Republic of Ireland V Armenia - Tuesday, 11th October 2011 - Euro 2012 Qualifier

[Metrostars]

Serbia loses.

[Sullivinho]

FT. Slovenia win.

[tetsujin1979]

Live on ESPN here in the Berkeley. Was watching it on a mate's laptop using the hotel wifi before that!

[Stuttgart88]

Wow, Serbia lose AND Slovenia win :)

[tricky_colour]

Yep the slovenia game is over.

Are we safe now?

OR could things change?

[culloty82]

Serbia lose - bring on Estonia! Turkey seem to be the biggest danger in the bottom seeds.

[Noelys Guitar]

http://atdhenet.tv/40101/watch-france-vs-bosnia france v bosnia

[tricky_colour]

Wow, Serbia lose AND Slovenia win :)

Two great results for us!!!

[Acornvilla]

time to pray for an estonian draw

[French Toasht]

France 1-1 Bosnia.

I think we are already guaranteed seeds as a result of the Serbia result, but if it stays the same in Paris, we are 100% seeded.

[Sullivinho]

Dancing in the streets of Talinn. Nothing to do with the football, they just like to dance.

[Metrostars]

If the France result holds(either way we're seeded)...

Pot 1:
Portugal
Croatia
Ireland
Bosnia and Herzegovina

Pot 2:
Czech Republic
Turkey
Montenegro
Estonia

Draw on Thursday October 13. First leg on 11/12 November and the second leg on 15 November.

[cavan_fan]

Czechs, Turkey, Montenegro, Estonia. Take your choice, Id like to avoid Turkey, no easy trips though

[Colbert Report]

I'll take Estonia for 200 please Alex...

[Real ale Madrid]

Estonia please - wouldn't fancy our chances against anyone else.

[Stuttgart88]

Estonia, then relatively indifferent - they're all tricky. Czechs didn't impress me in Glasgow though.

We've never beaten a European team in a play off.

[BonnieShels]

I wouldn't be too bothered with any of our potential opponents.

[Murfinator]

Estonia or Montenegro and I'd be optimistic. Wouldn't fancy our chances against the other two.

[Sullivinho]

Czechs, Turkey, Montenegro, Estonia. Take your choice, Id like to avoid Turkey, no easy trips though

Very happy to avoid Portugal, Croatia and the Bosnians. With the greatest of respect to 'em, I'd bite the UEFA representative's hand off for Estonia. Not much between the Czechs and Montenegro but wouldn't fancy Turkey.

[French Toasht]

Finished 1-1 in Paris

Portugal
Croatia
Ireland
Czech

--------------------

Turkey
Bosnia
Montenegro
Estonia

[Noelys Guitar]

alll everrrrr 1-1 France and Bosnia

[French Toasht]

Very happy to avoid Portugal, Croatia and the Bosnians. With the greatest of respect to 'em, I'd bite the UEFA representative's hand off for Estonia. Not much between the Czechs and Montenegro but wouldn't fancy Turkey.


Czechs jump ahead of Bosnia.

So we can't get Czech but can get Bosnia.

[MagicMon]

Job done. Wasn't pretty, wasn't fun, but job done. That must do our qualifying group seedings a dose of good too?

I will say that the first 15 minutes of the second half gave a glimpse of what Ireland could do given a bit of confidence. Cox, Hunt (how was that not a penalty!?!) and Walters did well- is it because they have no fear? Andrews at fault for the goal, I thought Doyle's sending off was harsh but those sorts of yellow cards happen.

Oddly enough I think we'll go through in the play-offs now that we're seeded. Trap's team is just so "efficient" that we'll win by a single away goal that bounces in off the ref's arse or something.

Edit- just seen the above post, I would've liked to draw the Czechs but I definitely want to avoid Bosnia.

[Noelys Guitar]

Agree. Turkey are no great shakes but you just know the away match will be played in the middle of nowhere and only accessible by hot air ballon.

[French Toasht]

Draw is on Thursday at 12.00 Irish time.

[culloty82]

Bosnia ranked 16th, Czechs 18th, Turkey 19th

[French Toasht]

Bosnia ranked 16th, Czechs 18th, Turkey 19th


Yes but tonight Bosnia drew. Czechs won. That changes the standings.

[jinxy lilywhite]

lads quick question. could politics play into this and croatia, bosnia and montenegro be put into the same pot to avoid each other

[The Legend]

pots decided by politics? f** no... if something like that happens, i give up.

[French Toasht]

No Bosnia had Croatia in a group not too long ago.

And sure things have calmed down there now. UEFA tolerated a group that we were in that had Croatia, Yugoslavia and Macedonia at the time of Milosovics ethnic cleansing in Kosovo and that group was allowed go ahead, so theres no way they could tamper with these standings.

[the bear]

what a jammy jammy match.

coxy was great , walters even better whe he came on. there was a ten minute spell before their goal in the 2nd half where we resembled a quality football team. own goal was comical, sending off harsh, winner scored by dicky dunnes belly. we were blessed. and now we are seeded. we are gonna do it this time

[jinxy lilywhite]

got a tweet from Frank & Irene
Seeds: Portugal, Croatia, Ireland, Czech
Unseeded: Bosnia, Estonia, montenegro, Turkey

apart from estonia I would worry about the others

[the bear]

got a tweet from Frank & Irene
Seeds: Portugal, Croatia, Ireland, Czech
Unseeded: Bosnia, Estonia, montenegro, Turkey

apart from estonia I would worry about the others

i'd be confident of getting the better of any of those teams over 2 legs

[shakermaker1982]

Walters really impressed. He'd probably be my MOM!

[OwenGoal]

Given what we are and they way we play I thought the performance was an improvement on Slovakia and Russia games. Conceding the sloppy goal was a painful reminder of bad old habits that I'd thought were gone. I hope Trap has the balls to replace Doyle with Walters, who does a much better impersonation of the old Doyle than Long and, well, Doyle.

[the bear]

Walters really impressed. He'd probably be my MOM!

he was great but was only on for 15 mins

[Sullivinho]

Walters really impressed. He'd probably be my MOM!

Won every ball launched in his direction and used it well. Very impressive cameo.

[shakermaker1982]

Which says a lot about the rest of em!

Cox played well, as did Duff. McGeady was McGeady. Defence did ok but Kelly needs to work on stopping crosses.

[boovidge]

Worst performance I've ever seen from McGeady and I usually stick up for him. The assist let him off.

[geysir]

Won every ball launched in his direction.
Like Sylvester, he has a big chest.

[the bear]

Which says a lot about the rest of em!

Cox played well, as did Duff. McGeady was McGeady. Defence did ok but Kelly needs to work on stopping crosses.

kelly shouldn't be playing

[gormacha]

i'd be confident of getting the better of any of those teams over 2 legs

What do you base that on? Over the last six years, we have won one game against opposition of that quality. One.

I'm all for supporting our team, but looking at this dispassionately, it'll be some upset if we qualify.

[Stuttgart88]

What do you base that on? Over the last six years, we have won one game against opposition of that quality. One.

I'm all for supporting our team, but looking at this dispassionately, it'll be some upset if we qualify.I agree. We have played European teams in 7 playoff matches (Holland x1, Belgium x2, Turkey x2 and France x2). We have won one in 90 mins and even then our opponent still had ET to fall back on.

[drummerboy]

Kelly not a left full. Think he only passed the ball to McGeady once in first half.

[shakermaker1982]

We don't need to beat anybody! Away goals will do. Armenia are better than Estonia.

[the bear]

What do you base that on? Over the last six years, we have won one game against opposition of that quality. One.

I'm all for supporting our team, but looking at this dispassionately, it'll be some upset if we qualify.

of what quality? estonia, montenegro, turkey, bosnia ?

these aren't top notch sides

[Acornvilla]

of what quality? estonia, montenegro, turkey, bosnia ?

these aren't top notch sides

I would argue Turkey probably are, they finished ahead of belgium who are probably better than us, and well Germany are a class above most teams so coming behind them is no humiliation, I would want to avoid turkey al all costs, coming out of Istanbul with any result would be very impressive.

[sheao]

Got the result we wanted in the end which is fantastic. Lucky breaks went our way which helped decide the result in the end i felt.
Performance was'nt the best either from us if i honest , will have to improve or will have major problems in our attempts to qualify .
Was impressed with Walters when he came on and also with Simon Cox, both of whom might be starting this day next month when Ireland play the first leg of the playoff .

[the bear]

I would argue Turkey probably are, they finished ahead of belgium who are probably better than us, and well Germany are a class above most teams so coming behind them is no humiliation, I would want to avoid turkey al all costs, coming out of Istanbul with any result would be very impressive.

i agree turkey are the team to avoid, with the hostile crowd in istanbul being as much a factor as anything. as a team they are not as good as they use to be. they are defo not top notch, and we could defo aspire to beat them if drawn with them

[pineapple stu]

Much improved performance on recent games, if stil not great. Good to see us play keep ball when we went 2-0 up rather than turn into a team of retarded schoolboys new to the game. Yeah, Armenia helped us with the goals, but we'd have scored them anyway given our superiority and then sat back.

Downsides -
• Given should have saved their goal. I think we can forgive him one error though!
• Doyle, Kelly and McGeady were all poor. McGeady must be in the team for his defensive contribution, but he didn't even bother with that tonight much. Ok cross for the goal in fairness - though the keeper should have claimed it - but did feck all else bar give the ball away. Hunt was much better when he came on.

Upsides -
• The clean sheet record is gone. Dunno if it adds extra pressure to a professional team, but nice not to have that talked about going into the play-offs
• Walters, Best and Andrews were all good (Andres granted taking advantage of having more time due to the extra man)
• We played keep ball for a good five minutes after the second - we can do that!

Much more confident of the play-offs now than I had been before the game. And actually looking forward to them.