The two worst teams in the Nations League ‘League A’ will not be among the top-seeded in the draw for Euro 2020 qualifications, which could very well be Croatia and Iceland.
The UEFA Nations League still hasn’t stirred up much of a buzz in the eyes of the Croatian football public, and with just one point collected in two matches, Croatia is still at the bottom of their group behind Spain and England. While Zlatko Dalić & Co. don’t seem too bothered by their weak start to the new competition, there is some room for concern – Croatia is now threatened by a much harder draw in the 2020 European Championship qualifiers, reports Goal.hr on October 17, 2018.
UEFA has recently introduced a new rule, and that is that the ranking groups of the Euro 2020 qualifiers are determined on the basis of their placement in the Nations League, and not on the UEFA coefficient as it had been done so far. Therefore, two of the worst teams in ‘League A’ of this year’s Nations League will not be the top seeds in the draw for the qualifying round of the European Championships, which will be held on December 2 in Dublin.
If you recall, Croatia was defeated by Spain in the Nations League (6:0) and drew at home in front of no fans in a rematch against England (0:0). And even worse, as it stands now, Croatia is the only team along with San Marino (competing in League D), that has yet to score any goals in this competition. However, Croatia coach Zlatko Dalić is still not overly concerned about the potential possibility that Croatia is among the two worst teams in the ‘League A’, meaning they’d lose out on a much easier Euro qualifying draw.
Croatia is currently at the bottom of the Nations League’s top group and, as it stands now, would not be a top seed for the Euro qualifying draw in December. Iceland, however, has found themselves in the most difficult position with three defeats behind them, making them the overall worst team in League A.
Modrić & Co. still have some reason to be optimistic, however – they still have two games left to play in the Nations League, while England, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Germany only have one. With just one win, Croatia would almost certainly be among the top seeds for the Euro qualifications, and if they win both, they’ll top their Nations League group.
