European Championships Draw

[Réiteoir]

11.15 on Friday morning we find out just how tricky the road to er, Switzerland and Austria is going to be.

The UEFA Website (http://www.uefa.com/competitions/EURO/news/Kind=1/newsId=386711.html) reckons it will only take 16 minutes - if thats true i'll eat my trousers.

50 countries will be drawn into 1 group of 8 and 6 groups of 7

The countries have been split into pots as follows



Pot 1
Greece
Netherlands
Portugal
England
Czech Republic
France
Sweden

Pot 2
Germany
Croatia
Italy
Turkey
Poland
Spain
Romania

Pot 3
Serbia and Montenegro
Russia
Denmark
Norway
Bulgaria
Ukraine
Slovakia

Pot 4
Bosnia-Herzegovina
Republic of Ireland
Belgium
Latvia
Israel
Scotland
Slovenia

Pot 5
Hungary
Finland
Estonia
Wales
Lithuania
Albania
Iceland

Pot 6
Georgia
F.Y.R. Macedonia
Belarus
Armenia
Northern Ireland
Cyprus
Moldova

Pot 7
Liechtenstein
Azerbaijan
Andorra
Malta
Faroe Islands
Kazakhstan
Luxembourg
San Marino


and obviously 1 country from each pot will make up each group.
The group of 8 will have 2 countries from pot 7.

One change this time is that there will be no playoffs involved and the top 2 in each Group go straight through to the Finals

Games will be played from September 2006 to November 2007

Pretty exciting, huh?

[Réiteoir]

Best draw for Ireland under the management of SUPER Steve Staunton and his brave band of men (plus Robby Bobson) :

Republic of Ireland
Jersey
Pershore Town
North Utsire
Sark
Craggy Island All-Priests Over 75's Football Team
Wales

[as_i_say]

i think you'll find it was an over 70s team!

[Tired&Emotional]

Plenty of teacups to be thrown around at half-time then when Mrs Doyle gets going.....!!!

[Noelys Guitar]

Every second rate journo will have already written their "group of death" nonsense no matter who we get. I hope we get the best 1st seed. A team who can beat everyone else in the group easily. Except us of course. 2nd and 3rd seeds hard looking ones again please. Teams that can beat each other. Of the "minnows" much of a muchness. Again I would prefer teams that can and do beat so called "big" nations. We are going to be scrapping for every point to qualify and we will need help from other teams.

[klein4]

just out of interest is the reason we dropped to fourth seeds really due to the fact that UEFA have made the amount of teams in each group of seeds smaller? or is there just more teams now?:confused:

[eirebhoy]

just out of interest is the reason we dropped to fourth seeds really due to the fact that UEFA have made the amount of teams in each group of seeds smaller? or is there just more teams now?:confused:
If there were the same amount of groups as the last Euro Qualifiers we'd have been in Pot 3 going into tomorrow's draw. We'd actually have been one of the higher seeds in Pot 3 too.

[klein4]

so what was all the crap about how kerr got us to a fourth seed????????
lot of rubbish gets spouted as fact that is never questioned.

[macdermesser]

If there were the same amount of groups as the last Euro Qualifiers we'd have been in Pot 3 going into tomorrow's draw. We'd actually have been one of the higher seeds in Pot 3 too.

We're going to get England. Its inevitable. Bobby Robson, Croke Park etc etc. Wonder can you bet on the sort of thing.

[Donegalcelt]

7/1 I suppose for England odds. I'm sure some bookie would take it. This sounds silly but the team i dread getting is Albania. From the so-called minnows, they're by far the best and have always been a real struggle for us.

[NeilMcD]

so what was all the crap about how kerr got us to a fourth seed????????
lot of rubbish gets spouted as fact that is never questioned.


Yeah kerr did not make us a 4th seed however. When he took over we were in a group that we were the 1st seeds in. Taking the last 2 qualifications we have dropped down to the equivalent of 3rd seed.

[klein4]

which is where we were at in the campaign before his first one? no?
so what the hell is your point????????????????????????????????????
us being first seeds is a very rare occurence and not a hope in hell of us remaining a first seed indefinitely.thrid seeds is totally unacceptable and any manager who finishes third in the group should be fired.. second seeds if we were on a really good run.

/*end of ill informed and boring rant with no basis in fact*/

[NeilMcD]

I had no point I was just clarifiying exactly what happened as you seemed a bit confused about the grouping and you had to ask for help in relation to it. Was the Uefa website too hard for you to navigate.

[klein4]

:D miaoww!!!!

[Karlos]

us being first seeds is a very rare occurence and not a hope in hell of us remaining a first seed indefinitely.thrid seeds is about rightsecond seeds if we were on a really good run.

Hilarious - your having a go at me on another thread for saying 3rd in group is our realistic level and then you come here and say you think 3rd seeds is about right for us. To coin your phrase, "If that's not double standards, I don't know what is" :rolleyes:

[klein4]

so by your logic you expect every goup to finish as per the seeding? now who is being naive Karlos? eh??:rolleyes:

[geysir]

7/1 I suppose for England odds. I'm sure some bookie would take it. This sounds silly but the team i dread getting is Albania. From the so-called minnows, they're by far the best and have always been a real struggle for us.
It´s nothing personal against us with Albania, they would make it difficult for any team. Every team would dread a visit to Albania. I would venture that we have a better chance with competitive 'minnows' in the group than with teams like Malta and Faroes who were beaten by the higher ranked teams in every game.

[onenilgameover]

anyone know if the draw is gonna be live on the radio? ie is it usually?...cant make it to a tv at 10.45...setanta sports have it live in case anyone was wondering........

[TheJamaicanP.M.]

Hilarious - your having a go at me on another thread for saying 3rd in group is our realistic level and then you come here and say you think 3rd seeds is about right for us. To coin your phrase, "If that's not double standards, I don't know what is" :rolleyes:

Don't worry Karlos. Klein4 is anti-everything, pro-nothing. I think most people on this forum have copped onto him at this stage.

Cue the immature reply ...

[Karlos]

so by your logic you expect every goup to finish as per the seeding? now who is being naive Karlos? eh??:rolleyes:

Seems like your struggling with your own logic, nevermind mine! :D

by your own admission we are unlikely to be first seeds - i.e. by continually finishing first and always qualifying. Second seeds if we have a good run and third seeds are about right according to you.

So it's clear that in whatever draw would be made (and before Stan even names a squad) we would according to you be the third best team (even worse, 4th best in Uefa eyes).

Despite you knowing all this you are still demanding that the manager gets sacked if we don't play far beyond our ability and qualify as first or second in his first campaign regardless of what progress is made in how we play or develop over the course of the campaign.

[Karlos]

Don't worry Karlos. Klein4 is anti-everything, pro-nothing. I think most people on this forum have copped onto him at this stage.


Oh I'm not worrying J.P.M.....!!! :)


Spare a thought for him, it's not easy trying to hold two contradictory trains of thoughts on separate threads! :eek: :D

[gspain]

so what was all the crap about how kerr got us to a fourth seed????????
lot of rubbish gets spouted as fact that is never questioned.

Kerr led us in 2 campaigns

The first was our lowest group finish since 1986 (3rd place). The 2nd equalled the 1986 campaign with a 4th palce finish.

He was judged on results and had to go.

[klein4]

Don't worry Karlos. Klein4 is anti-everything, pro-nothing. I think most people on this forum have copped onto him at this stage.

Cue the immature reply ...
well I have a brain and try see things for what they are. the only reason I came on this forum in the first place was cause I saw the usual suspects ganging up on people who held a different view to them. funny now that they are coming out and abusing me. Yes I am anti everything you lot think cause most of it is absolute ******.
"get rid of kerr cause he is not good enough//staunton is our man cause I want him to do well cause he was a nice guy and he stood up to nasty old keane who was guilty of god forbid actually wanting us to do well
//
we have to be qualifying for tournaments so kerr must go cause he didnt qualify- judeged on results and all that.// it is ok if we dont qualify as long as the manager is someone we like//
we will get a top class coach like hiddink or le guen//we have got the defensive coach of walsall so lets get behind him

robbie keane,john o shea etc are rubbish and should be dropped//(insert name of young player who has played about two games) should be in

anyone who thinks any different gets a tirade of abuse questioning thier right to exist and I would say gets bored like me of having argue with ****ing devoid of a sense of humour "I only talk football" pedantic wreckheads like neilmcd everyday and just give up. so we get the same voices all the time.
so yeah I am anti stupid ****in knee jerk reactions to everything.

and gspain
first campaign kerr inherited a team that had lost its first two games against its main rivals. (hammered in Moscow in what was a complete comedy of errors of a preformance) so you are judging him on that? take them 6 points off any of the other managers and I doubt they would have finished 2nd.
so as a fact that one is a bit misleading.
second campaign he finished fourth but was in with a shout til the last game. so the position he finished in is not really the same as 86 when we were making up the numbers at the business end of the group.
no I dont think kerr was the best manager we have ever but if you are goin to get rid of someone at least be honest about it. dont say we want to bring in a top class manager and then bring in the walsall defensive coach.
I have no problem with people criticising kerr if they apply the same logic to all the other irish managers. but they dont.

[nedder]

first campaign kerr inherited a team that had lost its first two games against its main rivals. (hammered in Moscow in what was a complete comedy of errors of a preformance) so you are judging him on that? take them 6 points off any of the other managers and I doubt they would have finished 2nd.
so as a fact that one is a bit misleading.
second campaign he finished fourth but was in with a shout til the last game. so the position he finished in is not really the same as 86 when we were making up the numbers at the business end of the group.
no I dont think kerr was the best manager we have ever but if you are goin to get rid of someone at least be honest about it. dont say we want to bring in a top class manager and then bring in the walsall defensive coach.
I have no problem with people criticising kerr if they apply the same logic to all the other irish managers. but they dont.


Bottom line is we were detereorating rapidly. I think you'd have to agree with that?
I don't think anyone here was saying Staunton was their first choice appointment, but now that he's in the job everyone may as well back him and the team. On the same note, FAI and delaney certainly could have done things better, so if your anger is directed at them fair enough.

[klein4]

its not really anger directed at staunton. I just got the impression from the interviews I heard with him and delaney that they have said to him "look we know you are inexperienced but if you mess up your first campaign we are still behind you" which from the point of view of a manger is great but from a fans point of view is not so great in terms of having to sit and watch another tournament during the summer and think "jesus we could do alrite at this if we were here". bottom line is the last two games under kerr we didnt look at the races at all. so Im all for gettin someone better in. but at the moment I dont really share peoples optimism on staunton. but as I have said on all other posts I wish him all the best. why would I want my team to do badly?

[Dublin12]

11.15 on Friday morning we find out just how tricky the road to er, Switzerland and Austria is going to be.

The UEFA Website (http://www.uefa.com/competitions/EURO/news/Kind=1/newsId=386711.html) reckons it will only take 16 minutes - if thats true i'll eat my trousers.

50 countries will be drawn into 1 group of 8 and 6 groups of 7

The countries have been split into pots as follows



and obviously 1 country from each pot will make up each group.
The group of 8 will have 2 countries from pot 7.

One change this time is that there will be no playoffs involved and the top 2 in each Group go straight through to the Finals

Games will be played from September 2006 to November 2007

Pretty exciting, huh?

Anyone know if the draw is on live on the radio?

[deadman]

the uefa site looks like they're about to kick into video/audio action for the draw .... fairly nifty pot-luck graphics:

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/euro/index.html

[thejollyrodger]

whats the odds we draw france again ??? I would be sick of playing them to be honest.

[elroy]

Any chance its on radio one? I remember a few draws in the past being on it.

Just had a look at the pots, pot two is the danger one for me. England and the Nederlands would be the two I'd want to avoid in pot one, think we could give any of the rest a good run for their money. But in pot two, wouldnt fancy, germany, italy, turkey or spain and in pot 3, serbia, russia and ukraine are the ones to avoid i think.

I have a funny feeling we're gonna draw either England or NI.

[finlma]

Draw is live on Uefa.com (http://www.uefa.com/index.html). There is a free video stream.

Bring on the English.

[NeilMcD]

its not really anger directed at staunton. I just got the impression from the interviews I heard with him and delaney that they have said to him "look we know you are inexperienced but if you mess up your first campaign we are still behind you" which from the point of view of a manger is great but from a fans point of view is not so great in terms of having to sit and watch another tournament during the summer and think "jesus we could do alrite at this if we were here". bottom line is the last two games under kerr we didnt look at the races at all. so Im all for gettin someone better in. but at the moment I dont really share peoples optimism on staunton. but as I have said on all other posts I wish him all the best. why would I want my team to do badly?


Fair Play Klein I agree with most of that post. I was not in favour of getting rid of Kerr just for the sake of it but the team had started to go down hill. I am not overly optmisitic with Staunton however as a fan its my job to be optimistic. Now that he has the job for the next 4 years the best thing that can happen is that he ges teh support of the fans.

[NeilMcD]

I say England is not a bad draw for us either. In a derby match ability sometimes goes out teh window. i.e, Belfast 2005. I think of all the 1st seeds after Greece and Czechs I would fancy the English. They have a better team but in a one off game I think if we made it into a relegation battle we would have a chance of taking points away and maybe winning at home. The away trip would be crap though.

[Tired&Emotional]

Any chance its on radio one? I remember a few draws in the past being on it.

I hope so.....I'm heading out to the car now for sports report with Des Cahill...

[hamish]

San Marino, Cyprus, Estonia, Ireland, Slovakia, Poland, Greece.

That might be a handy enough group for us - not great for the finances though.

Anyway, draw is about to start.

[NeilMcD]

[QUOTE=klein4]well I have a brain and try see things for what they are. the only reason I came on this forum in the first place was cause I saw the usual suspects ganging up on people who held a different view to them. funny now that they are coming out and abusing me. Yes I am anti everything you lot think cause most of it is absolute ******.
"get rid of kerr cause he is not good enough//staunton is our man cause I want him to do well cause he was a nice guy and he stood up to nasty old keane who was guilty of god forbid actually wanting us to do well
//
we have to be qualifying for tournaments so kerr must go cause he didnt qualify- judeged on results and all that.// it is ok if we dont qualify as long as the manager is someone we like//
we will get a top class coach like hiddink or le guen//we have got the defensive coach of walsall so lets get behind him

robbie keane,john o shea etc are rubbish and should be dropped//(insert name of young player who has played about two games) should be in

anyone who thinks any different gets a tirade of abuse questioning thier right to exist and I would say gets bored like me of having argue with ****ing devoid of a sense of humour "I only talk football" pedantic wreckheads like neilmcd everyday and just give up. so we get the same voices all the time.
so yeah I am anti stupid ****in knee jerk reactions to everything.



He I was in support of keane in Saipan

I was in favour of kerr getting the job

I was unsure if getting rid of Kerr was the right choice but I could understand why it went.

I was not in favour of Staunton getting the job but now that he is in the job he shoudl get 2 campaigns like the previous managers. I will support him as he is Ireland manager and has not done anything that deserves a sacking yet.


I have been one of Robbie Keans biggest supporter and I have very rarely come on here and slagged John O Shea but I dont think he has fulfilled his potential for Ireland or Utd.

[klein4]

forget it niall. we are never goin to agree and its boring at this stage. now be a valued member of the forum and post up the draw for people who dont have access to it:(

[nedder]

its not really anger directed at staunton. I just got the impression from the interviews I heard with him and delaney that they have said to him "look we know you are inexperienced but if you mess up your first campaign we are still behind you" which from the point of view of a manger is great but from a fans point of view is not so great in terms of having to sit and watch another tournament during the summer and think "jesus we could do alrite at this if we were here". bottom line is the last two games under kerr we didnt look at the races at all. so Im all for gettin someone better in. but at the moment I dont really share peoples optimism on staunton. but as I have said on all other posts I wish him all the best. why would I want my team to do badly?

Agree with most of this Klein.
However, I'm sure if he messes up first campaign real bad, it will be an uphill balttle against fans/ media. As seen with Mccarthy and Kerr ( and Souness' present situation now at newcastle is another example off top of head), once the daggers are out and the tide is against you, its very hard to turn it around. I think everyone is looking for progress from last campaign.

[macdermesser]

anyone got a link to the draw ... those other links only bring you the UEFA page ..

edit: http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/4650140.stm

the beeb are doing it too

[tetsujin1979]

http://www.uefa.com/live/competitions/euro2008/draw/2008.PR/draw_basic.html is the page with the draw live
There's a link to the audio feed, but it's very dodgy connection, any other radio stations carrying it?

[Clifford]

anyone got a link to the draw ... those other links only bring you the UEFA page ..

On the left hand side of UEFA page, click live 2008 draw...

[Jerry The Saint]

Northern Ireland have Iceland, Liechtenstein. Ireland out next...


Group A has Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan...

Link is on left of UEFA.com homepage

[Clifford]

D would be nice, Wales, Cyprus, san Marino so far. Stay away from A please

[Block G Raptor]

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/internationals/4650140.stm

[galwaygirl]

we got into Group D

[Clifford]

Yes so far, group D is for us, big ones still to come.

Wales, Cyprus and San Marino.

[tetsujin1979]

Wales, Cyprus and San Marino in Group D so far

[Rory H]

wales...cool


cyprus..:rolleyes:

[Clifford]

Slovakia now as well....

[Jerry The Saint]

CARDIFF!!! I'll have a bit of that.

Bratislava, San Marino. And back to Cyprus.

[macdermesser]

Group D
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REP OF IRELAND
WALES
Cyprus
San Marino