Playoffs

[thejollyrodger]

so who do we face ?? Iran again? that would be great. Can someone please post the possibilies :ball:

[Dublin12]

We are not good enough to beat anybody in a play-off at the moment and besides that we won't even have a stadium to play in when they come around .

[thejollyrodger]

which team will we play ????????

We can play in Croke Park remember. Once landsdowne road is being redeveloped. All the need to do is bring a himack in.

[VinnyL]

what?? the stadium is being demolished before the playoffs??

[Dublin12]

Sweden/Croatia
Serbia/Spain/Bosnia
England/Poland
Norway/Slovenia/Scotland
Czech/Romania
Turkey/Greece
Slovakia/Russia

[thejollyrodger]

ah sh1te, i thought we were going to the middle east again.,. are you sure dublin12 ? i thought europe is seeded and we face a weaker opposition. Its not right if we face another european nation since europe is the birthplace of football and football is far stronger here than anywhere else

[Dublin12]

ah sh1te, i thought we were going to the middle east again.,. are you sure dublin12 ? i thought europe is seeded and we face a weaker opposition. Its not right if we face another european nation since europe is the birthplace of football and football is far stronger here than anywhere else

I'm not 100% sure but I wouldn't fancy our chances against anyone in that lot except for Norway,Scotland or Bosnia maybe and even then if would be dodgy :eek:

[Reality Bites]

Over two legs we wouldn't stand a chance against the following possible play-offs with our current form and current Manager:

Sweden
Croatia
Spain
Poland
Czechs
Romania
Turkey
Greece
Russia
England (yes even after last nite they'll never be that poor again, and kerr wudn't have the stomach for it anyway)

Possible we could sneak a win:
Norway
Scotland

We could take em:
Slovenia
Slovakia


So overall i think we're screwed..

[thejollyrodger]

where is the paddy luck ?? the lepercauns, 4 leaf clovers and rabbits feet ? we used to have all the luck in the world and now we have none. Surely we have to get a favourable draw.

We can beat

Sweden
Croatia
Poland
Czechs
Romania
Greece
Russia
England
Norway
Scotland
Slovenia
Slovakia

[Littlest Hobo]

where is the paddy luck ?? the lepercauns, 4 leaf clovers and rabbits feet ? we used to have all the luck in the world and now we have none. Surely we have to get a favourable draw.

We can beat

Sweden
Croatia
Poland
Czechs
Romania
Greece
Russia
England
Norway
Scotland
Slovenia
Slovakia

Splice the mainbeam.....aaarrghh me hearties......shiver me timber's :rolleyes:
We wouldn't get past half of those teams.

[Dublin12]

where is the paddy luck ?? the lepercauns, 4 leaf clovers and rabbits feet ? we used to have all the luck in the world and now we have none. Surely we have to get a favourable draw.

We can beat

Sweden
Croatia
Poland
Czechs
Romania
Greece
Russia
England
Slovenia
Slovakia

Not a chance,maybe a slim chance against the English but I doubt it,we're just not good enough,we don't have the players as seen last night when eh..Doherty and Harte came on :rolleyes: Elliot should've played at some stage,he could've made a name for himself as they say in football but he can't even score for Sunderland at the moment,infact he can't even get in the team,it would've been a big ask but what's the point of having him on the bench when we were losing.

[thejollyrodger]

har har me jim lad sure we can :P

nah your right, we cant , lets give up this stupid international football anyway, we dont have the players so why bother

[tetsujin1979]

Elliot should've played at some stage,he could've made a name for himself as they say in football but he can't even score for Sunderland at the moment,infact he can't even get in the team.
He started and played the full 90 in their last 2 games, came on as a sub in the previous 2

[onenilgameover]

I reckon we beat the Swiss. I just can't see them getting anything over here but thats obviously if we win in Cyprus which is not looking that good IMO.

Still we may scrape through. the bookings are a problem but rather have em now then for the Swiss game.

so I reckon we will get a play-off spot....We should have had the group sown up but we haven't and there's no point pointing fingers or looking back. retribution with have to happen if we don't qualify....This surely is a must...

In fairness those playoff possibilities look bad and good

Here's who we wouldn't get past and why

Sweden: Possibly sneak a win but if we played them tomorow they would hammer us.
Spain : Too good and would show it over two legs
Poland: They look very good and playing there we been pure damage control. No experience/confidence in away games
Czechs: They are better than us
Turkey: It would be more likely that we would get past em but ye never know
Russia: Going there would be nightmare the return lose on goal difference. lose away win at home
England: Unfortunately they would beat us.

The rest in contention I reckon we could beat. So hey its not so bad. Well ah fup it. It is bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[NeilMcD]

Lads Sweden and Croatia are both going to qualify as best runner up and group winner. I would reckon Poland and England will do likewise. Or else Czech Republic will get that spot if England fail to beat Poland and Czech Republic win their last few games.


That leaves

our possibilities as follows


Russia/Slovakia

Norway/Scotland/Slovenia

Turkey/Greece/Denmark

Czech Republic/Romania

Spain/Serbia/Bosnia.



Now usualy these draws are a fix and the weakest teams play the strongest teams and they work this out usually by fifa rankings. They dont admit to this but it has happened at every play off draw that I can remember. Therefore if Turkey, Spain and Czech Republic all come 2nd in their groups they are ahead of us in the rankings and will be the top 3 "seeds".

Ireland Norway and Russia would be 2nd 3 teams. It all depends on who gets through but I will guarantee now that the top 3 teams will play the bottom 3 teams accoring to Fifa rankings.

[thejollyrodger]

here, england are going to qualify automatically since they are one of the highest finishers on points in second position so lets not keep talking about them.

[NeilMcD]

Thats not a definite if they dont win their last 2 games they will finish second and maybe pipped to the best 2nd placed by Czech Republic depending on results. It looks a given that Croatia and Swedens group will contain one of the best runners up.

[eirebhoy]

England (yes even after last nite they'll never be that poor again, and kerr wudn't have the stomach for it anyway)
You musn't watch England much. They don't know how to play good football. As long as Sven doesn't play a holding midfielder I'd put us as favourites to win a tie against England.

[loscherland]

What date are the playoffs supposed to be in November
Autumn Rugby internationls are:

Sat 12-Nov ~ Ireland v New Zealand
Sat 19-Nov ~ Ireland v Australia
Sat 26-Nov ~ Ireland v Romania

Haven't they been able to fit a play off in before in similar surcumstances?? I seem to recall this lark of us not being able to use lansdowne for a playoff before cause of rugby matches but it never happened?

[Green Tribe]

so who do we face ?? Iran again? that would be great. Can someone please post the possibilies :ball:

Iran have already qualified so eh no. :rolleyes:

[thejollyrodger]

what about Iraq or another middle eastern country ? I cant wait to get on with these games and get the 2 wins

[Kingdom]

I think that some here should get their heads out of their ar$eholes.
there are a few teams in the potential group of runners-up that we can beat.
If all goes to plan then we won't have to worry about Group 1 (Czech Rep) or group 8 (Sweden/Croatia).

Even at that I wouldn't be bothered by the Croats, as they are playing in a cack group. Of the rest ,

we are capable of beating
Slovakia /Russia
Poland (if they were to finish second)
Slovenia/Norway/Scotland (regardless of who finishes second!!)

I would not fancy playing:
the Spanish or Serbs (group 6)
the Turks or the Danes.

As for the English, keep away from them. They may not be playing well but it would be still a pox hard game.

[FarBeag]

We can't beat the French,or the Swiss or the Israelis and barely manage a win over the Faroe Island.Right we have a great chance in the play offs if we even get the oportunity.

[Kingdom]

We can't beat the French,or the Swiss or the Israelis and barely manage a win over the Faroe Island.Right we have a great chance in the play offs if we even get the oportunity.

We beat the Faroes twice with no problems. None of the other teams beat Israel either so got take a fcuking chill pill. Quite a lt of the so-called 'great' teams that potentially will be in the playoffs are hyped up. We can do a job on most teams, in a home and away tie.

[FarBeag]

We beat the Faroes twice with no problems. None of the other teams beat Israel either so got take a fcuking chill pill. Quite a lt of the so-called 'great' teams that potentially will be in the playoffs are hyped up. We can do a job on most teams, in a home and away tie.

Kingdom..Don't take it too personal man.We beat the Faroes and we beat them twice! shame on me not to think of that one Galway fcuking utd could beat that crowd.You tell me when we beat any decent team home or away in the last four years at least and then maybe i will start beliving your delusions.

[Volcán Masaya]

Ah, Irish optimism.... you have to love it.

So, lets look at results over the last 3 qualifying campaigns, i.e. in competitive matches against European sides. We'll throw out the minnows and make weights like Albania etc.

Fra - L
Isr - D
Isr - D
Fra - D
Sui - D

Sui - L
Rus - D
Rus - L
Sui - L

Spa - D
Ger - D
Cam - D

Hol - W
Por - D
Por - D
Hol - D

So we have a record of 1-11-4, against sides that are good/decent.

On the other three occasions where we have had to face European opposition in a play-off, we came up short on all three occasions. Now mind you Belgium was close, and Turkey even closer..... but the point is we LOST-out over two legs.
How anyone can feel confident going into a play-off is beyond me. Yes, we can draw with any side in the world, but we very rarely win.

It's all a moot point anyways, cause we more or less have to beat Switerland to get our name in the hat.