World Cup Qualifying - Group D

Wales
Austria
Serbia
Ireland
Moldova
Georgia

So thoughts now turn towards Belgrade in September...what do we want to see over the next couple of months? What should we be afraid of in terms of the opposition?

I'd like to see some of our most promising youngsters blooded quickly. Now is the time to kick on and bring some younger players through. A large portion of our squad have the experience of qualification and participation that they can pass on to the likes of Byrne, Lenihan, Browne, O'Dowda and also bringing in Pilkington and Hogan. That's a decent crop and I'm sure I've missed others. We can also take advantage of the fact that this is a group that we can expect to do fairly well in and qualify from 4th seed spot.

I haven't seen much of Serbia but know they have a very promising crop of young players that will come through for them this year - u20 and u19 champs/finalists iirc. Austria are strong but one dimensional and you could see maybe taking 4 points off them. I think Wales are the pick of the 1st seeds from our perspective and our all round quality will be enough to expect good performances and results from. Moldova and Georgia we need to be aiming for 6 points off both.

No room for some of the senior players, this is the best possible set of circumstances for us to strike positively through results and kick on with squad development.

Onwards and upwards!

I'm not taking anything for granted. We made a balls of our 2004 Euro group as no1 seeds. Shortly after our last 16 exit in Suwon we beat Finland 3-0 away in a friendly with fresh faces. Look what happened next.

Hopefully Wales will have a Euro Championship winning hangover!

I don't think Austria will be as bad again. 9 wins in qualifying I think.

Duffy will be suspended against Serbia(?). What about Hendrick and Long. Each would have missed the q/f.

I think we're in a good place though. The best performers at the Euros will be still around and much wiser. We left some very good players at home. I think management learnt some useful lessons too.

It's hard to say about Serbia. Great youth on the way up, but their Euro qualifying campaign was a catastrophe, and their fans behavior is so self-damaging. Ireland well capable of taking points off higher seeds.

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Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter

Ireland well capable of taking points off higher seeds.

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That's the difference that gives me hope in the WC Qualifiers. Not many of us believed that less than a year ago, as we hadn't beaten a higher seed since the Dutch game in 2001, France (in 90 mins) & Slovakia aside. The wins over Germany & Italy prove we can and even the play-off vs Bosnia who despite the rankings for the seedlings was a big result. Nothing to fear in this group so a great chance to get to Russia.

Serbia are very very good on paper but they flatter to deceive. When they did qualify in 06 they tanked completely.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

I don't think Austria will be as bad again. 9 wins in qualifying I think.

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Yeah but Russia and Sweden didn't win a game either so that form is a bit misleading I think.

Wales, Georgia and Austria we have more knowledge about. The other two, Serbia and Moldova:

Serbia have some well known players like Ivanovic & Matic(Both Chelsea), Kolarov(Man City), Tosic(CSKA Moscow), Tadic(Southampton), Mitrovic(Newcastle)
Serbia did very poorly the Euro 2016 qualifying. Remember they had the incident against Albania with the flares, the drone and the flag, the subsequent fighting. Serbia were deducted 3 points and also a 3-0 win awarded to Albania:



http://i68.tinypic.com/2mwghnn.jpg
Slavoljub Muslin is their new manager, appointed in April.


Moldova only got 2 points in qualifying - away draws to Russia and Liechtenstein.

Full Schedule:

5 September 2016
Georgia v Austria
Serbia v Republic of Ireland
Wales v Moldova

6 October 2016
Austria v Wales
Moldova v Serbia
Republic of Ireland v Georgia

9 October 2016
Wales v Georgia
Moldova v Republic of Ireland
Serbia v Austria

12 November 2016
Austria v Republic of Ireland
Georgia v Moldova
Wales v Serbia

24 March 2017
Georgia v Serbia
Austria v Moldova
Republic of Ireland v Wales

11 June 2017
Moldova v Georgia
Republic of Ireland v Austria
Serbia v Wales

2 September 2017
Georgia v Republic of Ireland
Serbia v Moldova
Wales v Austria

5 September 2017
Austria v Georgia
Moldova v Wales
Republic of Ireland v Serbia

6 October 2017
Georgia v Wales
Austria v Serbia
Republic of Ireland v Moldova

9 October 2017
Moldova v Austria
Serbia v Georgia
Wales v Republic of Ireland

I have to say I'm far more confident about World Cup qualifying now than I was before the Euro's. The emergence of Duffy, Brady, Hendrick and Randolph as international players has really energized me.. Add to that Coleman, McCarthy, McClean & Long who are all the right side of 30 and things don't seem as bad as they were before the Championship.

I wonder what players we'll lose to International retirement - John O'Shea? Shay Given? Glenn Whealan? Robbie Keane?

Fixture-wise, we've got a great draw. I'd be happy with a draw in Beograd almost always, and I think we're as likely to get a positive result there in the first fixture as we are at any time. If we had 8 points going into 2017 I'd be very confident of pushing the group close.

The composition of the group concerns me as much as it excites me. The cluster of better seeds in the group could be said to be interchangeable. Wales Austria Serbia Ireland, there's not a lot to choose between them. it is unlikely that one team is going to walk the group, and by that token it's probably fair to assume that matches right to the end will be crucial (i.e. no dead-rubbers) which hasn't always been great for us. that said, if we'd to go to Cardiff needing a point to qualify, or needing to stop a Wales win to qualify, I'd fancy us to do it. Wales are very decent in the front 5, but they're not as good as people believe they are in the back 5.

Serbia have the potential to absolute murder everyone in the group, or to sink without a trace again. That's why I'm happy to face them away first, take a point, and see how they progress in relation to us.

I believe that Shane Long, Jeff Hendrick and of course Shane Duffy are suspended for the Serbia game.

This group is going to be crazy, any of the top 4 could top this group. I can't see anyone run away with it, there is just too much similarity between the teams. Even Georgia and Moldova will gain points here imo.

do their cards carry over? I'm sure Duffy's does but does the accumulation for tournament games carry over to group stages of next qualifying? I probably should know this by now and not have to question you all!

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Originally Posted by SkStu

do their cards carry over? I'm sure Duffy's does but does the accumulation for tournament games carry over to group stages of next qualifying? I probably should know this by now and not have to question you all!

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Match suspensions in relation to an expulsion pronounced on a player outside of a competition (separate match[es]) or not served during the competition for which they were intended (elimination or the last match in the competition) are carried over as follows:


a) FIFA World Cup™: carried over to the representative team’s subsequent official match;


b) competitions subject to an age limit: carried over to the representative team’s next offi cial match in the same age group. Where the suspension cannot be served in the same age group, it shall be carried over to the next highest age category;


c) FIFA Confederations Cup: carried over to the representative team’s next official match;


d) FIFA Club World Cup: carried over to the club’s next official match;


e) confederation competitions for representative teams: carried over to the representative team’s next official match in a competition organised by FIFA;


f) competitions in which teams have been chosen in accordance with certain criteria (cultural, geographical, historical etc.): if the regulations of these competitions refer to the FIFA regulations for disciplinary sanctions, the suspension is carried over to the representative team’s next official match;


g) friendly matches: carried over to the representative team’s next friendly match.

But what about second yellows, Long and Hendrick?

It seems I may have read it wrong, looks like they are OK. :eek:

Dan McDonnell reckons Scott Hogan is well placed to come into the mix, as well as Browne, Forrester, O'Dowda and Byrne.

There's definitely going to be a gap for at least one forward and I'd forgotten about Hogan and Sheridan. Stokes and Rooney have a chance I'd say.

Obviously there's Judge (with luck and time), Arter, O'Kane, Hayes, Doherty, Cunningham and others too.

And I think everyone is forgetting Marc Wilson.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/socc...-34840616.html

What did O'Neill say in relation to Whelan?

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O'Neill cast doubt on his future intentions yesterday.

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Edit- Nevermind! Only saw this now.

Great reminder Stutts about what the future might look like. Positive stuff overall.

On group d, here's the balls.ie perspective.

http://www.balls.ie/football/ireland...ng-draw/338259

I like having Georgia in our group as we have always beaten them, but they are undoubtedly going to cause an upset against one of the other teams as they tend to do now and again, like what happened to Scotland.

One day we'll be the team on the end of the upset.

True and for all the positivity around the team, I still think that at our worst we can be terrible (Glasgow, Bordeaux and even Warsaw). I think our good days are getting better but we haven't eradicated the bad days.