WC Draw Seedings

Pot A: France, Portugal, Sweden, Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, England, Turkey

Pot B: Holland, Croatia, Belgium, Denmark, Russia, Ireland, Slovenia, Poland

Pot C: Bulgaria, Romania, Scotland, Serbia&M, Switz'land, Greece, Slovakia, Austria

Pot D: Ukraine, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Israel, Bosnia, Latvia, Wales

Pot E: Hungary, Georgia, Belarus, Cyprus, Estonia, N.Ireland, Lithuania, M'donia

Pot F: Albania, Armenia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Faroes, Malta, S. Marino, L'stein

Pot G: Andorra, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan

Nice draw be...

Sweden,
ROI,
Greece or Austria,
Iceland,
Hungary/Cyprus,
L'stein,
Andorra.

Some nasty draws hiding in pot D.

Nice Group
Sweden
Ireland
Scotland
Latvia / Iceland
Lithuania
San Marino
Andora


Not so Nice Group
France/Italy
Ireland
Romania
Ukraine
Georgia
Albania

much of a muchness imo as long as we get the Swedes as the 1st seed option

How many teams qualify?
Top 2 frome ach group and a 3rd in playoffs?

Quote:

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Originally posted by liam88
How many teams qualify?

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Eight group winners, two best-placed runners-up and the next six into a play-off. Gives 13 teams plus Germany.

Interesting Group:
England
Ireland
Scotland
Wales
N.Ireland
Faroes
Kazahkastan

We definitely don't want to be in a seven team group, Kerr needs a bit more time to get the squad options sorted out before we start playing qualifiers (next may for seven team groups) and we definitely don't want Kazakstan.
They're seeded bottom (AFAIK) because they have no european pedigree, but they were in the asian qualifiers in the past and have a bit of experience, saw an article comparing them to Albania in terms of ability, definitely could cause an upset.

Quote:

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Originally posted by tiktok
We definitely don't want to be in a seven team group

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Speaking of which, I just came across this on the official draw procedure sheet.

"England, France, Italy and Spain will be drawn into 6-team groups due to the greater number
of matches played as a result of having more domestic clubs involved in international club
competitions."

If we are drawn in a seven-team group we would avoid Spain Italy and England (due to their Clubs being involved in excessive European matches) which has obvious advantages , but would also mean that Mr Kerr wouldn't have as much time to experiment as there would more than likely be matches in early June / July while the Big teams would be involved in the Euro championships .
But lets call a spade a spade ; we will have friendlies in Feb March April and May as per every year so I would imagine Mr Kerr will have a fair idea of his team (at least I hope so!) regardless of whether we play in the US Cup or whther we have WC qualifiers .

The Good Group :

Sweden
Ireland
Slovakia
Iceland
Cyprus
San Marino
Andorra

The Bad Group :

Italy
Ireland
Serbia&Montenegro
Ukraine
Hungary
Albania

The Ugly Group : There's potential for Civil War in all of these countries (including our own!)

Turkey
Ireland
Bulgaria
Israel
Macedonia
Armenia
Kazakhstan

Just from a purely personal (where i'd like to visit coupled with beatable) point of view, I'd like

Sweden
Ireland
Austria
Iceland
Cyprus
San Marino
Andorra

Tiktok we don't seem to disagree on our choice of teams much . The only reason I'd like to go to Slovakia is Bratislava . Its supposed to be a nice city. Plus I believe that the English media hyped up the behaviour of the Slovakian fans . Surely that couldn't be that bad could they .I felt that they were trying to take the focus away from England's sh~te performance against them .

Plus we played in Vienna a few years back . Bad memories bad bad memories .

Pogsly, i agree Bratislava would bea nicer city to visit than Vienna, but i reckon the Austrians would be a slightly softer touch away than the slovakians. Once it's not Basle again, i don't care.

I'll take that group tiktok, except with Luxembourg for Andorra. (Luxembourg is a few hours drive for me)

Has anybody considered the possibility that Ireland may not being in the shakeup for the finals at all . Having seen all the permutations in the groups and considering some of our recent performances (both era's - not just Mr Kerr's) there is a possibility that we could end up 4th in a group , let alone 2nd or first

Quote:

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Originally posted by Pogsly
Has anybody considered the possibility that Ireland may not being in the shakeup for the finals at all . Having seen all the permutations in the groups and considering some of our recent performances (both era's - not just Mr Kerr's) there is a possibility that we could end up 4th in a group , let alone 2nd or first

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No need for such negativity. If we get the right draw and a bit of luck we could win the group but no matter which group we end up in we'll always have a chance of 2nd place.

Turkey
Republic Of Ireland
Switzerland
Ukraine
Macedonia
Leichtenstein
Luxembourg


Urgh.

Complete guess of course, but let's see what cometh...