Preliminary Draw of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil [Archive] - Page 4

DannyInvincible

30/07/2011, 7:59 PM

Tough draw, but could have been worse. What are Austria like? Are they dangerous? Sweden will be a tough team to beat both home and away, never mind Germany. Both teams' qualifying records are very impressive. I think it was mentioned that Sweden have qualified for 11 finals whilst Germany have qualified for 17.

The Faroes are probably the best we could have had from that pot. Haven't a clue what Kazakhstan are like.

Ronnie worried about dropping into the fourth or fifth pot if we don't start qualifying. Hehe, not sure about that, but we do need to qualify for something soon regardless.

tetsujin1979

30/07/2011, 8:00 PM

first reaction is that I'd only swap our group for A, B or possibly E. So we didn't get a good draw, but not the worst draw either that's clearly Group I
Should beat all the lower seeds. As said above, we can beat Sweden, Sweden can beat us. Germany to top the group, it's what they do.
not ecstatic about it, not disappointed with it.

paul_oshea

30/07/2011, 8:00 PM

Some great matches to look forward to. All our matches have been very close with Germany. Really like the group. Tough but Germany and Austria is a derby. Sweden can beat us and we can beat them. Austria are so-so. I believe I saw Delaney dancing on the table. Big TV deals for the FAI.

I thought all the money was now divided up....hence the FAI using it as their reasoning for having their debt paid off by 2020 at the AGM...

tommy_c12000

30/07/2011, 8:00 PM

Unlucky to draw the Germans. We should be able to get 2nd. We can beat anyone at home (bar Spain) so you never know. All away games easily accesible for fans bar Kazakhstan. FAI have their money spinner in Germany and team have a realistic chance of qualifying. Overall happy with the draw. Could have been a lot worse

Murfinator

30/07/2011, 8:00 PM

Noelys Guitar

30/07/2011, 8:03 PM

I thought all the money was now divided up....hence the FAI using it as their reasoning for having their debt paid off by 2020 at the AGM...

I believe its after 2014. The FAI will make a small fortune from the Germany games in TV rights and advertising.

paul_oshea

30/07/2011, 8:03 PM

Lower seeds are favourable for all teams. the problem is beating germany and sweden at home.

christo

30/07/2011, 8:03 PM

I would be bitterly disappointed if we didn't beat Sweden twice to be honest, don't know why everyone is rating them so high

BonnieShels

30/07/2011, 8:04 PM

Ah nice to see the positivity again Paul.

England have a dodgy enough group finally.

EastTerracer

30/07/2011, 8:05 PM

I thought all the money was now divided up....hence the FAI using it as their reasoning for having their debt paid off by 2020 at the AGM...

The UEFA money deal doesn't kick in until 2014 so this was the last draw the FAI had to worry about TV money supposedly. They will be delighted with Germany but I'm more concerned with our chances of qualifying.

BonnieShels

30/07/2011, 8:06 PM

Ah nice to see the positivity again Paul.

England have a dodgy enough group finally.

England are 2/5 to qualify.

Jaysus!

paul_oshea

30/07/2011, 8:06 PM

Ah nice to see the positivity again Paul.

England have a dodgy enough group finally.

The realism, not negativity BS. We need that around here god knows, with a lot of the pie in the sky stuff, and the regular posters getting carried away with themselves.

sixesandsevens

30/07/2011, 8:06 PM

Sullivinho

30/07/2011, 8:07 PM

Noelys Guitar

30/07/2011, 8:08 PM

It could come down to who can take the most if any points off of Germany. They will find it hard to beat us. If we could get one or two points from the two games then great. 3 points from the Sweden games. 4 from the Austria games. And full points from the other 4 matches and that should be enough for second place.

Sullivinho

30/07/2011, 8:08 PM

Have the Groups already been decided upon as to which runners-up will face who already? Might be getting ahead of myself but just heard on Sky Sports our Groups Runner-Ups are due to meet the Runners-Up in the France/Spain group any confirmation on that??

Heard that too but it was said with some mischief. I don't think the playoffs have been 'mapped out' but I stand to be corrected.

sixesandsevens

30/07/2011, 8:09 PM

Ah nice to see the positivity again Paul.

England have a dodgy enough group finally.

England are 2/5 to qualify.

Jaysus!

The way they're carrying on lately they could easily get nothing out of that group

boovidge

30/07/2011, 8:12 PM

No, there is still a draw for the playoffs. I assume it will be seeded again so if we do get to the Play offs again by beating Sweden we should be able to avoid France surely?

EastTerracer

30/07/2011, 8:12 PM

Have the Groups already been decided upon as to which runners-up will face who already? Might be getting ahead of myself but just heard on Sky Sports our Groups Runner-Ups are due to meet the Runners-Up in the France/Spain group any confirmation on that??

Only 8 of the 9 runners-up qualify so it can't be pre-determined. That draw won't take place until October 2013 so we shouldn't worry about it until then.

theworm2345

30/07/2011, 8:12 PM

First impressions:

Germany - Tough, but beatable

Sweden - Beatable (ask Stan), and what an away trip that must be

Austria - Shouldn't be a problem at home, plus Trap used to manage there so that would be an advantage (if he's still around)

Faroes - "The bumpy pitch in Torshavn" as George Hamilton referred to it over and over in 2005 can be tough and Kerr would love to get one over on us, still should be 6 points

Kazakhstan - Not the easiest of the "cream puff" teams and undoubtedly not an easy away trip, but 6 points are a must...cue the Borat jokes

Noelys Guitar

30/07/2011, 8:15 PM

Sweden's results so far in the Euro's http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/teams/team=127/matches/index.html
Austria's results http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/teams/team=8/matches/index.html

sixesandsevens

30/07/2011, 8:15 PM

Only 8 of the 9 runners-up qualify so it can't be pre-determined. That draw won't take place until October 2013 so we shouldn't worry about it until then.

Ah grand so France it is then...

ArdeeBhoy

30/07/2011, 8:15 PM

Play-offs at best, again.
:(
Still a few interesting trips in a flawed competition....

sixesandsevens

30/07/2011, 8:15 PM

Sweden's results so far in the Euro's http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/teams/team=127/matches/index.html
Austria's results http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/teams/team=8/matches/index.html

Janey! Sweden look pretty prolific!

sixesandsevens

30/07/2011, 8:17 PM

looking at Austria's Euro qualification matches I don't think we have much to worry about there, but Sweden look a whole lot tougher than I first thought!

IsMiseSean

30/07/2011, 8:17 PM

I'm happy enough. Looking at the other groups it could have been better but then it could have been alot worse.
Bar the Kazaks all the games are very accessible to fans and I've always wanted an excuse to go to Sweden...

Noelys Guitar

30/07/2011, 8:21 PM

Janey! Sweden look pretty prolific!

Very little difference between us Sweden and Austria. I watched the Austria v Germany game and it was even Stephen stuff. Could have gone either way. I still believe we are the most likely to take points off of Germany. Holland hammered Sweden 4-1. Lets hope we keep improving. That is going to be the key.

sixesandsevens

30/07/2011, 8:26 PM

Very little difference between us Sweden and Austria. I watched the Austria v Germany game and it was even Stephen stuff. Could have gone either way. I still believe we are the most likely to take points off of Germany. Holland hammered Sweden 4-1. Lets hope we keep improving. That is going to be the key.

Granted I haven't seen Austria play in long time but those results from the Euros wouldn't worry me. I'm sure Austria are always going to up there game against their local rival. I'd still like to think it would be two horse race for second spot between us and Sweden. Austria will probably be happy to give it a real go against the Germans and nothing else

DannyInvincible

30/07/2011, 8:26 PM

I would be bitterly disappointed if we didn't beat Sweden twice to be honest, don't know why everyone is rating them so high

Not sure why you think that. I think it's being realistic. I'd have them as certs to qualify automatically for Euro 2012 as best runner-up throughout all the groups. They've won all their six games so far in that group, bar a loss to Holland in Amsterdam. They beat Finland 5-0 in their last group game in June. Their World Cup qualification record is also much more impressive than ours. They've qualified for nearly four times as many finals as we have; 11 finals to our 3.

Our all-time record against Sweden isn't too bad though:

Games played: 8
Sweden wins: 4
Draws: 1
Ireland wins: 3
Sweden goals: 14
Ireland goals: 12

Crosby87

30/07/2011, 8:27 PM

Can't wait to go to Sweden and come back with Elin Woods twin sister as the new Missus. And 3 points of course.

eekers

30/07/2011, 8:32 PM

Swedens form lately has been poor so I think them as a 2nd seed is a relatively ok draw. Germany as about as tough as it gets, they quality year after year without fail. 2nd place is doable, lower seeds are very favourable.

Here's their results from the last 2 years

EURO qualification grp. E 7 Jun 11
Sweden 5-0 Finland

EURO qualification grp. E 3 Jun 11
Moldova 1-4 Sweden

EURO qualification grp. E 29 Mar 11
Sweden 2-1 Moldova

Friendly 9 Feb 11
Sweden 5-6 Ukraine

Friendly 8 Feb 11
Cyprus 0-2 Sweden

Friendly 19 Jan 11
Botswana 1-2 Sweden

Friendly 17 Nov 10
Sweden 0-0 Germany

EURO qualification grp. E 12 Oct 10
Netherlands 4-1 Sweden

EURO qualification grp. E 7 Sep 10
Sweden 6-0 San Marino

EURO qualification grp. E 3 Sep 10
Sweden 2-0 Hungary

Friendly 11 Aug 10
Sweden 3-0 Scotland

Friendly 2 Jun 10
Belarus 0-1 Sweden

Friendly 29 May 10
Sweden 4-2 Bosnia-Herzegovina

Friendly 3 Mar 10
Wales 0-1 Sweden

Friendly 23 Jan 10
Syria 1-1 Sweden

Friendly 20 Jan 10
Oman 0-1 Sweden

That's W12 D2 L1.

That only a loss to Holland, a draw with Germany and a draw with Syria in some winter break friendly.

pineapple stu

30/07/2011, 8:36 PM

Delighted with that draw; five great trips. Germany and Torshavn were great trips last time out. Austria and Sweden should be good and convenient to get too, while Kazakhstan will be a real adventure - a place I've always wanted to visit. Nice mix of places.

Going to be tough to get out of though; Germany are usually certs to qualify and Sweden are always very solid in qualifying. Austria could be very tough fourth seeds.

But bring it on! New Fans' Forum threads to start too, and maybe a read over the old Faroes thread.

paul_oshea

30/07/2011, 8:39 PM

Park_Lane

30/07/2011, 8:44 PM

We're going to Kazakhstan.

I Like!

geysir

30/07/2011, 8:49 PM

It's not a bad group, Germany will have it tough in Austria and Sweden are just the type of team that can take points of them. I'd say we have a 60/40 chance of finishing 2nd and if we improve on what Stan managed against Germany, we could give it a real go. Will Trap still be at the helm? he might be in a wheelchair by then.
The Faroes is the away trip of the group, but sh�t expensive to get to.

Bungle

30/07/2011, 8:50 PM

Overall I'm quietly pleased with the group. My concern would be that the Germans will be very clinical and get through the group fairly easily and we won't have much of a chance of 1st. Sweden are like a mini-Germany in how they tend to qualify and traditionally be very ruthless in the kind of games where we have a history of dropping points.

Germany (one of the best teams in the world. Should win the group with a game or two to spare, but Ireland could on our day draw with them home and away. My head says we'll draw with them in Dublin and lose in Germany).

Sweden (a really clinical team in how they qualify for tournaments, but I don't see us losing to them. Ibrahimavich could be retired from international football by the time we play them. I picture us taking 2 points off them).

Austria (could have been much worse with Poland, Bulgaria and Romania. I fancy us to take 4 points off them, but the Swedes will probably take 6 off them).

Faroes (6 points here)

Kazakhstan (pity we didn't get a Malta or a San Marino from this pot. I think we'll just beat them away with a scrappy 1-0; 6 points here. They

Obviously, much can change by the time this group kicks off. I'm sure there'll be some new young Irish lads coming up and playing well in the premiership/championship and some of our current hopes either flourishing or fading away, but I'm hopeful that we'll get 2nd and have a decent chance of qualification.

DannyInvincible

30/07/2011, 8:56 PM

Ibrahimavich could be retired from international football by the time we play them.

He's only 30 in October. He's about a year and a half younger than Robbie and no-one's expecting Robbie to hang up his boots. Has Ibrahimović spoken of retiring? In saying that, I've always thought him a bit over-rated with a bad attitude to boot.

Irwin3

30/07/2011, 8:56 PM

Going by the UEFA coefficient rankings and the FIFA rankings of UEFA teams, our group has the 'hardest' top 3 teams and the second 'hardest' top 2 teams (Group I with Spain/France having the 'toughest' 2 teams in a group). Basically it's just about as tough as it can get. As has been pointed out above, Sweden are currently enjoying some great form. Hopefully some players are soon to retire/drop off and we can nail that playoff spot (or better :)).

DannyInvincible

30/07/2011, 8:59 PM

It must be remembered that only the eight best runners-up throughout all the groups qualify for the play-offs. Even if we do manage second position, that alone won't guarantee a play-off place.

pineapple stu

30/07/2011, 9:08 PM

Agree with Irwin3; think people are being a bit flippant about Sweden. We really are odds against to be going to Brazil unfortunately.

paul_oshea

30/07/2011, 9:12 PM

Not all of us are flippant stu. I pointed out at the very start they are very clinical and always have been.

mypost

30/07/2011, 9:23 PM

Delighted with that draw; five great trips. Germany and Torshavn were great trips last time out. Austria and Sweden should be good and convenient to get too, while Kazakhstan will be a real adventure - a place I've always wanted to visit. Nice mix of places.

They're accessible and expensive. All of them. No cheap and cheerful Eastern trips, like now. The team was held up out of the Faroes last time, so christ knows how the fans will get there and back.

On the pitch, not happy with getting the Germans or the Kazachs. Hopefully we can get the Vienna/Germany trips out of the way in the same week. That apart, it's a poor draw.

tricky_colour

30/07/2011, 9:30 PM

Tough draw really, there are 9 teams in each pot and we got the 3rd best (by official Fifa rankings).
IncidentallyI think were were the second best team in pot 3.

England got it easy, Montenegro, were they not one of the 5th teams in Euro 2012, yep indeed they
were they were in pot 5 and and they are now englands toughtest opposition!!

What a fix!!!

tricky_colour

30/07/2011, 9:32 PM

Looking on the bright side Kazakhstan have some of the best prostitutes in the world.

Cymro

30/07/2011, 9:40 PM

Looking on the bright side Kazakhstan have some of the best prostitutes in the world.

Cleanest, not best. And it's just in the region. And Turkmenistan's are cleaner etc etc.

Poor Kazakhs, they have had England and now Ireland and I bet that film will be a talking point whn they come to Dublin. They must be cursing Borat. :doh:

Crosby87

30/07/2011, 9:42 PM

Some people on here will make every team we play against sound like the best team ever, turn average players into Pele (Pandev) or complain about everything Trap does.
I think the real issue will come down to if we make Euro or not. Team will need to regroup quick after Euro if we make it and get focused.
And of course the other conversation is, if we do not make Euro and Trap moves on, who the hell will the manager be? It will be like starting over again. But at least we will know one way or the other in Sept. Is it fair to assume that if we make Euro and Trap retires that Tardelli will be the man and it will offer some continuity?
Still cant wait to hit the gym in prep for the Swedish bikini team. GTL every day.

bennocelt

30/07/2011, 9:43 PM

Sweden (a really clinical team in how they qualify for tournaments, but I don't see us losing to them. Ibrahimavich could be retired from international football by the time we play them. I picture us taking 2 points off them).

Thats not a positive surely!!:eek:

DannyInvincible

30/07/2011, 9:46 PM

IncidentallyI think were were the second best team in pot 3.

We're ranked behind Israel and Switzerland, so third, officially.

Out of interest, do Kazakhs consider themselves a European or Asian people? Pete Mahon recently said it was one of the worst places he's ever been, and that wasn't even discussing the logistical nightmare that it was getting there in the first place.

DannyInvincible

30/07/2011, 10:04 PM

Poor Kazakhs, they have had England and now Ireland and I bet that film will be a talking point whn they come to Dublin.

I should hope not. The joke's been done to death, seems to completely miss the satirical point behind the character's creation in that it perpetuates the ignorance of the Western world Sacha Baron Cohen was obviously ridiculing and is undeniably insulting/racist. I cringe when I hear people still going on about it with any mention of Kazakhstan just in the same way I cringe when I see things like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XWAuoGg4jY&feature=player_embedded

Anyway... :o