Am I confused or...

[Sliogán Dóite]

If France beat Switzerland:

Win the two games and get play-off


If Switzerland and France draw:

Win the two games and get play-off

If Switzerland beat France:

Beat Switzerland by more than they beat France, and then beat Cyprus.
We'd then come first.

^
|
(Three-way-tie. Goes to results in games between France, Switzerland and Ireland. We've each won 1, drawn 2 and lost 1 in these matches. Goes to goal difference in games between these teams. Ireland have the best GD in these games.







Is this all correct?

[crc]

Is this all correct?
Yes, but France have Cyprus at home in their last match, and I'd fancy them to hammer more goals in than we will away to Cyprus.

[Sliogán Dóite]

But in Scenario 3:

After results between the top three teams can't find a winner, it would go to goal difference between the top three. If we beat Switzerland by more than they beat France, we'll have the best goal difference in games between the top three and therefore finish first.

[Armando]

But in Scenario 3:

After results between the top three teams can't find a winner, it would go to goal difference between the top three. If we beat Switzerland by more than they beat France, we'll have the best goal difference in games between the top three and therefore finish first.

As far as I can make out you're right.
If the 3 of us finish with 19 pts what the hell would happen if Switzerland beat France 1-0 and we beat Switzerland 1-0? As far as I can see we'd be deadlocked in every way. Would overall goal difference in the group then come into it?
My head is hurting :(

[Sliogán Dóite]

Would overall goal difference in the group then come into it?

Yep, you're right.

[brine3]

In any case, it's another Swiss showdown, the fourth in four years and two years after Basel.

Let's hope our team shows up this time.

[tricky_colour]

The qualification system is way too complicated, basically we need to beat
Cyprus and the Swiss, preferably hammer them, especially the Swiss, and we
will at least finish second. Anything less than 6 points and basically we are out,
barring some real freak results.

If we beat the Swiss and the Swiss beat the French then it's gets to complicated
for mere geniuses lilke me :)

[BobbySands]

The head to head stuff is nonsense. Should be straight goal difference. Thats what most normal fans are used to. At least us bar stoolers.

[gspain]

The head to head stuff is nonsense. Should be straight goal difference. Thats what most normal fans are used to. At least us bar stoolers.

Yes but it favours us this time that it is the head to head.

[OwlsFan]

The head to head stuff is nonsense. Should be straight goal difference. Thats what most normal fans are used to. At least us bar stoolers.

Easier to understand but not necessarily fairer. WHy should whoever put the most goals past the Faroes be the one which goes through? I think FIFA have got it right that the results between the teams which are tied on pts should be the determining factor. It's fairer I believe rather than someone getting 6 beating someone who got 5 against the Faroes.

[Superhoops]

....we need to beat Cyprus and the Swiss, preferably hammer them.....
This involves scoring goals. Any suggestions where these goals might be coming from?

[thejollyrodger]

The head to head stuff is nonsense. Should be straight goal difference. Thats what most normal fans are used to. At least us bar stoolers.

Thats teh way its done in La Liga. Its just us that is used to the other way.


I think the head to head thing is far better. It takes out any weird results like the choclate makers beating the faroes 6-0 because of their travelling heat etc.

We never beat anyone more than 3 or 4 nil but i think we can win our next two games by a goal each.

[tricky_colour]

Yes it may be fairer but it has its problems in its complexity, imagine you
are a player out on the pitch, and results from other games are coming
through, perhaps some freak results, it might be very difficult to figure
out how the table stands even for the manager. You might end up
not qualifying because you didn't understand the finer points of the
system!

[OwlsFan]

The players don't need to be worrying about that. The management should be aware of it and be able to tell the team what's required. It's not rocket science.

Anyway, come the final game against the Swiss we'll know exactly what's required or we may even be out if we've lost to Cyprus :eek: but let's not think about that.

[Stuttgart88]

Is our game against Cyprus the same time, before or after the Swiss vs France game?

Either way, we just need to beat Cyprus. End of story. If we're 3 up it's worth chasing the 5 goals that could see us pip the Swiss on GD if they beat France 1-0. But if it's 1 or 2 nil we should just make sure of the result.

A 1-0 Swiss win over France and a 6-2 win for Ireland in Cyprus would make it interesting:)
A 1 goal win for Ireland over Switzerland would then tie us on all criteria and a neutral venue play-off to win the group would result (I think). Quiet work day here...

You're probably even more confused now. I think the mods should put totalfootball's definitive explanation of what needs to happen up as a sticky at this stage. But then, as eirebhoy says, Switzerland just won't beat France!

[tetsujin1979]

Is our game against Cyprus the same time, before or after the Swiss vs France game?

According to this page on fifaworldcup.com (http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/t/match/index.html?zone=eur&ym=all&grp=WC2006PRLCTrpn1stSG4) we're kicking off at 8:00p.m., but there's no time listed for Switzerland - France :(

[thejollyrodger]

ireland has never scored 6 goals when we needed to and were not going to start now.

we can beat cyprus if we go at it but its always going to be a 2-0 or 3-0 at most.