With the completion of 8 rounds over the past months, the qualifiers for the upcoming UEFA Euro 2024 are preparing for the last two decisive rounds, which will take place in the coming days to determine several spots in the finals. Besides the German national team, which enters the finals without qualifying as the host country, the first 8 rounds of qualifiers secured 8 spots for the finals, filled by Austria, France, Belgium, England, Portugal, Spain, Scotland, and Turkey.
As for Italy, they will face their last two crucial matches in the Euro 2024 qualifiers against North Macedonia and Ukraine on the 17th and 20th of this month without Manuel Locatelli, who has withdrawn from the squad. Italy's coach, Luciano Spalletti, stated in a press conference: "Locatelli returned to his team," without specifying the nature of the injury that struck the Juventus midfielder, who has 26 matches in the Champions League so far. Locatelli joins AC Milan captain Davide Calabria, Napoli goalkeeper Alex Meret, and Atalanta defender Rafael Toloi, who also had to withdraw from the national team roster after matchday 12 of the domestic league.
Regarding England, the team laments the withdrawal of Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham from the squad, which will play its last two matches in the Euro 2024 qualifiers due to a shoulder injury. However, forward Marcus Rashford and midfielder Kalvin Phillips will rejoin the team later this week due to personal matters.
Similarly, the Netherlands hopes to join big teams like France, Spain, England, Portugal, and Belgium, in addition to the host Germany, by securing the second spot in Group B after the first has gone to Kylian Mbappé and his French teammates. The Netherlands currently sits in second place in the group with 12 points, having a direct tiebreaker disadvantage against Greece following them, thus necessitating a victory on Saturday in Amsterdam against Ireland (6 points) to secure their spot. Should they not resolve the situation on Friday, Coach Ronald Koeman's squad will have another opportunity on Tuesday against the modest Gibraltar team, which faces a "tough" match on Friday against the French team. Notably, the advantage for the Netherlands is that Greece has played one more match and will miss Friday's round, concluding their campaign at home against France on Tuesday, with the 2004 champions also having a chance to reach the finals through the Nations League playoff, which has three spots allocated for Germany 2024.
Portugal’s national team, led by star Cristiano Ronaldo, is preparing for an easy match against Liechtenstein next Thursday, as part of the penultimate round of the qualifiers. The "Brazil of Europe" secured their qualification for Euro 2024 early after defeating Slovakia 3-2 in matchday 7 of Group 10 of the qualifiers. Portugal tops Group 7 with 24 points, having won all eight matches played so far. The team boasts the strongest attack in the Euro 2024 qualifiers, with players scoring 32 goals, and also possesses the toughest defense, having conceded only two goals, maintaining an unbeaten record. Portugal had a significant 5-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina in their eighth match at the "Bilino Polje" stadium.
French coach Didier Deschamps clarified the exclusion of Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konaté during this camp, saying, "He felt something in the hamstring (muscle injury), he underwent medical exams, but nothing severe; he needs time to rest and not risk." The coach added, "It's the same injury he had before; it's not in my interest or his to call him up." The French team will face Gibraltar and Greece in the Euro 2024 qualifiers.
The last two rounds in the qualifiers in the coming days will settle 12 more qualification spots for the finals, while the remaining three spots will be determined in the European playoff scheduled for March, three months after the tournament draw set for early December in Hamburg. The qualifiers are played in a two-legged league format among teams in each group, with 53 participating teams drawn into 10 groups; seven groups containing 5 teams each, and three groups with 6 teams each. According to the qualification system, the top two teams from each group directly qualify for the finals, totaling 21 spots, including the host, Germany. The remaining three spots will be resolved through the playoff scheduled for March 2024.
After 8 rounds of qualifiers, 8 spots have been confirmed through the qualifiers, and many teams still have the opportunity to secure 12 spots during the last two rounds, scheduled from November 16 to 21. According to UEFA statistics, 17 teams have been eliminated from direct qualification for the finals and cannot achieve either the first or second position in their groups, regardless of the results in the last two rounds. These teams include Norway, Ireland, Sweden, Cyprus, Gibraltar, North Macedonia, Malta, Latvia, Northern Ireland, San Marino, Belarus, Andorra, Liechtenstein, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Estonia, and the Faroe Islands. Only three teams (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, and Georgia) have secured spots in the playoff set for March, while other teams still have opportunities for direct qualification or playoff contention. As for the various groups, the situation for direct qualification has been resolved fully in Group A (Spain and Scotland) and Group F (Belgium and Austria), while four other groups have seen one spot confirmed, and competition continues for the remaining spots in four other groups.
