Swiss v Israel....score

[onenilgameover]

Swiss 1 nil up eh....nice one :)

[SunnySweeney]

what is the ideal result for Ireland in this one ? At a guess I would say a draw and keep the stalemate in the group going ?

[onenilgameover]

an Israel win would be bad for us.........

[Dan K]

1-1 now.

[onenilgameover]

1 : 1 These feckers are hard to get rid of.

[Volcán Masaya]

an Israel win would be bad for us.........

Draw is the best result.
After that a Swiss win is more preferable as both we and the French have chances to nullify that win.
An Isreal win will, I believe, gauruntee them at least 2nd place in the group (taking for granted they beat the Faeroes twice in their remaininig matches, of course), so that's not so good.

[davey]

Israeli equaliser - 20 mins - 1-1

[SunnySweeney]

Draw is the best result.
After that a Swiss win is more preferable as both we and the French have chances to nullify that win.
An Isreal win will, I believe, gauruntee them at least 2nd place in the group (taking for granted they beat the Faeroes twice in their remaininig matches, of course), so that's not so good.

Thanks lads. On one hand I would like to see the Swiss reeally batter them, but I think you are right a draw is the preferable result

[pineapple stu]

Israel's last two games are against the Faroes, so if they win, they'll be in with a good chance of qualifying.

Either way, I think we have to beat either France or Switzerland ourselves.

[Poor Student]

How did the fixture list end up giving them back to back games against the Faroes? :confused:

[pineapple stu]

They chose the fixtures; we all agreed, I suppose.

Game is live on Setanta, incidentally.

[tricky_colour]

It's 1:1 at the moment, after 37 minutes, I assume we should hope
it stays that way.
All the games between the 'big 4' have been draws so far so it would be no surprise this is one too.

By the way you can get 16-1 on the Faroe Islands getting a draw in
France (80-1 for a win :D ), would be great if it happened, France are 50-1 on.

[Volcán Masaya]

They chose the fixtures; we all agreed, I suppose.

Game is live on Setanta, incidentally.

I'm sure when the fixture list was drawn up that Ireland/France/Swiss all thought they would have put the Isrealis out of the running by then.
Even six months ago I'm sure we all thought they'd never be in such a good position. They're one poxy team.... or tenacious team, depending on your point of view.

[Poor Student]

I take it we have no chance of being the/one of the best runner(s) up?

[eirebhoy]

Didn't catch the first half. How is the match going?

[Dan K]

I take it we have no chance of being the/one of the best runner(s) up?

I'm pretty sure that's going to be the Polish, according to what someone said to me the other day.

[Volcán Masaya]

I take it we have no chance of being the/one of the best runner(s) up?

No, no one in this group has a chance of that after all the draws between the top four.
Which is why I think the whole idea of best runners up is a load of ******, some groups are easier than others in that regard. Look at the Poland/England group, whoever finishes up in 2nd there is almost gaurunteed a WC spot.
If all 2nd places teams go into a play-off, like has happened in the past, then that's cool, but giving some preferential treatment is cobblers.

[onenilgameover]

Hows the game going...who's in control...etc. I'm in work and I ain't got no TV. or min by min updates????????????

[eirebhoy]

C'mon, give us a recap of the 1st half. I'm off to watch the 2nd.

[eirebhoy]

According to Cascarino this is the best he's seen Israel play. They really took the game to Switzerland in the last 20 minutes. Seriously, if nobody has seen Israel's games at home to Switzerland and France or this game here they have to right no critise them. Extremely underrated team.

[eirebhoy]

A few people just ran on the pitch with Palestinian banners. The stewards took about 2 minutes to come on. Israeli fans going bloody mental.

[Colbert Report]

Is there anywhere to watch or listen to this match online?? I'm in Canada.

[sligoman]

A few people just ran on the pitch with Palestinian banners. The stewards took about 2 minutes to come on. Israeli fans going bloody mental.Ha Ha, good! :D

[onenilgameover]

Wow that sh!t seems to be hitting the fans hard..... LOL :rolleyes:

[boysingreen]

what minute is the game in

[Colbert Report]

73 minutes gone.......

[Volcán Masaya]

what minute is the game in

72 min and the score is still 1-1.

[Colbert Report]

I don't know why you guys think that a draw is good for us. If it is a draw then Israel will have 13 points with two matches against the Faroes left, so more than likely they'll have 19 points to finish the group. That means that we'll have to beat Cyprus, and collect four points against France and Switzerland. Highly unlikely.

We have about fifteen minutes left to pray for a Swiss goal....

[sligoman]

5 mins left and still 1-1 :)

[Volcán Masaya]

I don't know why you guys think that a draw is good for us. If it is a draw then Israel will have 13 points with two matches against the Faroes left, so more than likely they'll have 19 points to finish the group. That means that we'll have to beat Cyprus, and collect four points against France and Switzerland. Highly unlikely.

We have about fifteen minutes left to pray for a Swiss goal....

If the Swiss win then we still need all of the above, and/or some help from the French.
With a draw in today's game we can draw against the French and Swiss and be in either joint 1st of 2nd place depending on the the result of the Swiss v France game.

[Colbert Report]

I see, thanks

[Colbert Report]

How is the tiebreaker?? Goal difference, then goals for? Or head to head results for tied teams, including away goals?

[Colbert Report]

So seeing as we would be tied with the Israelis 3-3, we wouldn't lose that tiebreaker even though they score twice in Dublin and we only scored once in Israel??

[Colbert Report]

full time, one all draw

[boysingreen]

thought the final whistle would never come

[Volcán Masaya]

FT
1-1

Nice one.
This is turning into an interesting group, thanks to the Isrealis.

[Troy.McClure]

The Swiss are now level ongames and points with us, with Israel a further point behind with an extra game played. France are 3 points behind with a gane in hand (tonight against the Faroes)

[Gerrit]

Ideal result ! I was hoping Ireland and Israel would qualify (Switzerland does not interest me that much, and we've seen enough of France for a while)

With this score Israel is very close to qualification, and if Ireland wins its two remaining home games they're through as well...

We're close to a brilliant sensation: no France at the WC !! POWER TO THE MINNOWS !! :cool:

[Sunnyside Up]

Believe the away goals is just used in Euro qualifying groups.

Draw was best result to us. A win for either Swiss or Israel (assuming they won their final 2 easy games) would have given them a 2 point advantage that might have proved difficult to make up.

[Gerrit]

A few people just ran on the pitch with Palestinian banners. The stewards took about 2 minutes to come on. Israeli fans going bloody mental.

Pathetic Swiss fans :mad: Can't people just at least try to keep sports and politics seperated ? This is as low as what happens during the Old Firm...

[Colbert Report]

"if Ireland wins its two remaining home games"

you seriously expect that to happen? Right now I would settle for two draws against Switzerland and France. I'd give my right arm for four points. Six points is a pipe dream.

[Stuttgart88]

Phew. Didn't see it. None of the so-called Irish pubs in Nth West London showed it. I tried about 6 of them. Long bloody walk I can tell you! When I got home I was checking teletext every 5 mins for an update. Very pleased with the outcome. Can someone give me a synopsis?

Vega007, I can't believe you're only asking these questions now!

This result means that a defeat by France is not the end of the world. 6 further points will put us ahead of Israel and also Switzerland as long as the Swiss don't beat France. A draw with France means we can still win the group outright on 20pts though a French win in Switzerland would probably see them win on GD.

An unconvincing French win tonight & some injuries / suspensions is best we can hope for I reckon.

There's still a chance of a 4 way tie. We draw with France & Switz, Switz draws with France.

[OwlsFan]

Think we're guaranteed 2nd place if we beat Swiss and Cypriots because we'd have same amount of points as Swiss but would have had better results against them.

[Gerrit]

Ireland and Israel have it in their own hands, just like I was hoping for :cool:

It'd be even greater if the Faroes would shock Paris tonight. Wishful thinking, but you never know...

[Stuttgart88]

Interesting point by Gerritt. If we win our 2 home games we're first place regardless of Cyprus result. I don't have the group table near me. But it sounds right though.

Israel has played the other 3 top teams twice & has drawn the 6 games. If we beat France & Switzerland they can't get more points than us & we'll go through on head-to-head even if we lose in Cyprus.

5 points may even be enough for second, or an outright group win if we run up a very big score in Cyprus.

Fascinating group.

[Volcán Masaya]

Ireland and Israel have it in their own hands, just like I was hoping for :cool:


Actually Isreal do not have their fate in their hands anymore, they needed to win today to gaurantee and top 2 finish. Even if they beat the Faeroes twice they can still finish in 4th if the the remaining games betrween Ireland, France and Switzerland are split with each team winning one and losing one.

[Stuttgart88]

Israel have it in their own hands
I don't think so. If any 2 of France, Switzerland and Ireland get 4 points from the remaining "mini-league" of those 3 teams I think Israel will be out (assuming nobody slips against the minnows).

[Gerrit]

I think the 4 teams will be batteling for the top-2 spots till the very last day. It's amazing how close they are, can't remember a group this exciting for quite a while. Cyprus and the Faroes can play, ehm, what's the English word for someone who has no chance of winning himself but who can decide about who else wins?

[geysir]

I don't know why you guys think that a draw is good for us. If it is a draw then Israel will have 13 points with two matches against the Faroes left, so more than likely they'll have 19 points to finish the group. That means that we'll have to beat Cyprus, and collect four points against France and Switzerland. Highly unlikely...
calculations ??

Israel pl.8 w.2 d.6 points 12
max points they can get is 18
Ireland with 13 points are in an ok position

[Poor Student]

Fascinating group.

Feck that. Give me a boring group anyday. I'll have used up all my excitement, tension etc. on this group before the WC even comes.