus" going out on data screens which led to some sort of protest from the Greek government or a Greek company - not too hot on the details, it was a long time ago. So, er, look out BBC.

[Sporting]

Did you know that the Spanish for fruit salad is macedonia?

[blameless]

Was it a deliberately experimental side or considered the strongest one he could pick given the available players?

The tiny number of more experienced players he selected (Andy Robertson, Kieran Tierney, Charlie Mulgrew) dropped out due to illness and injury, but the answer to that is to call up some other experienced players, not pick a team that's overwhelmingly kids with single-digit caps each.

The most experienced player in the starting XI (James Forrest) has more caps than his 10 team-mates combined.

[Nocturnal Submission]

Did you know that the Spanish for fruit salad is macedonia?

I did not. Do we know why?

[Sporting]

I don't.

[Ray de Galles]

Ooh I've just noticed that one of the teams is now listed as "North Macedonia". New team spotter's badge

The MKD initilaism for the scores in the corner of the screen is upsetting.

[ursus arctos]

The term is used in most of Southern Europe, including France and Italy, and is supposed to evoke the multi-ethnic nature of Alexander the Great's empire.

[3 Colours Red]

The MKD initilaism for the scores in the corner of the screen is upsetting.

Probably because the native name transliterates from Cyrillic as Makedonija.

[Ray de Galles]

Yes, It was more the unintentional reference to Franchise that disturbed me.

[Jah Womble]

It 'was' on Sky Sports Premier League.

Not the most helpful information I've ever posted.

[Duncan Gardner]

We're back. Maybe not enough to relieve Wouter's ennui .but Estonia were poor.

Macedonia is an electoral district in South Antrim District Council, fact fans. (There's a lighthouse of that name)

[jameswba]

Slovakia vs Hungary was played in Trnava. It's 40 minutes or so from Bratislava, and easier for Budapest-based Hungary fans to reach than it is for eastern Slovaks, and easier still for ethnic-Hungarian Slovak citizens. The (slightly bigger) new stadium in Bratislava wasn't quite ready at the time venues needed to be announced for this round of fixtures.

It seemed more relaxed in town and around the ground than I'd feared. Slovakia organise these games pretty well these days, and the national side don't quite seem to attract the sort of boneheads who follow the likes of Slovan Bratislava, or indeed Trnava themselves. That said, life is not exactly enriched by the 'ria, ria Hungaria' chant, still less by the 'Hungarians, get back over the Danube' standard response. Last night was also the first time I've heard the national anthems booed at a Slovakia game. And don't the Hungarian fans love their black tops? 80% of them at least must have been dressed that way.

Slovakia will have less than 72 hours to recover from this game before the Wales one. It looked a struggle at times, but they were worth the win. Wales must be wary of Albert Rusnak, who set up the first goal and scored the second. Ondrej Duda played up front and scored the first. His best position is behind the striker, but Slovakia have Hamsik for that. Pavol Safranko came on for the last few minutes.

Hungary didn't threaten much beyond one long-range effort and a couple of set-pieces. Their number 10, Istvan Kovacs, looked a good player, though he was the only one of the starting XI to play his club football in the Hungarian league.