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Group C: Slovenia, Denmark, Serbia, England

DuncanPatterson said:
Don't be ridiculous

It doesn't make it irrelevant as the players on offer are way below the standard of the players England can pick

England get first pick, then the potential England hopefuls wait it out to see if they can get a game

Scotland are left with 10th choice and even they need to pull a Scottish grandparents out of the closet

So really we're not picking from the whole English population at all. In fact a very tiny percentage of it
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I’m not suggesting Scotland should be competing with England. It’d be nice if they could match the achievements of Wales and Northern Ireland at some point though.
 
MikeH72 said:
Every other home nation has progressed past the group stage at a tournament at some point in their existence, all have a lower population than Scotland. It isn’t an excuse.
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I'm not excusing Scotland. Their record is deplorable and their failure to progress to the second stage is an undoubted failure. I am simply restating the simple fact that the combination of a strong football culture and a large population hugely enhances a nation's football competitiveness. It's why Germany will inevitably win football tournaments in the future. For them, it's a matter of time. It's why England are very likely to as well.
 
MikeH72 said:
I’m not suggesting Scotland should be competing with England. It’d be nice if they could match the achievements of Wales and Northern Ireland at some point though.
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This is a fair point.

Scotland have utterly underachieved vis-a-vis Wales in recent times, and Northern Ireland too when you consider their population is half that of Scotland's. Ireland have been a disgrace too, although we did beat Italy at Euro 2016 and acquit ourselves well against France in the last 16. But even so, Ireland's failure is down to pure corruption.
 
Drico said:
This is a fair point.

Scotland have utterly underachieved vis-a-vis Wales in recent times, and Northern Ireland too when you consider their population is half that of Scotland's. Ireland have been a disgrace too, although we did beat Italy at Euro 2016 and acquit ourselves well against France in the last 16. But even so, Ireland's failure is down to pure corruption.
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I am intrigued by this last sentence Drics, can you elaborate and educate me?
 

davek said:
I said Serbia weren't great but they were the technically superior footballing team for most of that game.

England are huff and puff and reliant on a burst of individual talent. That'll get them KO of this tournament as soon as they play any sort of decent team.
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'Twas always thus
 
Daveysgingerlovechild said:
Hmmm. Are you trying to unsubtly justify Scotland's bumming?

Population size is a variable for sure. But you've also got to consider how seriously the country takes football, the infrastructure at the grass routes, and inherent ability of the Population.

I think Scotland do very badly given it has a well developed league comparable to the Scandinavian countries or former Eastern bloc.

So the grass routes and development must be off. Maybe the inherent football ability too.

England should be ashamed though. Size of the league, investment etc. The Dutch are tiny but do fantastically well in terms of punching above Population size, league quality and so forth.
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Bergerac will be by shortly to stuff you good for this.
 
MikeH72 said:
Mate half of Scotland’s squad is English and born in England so why on earth are you bringing population into it? Scott McTominay for example counts as part of the English population figure and not Scotland’s, as do Che Adams and Angus Gunn.

Plenty of teams with populations lower than Scotland have been out of the group stages at a tournament at some point in their entire existence. It’s a pathetic excuse really.
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DuncanPatterson said:
Are you joking?

Please tell me you're joking...

The English players who play for Scotland aren't the Jude Bellinghams or Harry Kanes now are they

Even Elliot Anderson from Newcastle seems to have turned his nose up at representing Scotland at a senior level despite having played for them at youth level for years

Realistically the English-born players in the Scotland squad are about 10th in line (or lower) to any position in the England squad
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Yes, but they're arguably Scotland's better players. Your coaching and development system is so bad, you have to pinch English developed players considered second rate.

I think given the popularity of the sport and an established league featuring teams who regularly compete in Europe, Scotland should be doing better.
 

Daveysgingerlovechild said:
Yes, but they're arguably Scotland's better players. Your coaching and development system is so bad, you have to pinch English developed players considered second rate.

I think given the popularity of the sport and an established league featuring teams who regularly compete in Europe, Scotland should be doing better.
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They certainly should be doing better. The greatest tournament result in Scotland’s history was Iceland beating England in Euro 2016. However it sobers one’s mind when you then realise that Iceland, whose population is half that of Glasgow, have progressed further into a tournament than Scotland ever have and more than likely ever will.
 
MikeH72 said:
They certainly should be doing better. The greatest tournament result in Scotland’s history was Iceland beating England in Euro 2016. However it sobers one’s mind when you then realise that Iceland, whose population is half that of Glasgow, have progressed further into a tournament than Scotland ever have and more than likely ever will.
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Indeed. Wales, with a much weaker league and development infrastructure, have outperformed Scotland hugely in terms of Tournament progression in the last decade. Obviously their World Cup showing was poor, but their Euros performances in 2016 and 2020(1) was genuinely admirable.
 
Daveysgingerlovechild said:
Indeed. Wales, with a much weaker league and development infrastructure, have outperformed Scotland hugely in terms of Tournament progression in the last decade. Obviously their World Cup showing was poor, but their Euros performances in 2016 and 2020(1) was genuinely admirable.
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Majority of Wales player start with English clubs matey, so cant really compare to other countries. They had a world class player in Gareth Bale to get them through in 2016, they played as a team and were excellent imo.
 

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