The Play-Off Winners

[Satchmo Distel]

How many teams have surpassed expectations or been well below them?

I think North Macedonia were marginally above expectation. They didn't get totally hammered and arguably matched Ukraine for long periods.

Scotland might have been expected to get 2-3 points at home but lose at Wembley. They switched that around. A home GD of -4 was below expectations perhaps.

Slovakia still have a game to play but I would not have backed them to beat Russia so that's a 'surpass'.

Hungary have been the big surprise and would have qualified from any other group in my opinion. Home advantage was obviously important to that but some of their players have been outstanding.

I think Scotland and N Macedonia are the sides who looked like they needed a Nations League route into the tournament whereas Slovakia and Hungary looked like they were good enough to have qualified by the traditional route of being a Top 2 side in a qualifying group.

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

Scotland and North Macedonia and Slovakia all finished third in their respective groups so could well have qualified via traditional playoff mechanisms (only Greece finished third and didn't participate in playoffs).

[Satchmo Distel]

Good point.

[Patrick Thistle]

Hungary ended up in the Group of F and clearly that was always going to be a very hard group.

[ale]

Once the dust has settled how do the third place teams get allocated their respective opponents

[3 Colours Red]

Once the dust has settled how do the third place teams get allocated their respective opponents

Assuming the third-placed team in Group F goes through and Finland go out, I think this is how it works out:

NED v CZE

BEL v 3rd Group F

1st Group F v SUI

SWE v UKR

BBC's permutations guide (and a graphic during the punditry of the France/Portugal game displaying the Netherlands/Czechia tie) giving just enough clues to narrow it down.

[ad hoc]

Assuming the third-placed team in Group F goes through and Finland go out, I think this is how it works out:

NED v CZE

BEL v 3rd Group F

1st Group F v SUI

SWE v UKR

BBC's permutations guide (and a graphic during the punditry of the France/Portugal game displaying the Netherlands/Czechia tie) giving just enough clues to narrow it down.

Is this correct then? With Belgium Portugal and France Switzerland?

[3 Colours Red]

Gary Lineker says so.

[Discordant Resonance]

Is this correct then? With Belgium Portugal and France Switzerland?

It is, indeed.

[ad hoc]

Just looking forward - if Belgium are to get to the final they have to go through Portugal, probably Italy and then possibly France or Spain. That's a draw and a half

[3 Colours Red]

It is, indeed.

Phew... I knew that all those Einstein's riddle puzzle books would come in handy one day.

[lambers]

Just caught up on the games, so missed this earlier, but Wikipedia have a nifty table that explains which combinations of thirds would have ended up where

[blameless]

That which-3rd-placed-team-goes-where chart is the exact same one FIFA used at Mexico 86 and Italia 90, trivia fans.