In Group A2, a Danish side that has not been defeated in 90 minutes since October 2016 is accompanied by the losing semi-finalists of the 2018 FIFA World Cup – Belgium and England. Iceland, who would have been relegated to League B had it not been for UEFA deciding to increase the number of Nations League A teams from 12 to 16, round off the group. This article will be predicting Group 2 of UEFA Nations League A.
UEFA Nations League A Group 2: Predictions
Iceland’s Chances Are Bleak
Iceland lost every game in the 2018/19 Nations League, scoring one goal and conceding thirteen in four matches. They are a shadow of the team we saw at Euro 2016 and in the 2018 World Cup qualification. As a result, you can expect them to be relegated. Belgium, England and Denmark are all too good for the Vikings.
Had it been the Iceland of 2015-18 managed by Lars Lagerbäck, they would’ve definitely been able to compete with Denmark. That’s not the case anymore. Iceland’s fall has been dramatic, which their struggles in European Qualifiers and the Nations League prove.
Denmark
Denmark encapsulates what it means to be a Nordic national team. Disciplined defending but not a lot of goals. The Danes’ spectacular 3-3 draw away against Switzerland in Euro 2020 qualifying was a notable exception to this, though. Although the Red and White are capable of holding Belgium and England to draws, they will likely not manage to pull that off in all four matches with the two World Cup semi-finalists. Even if they did, they would need wins elsewhere to win the group.
Belgium and England are too good for Denmark. The two nations performed better at the 2018 World Cup and in 2019 European Qualifiers.
Belgium Look Likely to Topple England
Belgium has proven themselves to be better than England, defeating them twice at the 2018 World Cup. While that was over two years ago, the Red Devils have not shown any signs of stagnation. They won every game in European Qualifiers. In contrast, England suffered a 2-1 loss away against the Czech Republic. Such slip-ups can happen to any team, though.
England did outperform Belgium at the 2018/19 Nations League even though the two nations never came head-to-head. The Red Devils lost 5-2 away against Switzerland, failing to qualify for the Nations League Finals as a result. But it was a one-off occurrence, similar to the one England had against the Czechs, as the Belgians won every other game. Additionally, Belgium obtained more points than England, even though they didn’t win their group. But in England’s defence, Iceland were in Belgium’s group.
The point here is that little separates Belgium and England. The former should be marginally favoured considering their head-to-head results against England in recent times, as well as slightly superior performance in European Qualifiers.
The 2020/21 Nations League will be less characterised and impacted by one-off slip-ups, such as the one Belgium suffered at the hands of Switzerland, because each team of the group phase will play six matches as opposed to the four matches they played last season.
Main Photo
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