QuoteSchurrle you can't be serious?Originally Posted by tetsujin1979
I am, and don't call me Schurrle.
Nobody ever said that. It would be worth putting money on Klose scoring in any game. Unlike some people.Klose's record is rubbish though. Oh wait...
Schurrle you can't be serious?
I am, and don't call me Schurrle.
Just been having a look at Gibraltar as, other than Danny Higginbotham, I know next to nothing about them.
Some highlights from Gibraltar's first official fixture as a full member of UEFA against Slovakia last November here:
And footage from the second half:
Most of the players selected for their upcoming friendlies against the Faroes and Estonia play for amateur Gibraltarian sides Lincoln Red Imps or Manchester 62 with quite a few others being England-born and qualifying through Gibraltarian ancestry.
Obviously, Danny Higginbotham is well-known, but they do have a small number of other players who've carved out professional careers. Scott Wiseman plays with Preston North End (previously of Hull, Rochdale and Barnsley) and has three England under-20 level caps to his name. I see we also happen to share the same birthday. Reece Styche currently plays with Wycombe Wanderers and holds an England 'C' cap from 2010, whilst Liam Walker, once of Portsmouth, now plays for Bnei Yehuda in Israel. Of course, Shamrock Rovers knocked them out of the Europa League's second qualifying round with a 2-1 aggregate win in 2010.
They don't look absolutely awful or anything from the Slovakia friendly footage, but they shouldn't be too much trouble either. 0-0 was a decent result for Gibraltar and it wasn't all one-way traffic, but it's hard to judge how serious Slovakia were in their approach to that game. In official competition, anything other than six points from our two games against them would be an embarrassment.
Just as an aside, I was at a talk about Gibraltar's bid for UEFA membership. Unlike some two bit Caribbean members of FIFA or even Andorra, there is a thriving football community there with large numbers playing in what seems to be a well organised set up.
Our U19s only just beat them a while back.
Sorry if mentioned above, but is fixture list published later today?
SvD said it would be announced at around 3:30PM.
Happy enough with that, all told. Probably a middling group, which is kind of what you'd expect from a draw. We've had harder and we've had easier. Third and a play-off definitely achievable.
Have also only been to Germany out of that lot, so might pick up a new country or two.
fixtures posted on twitter: https://twitter.com/FAIreland/status...556416/photo/1
We better have our work done before the last 2 games judging by that. Its a very tough group I think but I would be confident of at least the playoffs
Its really not that complicated!!!
#COYBIB? What an error!
They also posted we were in Group C earlier, and managed to leave Georgia out of an email containing the group
Fixtures as text
Sun 07/09/2014 18:00 Georgia vs Ireland
Sat 11/10/2014 18:00 Ireland vs Gibraltar
Tue 14/10/2014 20:45 Germany vs Ireland
Fri 14/11/2014 20:45 Scotland vs Ireland
Sun 29/03/2015 20:45 Ireland vs Poland
Sat 13/06/2015 18:00 Ireland vs Scotland
Fri 04/09/2015 20:45 Gibraltar vs Ireland
Mon 07/09/2015 20:45 Ireland vs Georgia
Thu 08/10/2015 20:45 Ireland vs Germany
Sun 11/10/2015 20:45 Poland vs Ireland
3 out of first 4 games away. Wins in Georgia and Scotland will be huge. I foresee another slog, draws here there and everywhere involving everyone except Germany and Gibraltar.
Scotland have an even tougher start. Away to Germany, home to Georgia, away to Poland, home to us. Will be interesting to see what state they're in by the time our game comes rounds. On the other hand, we should go in with six points (not jinxing anything, it just looks more predictable).
Ou-est le Centre George Pompidou?
I like those fixtures, with the exception of June 13 against Scotland, over a month after the season ends, when our lads should be resting easy, meandering between bed, bars, massage tables and beaches.
It's a ridiculous date for a qual fixture.
Those times are CET so I assume our fixtures will kick off at either 5PM or 7:45PM.
Some more short term unrest developing in Georgia around the end of August would be ideal.
yes, sorry, should have mentioned that
here's the fixtures as an iCal for your phone/calendar/email: https://sites.google.com/site/tetsuj...edirects=0&d=1
We definitely have it in us to come second.
We definitely don't have it in us to win it
Folding my way into the big money!!!
ArdeeBhoy won't be one bit happy about this.
Overall, I think we're a little unlucky as there were easier groups but there are probably harder ones too. I foresee Poland and Scotland both dropping plenty of points so I think if we can put together any form of consistency we'll be well-placed to get an automatic spot. We've played each of Scotland, Georgia and Poland in home friendlies over the past two years or so and won each time.
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