Preliminary Draw of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil

[Noelys Guitar]

It could come down to who can take the most if any points off of Germany. They will find it hard to beat us. If we could get one or two points from the two games then great. 3 points from the Sweden games. 4 from the Austria games. And full points from the other 4 matches and that should be enough for second place.

[Sullivinho]

Have the Groups already been decided upon as to which runners-up will face who already? Might be getting ahead of myself but just heard on Sky Sports our Groups Runner-Ups are due to meet the Runners-Up in the France/Spain group any confirmation on that??

Heard that too but it was said with some mischief. I don't think the playoffs have been 'mapped out' but I stand to be corrected.

[sixesandsevens]

Ah nice to see the positivity again Paul.

England have a dodgy enough group finally.

England are 2/5 to qualify.

Jaysus!

The way they're carrying on lately they could easily get nothing out of that group

[boovidge]

No, there is still a draw for the playoffs. I assume it will be seeded again so if we do get to the Play offs again by beating Sweden we should be able to avoid France surely?

[EastTerracer]

Have the Groups already been decided upon as to which runners-up will face who already? Might be getting ahead of myself but just heard on Sky Sports our Groups Runner-Ups are due to meet the Runners-Up in the France/Spain group any confirmation on that??

Only 8 of the 9 runners-up qualify so it can't be pre-determined. That draw won't take place until October 2013 so we shouldn't worry about it until then.

[theworm2345]

First impressions:

Germany - Tough, but beatable

Sweden - Beatable (ask Stan), and what an away trip that must be

Austria - Shouldn't be a problem at home, plus Trap used to manage there so that would be an advantage (if he's still around)

Faroes - "The bumpy pitch in Torshavn" as George Hamilton referred to it over and over in 2005 can be tough and Kerr would love to get one over on us, still should be 6 points

Kazakhstan - Not the easiest of the "cream puff" teams and undoubtedly not an easy away trip, but 6 points are a must...cue the Borat jokes

[Noelys Guitar]

Sweden's results so far in the Euro's http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/tea...hes/index.html
Austria's results http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/tea...hes/index.html

[sixesandsevens]

Only 8 of the 9 runners-up qualify so it can't be pre-determined. That draw won't take place until October 2013 so we shouldn't worry about it until then.

Ah grand so France it is then...

[ArdeeBhoy]

Play-offs at best, again.

Still a few interesting trips in a flawed competition....

[sixesandsevens]

Sweden's results so far in the Euro's http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/tea...hes/index.html
Austria's results http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro2012/tea...hes/index.html

Janey! Sweden look pretty prolific!

[sixesandsevens]

looking at Austria's Euro qualification matches I don't think we have much to worry about there, but Sweden look a whole lot tougher than I first thought!

[IsMiseSean]

I'm happy enough. Looking at the other groups it could have been better but then it could have been alot worse.
Bar the Kazaks all the games are very accessible to fans and I've always wanted an excuse to go to Sweden...

[Noelys Guitar]

Janey! Sweden look pretty prolific!

Very little difference between us Sweden and Austria. I watched the Austria v Germany game and it was even Stephen stuff. Could have gone either way. I still believe we are the most likely to take points off of Germany. Holland hammered Sweden 4-1. Lets hope we keep improving. That is going to be the key.

[sixesandsevens]

Very little difference between us Sweden and Austria. I watched the Austria v Germany game and it was even Stephen stuff. Could have gone either way. I still believe we are the most likely to take points off of Germany. Holland hammered Sweden 4-1. Lets hope we keep improving. That is going to be the key.

Granted I haven't seen Austria play in long time but those results from the Euros wouldn't worry me. I'm sure Austria are always going to up there game against their local rival. I'd still like to think it would be two horse race for second spot between us and Sweden. Austria will probably be happy to give it a real go against the Germans and nothing else

[DannyInvincible]

I would be bitterly disappointed if we didn't beat Sweden twice to be honest, don't know why everyone is rating them so high

Not sure why you think that. I think it's being realistic. I'd have them as certs to qualify automatically for Euro 2012 as best runner-up throughout all the groups. They've won all their six games so far in that group, bar a loss to Holland in Amsterdam. They beat Finland 5-0 in their last group game in June. Their World Cup qualification record is also much more impressive than ours. They've qualified for nearly four times as many finals as we have; 11 finals to our 3.

Our all-time record against Sweden isn't too bad though:

Games played: 8
Sweden wins: 4
Draws: 1
Ireland wins: 3
Sweden goals: 14
Ireland goals: 12