How depressing is the seeding news?

[Acornvilla]

As subtext to the ruling, FIFA have decided the following criteria that must be abided by the 2nd seeds of the 2nd place play offs.


No 2nd seeds must have two players with the same coloured hair.

In the interests on "Kick racism out of football", each 2nd seed team must field at least 6 different ethnic groups among their starting IX

No player can be replaced by a player of the same ethnic origin

The squad must have the ability to sing 4 different national anthems in 3 different languages

The 2nd seeds must not appeal any of the referees decision or a result of 2-0 will be awarded to the 1st seeds for that leg.

Should any 2nd seed player receive a yellow card, it will be deemed that the offending country cannot be trusted and as a result will be banned for all further competition for a minimum of 12 years

2nd seed player can be deemed to committed a yellow card offensive for spitting, sweating, falling, jumping, talking or pointing

The 2nd seed manager must use the following words and/or phrases in his/her post match interview - "got what we deserved" - "better team won" - "fair result"

FIFA reserve the right to replay any game should they feel that fairness has been compromised



haha your a legand:D

[Torn-Ado]

I think the real question here is Who's going to take our penalties?

Lets face it no matter who we get in the play offs (assuming we get there) we'll draw 1-1 in both legs and it will probably go to penalties.

[Morbo]

I reckon we would fair better on penalties than last time, Keane is an excellent pen taker, Hunt and Doyle have taken a fair few for their clubs and I believe Whelan and Andrews take the occasional penalties for their clubs too, I'd definitely settle for a shootout against anyone except the Germans.

[irishfan86]

Keane, S. Hunt, Doyle, Dunne, McGeady for me.

[crc]

As Ukraine's probable ranking is based on a probable result of losing to England, we might have to beat Italy to stay ahead of them in the FIFA rankings should they beat England.
That'd be just effing great !!! Spend the whole bloody qualifiers getting ****ed off as England win every friggin game, qualify with ease, and the only game you actually want the buggers to win they don't :mad:

[blobbyblob]

From todays examiner



Italians rally to Trap in seeds row
By David Shonfield

Friday, October 09, 2009



ITALIAN fans have reacted with a chorus of indignation to Giovanni Trapattoni’s attack on FIFA – and all the anger is directed against Sepp Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini.


"It simply scandalous," one outraged fan told the Gazzetta dello Sport. "FIFA should be ashamed of even thinking of such an idea."

"If I was Irish I’d want the team to come out wearing black armbands in protest," said another. "What Blatter is doing is not to do with justice, but business and favouritism."

"The draw for a tournament is made at the start," another fan pointed out, "and on the basis of results up to that point. France, Germany etc have already enjoyed the advantage of not having to meet other "big" teams in their group. If subsequently they’ve only been able to finish second to teams which are weaker on paper then that’s their problem."

In Italy they feel that the decision has been made specifically to help one country.

"It’s no surprise. Football is now above all a business and this is the real problem.

"The interests of sport come only second to other interests... therefore from the moment that France really started to be at risk of not qualifying, the ‘two stooges’ Blatter and Platini had to dream something up.

"In itself the seeding might even be fair, but the rules have to be clear from the start and above all you can’t change them when the tournament is under way."

"And Platini has nothing to say?" wrote another. "Yet he’s the one who came out against the idea of European superleague because he said smaller clubs should be allowed to compete on an equal basis."

"Sport has lost its value. Football, Formula One etc. All they think of is making money – and it’s all down to TV."

"Trap we are with you. The Irish are right to protest. Were Ireland to withdraw their team in protest then Italy should do the same. They have changed the rules to protect Monsieur Platini’s France – it’s disgusting."


Read more: http://www.examiner.ie/sport/italians-rally-to-trap-in-seeds-row-102886.html#ixzz0TQ7X0dLT

[Arnold Layne]

That'd be just effing great !!! Spend the whole bloody qualifiers getting ****ed off as England win every friggin game, qualify with ease, and the only game you actually want the buggers to win they don't :mad:

If Ukraine don't beat England they won't come into the play off picture.

[Zizou]

I've been doing a bit of homework on the current state of the groups, and the remaining fixtures. Here's how I see it:
SEEDS NON SEEDS
France Ireland
Russia Bosnia
Greece Czech Rep
Croatia Sweden

[Schumi]

Italians rally to Trap in seeds row


They wouldn't be complaining if they were going to finish second.

[gspain]

I've been doing a bit of homework on the current state of the groups, and the remaining fixtures. Here's how I see it:
SEEDS NON SEEDS
France Ireland
Russia Bosnia
Greece Czech Rep
Croatia Sweden

The Czech's will be seeded ahead of Greece if they both make the playoffs. The Czechs will be higher in the FIFA rankings with 2 wins even if the greeks also get 2 wins.

My prediction

Seeds - France, Russia, Portugal Croatia

unseeded us, Bosnia, Greece & Czechs (tight call here with Slovenia).

Of the seeds if we make it I want Croatia because FIFA won't care who wins that one. I believe Tom Henning Ovrebo (Norwegian ask any Chelsea fan :D) is already lined up to referee both of France's playoffs.

[Zizou]

Oh right. Well Czechs in place of Greeks then. Anybody else get the feeling the Danes are going to look after their neighbours tonight?? Or is it just me?

[geysir]

No chance of that.
The Danes would regard it as a patriotic duty to scuttle the Swedes.

[Razors left peg]

Oh right. Well Czechs in place of Greeks then. Anybody else get the feeling the Danes are going to look after their neighbours tonight?? Or is it just me?

would we do England or the North a favour??

[thischarmingman]

Trap we are with you. The Irish are right to protest. Were Ireland to withdraw their team in protest then Italy should do the same. They have changed the rules to protect Monsieur Platini’s France – it’s disgust


They wouldn't be complaining if they were going to finish second.

Exactly, dead easy to come out with this sort of righteous anger, when you know you'll never have to follow through on it.

Doesn't mean the basis of their comments is incorrect though, although it seems more of a dig at France (and Germany) than a blow struck for Irish sport:


"The draw for a tournament is made at the start," another fan pointed out, "and on the basis of results up to that point. France, Germany etc have already enjoyed the advantage of not having to meet other "big" teams in their group. If subsequently they’ve only been able to finish second to teams which are weaker on paper then that’s their problem."

[Noelys Guitar]

Hunt's comments on this sudden change in seeding by Blatter, Platini & co also infleuncing refs is spot on. I really worry about the message this is sending out to refs as in we want the "big" names to qualify.
http://www.examiner.ie/sport/dunphys-a-skinny-little-rat-103180.html

[Stuttgart88]

Hunt's comments on this sudden change in seeding by Blatter, Platini & co also infleuncing refs is spot on. I really worry about the message this is sending out to refs as in we want the "big" names to qualify.
http://www.examiner.ie/sport/dunphys-a-skinny-little-rat-103180.html

Absolutely. Hunty is smarter than I thought.

[blobbyblob]

At the end of the day we should be trying to take any advantage that we can at this stage. Nice one!

[Edgar]

I wonder if FAI have any regrets about not enlisting my help to climb in the FIFA ranking, although I did contact them twice.

[irishfan86]

I wonder if FAI have any regrets about not enlisting my help to climb in the FIFA ranking, although I did contact them twice.

And what exactly did you propose?

[Edgar]

And what exactly did you propose?

I know a fair bit about the rankings and there are ways of improving your ranking using this knowledge. I'm already working on this with a certain FA (it's not the Romanian FA ;) ).

Oh, and it was for free.

[blobbyblob]

I know a fair bit about the rankings and there are ways of improving your ranking using this knowledge. I'm already working on this with a certain FA (it's not the Romanian FA ;) ).

Oh, and it was for free.

Win more games than you lose?

[irishfan86]

Arrange friendlies with teams that are ranked higher than they should be to try and gain points while still having a chance?

[Edgar]

Yes, that's the main idea.

And blobbyblob is right too. If you had won the friendlies against Poland, Nigeria and Australia (plus today against Montenegro) you would have been seeded.

[irishfan86]

Yes, that's the main idea.

And blobbyblob is right too. If you had won the friendlies against Poland, Nigeria and Australia (plus today against Montenegro) you would have been seeded.

Well, to be fair, while we did rest players for certain matches, we did set our team out to win against Australia for example by playing our best (fit) XI only to get blown out.

But I take your points, and if the football associations are smart, they'd take your advice on board; however, the other side of the coin is that money is also a big factor in choosing who we play against in friendlies- who will be the biggest draw, and what teams will justify the ticket prices?

[blobbyblob]

Now more than ever it kind of kills off the myth that friendlies are worthless - especially when seeding time comes around.

[jmurphyc]

Yes, that's the main idea.

And blobbyblob is right too. If you had won the friendlies against Poland, Nigeria and Australia (plus today against Montenegro) you would have been seeded.

That may be true, but you can't really blame the FAI or management for that. As far as they were concerned, the playoffs weren't going to be seeded, so working on dramatically improving our ranking wasn't a major issue. Basically, FIFA completely screwed us over.

[SuperDave]

Well, friendlies are worthless in terms of Uefa rankings for Euro 2012 qualifiers as those are based on competitive games only. Obviously the current playoffs and Fifa seedings for World Cup qualifiers are based on all results, with friendly results counting less but I do see the point. The 1-0 defeat to Brazil, the 4-0 defeat to Holland.... they count against us.

[Stuttgart88]

I see FIFA said they need Ronaldo at the WC. God help Portugal's opponents so.

[blobbyblob]

Are ya serious? Sure thats crazy talk! Blatant favouritism.

But theres nothing better than something like that to give you an extra bite in a tackle.

Jesus, just give me five minutes against him!

[DeLorean]

Jesus, just give me five minutes against him!

Yeah, that'd frighten him

[geysir]

I wonder how FIFA will manage to get Messi there?
Surely, bar FIFA hiring a hitman ready to take out Maradonna in the next hours, they must be shi*tting bricks.

[DeLorean]

I see FIFA said they need Ronaldo at the WC. God help Portugal's opponents so.

Any link Stutts?

[blobbyblob]

Yeah, that'd frighten him

You have no idea

[twoenz]

Sorry to bring this thread up, but what's to stop Ireland sending a "team" of LoI select to play games against Vanuatu etc in order to bring ourselves up the world rankings? If we played 50 matches a year and won most of them, wouldn't that boost our points massively?

[Edgar]

Sorry to bring this thread up, but what's to stop Ireland sending a "team" of LoI select to play games against Vanuatu etc in order to bring ourselves up the world rankings? If we played 50 matches a year and won most of them, wouldn't that boost our points massively?

No, because points are averaged, not added up. Playing many games against weak countries would bring your average down.