The Eurovision 2021 semi-final 1 qualifiers have had their first press conference moments after discovering they will perform again in Saturday’s grand final.
The ten qualifying acts from Norway, Israel, Russia, Azerbaijan, Malta, Lithuania, Cyprus, Sweden, Belgium and Ukraine also drew which half of the grand final they will perform in.
Eurovision 2021: Semi-Final 1 Press Conference
Norway’s TIX — “Fallen Angel”
Tonight’s first qualifier runs into the press centre and dances on the table. He’s overjoyed to be performing “Fallen Angel” again in the final.
“Eurovision is about diversity, acceptance and finally coming together. The fact that I get to perform my song one more time just means that I’ll be able to reach out to even more people out there”, TIX says as he holds back tears. “I really wanted people to understand the message I was trying to convey. It’s been a really miserable year for so many people and I think it’s finally time to put mental health on the agenda.”
Grand final draw: Second Half
Israel: Eden Alene — “Set Me Free”
Tonight, the “Set Me Free” songstress nailed her whistle note and shattered the record for the highest note ever sung at Eurovision.
“Thank you for the love, I get so much love from my country”, she said. “I just wanted this for my country. I’m so blessed, I’m so grateful.”
Grand final draw: First Half
Russia: Manizha — “Russian Woman”
Manizha is one happy “Russian Woman”. She’ll surely break down more walls in this Saturday’s grand final. “I wanna say the F word, but I’m not gonna say it”, Manizha says in disbelief.
“People said to me that I will never ever get to the final with this song in the Russian language”, she continues. “I am so proud now that I am a Russian woman singing in the Russian language.”
Grand final draw: First Half
Azerbaijan: Efendi — “Mata Hari”
Our fourth qualifier is ecstatic to be in the press centre.The “Mata Hari” singer runs in waving the Azerbaijani flag — the same one Eldar held when he won Eurovision for Azerbaijan in 2011 alongside Nikki Jamal.
Grand final draw: Second Half
Malta: Destiny — “Je Me Casse”
Once a Junior Eurovision champion, the “Je Me Casse” songstress enters the press conference a semi-final qualifier.
“I can’t describe it to the press how I’m feeling right now. It’s magical, it’s such a special moment.” The fan favourite stands up and delivers a message of female empowerment. “This is my life story. It’s about me, but it’s not just about me. It’s about me, it’s about you, it’s about us.”
Grand final draw: First Half
Lithuania: The Roop — “Discoteque”
The “Discoteque” hitmakers opened tonight’s show. And now The Roop are through to dance another day in the grand final.
“I think all Lithuanian people are very happy because Lithuania had the chance to win last year but it was cancelled, so they are looking forward to this year”, Vaidotas says. “I don’t know what the end will be, but they will be very happy.”
“At first when we did the rehearsals, it was in an empty arena”, Mantas says commenting on the atmosphere of the audience. “We wear headsets but you can feel the audience through the microphones. You can hear them yelling.”
“I thought it was recorded”, Vaidotas laughed.
Grand final draw: Second Half
Cyprus: Elena Tsagrinou — “El Diablo”
She fell in love with “El diablo”, but tonight the world fell in love with Elena Tsagrinou.
“Best feeling ever. We wanted it so much”, Elena exclaims. “After COVID life where we all feel that we’re not so free, I just feel like it’s the new beginning for all for us. We’re gonna start from the beginning and feel the freedom that we all want.”
Grand final draw: First Half
Sweden: Tusse — “Voices”
Can you hear a million “Voices”? Because we hear them all cheering for Tusse.
He’s relieved and overjoyed to be through to the final. “It was torture waiting for that”, Tusse says exasperated.
“The first time I heard the song I was blown away by how you can unite people in one song and this song is the one”, the Swedish superstar says “I’m here to say that my voice counts, your voice counts, all our voices count.”
He also opened up about his surgery before Eurovision. “It was a tough period one month before this”, he says. “Will I be able to do Eurovision? To stand here and to prove that I can do it and we can do it with one voice, I feel so proud and happy.”
Grand final draw: Second Half
Belgium: Hooverphonic — “The Wrong Place”
They sang “The Wrong Place” but tonight Hooverphonic were in the right place.
The group opened up about getting emotional after receiving video messages in support of the Belgian entry. Barbara Dex, Tom Dice and Sandra Kim all wished Alex, Raymond and Geike their support ahead of tonight’s show.
The trio also sized up their competition. “There’s a lot of great acts. When we got in the green room there’s a different impact from watching from a screen”, Geike says. “We were quite impressed.”
“I felt the joy of being in front of a crowd”, Geike says joyously. “It’s so much fun. I felt relief that I got through the whole song, to be honest.”
Grand final draw: First Half
Ukraine: Go_A — “SHUM”
The press conference closes with tonight’s tenth and final qualifiers. The “SHUM” singers parade into the press centre jubilantly waving the blue and gold Ukrainian flag.
“It’s quite difficult to express our emotions right now because we cannot scream anymore”, says Taras.
“Eurovision is a very important event in Ukraine”, Kateryna says in Ukrainian as translated to English by Taras. “Our goal was to show our Ukrainian music. Here at Eurovision it’s very important for us to show our heritage to the world.”
By qualifying tonight, Ukraine are now the only country with a 100% qualification record since the semi-finals were introduced to Eurovision.
Kate also revealed that she voted for Australia’s Montaigne in tonight’s semi-final.
Grand final draw: Second Half
Eurovision 2021: Semi-Final 1 Non-Qualifiers
Unfortunately, we have to say goodbye to seven non-qualifiers who will not progress through to Saturday’s grand final. They are:
- Ireland: Lesley Roy – “Maps”
- Australia: Montaigne – “Technicolour”
- Croatia: Albina – “Tick-Tock”
- Slovenia: Ana Soklič – “Amen”
- North Macedonia: Vasil – “Here I Stand”
- Romania: Roxen – “Amnesia”
What did you make of the Eurovision 2021 semi-final 1 press conference? Are you happy with the qualifiers grand final draws? Let us know in the comments below.
Based on the views on youtube, public reaction and message, mark my words: RUSSIA won the semi-final!
So why are the falling in the odds, right now behind Sweden. Malta on the other hand have overtaken France. I think Malta won. It is not my favorite but it is clear she made a good stamp in the semifinal. One more thing – there actually was a bias in semi final 1 for Eastern Europe. So those countries probably benefitted a little bit from that.
Romania could be last, unfortunately.
Ukraine probably won public vote.
Belgium and Sweden got much better in Jury vote then in public vote
Azerbaijan was 8-9 overall
Malta didn’t win either jury nor public.
Malta won the jury, Ukraine or Lithuania the televote and Cyprus the semi.
Maybe…
In your dreams lol
Azerbaijan js probably 10th by a few points difference to Croatia and it makes me mad
Was 8th (6th in televoting) HAHAHAHA
Does any of you know for sure whether the producers, when deciding running order, have access to the actual semi final results?
I think so, yes, but there’s no reason to analyze the running order to find who ended up 1st 2nd etc in the semis, they’ll let us know after the finals
There is a reason – using it to speculate potential grand final results 😉
True, but I wouldn’t start the calculations just to know the results a few days later
Where was Malta’s back singer? You can’t have recorded voice in EV, no?
How many of you nailed all 10 quailfiers? I did. Here is how I graded them: 9.57 Ukraine 9.56 Malta 9.53 Israel 9.51 Norway 9.50 Lithuania 9.49 Sweden 9.48 Russia 9.42 Cyprus 9.39 Belgium 9.32 Azerbaijan ———————— 9.31 Slovenia 9.29 Australia 9.28 Ireland 9.26 Croatia 9.24 North Macedonia 9.23 Romania The big surprise for many? Belgium. This is why I do NOT watch any of the rehearsal clips before the actual broadcast! When I saw them go absolutely old-school (no fancy CGI graphics, no overly-flashy outfits), and the way they conducted themselves on stage in a old-school fashion, I knew… Read more »
I graded them based on the song, performance and staging with a maximum of 30:
I didn’t rate them, but I predicted 9/10. I just got Croatia instead of Norway. I didn’t think the Norwegian song would have had such an impact, but I’m glad I was wrong because I like the song.
Belgium was obvious to me. They have an established career, they know how to perform well and have a well established fanbase. I admit though I feared the typical Eurovision viewer wouldn’t have understood the song.
My running order prediction:
Norway: 18th
Israel: 3rd
Russia: 4th
Azerbaijan: 20th
Malta: 11th
Lithuania: 14th
Cyprus: 12th
Sweden: 15th
Belgium: 10th
Ukraine: 26th
Malta and Cyprus in the row is definetely not gonna happen
I don’t know why, but I see #LTU performing straight after Jeangu
All my favorites are in! Most fans seemed to be sure about Ukraine’s qualification but I almost had a heart attack when they were announced last! I was afraid that we were going to have another Conan Osiris moment (he was my favorite and I still can’t get over the fact that he did not qualify).
Looking forward to analysing the results and how Saturday could play out . If we look at geographic voting patterns which can play a part sometimes we have Russia and Ukraine possibly along with Lithuania battling out for former soviet block votes which could play a part in their final result and end up in sharing votes . Then Italy, Malta and Cyprus possibly fighting for Southern Europe. France in Western Europe but I think will have a good distribution of votes all over and Iceland or Norway in the Nordics (considering TIX popularity in this region) Could Switzerland still… Read more »
Serbia being the only former Yugoslav country on the final, on the other hand with great diaspora all around Europe. They can be top5 with televote in the final.
No way. Serbia will likely end up somewhere between 14th and 21st among televoters, I think.
Maybe 10th-15th is more realistic, but definitely not top 5 with the public.
Tix is only popular in Norway, idk anyone in Sweden, Finland or Denmark that knows about him
Tix is also known in Sweden. And his music style is popular in all the Nordic countries.
sad that Montaigne didn’t qualify, but i would love to see a unique act to win this year , like Lithuania, Ukraine, Russia, Iceland or some rock ones like Italy or Finland. although songs like France and Switzerland are great , it would be great to have a non- ballad win.
Oooops Ukraine got 2nd half and Malta got 1st half? Malta say goodbye to the trophy once again
That’s a ridiculous thing to say
Because nobody ever won from the 1st half.
Mans won from 10th position in 2015;
Salvador Sobral – from 11th;
Duncan from 12th;
Malta will probably perform 10+ as well considering the fact it’s a contender to win
I hate how the betting odds are now making the running order. Sorry but if you have already ended the SF then you should perform in the 5 firsts if you will perform in the 1st half.
For better fairness if not 100% random draw there should be 5 different parts to draw : 1-5 // 6-10 // 11-15 // 16-20 // 21-26
Malta’s Michela in 2019 performed first in the final.
I didn’t say no one ever won from the 1st half, it’s just that a song like the Maltese one will NOT stand out in the 1st half, the 1st half needs something unique, bold and risky so that it can be remembered after all the acts… like Ukraine! They would have no problem if they ended up in the 1st half but they didn’t..! I predict a top10 result (AT LEAST) for Ukraine
Don’t worry Malta will have technical issues so they will perform again at the end ????
Of course Norway, Sweden and Azerbaijan got 2nd half…
I think it was the first time since forever that Sweden got the 2nd half
Right, 2018 and 2017 were forever time ago.
Anyway, there is no “of course” about that.
Glad Malta got 1st half or everybody would say it’s a complot again.
What we know after the semi 1. The star of Ukraine is rising. The overrating bubble of Russia and Cyprus is deflating. Lithuania is out of the game. Malta was for sure a ‘flop’ in televoting (187.000 youtube views right now !!! lol) and no1 in juries. Well fair results according to last night performances. Actually Ukraine is the dark horse of esc 2021….beggining from the 20th-19th-18th place in odds, to 4th today. In general so ‘poor’ response of the people (only 500.000 and 700.000 youtube views for the ‘top’ entries in youtube after a semi ? and the half… Read more »
Why do you believe that? I think ESC still has a MASSIVE audience
The song of Ukraine is awesome.
The WOMAN, singer of Russia – Manizha – is brilliant.
It could be 5-700,000 Ukrainians who’ve watched…
Croatia have over 300k and look how that turned out!
What?! Lithuania out of the game, noooo, don’t say that… I cant’ control it, don’t want to end it
Malta’s video was uploaded late hence the low video count in comparison to acts that performed earlier.
“From the massive televoting of esc 2018 to this…” Really? You don’t know anything, there are no voting results yet, what are you talking about? Crystal ball told you this?
we’ll see the viewing figures after the show and we’ll figure out if there is still a televoter population , and if there is not, fan votes dominated the results..or televoter population still dominate the contest and fan votes are not enough to effect the results. Well i don’t have a opinion , maybe cancellation of 2020 reduced the viewers (only 70M people watched alternative 2020 show and in 2019 there were 182M people).. i hope there is still millions of viewer population and fans are not effective , i hope so
Or maybe the fact that Malta has a population of 500k and Ukraine has a population of over 44 million?
If they put Belgium 2nd in the running order I will literally cry!
I don’t think they will, it’s a good song to chill out to, possibly after something more intense like Italy.
True but I think they show will open with an upbeat song, probably the UK and then have Belgium or Spain second to comedown a bit with a slow slong.
They’re not all that similar though, Spain is a Big Ballad much like Slovenia, while Belgium is nore of a pocket of calm. My money is on Spain being #2.
Or Austria if it qualifies tomorrow.
Performing virtually flawlessly is an absolute minimum in Eurovision. Find a winner with flaws. Ireland and Romania did not qualify for a simple reason. The vocal performances were unfortunately flawed. Ireland sounded out of breath. Closing my eyes it’s clear she is struggling. For Romania she is also struggling. Common to both of these performances is being physical active possibly compromising their performances. Croatia’s performance had some very noticeable clangers possibly due to nervousness. Regarding Sweden, whilst not flawless, it was clear and strong. Regarding YouTube views. Not really relevant. Sweden has significant Spotify streaming figures. Slovenia really upped her… Read more »
You’re mostly right. Sweden was pretty off and painful to listen to and watch yesterday. I was present at jury final and then he sounded better, so that must have saved them.
What do the streaming figures have to do? Most of them are domestical and Sweden really sucked yesterday too.
And youtube is not domestic??
I meant, most of that song’s streams, but yeah, might be the same case in YouTube. I have no proof, but the only comments defending the swedish entry have come from swedes.
@Luc Wow! You have a lot of hate in you and especially for Sweden. In every post on this site i see your usernname and all you do is slander Sweden and other competitors. Tusse isn’t my favorit either but he does deserve to be in the final. You do know that all of the posts you are posting are doing you a disserves? You post soooooo many that it’s making you look jealous more then anything else. It’s okey to have different opinions, but it’s another to constantly bash other countries and their songs. If you are a sincere… Read more »
Among the 10 qualifiers Sweden has the least Youtube views.
Even NQs Romania, Croatia and North Macedonia have more views. So I wouldn’t be surprised Sweden was even not on the televote top 10 and only saved by the juries as usual.
Well, what’s the viewing ranking of all the semi final 1 videos? They’re geoblocked in America so I can’t get a feel of what’s the most popular. Could you post a ranking as of this time?
All I asked was two things–Lithuania to qualify and get allocated to the second half of the grand final. My two wishes were granted.
So happy to all the finalists, they all deserved it so muuch!!
Norway has entered the chat
Norway, Sweden and Azerbaijan say hi…
Again Destiny in the post cover picture… Please be more neutral, wiwibloggs
But at least they put the real winner up there as well (my hint is: Siyu, siyu, siyu, siyu konopelechky)
I’d be surprised if Israel opens because I don’t think the showrunners would choose to open with a country that would probably get booed
Result theory. Probably wrong.
Won: Ukraine
2nd: Malta
3rd: Russia
4th: Lithuania
5th: Cyprus
6th: Norway
7th: Belgium
8th: Azerbaijan
9th: Sweden
10th: Israel
11th: Croatia
12th: Ireland
13th: Australia
14th: Romania
15th: North Macedonia
Last: Slovenia
Slovenia had a strong jury appeal, I don’t think it came last. My guess is North Macedonia or Romania.
I think most can agree that those three countries are the bottom three at least
I think Belgium made it mostly because of juries just based off of how surprised I’ve seen people be that they made it in. Israel I think barely scraped into qualification because the juries appreciated the high note.
Malta was probably in the top 3 with juries but I’d be shocked if the tele-vote was won by anyone other than Ukraine.
Also wouldn’t be surprised if Israel only beat Croatia by a couple points. I can’t see a scenario where Croatia is not 11th.
Belgium Hooverphonic is verry famous in Italy and the Netherland , this group have many fans there, 2 off the 3 extra jury’s who are already in the final where Italy and the Netherland in the 1 st SF !
Romania or Ireland.
Why everyone assumes Malta has won or is 2nd overall. May have won the jury but I think Ukraine, Russia, Cyprus and even Azerbaijan are ahead on the televote. Malta is probably at 4th place at the best overall.
Now with more realistic Youtube views we can see that Malta is not that popular even now it seems strangely increase views in the middle of the night…..
I believe you’re accurate…or tooooo close !
Actually you’re not far off… This could definitely be true
Je Me Casse! 🙂
Lasha Tumbai! Amen!
Jimmy are you drunk?
Without even asking me
Not drunk—just enjoying the fresh air 🙂
I would ask you of course 😉 —would be a lot of fun I’m sure—if it was whiskey, I’d bring some Talisker or Glenfiddich.
Ah Glenfiddich …very nice indeed! Fun times all around lol
A solid Scottish one.
Irish whiskey is way better though 😉 just saying
Yeah, distilled 3 times and smoother, I’d recommend Green Spot or 12 year old Redbreast.
looks like Malta and Ukraine were the top 2 in this semi-final.
Shum is the most popular on iTunes. Check esctracker
what the hell is going on folks?!
Ukraine is already on 4th place with odds and keeps growing, how did that happens so fast? week ago they were 16th
I’m shocked and pleased…oh my….
People had a few drinks, replayed the song a few times, then bet some money on it. The betting people realised a lot of money was going on Ukraine, so they cut the odds.
Simply the best song and band. And just imagine that Solovey was even better, without that evil virus we may have already been in Ukraine 2021 again despite the Iceland overhype like Malta is this year.
It has that “Dead Can Dance” vibe you either love or hate. I personnaly love it. Never clicked on the video, but live, like Dead Can Dance, it comes to life so much more. Perfect voice, perfect song.
Azeri’s can’t be last with the votes they’re buying, they might even bribe some juries..
It’s valid to dream, yo know? I mean, we all know both Sweden and Azerbaijan are corrupt in the contest
i think ukraine might be my winner now… just wow
Is it bad that I don’t want Ukraine to win just because I don’t want the contest to be held in Ukraine? I mean I love the song and all, but…
agreed. I would love for Shum to win but 2017 was terrible imo
I kindda think so too
*Second to last, Sweden should be last
No, Ukraine. Listen to the Swedish and Germans song, No hate
Who, Germany?
First Destiny and now TIX—the way you’ve turned on your own favourites is quite something, Bean.
If you don’t get it, excuse my French?
Lesley and Vasil are having a little party together in Rotterdam. Sure they may as well have a session.
Nice to see the delegations mixing.
All is well with the world
Kind of wish I was with them, I need a drink
Are you still planning to livestream your mascara crying session listening to Maps on repeat?? 😉
Really sorry Lesley didn’t get through…I thought she deserved to. What do you think Ireland needs to do to qualify next year, Darren?
Link to mascara crying session please? 😛
Hahaha ? should have given y’all a show
Hahaha unfortunately not lol I was in agreement that we should NQ when her vocals just collapsed. Love Lesley though and wish her nothing but success from here on. Ahhh Ireland, well at the moment, it’s looking like we are going to withdraw. Hopefully we don’t, Atleast not yet. Give it another year. If we do take part next year, I strongly recommend RTÉ gets a strong vocalist, Lesley could even come back as a songwriter, I feel that’s where her overall talent lies. Ah I don’t know really, honestly feels like we’ve used our last arrow if honest. Hell… Read more »
Ha, well maybe Rte will be glad to have you!
I think there might be a temptation for another heavy lean back into strong Irish / Celtic ethnic sounds and staging next year—I hope the delegation can resist that though and stick with the contemporary approach Lesley took to the Contest. My impression is that there were a lot of great ingredients for Ireland 2021, the bake just didn’t rise as evenly on the night as it could have done.
The thing is, I can see a polished Celtic sound working really well in ESC.
I wonder what the statistical difference is between first half and second half winners since, I dunno, 2000?
You made me curious, so let’s go (please read it with Efendi’s voice):
2000: 2nd
2001: 2nd
2002: 2nd
2003: 1st (very impressive, it was the 4th song!)
2004: 1st
2005: 2nd
2006: 2nd
2007: 2nd
2008: 2nd
2009: 2nd
2010: 2nd
2011: 2nd
2012: 2nd (i’m surprised Loreen hasn’t performed more to the end of the show, she was the 17th)
2013: 2nd
2014: 1st
2015: 1st
2016: 2nd
2017: 1st
2018: 2nd
2019: 1st
Sertab, Ruslana, Conchita, Mans, Salvador and Duncan won from the first half.
Thanks Sabrina. That is very interesting indeed. Weird how the trend has swung towards the first half from 2014 onwards. A few things to note: I think it was 100% televoting from 2000-2008, and the juries only came back into the equation from 2009 onwards. But from 2009-2013, there were five 2nd half winners in a row, so… I don’t know what changed after that. About 2003: That was a very strange year for stats. Ignoring the “double re-count” issue (don’t ask), then the official results show the top three were only separated by three points: Turkey (167 points; performed… Read more »
You’re welcome. 🙂 I guess it’s clear that winning from the 1st half is perfectly possible these days, but you need to leave a strong impression and stand out from the lineup as a whole.
Do you think Manizha can do that?
She clearly stands out (she did it being 3rd from 16 after all), but sadly I can’t see the juries doing her justice. Even if they decide to go for something out of their comfort zone, Russia would probably still be behind Italy and Ukraine.
Interesting – I think Russia will be higher with the juries than Ukraine.
Efendi’s voice made it all better lol
Isn’t it since 2013 that the producers can put the running order more in detail, the contestants just draw the half they will perform in. Then the producers usually tend to put the most popular songs the latest possible in the first half in the final, probably increasing the possibility for a win in the first half because of that.
Seeing Jess mouth “it’s not going to be me” was heart-breaking. I do hope she comes to a Eurovision stage in the future!
You mean Montaigne? Yeah, I did see her mouth something.
One in the same yes 🙂 She often uses her real name with fans too.
Her song was fab honestly its like a Florence+The Machine song. I did notice that the audio quality wasn’t as good compared to the live acts. Perhaps the pre-recording was a factor and the juries didn’t like it..
I love that Kateryna voted for Montaigne ♡
This is so precious what Montaigne said about Kateryna and how Kateryna supported Australia, legends!
I loved that too! I hope she voted for herself too tho, haha.
Ha! 😛
Wait REALLY?
KATERYNA STOP BEING THE NICEST PERSON IN THE WHOLE WORLD
I didn’t know that the artists were allowed to vote for other countries. That was nice of Kateryna.
manizha had the best performance of the night… i got goosebumps all over. she is just perfection and one of my favorite human beings on the entire planet
In that neither of them annoy me at all, well yes. 😛
Efendi doesn’t seem genuine at all, very fake.
Like a woman from a dream, perhaps.
Oh come on people, I was being nice!
Totally agree!
Oh, right, Tusse underwent some surgery on his vocals chords. That might be an explanation for his off-key performance. But even if it’s completely unrelated, it doesn’t matter anymore. He’s got a Grand Final to focus on.
He will have the same issue in the final and he will flop with the televote as usual for Sweden
That might happen but so? He is still in final..
Undeservedly.
Sweden has been top 10 in televote since 2015, apart from 2018.
If he doesn’t display better singing skills on saturday, that won’t repeat.
Of course Sweden has been top 10 since, WITH THE JURIES. They’re too afraid of missing the final that they started coercing the juries to assure they don’t miss it.
So i guess the top 10 televote places in 2011,2012,2014,2015,2016,2017 and 2019 are a joke
Only 2012 was almost exempt of controversy, tbf
Cyprus is already dropping in the odds..
Super happy for Lithuania and Ukraine!
I liked Australias song, but the video, it really felt and looked like filmed in tiny tiny studio.
They could have done much better. Wishing all the best to Montaigne, i hope she will return to eurovision in the future
UK or Cyprus to open
Ukraine to close
Why already speculating the grand final running order when the SF2 hadn’t even happened ?
why not?
Ukraine was already 2nd last in their semi so i doubt it. Cyprus opening is very possible though
Italy should close.
Very happy for Lithuania and Ukraine 🙂
I hope Lithuania or Ukraine closes the final.
For now, the dreadful number 2 is haunting Belgium (please no!) and Spain, the only slower songs of the 1st half so far.
If Belgium had good result in semi , they will not be sing 2nd in final. And If they didn t had good result in semi , I don t think that neighbours country The Netherlands to do that with group from Flandria.
That’s indeed very possible. In any case, semi 2 has some possible qualifiers that would suit the spot if they qualify and get 1st half. Austria is probably the biggest example.
Spain seems like a far more likely song to be given the second spot than Belgium.