European Championships Draw

[Rory H]

and now we wait

here we go

come on greece

[Clifford]

Germany
Slov
wales
Us
san
cyprus

Get in there so far

[tetsujin1979]

Germany, ouch

[Rory H]

so we are going to germany:D

hard one though

[Clifford]

Nice one

Czech rep
Germany
Slovakia
Ireland
Wales
Cyprus
San Marino

[OwlsFan]

Germany
Slovakia
REP OF IRELAND
WALES
Cyprus
San Marino

[Rory H]

and the final into group D is Czechoslovakia

good to see ye are still living the past


tough one that

whether we are better than germany and the czechs willbe the debate for the next 3 years:)

[akearins]

Group D

Czech Rep
Germany
Slovakia
Ireland
Wales
Cyprus
San Marino

[hamish]

Group A- Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Finland, Belgium, Serbia- Montenegro, Poland, Portugal.


Group B-Faroe Islands, Georgia, Lithuania, Scotland, Ukraine, Italy, France


Group C-Malta, Moldova, Hungary, Bosnia-Herzevgovinia, Norway, Turkey, Greece


Group D-San Marino, Cyprus, Wales, Ireland, Slovakia, Germany, Czech Republic


Group E-Andorra, Macedonia, Estonia, Israel, Russia, Croatia, England


Group F-Leichenstein, Northern Ireland, Iceland, Latvia, Denmark, Spain, Sweden


Group G-Luxembourg, Belarus, Albania, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Netherlands

:eek:

[Noelys Guitar]

I am very happy with that draw. No mad trips and we can beat every team in our group.

[tetsujin1979]

Tough but doable, second is achievable in that group

[Hither green]

And the Czech Republic. Thank God for that, thought it was about to be england. An interesting draw. Not impossible. And apparently there are no playoffs this time, top 2 qualify.

[Pauro 76]

1 Czech Rep
2 Germany
3 Slovakia
4 Ireland
5 Wales
6 Cyprus
7 San Marino

doesnt look too bad...

[NeilMcD]

I am happy with our group great for traveling to it could have been a lot worse.

[drummerboy]

Could have been worse, 5 decent teams though

[Jerry The Saint]

LOL at Scotland! :D


Faroe Islands, Georgia, Lithuania, Scotland, Ukraine, Italy, France

[as_i_say]

well it could have been worse. glad we avoided the dutch. group A is the group of death. qualifying will me a monumental task!

[crc]

Czechs are tough, but so is any top seed. Germany is unlucky, but still do-able. Slovakia are no great shakes. Its also a good group for travelling. Just noticed that Czechs and Slovakia are in te same group. A couple of grudge matches right there!

[Block G Raptor]

I am very happy with that draw. No mad trips and we can beat every team in our group.


Could have been A whole lot worse, still think Czech and Germans favorites
but we maybe we get in between them, 2 automatic qualifiers gives us a chance

Come on Stan get in there

[Rory H]

its tough but with our 4thrank it was never going to be easy

wales will be a suprisingly tough "Derby"...they will be massive games

however the czechs might be rebuilding after the w.c. and the germans arent that good anymore so its definetly "doable" as has been said

[as_i_say]

yeah pretty interesting-glad we avoided dutch and italians. we have a chance!

[Rory H]

who did rovers get?

[crc]

Scotland haven't a hope. We got lucky on that count.

[kkontour]

Does anyone know why we have less in our group than any other, and group A has an extra team?

KK

[jockser]

Ill take that! :)

[OwlsFan]

Czech Republic and Germany - don't come much harder than those! Hopefully we catch the Germans on the rebound from the World Cup!

[NeilMcD]

What a group for Travelling too

Cardiff
Bratislava
Prague
Munich/Berlin etc
Cyprus
Italy

[kkontour]

Does anyone know why we have less in our group than any other, and group A has an extra team?

KK
Sorry Scrap that

[Clifford]

Got to be as good as we could have wished for - slim chances, but at least there are chances.

Prague here we come, get in there.

[James]

all threads on this merged
- james

[Lionel Ritchie]

Not too pleased.

Don't see how it could be much tougher aside from swapping an already handy slovakia for Ukraine.

[crc]

Bosnia got Greece, Turkey and Norway. That would have been better than what we got, but beggars can't be choosers.

NI got Sweden, Spain and Denmark.

[elroy]

Couldve being alot worse, poor Scotland, Greeces group is by far the easiest.

[NeilMcD]

Czech Republic and Germany - don't come much harder than those! Hopefully we catch the Germans on the rebound from the World Cup!


It does Italy France and Ukraine is far far harder


To be honest I said it the other day the Czechs have a good few players retiring after the next world cup so no nedved, Poborsky Koller and a couple of others.

Germany are average compared teo the really top teams and I think we should play them early on in Germany and catch them after the World Cup. I think we should play them in their first qualifying game in over 2 years.


I must say considering we were 4th seeds we got a great group and it its fantastic to travel too, not one hard trip and some great cities.

[OwlsFan]

So we're going to Germany afterall :D

[klein4]

you gotta feel for scotland. up and coming team with some good young players. and then that! not a terrible draw for us. a bad world cup for germany at home and their confidance wont be too great...anyone know anything bout slovakia?

[OwlsFan]

Germany are average compared teo the really top teams and I think we should play them early on in Germany and catch them after the World Cup. I think we should play them in their first qualifying game in over 2 years.

And tell me exactly how many tournaments Germany have never qualified for ?

Travel - amazing. The Millennium Stadium etc etc

[hamish]

Match dates

September 2 - 6, 2006
October 7 - 11, 2006
March 24 - 28, 2007
June 2-6, 2007
September 8-10, 2007
October 13-17, 2007
November 17- 21, 2007

[Tired&Emotional]

Wales in Croker would be some day out - celtic connections etc!! As would Germany or Czech Rep. but to a slightly lesser extent.....

[Eire06]

And tell me exactly how many tournaments Germany have never qualified for ?

Travel - amazing. The Millennium Stadium etc etc

Never mind traveling and Millennium Stadium we've got Croke Park :D

Greece and Turkey in group C together should be fun to watch...:o

Draw could have been worse look at poor Scotland...

[dr_peepee]

You can never write off the Germans!!!

[ranting rover]

The only other groups I'd prefer to be in are C and G - so I'd say we have the third easiest group. Coming from 4th seeds I'd have taken that before the draw. The Czechs are class, but I don't fancy Germany as hot favourites over us, their recent results are ropey.

I think Wales will be tricky.

Don't know much about Slovakia...

[Block G Raptor]

Great to have Big Teams Coming to Fortress BogBall and with the Czech Population in Ireland the atmosphere will be electric and some of us non-suit wearing fans might actually get tickets
really looking forward to this now, any one know have we got the biggest stadium in the group, I thinks we do as it's the fifth biggest in europe

[blobbyblob]

Wales in Croker would be some day out - celtic connections etc!! As would germany or Czech Reb. but to a slightly lesser extent.....


Pretty easy to see what games we will be playing in Croker. It will have to be Germany, Czech Rep and Wales in 2007. They are the only games where you will sell 70,000 and the FAI need to sell it out. Lets face it, realistically speaking, the FAIs main motivation in this campaign will be financial. Qualification will be a bonus.

Playing the big guns away early in the group is our only hope of catching them in a world cup hangover. No point in saving the minnows for 2007 in Croker. Might be better to play them later when qualification will come to crunch time.

[deadman]

cascarino's delighted with the trip to cyprus ... great weather, good drinking, the craic ... oh and there's a football match as well

[Tired&Emotional]

Fortress BogBall

:D :D

[NeilMcD]

And tell me exactly how many tournaments Germany have never qualified for ?

Travel - amazing. The Millennium Stadium etc etc


Well we are going to be playing this german team and not the teams that qualified for the last 20 tournaments or whatever. I saw scotland play them not too long ago and saw them in the Confederations and they are not great. We also played germany in 2002 and totally outplayed them. They are not the force they were.

[Tired&Emotional]

Pretty easy to see what games we will be playing in Croker. It will have to be Germany, Czech Rep and Wales in 2007. They are the only games where you will sell 70,000 and the FAI need to sell it out. Lets face it, realistically speaking, the FAIs main motivation in this campaign will be financial. Qualification will be a bonus.

Playing the big guns away early in the group is our only hope of catching them in a world cup hangover. No point in saving the minnows for 2007 in Croker. Might be better to play them later when qualification will come to crunch time.

Agree entirely.....BRING IT ON!!!:)
I think there are 90 days for fixtures to be agreed in the group.

[beautifulrock]

overall not too bad, remember we were 4th seeds, good trips and some decent teams to see as well. Also expect a few to take points of each other, nothing for us to fear. Hope spring eternal with me anyway

[hamish]

I think Slovakia might do a Latvia who nose-dived in form after Euro 2004. They don't appear to have any better players coming through than what they have now and I think some of their best players are near retirement so we might get them at a good time.
Germany, though, have some good players in their under age teams at the moment and they might be ready in the later stages of the qualifiers, the Czechs will lose at least three of their top players and their manager but they, too, have some nifty under age players coming through.
Wales will be a real bugger of a tie but the vibes coming from the camp is that lots of their players are less than enamoured with Toshack and his methods so that might help us a bit. Will still be a dogfight though.
The Czechs and Germany will take points off one another too.
Cyprus surely will not be as much a problem this time as Staunton will take good lessons from the World Cup qualifiers and all the hassles that attended the second game in particular.
Will San Marino play in Bologna or in that little ground where they played Scotland??? Was it in Bologna they played England where they scored that early goal.