world cup fixtures

[davey]

Anyone know when the world cup fixtures are going to be announced?

I personally think we should be looking to get France first game if possible - always best to get the big teams straight after a big tournament.

Israel/cyprus away double header would be nice too - I'm pretty sure israel are allowed to play at home for wc qualifiers

[Junior]

Meeting in Dublin on Feb3rd to agree fixtures. I think you're right on the Israel situation.

[Falconblade]

Originally posted by davey
I personally think we should be looking to get France first game if possible - always best to get the big teams straight after a big tournament.

Worked against us, didn't it?

[London Irish]

……..agree France away first up would be good to get out of the way .. could be a bit of complacency if they do well in Euro 2004 and we always do better when no one fancies us

.....also think playing the Swiss away early on would be good – possibly the biggest game in the group……. a video of the abject performance in Basel would be the only motivation needed for that game …

[IrelandUnited]

Originally posted by London Irish
……..agree France away first up would be good to get out of the way .. could be a bit of complacency if they do well in Euro 2004 and we always do better when no one fancies us

.....also think playing the Swiss away early on would be good – possibly the biggest game in the group……. a video of the abject performance in Basel would be the only motivation needed for that game …

Londoner France and switzerland away could kill the group before it starts. Look at the first two games in the Euro campaign.

The Swiss or Israelis at home first. Winnable and a good start because let's be honest we simply do not beat serious opposition away from home. I'd rather leave France away til the last game when our fate will already have been decided in all likelihood.

[Footie_Fan]

Originally posted by IrelandUnited
Londoner France and switzerland away could kill the group before it starts. Look at the first two games in the Euro campaign.


Or it could set us up for the rest of the campaign. Look at World Cup 2002 campaign (Drew with Holland and Portugal away) and World Cup 1994 campaign (Drew with Denmark and Spain away).

In both of those campaigns we were not involved in a major tournament before them. For the last campaign we were hungover from the World Cup and the Keane debacle. Both the French and the Swiss are involved in Euro 2004 and straight after it is the time to get them. The may have a change of manager, retirements, crisis' etc.

[London Irish]

IU - accept that first two games against France and Swiss would be too much and would for me very much an either or choice

........ but what we learnt from the 2004 Quals is that you cannot be beaten in games against teams like Swiss whether we play them earlyy on or late on...........

........we also leant that racking points up against the lower seeds does bread confidence - remember that despite the appaling start we had we still went to Basel with a chance.........A nice win in say Basel and back to backs against the FI would be good whilst the swiss and French slugged it out between themsleves........

[IrelandUnited]

Originally posted by London Irish
IU - accept that first two games against France and Swiss would be too much and would for me very much an either or choice

........ but what we learnt from the 2004 Quals is that you cannot be beaten in games against teams like Swiss whether we play them earlyy on or late on...........

........we also leant that racking points up against the lower seeds does bread confidence - remember that despite the appaling start we had we still went to Basel with a chance.........A nice win in say Basel and back to backs against the FI would be good whilst the swiss and French slugged it out between themsleves........

Decent points you both make and if truth France and swiss away in succession is very unlikely. I'd say impossible.

The really intriguing fixture is Israel away. if we get results against swiss and Israel at home Israel away becomes vital and they are a bit of a unknown quantity. i'd rather have them home first when we can establish a supremacy than go away where they would fancy their chances.

[davey]

Am I right in thinking that any suspensions gained during euro 2004 by the french and swiss will carry over immediately in the qualifying campaign? If so, surely another reason to play them early on?

[Peadar]

Originally posted by IrelandUnited
The really intriguing fixture is Israel away.


I wouldn't be surprised if the Israel game was moved to Greece and we played the Cyprus and Israel games away on the same week.

[brendy_éire]

Originally posted by Peadar
I wouldn't be surprised if the Israel game was moved to Greece and we played the Cyprus and Israel games away on the same week.

Don't Israel play their home games in Cyprus anyway? Cyprus and Israel away in the same week would be the best option.

[Peadar]

Originally posted by brendy_eire
Cyprus and Israel away in the same week would be the best option.

We had Cyprus and Andorra in the same week in the last WCQ and it was a great trip. A few days in the Cyprus sun and then off to Barcelona where the famous Elvis Troupe made an appearance in the Mini Nou Camp or Miniestadi as the locals called it...

I think it would suit all parties to play those games together.
Otherwise we'll get Switzerland and France together.
The Faroe Islands could be in for the invasion of the century :D

[Junior]

Originally posted by Peadar

The Faroe Islands could be in for the invasion of the century :D

Not sure about that, its not a cheap place to get to or a cheap place to drink either. I can see the Irish travelling en masse to France, but not sure how big the travelling support will be at the other games, particularly as we've played Cyprus and Switzeralnd in recent years.

However, Faroes is top of my away games along with France.

[Schumi]

Originally posted by Junior
However, Faroes is top of my away games along with France. Have to agree with that.

[Beavis]

Originally posted by Peadar
Barcelona where the famous Elvis Troupe made an appearance in the Mini Nou Camp or Miniestadi as the locals called it...


If anyone has The Road to Asia video,watch after Mark Kinsella's goal when it shows all the Elvis' in the crowd.
Two of them can be seen throwing digs at each other with another Elvis trying to seperate them!

[Peadar]

Would these be the best fixtures we could hope for?


Sep 4 2004 France AWAY
Sep 8 2004 Switzerland HOME
Oct 9 2004 Faroe Islands HOME
Oct 13 2004 Italy HOME (Friendly ;) )
Mar 26 2005 Cyprus AWAY
Mar 30 2005 Israel AWAY
Jun 4 2005 Cyprus HOME
Jun 8 2005 Israel HOME
Sep 3 2005 France HOME
Sep 7 2005 Switzerland AWAY
Oct 8 2005 Faroe Islands AWAY
Oct 12 2005 Holland HOME (Friendly)

Play-off dates:
Nov 12 2005
Nov 15 2005

[Paul03]

Anyone heard if the fixtures are out? Thought thre was a press conferance due at 2pm, maybe they can't get agreement.

[Paulie]

The news at 4pm reported that the hold-up was due to the fact that the final fixture (Oct 12th) is a Jewish holy day so I presume that this means the Israeli delegates are trying to avoid playing on that day at all.

[Robinski]

Originally posted by Paulie
The news at 4pm reported that the hold-up was due to the fact that the final fixture (Oct 12th) is a Jewish holy day so I presume that this means the Israeli delegates are trying to avoid playing on that day at all.

From the FAI website:

At 4:30 today, the meeting between the six nations making up Group Four of the World Cup qualifiers is still going ahead.

Seven and a half hours of discussion have so far failed to yield any results as all six countries – France, Ireland, Switzerland, Israel, Cyprus and the Faroe Islands - push a hard bargain.

Another factor is that the final possible date for competitive dates – October 12 2005 – is the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur and Israel have a dispensation from FIFA not to play on that date.

This means that, instead of 12 competitive dates to fit the ten rounds of games into, all six sides must fit their ten games into 11 possible dates.

The discussions have gone on longer than expected and both the Swiss Federation and French Federation have been forced to postpone scheduled flights.

That must be some meeting. I'd love to be a fly on the wall!

[Jon'o]

so how exactly do they agree the dates?

i mean all sides will have their ideal set of fixtures so is there any type of seniority or do they just lock them selfs into a room until the french get their way?

[Beavis]

The Republic of Ireland will kick off their qualification for World Cup 2006 in Germany with a tie at home to Cyprus on 4th Sept 2004.

The Group 4 fixtures were agreed at a meeting in Dublin, Tuesday and continued for much longer than anticipated. Resulting in some of the delegations postponing their returns home.


FAI CEO Fran Rooney said he was delighted with the outcome of the World Cup 2006 fixtures meeting held in Dublin today.

“Our team was well prepared for the meeting which was a long and challenging negotiation session but we attained a very positive outcome”, Rooney said. “It was important to nail down the key fixtures as well as avoiding a double away trip which we’ve succeeded in doing”, he said. “All other countries had their positions and negotiated very strongly but we achieved our main priorities and are very happy with the overall outcome”, he added.

FAI President Milo Corcoran chaired the meeting which he described as a “difficult day’s negotiation but with a very worthwhile result”.

Ireland will play the critical home match against France late in the campaign in September 2005 with the away trip to Paris in October 2004. The Irish side’s final game of the qualifying campaign will be at home against Switzerland.

Manger Brian Kerr said that we have gained a very positive outcome. “We achieved a lot in today’s session and it’s particularly good to start with a home game and end with one also in a difficult group”, he said. “We haven’t got everything we wanted but nobody has and we’ve done really well to get good positions in our key fixtures”, he added.

Kerr added that in addition to the first and last games, it was good not to have the double away trip. “The balance of matches is as good as we could expect, considering the difficulty of the group”, Kerr said.

Ireland will play Switzerland away in September 2004 with further away trips to Israel in March 2005, Faroe Islands in June 2005 and Cyprus in October 2005.

Ireland’s home programme will be completed with ties against Cyprus as the first game of the campaign in September 2004, Faroe Islands in October 2004, and Israel in June 2005.

The meeting was held in Dublin’s Burlington hotel and chaired by FAI President Milo Corcoran. The FAI delegates at the meeting were CEO Fran Rooney, Honorary treasurer John Delaney and under 21 manager Don Givens.

SoccerCentral.ie

[Robinski]

I think they did well.