In the past two weeks, Europe has competed for the UEFA Nations League finals and the European Cup qualifiers. Spain beat Croatia on penalties to lift the third UEFA Nations League trophy and become the second team after France to win three World Cups, European Championships and UEFA Nations League.
At the same time, the European Championship qualifiers are also being intensively played. Next year, Germany will host the European Championship, and according to the rules, in addition to the hosts, the remaining 53 teams will be divided into 10 groups, with the top two in each group qualifying directly, and the remaining three places will be selected by the UEFA Nations League results.
Therefore, the best way for teams to qualify for the European Championship in Germany is to finish in the top two of their group. At present, four teams in the 10 groups, England, Scotland, Portugal and France, have won all of them, and it is very promising to qualify early, and England has continued its reputation as the king of qualifiers.
Haaland, who has just won the treble with Manchester City, is not strong in the national team, even with the help of Arsenal midfielder Odegaard, it is very difficult to appear in the big competition. In the first two rounds of the group stage, Haaland was sidelined due to injury, and Norway lost to Spain and drew with Georgia. A few days ago, although Haaland scored three goals in two games, he was still reversed by Scotland in the final minute to beat the weak Cyprus.
Norway have only four points from four games, and the qualification situation is extremely poor, and Haaland may have a dream of shattering the European Championship. Spain, in the same group, although ranked second from the bottom, only played two matches due to the impact of the UEFA Nations League final. In this group, Scotland, which won all of them, and Spain, who have two games to play, have a good chance of advancing together.
Croatia, Italy and the Netherlands, who also need to play in the UEFA Nations League finals, are in a tough situation. The three teams have no way back, and in the remaining matches, they can no longer easily lose the result, otherwise they will not be able to qualify directly. Since England and France won both and indirectly helped Italy and the Netherlands, but Italy, which was eliminated from the World Cup last year, will meet North Macedonia, and if it is upset again, it may miss the tournament again.
At the moment, the European Championship qualifiers are almost halfway through, and there are surprisingly two teams. Scotland have won all four games, including beating Spain, scoring nine goals, only to concede the only goal scored by Haaland. Next year, Scotland has a good chance of appearing in Germany, and this more civilian team may become a "dark horse".
The other team is Kazakhstan, which is geographically part of Asia. After losing to Slovenia in the first round, Kazakhstan won three consecutive matches, including victories over Denmark, San Marino and Northern Ireland. This result makes the situation in this group quite tight, the top four points gap is only 2 points, if it can be maintained, Kazakhstan after 20 years out of Asia and Europe, is expected to advance to the main stage of the competition.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who should be playing in the European Championship for the last time, ushered in the milestone of the 200th game of the national team, and commemorated the special day with a perfect ending. In the final minute of the game, Cristiano Ronaldo scored to help his team beat Iceland and usher in all four group wins, with early qualification just around the corner. Can't ask too much, Ronaldo, who has been far from the sight of Europe, can still see him appear on the highest stage in Europe in the national team.