Best XI not at Euro 2024 has Haaland, Isak, Ferguson up front،
With the main qualifying group stage complete and 21 of the 24 available places settled, we can now have a clear idea of which players will be taking part in Euro 2024 next summer.
Hosts Germany have already been joined by fellow heavyweights France, England, Croatia, Netherlands, Italy and Spain, who have all managed to secure their respective spots in the tournament over the past year.
The three remaining Euro 2024 qualification places will be decided in a series of qualifiers next March, in which three nations out of a possible 12 will sneak in through the backdoor.
Unfortunately, we can also confirm the 21 nations who will not take part in Euro 2024 next June after failing to qualify – namely Norway, Cyprus, Republic of Ireland, Gibraltar, North Macedonia, Malta, l Armenia, Latvia, Faroe Islands, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Sweden, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Montenegro, Northern Ireland, San Marino, Andorra, Belarus, Kosovo and Liechtenstein.
Naturally, this means that several top players have been cruelly denied the opportunity to represent their country on the big German stage. Indeed, you can actually build a usable starting XI from the individual stars who won’t be on the field at Euro 2024.
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Goalkeeper: Caoimhin Kelleher (Republic of Ireland/Liverpool)
Kelleher may only have five senior starts under his belt after joining Liverpool last season, but the 24-year-old goalkeeper has been an almost ever-present on Jurgen Klopp’s bench in 2023-24 so far and has proven his courage when given the opportunity. in the past. Kelleher has also proven adept at the art of saving and scoring penalties, winning the decisive spot-kick for Liverpool in their shootout victory over Chelsea in the 2022 Carabao Cup final.
Defender: Victor Lindelöf (Sweden/Manchester United)
Despite qualifying for the knockout stage of Euro 2020, Sweden – captained by Manchester United defender Lindelof – fell well short of reaching Euro 2024 after finishing third in their qualifying group, behind the winner, Belgium and the finalist. Austria.
Defender: Stefan Savic (Montenegro/Atletico Madrid)
A former Premier League winner with Manchester City, Savic has since won both the La Liga title and the Europa League with Atleti. The 32-year-old central defender is vice-captain of the Montenegro national team, who missed out on qualifying for Euro 2024 after finishing behind Hungary and Serbia in their group.
Defender: Jonny Evans (Northern Ireland/Manchester United)
Another Manchester United player to miss out on the chance to represent his country in next year’s final, centre-half Evans unexpectedly returned to Old Trafford in September, eight years after his first spell. The veteran has competed eight times in all competitions so far in 2023-24, despite being a month shy of his 36th birthday.
Defender: Emil Krafth (Sweden/Newcastle)
Comfortable in the center of defense and at right-back, Krafth has only played once for Newcastle in the Premier League this season. He is generally called upon more often at international level, having played 44 times for Sweden at senior level, making him the ninth highest cap winner in the current squad.
Midfielder: Dejan Kulusevski (Sweden/Tottenham)
Usually found on the right side of the attack, Kulusevski has proven a popular addition to Tottenham’s squad, scoring three goals in 12 Premier League games so far this season. He also started all eight of Sweden’s Euro 2024 qualifying matches, but only found the net on one occasion: a late goal in a 5-0 defeat against Estonia in september.
Midfielder: Martin Ødegaard (Norway/Arsenal)
One of the biggest stars to miss Euro 2024, the absence of the dynamic Arsenal midfielder should perhaps not come as too much of a shock given Norway have not qualified for any major tournament since Euro 2000, from which she was eliminated from the group. scene.
Midfielder: Anthony Elanga (Sweden/Nottingham Forest)
Elanga has been an instant success at Nottingham Forest this season, scoring two goals and providing three assists in his first 12 Premier League outings. The left-footed utility player only featured in two of Sweden’s Euro 2024 qualifiers, but still managed to get on the scoresheet in the 5-0 defeat to Azerbaijan in March 2023.
Forward: Evan Ferguson (Republic of Ireland/Brighton & Hove Albion)
One of the Premier League stars of recent years, Ferguson, 19, is said to have attracted admiring glances from several big clubs after scoring five goals in 11 league appearances for the Seagulls, including a brilliant hat-trick against Newcastle in September.
Striker: Erling Haaland (Norway/Manchester City)
Two goals in the recent 4-4 extravaganza against Chelsea saw Haaland take his tally to 49 goals in just 47 Premier League appearances for Man City. Unfortunately, injury problems limited the powerful striker’s participation in Norway’s Euro 2024 qualifying campaign to just five appearances, during which he still managed to score six goals. Alas, that simply wasn’t enough when it came time for the final judgment.
Forward: Alexander Isak (Sweden/Newcastle)
Isak has been in fine form for Newcastle this campaign, scoring six goals in eight Premier League matches and playing a central role in October’s sensational 4-1 demolition of Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League group stage.
How would this XI perform in the final? Any team with Haaland at the top of the attack is almost guaranteed to score goals, but we have real reservations about the rigidity of that backline. If we had to make a prediction, we would say that an honorable exit in the round of 16 would be within this team’s reach.
There are still three places left to play for at Euro 2024, with the final three participants to be decided via a series of playoff matches expected to take place at the end of March 2024.
As determined by the UEFA Nations League, there will be three paths through the playoffs that will ultimately allow three out of 12 nations to qualify for the tournament proper.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Poland, Ukraine and Wales will both play in the one-way semi-finals and a one-way final with a valuable place at Euro 2024. double.
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Of course, this also means there is a series of potential late call-ups for the missing players’ XI depending on which nine national teams are left out.
These include:
Goalkeepers
Wojciech Szczesny (Poland/Juventus)
Odysseas Vlachodimos (Greece/Nottingham Forest)
Lukas Hradecky (Finland/Bayer Leverkusen)
Defenders
Kostas Tsimikas (Greece/Liverpool)
Matty Cash (Poland/Aston Villa)
Sead Kolasinac (Bosnia/Atalanta)
Vitaly Mykolenko (Ukraine/Everton)
Oleksandr Zinchenko (Ukraine/Arsenal)
Midfielder
Piotr Zielinski (Poland/Naples)
Grzegorz Krychowiak (Poland/Abha)
Harry Wilson (Wales/Fulham)
Aaron Ramsey (Wales/Cardiff City)
Robert Taylor (Finland/Inter Miami)
Miralem Pjanic (Bosnia/Sharjah)
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Georgia/Napoli)
Attackers
Arkadiusz Milik (Poland/Juventus)
Krzysztof Piatek (Poland/Istanbul Basaksehir)
Andriy Yarmolenko (Ukraine/Dynamo kyiv)
Mykhailo Mudryk (Ukraine/Chelsea)
Brennan Johnson (Wales/Tottenham)
Robert Lewandowski (Poland/Barcelona)
Edin Dzeko (Bosnia/Fenerbahce)
As for the tournament benches, the missing Euro 2024 XI surely has the strongest in the history of the European Championship – even if it would still slightly exceed the maximum of 23 players imposed during the tournament next summer.
