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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.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Schlooooomp
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.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by danonion
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.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
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
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.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
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.
Good point, I'd overlooked that.Quote:
Originally Posted by shakermaker1982
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
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
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.
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.
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?
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.
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 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.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by cobra