Cyprus 1 Germany 1

[Fubar]

the might of cyprus strikes again....:D gives us a helping hand this time though. Anyone see the game. What happened Germany?

[DmanDmythDledge]

Cyprus had a goal ruled out for a dodgy offside decision too.

[eirebhoy]

It just makes me more annoyed that we didn't beat the Czechs.

[elroy]

Makes me more annoyed we didnt beat cyprus, our worst performance in history and still we led the game, gave away two silly goals, drew back level and shouldve gone on from there.
We're six points off the top after just 4 games, bit of a joke really!

[as_i_say]

nothing even dodgy about that goal-it was clearly onside cos a german player clipped the ball through to the cypriots

[eirebhoy]

Makes me more annoyed we didnt beat cyprus
Not really. It looks like we all underestimated Cyprus and they might get points off a few teams. We'd certainly need to be winning our home games to qualify so a win against the Czechs would have had us in with a good chance of qualification.

[graham_d]

nothing even dodgy about that goal-it was clearly onside cos a german player clipped the ball through to the cypriots

Think it was probably given for the initial shot, not the deflection. Anyway the player who scored looked level to me, there was another fella to the left who was a few yards off, probably 'interfering with play'.

The Germans are not too impressed with their team's performance (I live in Hamburg, listened to the game on rte.ie while trying to keep an eye on the other game on tv) though Ballack was fairly generous about the Cypriots, said they'll take more points off other teams (and luckily he didn't mention the 5-2.....)

Thought Frings was a lot less effective than against us, they missed Podolski and the only goal threats seemed to come through Ballack. Cyprus cut them apart a fair few times too, and the keeper looked a bit shaky. They could struggle later in the group - think Klose picked up a suspension which means he'll miss their game with the Czechs.

[Poor Student]

How the hell are we supposed to beat Cyprus to fourth spot if they keep getting results like this?;)

[pineapple stu]

How bad are Germany that they can only manage one goal against Cyprus?

So we have now...
Cyprus 5-2 Ireland
Slovakia 6-1 Cyprus
Slovakia 0-3 Czech Republic
Ireland 1-1 Czech Republic

What a wierd group!

[fergalr]

Bad result for us.

Lets not be delusional. We are not competing with Germany and the Czechs for qualification. We are battling with with Slovakia, Wales and Cyprus for spots 3 though 6.

[pineapple stu]

Spots 3 through 6 are irrelevant as seeding is worked out on the basis of points you earn, not the position you finish in.

One point for Cyprus isn't going to affect our seeding as they're too far behind us anyway.

[Donal81]

Not really. It looks like we all underestimated Cyprus and they might get points off a few teams. We'd certainly need to be winning our home games to qualify so a win against the Czechs would have had us in with a good chance of qualification.

I wouldn't say we underestimated Cyprus. They're a rubbish team that almost invariably collapse in the second half once you keep your concentration. They've had a couple of scalps down through the years but don't really have any discipline or organisation. I recall them beating Holland, I think? Or at least drawing with them in the 2002 qualifiers? I can't remember exactly, maybe I'm completely wrong on that one. If you keep you concentration, they crumble. The Germans must have gotten sloppy, unusually for them. The Slovaks beat them 6-1 and the Slovaks are nothing more than a handy well-organised team.

What we did underestimate was our own appalling management and lack of effort. That was what bit us, I think, more than any Cypriot strength. To be fair to them, they took full advantage of our own **** ups.

We need to beat the Slovaks home and away now, which I can't see happening. I hope it does but there are just too many teams in the group who are simply better than us.

[fergalr]

OK thanks - didn't know that.

So in terms of seeding the result is irrelevant. In terms of group placement its a bad result for us.

[wws]

I said cyprus would get a result v germany or czechs

I nominate myself for post of the month.

God I'm clever I is.

[elroy]

The Czechs play Cyprus away in their last game of the group. Thats bad news for us if you ask me, more likely that Cyprus would take points of the Czechs if it wasnt so near the end of the campaign.

[Soko]

How the hell are we supposed to beat Cyprus to fourth spot if they keep getting results like this?;)


No need for the wink, its a serious topic. Any one who thinks we can catch the Germans should join Stan on the coaching staff, another clueless idiot can't do no harm