The third UEFA Nations League will kick off in June 2022 and the final round will take place in June 2023. In the early morning of this morning Beijing time, the 2022-23 UEFA Nations League draw ceremony was held in Nyon, Switzerland. The result of the top 16 draws at Level A is as follows:
A1: France, Denmark, Croatia, Austria
A2: Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Czech Republic
A3: Italy, Germany, England, Hungary
A4: Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, Wales
Obviously, the difference in strength between the A1 and A4 group 4 teams is obvious, and france in the A1 group is obviously stronger than Denmark, Croatia and Austria, and if it is not expected, the French team will definitely be the top of the group. Belgium and the Netherlands in the A4 group are significantly stronger than Poland and Wales, and it is not surprising that Belgium will be the top favorite team in the group, and the Netherlands also has a certain threat to Belgium.
Relatively speaking, Portugal's luck is relatively poor, the same group is not only Spain's super strength, Switzerland is also a team that has reached the World Cup, the strength of the Czech Republic can not be underestimated, this is really a death group. And Italy's luck is not good, actually with Germany, England in the same group, the German team is currently in the ascending period, Frick's team goal is next year's World Cup champion, the European League just as a training exercise. England has been doing well in recent years, and it is unlikely that European Champions Italy will take first place in the group. The German team is most likely to be the top of the group.
In fact, 2021 is really mixed for Italy, happy to get the European Cup, worried that the World Cup qualifier actually only won the second place in the group, Jorginho lost the penalty twice in the home and away games against Switzerland, should have scored 6 points but only won 2 draws, the second place in the group is self-inflicted!
Portugal is also particularly unlucky this year, not only losing to Serbia in the final game of the World Preliminary Round, only finishing 2nd in the group, but also drawing a draw in the play-offs and being in Group C with Italy. Although Portugal is the king of the European play-offs, and Portugal has a 36-year-old C Ronaldo in the squad, but next year want to kill a blood road in Italy, Turkey two finalists, the difficulty is also relatively large, must be the first place in the group to qualify for the World Cup, you know, next year C Ronaldo is 37 years old.
Next year's Semi-Final Match in The European Zone Play-off Group C is a win-loss situation in Italy vs North Macedonia, Portugal vs Turkey, Italy has no problem advancing to the final, Portugal will have to experience a vicious battle, they can lose to Serbia at home, they may also lose to Turkey. So, relatively speaking, Italy's luck is slightly better than Portugal's. Next year's World Cup, Italy and Portugal can only have one team at most, which makes fans all over the world sigh!