World Cup draw

[backstothewall]

Donadoni has just said that none of the teams in the group have much of a footballing tradition, according to him Bulgaria are the major threat

Gianluca Pagliuca
Franco Baresi
Alessandro Costacurta
Mauro Tassoti
Alberigo Evani
Paolo Maldini
Demetrio Albertini
Roberto Baggio
Dino Baggio
Roberto Donadoni
Giuseppe Signori

As one of these 11 men he should know different

[Noelys Guitar]

Gianluca Pagliuca
Franco Baresi
Alessandro Costacurta
Mauro Tassoti
Alberigo Evani
Paolo Maldini
Demetrio Albertini
Roberto Baggio
Dino Baggio
Roberto Donadoni
Giuseppe Signori

As one of these 11 men he should know different

I'm happy Donadoni came out and said that. Keep it up Roberto. I hope we are playing Italy November 08 at night in Croker. Freezing cold and ****ing rain. New manager sticks Donadoni's comments on dressing room door.

[onephillyhughes]

I expect Ireland to win all the Home games, we always do well at Home and should cause problems for the teams there. But I think we will struggle to get a few wins away from Home, hopefully, the young lads gained some experience in the previous away games.


Hows life back in 2001?

[kennedmc]

Is there a possibility that we are overrating Montengro - the population of the whole country is 6-700k so they can only produce so many players of a decent quality.......

All in all a decent draw. We have a 3 from 2 chance of occupying one of the two spots

[onephillyhughes]

Given how they've done in games they've played so far, they're bound to be tricky. New nation, I'm sure they'll play out of their skins.

[Poor Student]

When are the fixtures likely to come out?

[scousedub]

When are the fixtures likely to come out?

3rd week in January according to Delaney on RTE news

[danonion]

Montenegro will do anything to get one on Bulgaria. It will be huge for us if they can take points off them.

[Armando]

Not a bad draw, all those teams are well beatable with the right man in place (bar Italy who should top the group). We have a fantastic chance to qualify for South Africa I'm delighted. Glad we didn't get Group 9 I think only 1 comes out of that would that be right?

No.

Best 8 runners up go into play-off. Because there is a 5 team group results against the team that finishes bottom of each group won't count when determining the best 8 to make sure all runners up will have played the same number of games. obviously in the 5 team group all results of the runner up will count because there is no bottom team as such.

[Stuttgart88]

One of the quotes of the week (on JJ O'Toole's late U21 winner) now takes on extra meaning:


We can´t beat them Bulgarians often enough.

[teckno]

Drawing Montenegro is fantastic. It is pointless drawin the likes of Faroe or (Faraway Islands :) that was class if anybody heard the draw. pointless as everybody will get 6 points. in our case we have a team that could potentially take points off teams so this could be useful.

A good draw not as good as group 2 with greece and israel, but a good draw.

[eirebhoy]

He is just average though, remeber him playing for Roma against United last year and I wasn't overly impressed. Should be even less of a problem playing with players of lesser ability.

Vucinic is a class player imo. Anyway, there's no doubting we got the worst of the bottom seeds. I can't see the top 2 running away with this group so we might be the unlucky group that doesn't get a playoff place.

[shakermaker1982]

was watching this live online at Knock airport waiting for my flight home and my first impression was "oh sh**". I wanted us to avoid Italy from the 1st pot and Montenegro in the final pot and look what tumbled out..... I'm confident we will be decent enough at home it's the away games that worry me. Georgia, Cyprus and Montenegro away don't jump out at me as 9 points in the bag.

[Bondvillain]

Montenegro will do anything to get one on Bulgaria. It will be huge for us if they can take points off them.

Fair point, but I fink Montenegro, being in their first ever Qualifying group, & with Serbia looking over their shoulders, will do anything to get one over on all of us. If ever there was a team with the impetus to play out of it's skin for an entire bloody tournament, it's this one.
They may, in eventuality , turn out to be a Croatian or Ukranian style eastern dominant, a Latvian or Slovakian style mid-ranger or a an Azeri style "irrelevance", but at the moment, whatever they may be, given our current state, It will be huge for us if we can take anything off the Montenegrins ourselves.

[Stuttgart88]

I think we should try and get a couple of winnable home games first. Get momentum, optimism and familiarity with the new coach. There are very winnable home games. Leave the "lesser sides" away games until later when all they'll have to play for is the chance of a scalp (if we're even that).

[shakermaker1982]

I think we should try and get a couple of winnable home games first. Get momentum, optimism and familiarity with the new coach. There are very winnable home games. Leave the "lesser sides" away games until later when all they'll have to play for is the chance of a scalp (if we're even that).

if the first games are to be played in September then I imagine Croke Park will be out of bounds because of the All Ireland finals. So it looks like we're on our travels and there isn't one destination at this moment in time that I'd fancy El Tel (please God no) doing the business.

[Sproston Green]

Mixed feelings on the draw...

Italy - Shady customers (on and off the pitch) will probably do us narrowly at home - heroic Irish defeat anyone? We should get draw at home

Bulgaria - On the way up, apparently, with a 3rd place finish in the Euro's. I would expect us to beat them at home, but lose away. I was quite happy with this lot..

Georgia - Didn't perform well in the Euro's - 3 wins, 2 of which were against the Faores.We did them H&A last time we met in Euro 04 Q - Gary Doherty to the rescue away! Was this where Kilbane was hit by a "missile" from the crowd?

Cypus - Is this the 3rd WC Q group in row? Chuck in the last debacle, and it's hard to know whether to laugh or cry....we could have used the "rallying cry" logic that some of the players used before the 1-1 draw...but that was as futile as the result.

Montenegro - Everyone is saying that they aren't a bottom seed - not much to back that up....but with crowds of 6,000 and this being their first competitive outing, they are dangerous to underestimate but we must win home and away against them

Overall, I'm happy with avoiding a few - but hopefully Donadoni's remarks; a new manager; and the small matter of a complete overhaul of the FAI and the plucky underachiever mentality and we should compete with the Bulgarians for 2nd

[Fergie's Son]

I am concerned with the fact that we may be arranging fixtures without a manager!

As for Italy, it will be by far the best away trip. Italy is a magnificent country with the best food and wine on the planet (including French). Great people, great country. Can't wait to go. Will fly from Chicago to Milan or Rome and make it a 2 week job.

Bulgaria and Montenegro...maybe. Will definitely get home for the Italian and Bulgarian matches.

This group is doable with the right manager.

[DmanDmythDledge]

Not one northern or western european team to play. Bad news in my opinion.
Very good point Stutts. Very few of our players are comfortable playing against Eastern European teams who are very good technically. Croatia vs England earlier in the week is an example of this.

I don't think Italy is a bad of a draw as some are making out. They have some excellent players but after seeing how close Scotland pushed them I'd be confident if we get a good manager and a settled team we could run them close for top spot.

[Stuttgart88]

if the first games are to be played in September then I imagine Croke Park will be out of bounds because of the All Ireland finals. Good point, I'd overlooked that.

[carloz]

Personally i am happy to a certain level about the draw. Yes nobody wanted Montnegro but Serbia got pratcially all the decent players when they seperated. If the players can not be psyched up for the Cyprus match then they are not fit t wear the jersey. Id be scared of Georgia, they looked very handy in that match against Scotland and are never easy to beat, home or away. Yes Bulgaria have had a good campaign this time but i dont believe anyone had them in their 'group of death' predictions before hand. They are a good quality team but they are a team we should be beating if we have asperations of getting to the World Cup. Italy are Italy, not much to say there, but they will have many retirements after the European championships.

One point that i think will be very important when the fixtures are decided will be our first couple of games. I hate the notion that we always have to play the hardest team in our grou away first....this has only ever worked once for us. What we need is to get points on the board and work from there. Personally i would go for Cyprus and Montenegro at home first. Should be 6 points(i stress the word should). This will then ive fans hope in the manager and we will have points in the board. We have to forget the notion that the Italians will maybe suffer a Euro hangover. The lower seeds we got are difficult but we have to remember that they will e every bit as difficult for Italy and Bulgaria

[Bondvillain]

Much is being made of Donadoni's "rudeness" but in fairness, he's right.

What he actually said was "Bulgaria, Ireland, Georgia and Montenegro are nations that don't have a great football tradition but they are still difficult teams."

As far as Ireland is concerned, 1 qualification out of 13 Euro tournaments & 3 out of 18 world cups (with arguably only enough good performances to make one truly decent campaign to show from the whole lot) does not a great footballing nation make, in the eyes of the world, and certainly not the Italians.

"(second seed) Bulgaria is probably the main contender for us in this group," he said. "Montenegro, as with all of the former Yugoslavia nations, are difficult opponents. And let's not even talk about Ireland.... We already know Georgia, having faced them in the Euro 2008 qualifier."

And let's not even talk about Ireland is probably the most complimentary it is going to get for us on our current form. As someone who dislikes the English Press' "1966" culture, it galls me to hear sentiments of the " Jaysus that Italian lad has some cheek talking about Ireland like that. Sure didnt we beat them the year before I started Primary school?" type.

We dont gain respect based on our results from 14 years ago, we gain it from consistency, and maintain it over each new cycle of games, so in fact he was probably overly complementary. He could have said :

"LETS talk about Ireland - 5-2 against a ramshackle Cypriot team; shipping goals to bate the band in the last 5 minutes versus also rans like Slovakia; the little blondy lad who used to do all your running is gone; (although we are pleased to see John O Shea is still a fixture); Dead grannies left right and centre; 'tricky' San Marino' ; No manager even when yis HAD a manager, but you should be proud of that Stadium that the F.A.I. has built for you. Croke Park. Very Good. We warmly look forward to kicking your boys around the pitch there like the headless chicken corpses they seem to be, in preparation for our game with Bulgaria, who know how to grind out a result, and consequently are second seeds. Unlike you, because, in fairness, you're shyte.. "

He could have, but he didn't.

And anyway, Would any self respecting Italian football fan really claim on TV that he was genuinely concerned that the 3rd seeds were going to cause them a problem? Would they buggery. :D

[Stuttgart88]

With a good manager, Given, Duff, Dunne and the other key players all fit, Alan Lee and Clinton Morrison in the squad ahead of Daryl Murphy (i.e., do something for your club before it can be expected you can do anything for your country) and if Robbie brings his shooting boots over from Tottenham, then is it that daunting?

I'm fearful of eastern Yurp teams but sod it, stand up and be counted and see what happens.

[Maroon 7]

I think we might be in danger of bigging up Montenegro into some kind of footballing bogeyman here. Yes they will probably be a level above the likes of Andorra or Lichtenstein who they shared a seeding with but they are likely to be comfortably the weakest of all the former Yugolslav republic sides. The biggest danger being that it being their first qualifying campaign they could play above themselves until the novelty wears off a little. Obviously it's hard to judge how good they will actually be but I don't see them being any better than Slovakia and the likelihood is they won't even be as good as Slovakia. You'll have to respect them but not be scared of going out and getting stuck into them.

[tetsujin1979]

Is this going to be the Montenegrans (sp?) first senior international qualifiers? So it'll be made up of the majority of their current U-21 setup? The same U-21s that beat our U-21s 1-0 a week ago?

[geysir]

Yes its their first qualification venture.
Now that Montenegro are in a qualifying group it makes them a going concern and they can start fishing around Serbia for some football talent to bolster their squad.

Do they hate the Bulgarians enough?
Slovakia were the dissapointment in our Euro group, went out at home like a damp squib to the Czechs.

[cobra]

Have been in bulgaria a good few times this last 2 years and for some reason them and the cypriots are very pally..i would not be relying on cyprus to do us a favour when playing bulgaria

[Billsthoughts]

I think its a grand group. italy are well beatable in Dublin. as are all the other teams. away games will be tricky but thats the way of it.

[cobra]

was very happy with the group until drawing Italy, it dampened the spirits a bit...but as scotland showed, italy are beatable and if we can get a croker roar going:rolleyes:, ye never know..
would not mind switching places with the swiss though

[NeilMcD]

was very happy with the group until drawing Italy, it dampened the spirits a bit...but as scotland showed, italy are beatable and if we can get a croker roar going:rolleyes:, ye never know..
would not mind switching places with the swiss though

How did scotland show that, the lost to them twice.

[Maroon 7]

How did scotland show that, the lost to them twice.

To be fair to the jocks they were a bit unlucky against Italy. At Hampden Italy got an injury time winner from a free-kick that was never a free-kick and only five minutes before that McFadden missed an open goal that would have put them ahead (granted Italy had a good goal disallowed early on).

Over in Italy I think it took two fantastic Pirlo free-kicks to win the game. Apart from that Italy didn't create much.

Obviously won't be easy but it is possible to get some points from the two Italy games.

[NeilMcD]

It was toni who scored in Italy. You re thinking of the qualifiers for the World Cup in Germany where Rob Douglas ****ed up and got beaten by frees by Pirlo.

[cobra]

How did scotland show that, the lost to them twice.

well, if mcfadden had his wits about him that night the scots would have had 2 handy goals

[Maroon 7]

It was toni who scored in Italy. You re thinking of the qualifiers for the World Cup in Germany where Rob Douglas ****ed up and got beaten by frees by Pirlo.

Bugger. You're right. Two headers wasn't it?

[Donegalcelt]

Not a bad draw, all those teams are well beatable with the right man in place (bar Italy who should top the group). We have a fantastic chance to qualify for South Africa I'm delighted. Glad we didn't get Group 9 I think only 1 comes out of that would that be right?

No, the second placed team in group will have their points put up against the other eight second placed teams. The best eight play-off against each other over two legs for four places. The second-placed team with the worst points total is eliminated before this. For the head-to-heads, results against the pot six teams do not count.:)

[Donegalcelt]

Sorry keenaboy - results against bottom team don't count, not bottom seeds as is discussed earlier here

[NeilMcD]

well, if mcfadden had his wits about him that night the scots would have had 2 handy goals

or if the ref had of given a perfectly good goal to italy and had spotted that Ferguson was offside. Italy are tough home and away and to me all it shows is that even when you think nyou have a good chance of beating them they come up trumps. Quality side and they are not World Champions for nothing, I think its the worst 1seeds we could have got as they always qualify.

[Donegalcelt]

One point that i think will be very important when the fixtures are decided will be our first couple of games. I hate the notion that we always have to play the hardest team in our grou away first....this has only ever worked once for us.
Dunno, I know it worked in Amsterdam in 2000 but we got decent draws in France, Portugal, Switerland ('04) in the opening three games of qualifiers. Russia and Germany (although it was only a poxy deflection that beat us and we were muck) didn't work too well admittedly.

There are obvious cons with opening away especially with a new manager but we'll have to do it by the looks of things.

I think it'd be a disaster to play Montenegro first. They're an unknown quantity (to themselves even too), probably incredibly nationalistic and will really be up for it early on. Better off to let someone else club them early and deflate a bit of their confidence. Cyprus away first might be the best of them for our point of view. We'd have to be up for that one.

[TheBoss]

have you just woken up from a 5 year snooze? :confused:


Hows life back in 2001?

The players are good enough to do that, In our campaign just gone, we beat San Marino, Wales and Slovakia at home quite comfortably. We should have beaten Germany and the Czechs and the Cyprus was an odd one really, I think the players gave up at that stage.

[Bondvillain]

Have been in bulgaria a good few times this last 2 years and for some reason them and the cypriots are very pally..i would not be relying on cyprus to do us a favour when playing bulgaria

I would not be relying on ANY team to "do us a favour", nor would I reckon that , in qualifying, any country (particularly one on such a high about scalping, and potentially increasing their pot position as Cyprus) is 'pally' enough with another nation to lose or draw an internationally televised fixture just to pee off Ireland and look after their mates...

In fairness, we have to get out of this "clique" mindset, or we'll never realise that it isn't international conspiracies that are hindering us, we are leaking goals, gifting draws, losing games, and fundamentally not qualifying for tournaments because at the moment, we simply aren't good enough.

Heres to the beginning of the new dawn where Ireland "aren't good enough" is but a distant memory.

[cobra]

i think we are good enough to give italy a run in the group but it all depends on whose in charge and can he get the players attitude right..
bulgaria hold no fears at all if we get all our main players out

[kingdom hoop]

Pretty tough draw I think, Montenegro and Georgia were probably the worst ones to get from those pots given we seem to perennially struggle against the 'weaker' teams. We should be looking forward to renewing rivalries with Cyprus. Surely things can't go as badly again? :o Satisfied with Bulgaria, good team, but 4 points should be eminently realistic. Italy don't hold all that much fear for me, hopefully they'll lose in final of the Euros and be a very tired team, sick of the sight of each other. Given the 'lions den' away games we face it highlights how critical a highly organised coach will be. For eg, I couldn't see Venables bringing us much joy away from home. I'm more sure than ever that Hodgson is the man.

I think we should aim to have two of Georgia/Cyprus/Italy at home to begin with, get the defence sorted and build confidence for what are all going to be VERY tricky away fixtures.

I think more than anything we need to be solid at the back for this campaign. Bulgaria are excellent in attack with the two Petrovs, Berbatov, and Bojinov is a tremendous prospect, was really looking forward to seeing him with City - he did his cruciate in his first game though I think. But saying that, they're pretty suspect at the back.

Hope springs eternal. The elixir of a new campaign has revived my flagging patriotism. Come on Ireland!! :)

[Metrostars]

Last time we were in a qualifying group with Bulgaria, we did alright. Thats abot the amount of hope I have right now...

[eekers]

it looks like we're gonna have to play all our september matches away because of croke park unavailablity.

so i think we shouldstart off cyprus away and montenegro away first.
we know cyprus and it should be no problem motivating our players for that game. montenegro i think we should try to catch as early as possible before they're organised and used to playing international football.


in september 09 we should aim for italy away (their season starts way later than the premiership and most of thier players should be in preseason by the time that game comes along)

i'd love our last game to be at home to bulgaria (home crowd, main rivals, a win to qualify maybe, and just like 1987 which started it all!!)

[SuperDave]

it looks like we're gonna have to play all our september matches away because of croke park unavailablity.

so i think we shouldstart off cyprus away and montenegro away first.
we know cyprus and it should be no problem motivating our players for that game. montenegro i think we should try to catch as early as possible before they're organised and used to playing international football.


in september 09 we should aim for italy away (their season starts way later than the premiership and most of thier players should be in preseason by the time that game comes along)

i'd love our last game to be at home to bulgaria (home crowd, main rivals, a win to qualify maybe, and just like 1987 which started it all!!)

don't forget lansdowne is supposed to be ready by then

[Colbert Report]

Wow really? Landsdowne is supposed to re-open in September 2008? I had no idea, that was really fast.

[ifk101]

Lansdowne is due to open early 2010.

The FAI need a new deal with the GAA if they want to use Croke Park in 2009.

[Rebel11]

Hard draw not too happy with it.
Bulgaria are a good side only lost 1 game in the Euro qualifing with Holland and Romania in the same group.

[gwhite]

I think one of the good things about the group is that everyone is capable of taking points of each other. Italy and Bulgaria will definitely drop points on their travels, if we can beat the teams seeded below us home and away (a tough ask but definitely not beyond us) and get results against Bulgaria, we'll get 2nd place.
I think Hodgson is the man to do this.

[Kingdom]

I'm looking at the draws in a number of ways.

1. Qualifying prospects. Not so bad but not so great either.
I would have taken the North's group or Scotland's much quicker. I think the best way of looking at the group would be to discount Italy altogether, and focus on getting the 2nd spot. whats we will need is home and away wins against Cyprus, Montenegro and Georgia.
Don't worry about Montenegro, sure its not as easy as getting Luxembourg, but hey we're never exactly comfortable with being expected to hammer teams. Just look at Kazakhstan when they entered the european section, they were expected to be quite tough, when really they've been no better than Moldova, Georgia and only marginally better than Azerbaijan.
As for Cyprus I'm glad we've drawn them for football reasons and I don't think we could have a better start to the new campaign than to have them in Croker. Our players seem to be cottonning on to the idea that we won't tolerate dross performances anymore, and what better way to prove they're up for the task than the Cypriots at home in our first game. The players owe us and themselves two good games against these shower, at least they have the opportunity at rectifying past mistakes.
So for me it will come down to how we do home and away against the Vulgar Bulgars (;)) and anything we pick off Italy will be a bonus. What will stand to us is that any points gained against Montenegro will be discounted if we are in contention for a playoff place and there are some tougher groups than ours, so IF!! we were to come 2nd I'd be confident we wouldn't be the worst runner up.

Now from the journeying aspect...... ARGGGGGHHHH! Cyprus again ffs! The prostitutes must have moved from Poznan to Larnaca or something cause they seem to be our new best friends.
Georgia I haven't a clue about, although I'd love to go there but I'd be reluctant to go on a package.
Montenegro; this is the game I'll be definitely going to. Had heard a while back that its a lovely place and quite modern for a relatively new country so will be making the trek there.
Italy. Not too happy. Easiest trip to do but I've heard bad reports from friends who've been there for matches before.

The one striking thing about the draw is the lack of ryanair friendly destinations!:D