Printable View
For a team of such talent and technical ability Portugal have rarely ever had really good striker in the modern era. Figo and Ronaldo both were/are reliable goalscorers but from attacking midfield or wider positions but I can only remember Nuno Gomez and Pauleta as traditional central strikers and while they were both OK, neither pulled up any trees.
Portugal have always struggled for goals a bit. They can't line up against a back 5 of Forde, Kelly, Keogh, Duffy and McClean every game!
Winner A (France) plays third E if third place team are from following groupsQuote:
Originally Posted by legendz
ABEF
BCEF
BDEF
Winner D (Spain or Croatia) plays third E if third place is from groups
ABCE - unlikely Albania A will hold on with 3 pts and poor gd
ABDE - unlikely, same reason
BCDE
CDEF - almost impossible that Slovakia B won't make it
So the most likely way we qualify and avoid France and potentially England is BCDE. So a good result for NI and Czech. And Portugal/Iceland then have to sort it out so that 3rd finishes on 3 points or less. So hope they don't both win I think. In other words we need to sweat to the last minute before we know if a win against Italy will do. Then we would have Spain/Croatia in round of 16 and Switzerland/runner up C(Germany/Poland/n ireland) in quarter....
So if results go our way then we could have Croatia next round and n. Ireland in quarter and suddenly we are in the semi! Possible, not likely.
Bookie seems to think BCDF will be magic groups. Or BCEF most likely of combinations that Ireland will still be involved.
So lets say things go badly for us over the next 30 hours.....
Northern Ireland hold out against Germany.
The Czech Republic beat Turkey.
Austria beat Iceland and Portugal beat Hungary.
If Austria beat Iceland by 1-0 or 2-1 - we will need to beat Italy by 2 goals to go through on goals scored.
If Austria beat Iceland by 2 goals we will need to win by 3 goals.
I'm not even sure why I shared that. But FYI etc.
I guess the big advantage we have is that we're last group to finish, so we'll know what we need.
Though realistically, all we'll know is whether a win will be enough or not, I would say.
Poor Albania have to hang around for a couple of days not knowing if they're through or not - they probably aren't, but they'd be looking at our group for starters as one they could finish ahead of.
Why are ye bothering with any of this lads? no point at all.
https://cdn.meme.am/instances/30169950.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Why are you not bothering with it?Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Exactly. Doesn't mean I amn't going to go out and go the game, but I wouldn't bother wasting my energy going through these permutations but maybe thats the thing of this forum. Time to waste, to waste time.
Why do you even bother? For a man who dwells in such a world of realism it seems strange to me that you ever watch Ireland or Mayo games at all? Now that's just silly.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Top 5 things I like.
1. Club Co-efficients
2. Bonus points
3. The Away goals rule
4. 24 team football tournaments
5. Fantasy football.
The worst thing in the world and should be done away with. Especially in Extra time of a second leg. Makes no sense.Quote:
Originally Posted by Real ale Madrid
Two reasons really.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
1) I find it interesting.
2) It can inform your tactics and team set up whether you need to win big, just win, draw or play like just a "friendly". What would you advise Ireland do if they find themselves fortuitously ahead 2-0 at half time and Sweden beating Belgium - push on for a third or save players? Is it better for us to finish 2nd or 3rd? Will it be Portugal/Iceland/Hungary? Or will it be France/Croatia/Spain? Do you think MON should be devising plan A, plan B etc and coaching the players for the eventuality where we need goals? I know nothing we can really do until 20:00 on weds but we can look ahead now and say if X happens can we be prepared for it. What if we are already out before kickoff? What if there is a side of the draw or a team you want to avoid and you find out you can. Wouldn't you want to know?
https://s32.postimg.org/5p8vzasud/Image2.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
C'mon Paul, admit it - you couldn't do without us.
Roscommon.Quote:
Originally Posted by BonnieShels
I'll be far more interested in tomorrow's game if I know a 1-0 win will do us rather than a 4-0 win.
And we're fans Paul. That's why we bother.
The more I look at Group F we really need one of tonight's results to come in as needed. I'm actually quite nervous.
It's his location that always throws me. I was thinking Roscommon... but ya know. I doubted myself, just like Paul never would.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
I agree. And I can't figure out the logic of Bet365 where we are 2/1 to qualify but to beat Italy the odds are LONGER 12/5.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
The odds to qualify should be longer than the odds to win the match because we might win and still not qualify but if we don't win we can't qualify.
Relax, the North haven't a hope of getting a result against Germany :cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
I think it's Germany we need the favour from. Czech Republic should beat Turkey in D. In F, I think there will be 3 teams on at least 4 points.Quote:
Originally Posted by Siberian
Need Germany to win and win well. Simple as that. Five minutes gone and it's 0-0.
Müller should have scored for us!!
We just need Germany to win. We will need to win as well. Goal difference won't matter.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fergie's Son
Müller has missed another opportunity to score for us.
There's 1-0 for Germany, and more to come you'd say.
I'd enjoy a win for us over Italy putting us through while denying Northern Ireland at the same time.
So the German-NI score doesn't matter so long as NI lose and we win tomorrow?
Yes. Albania and the North would both be on 3 points and we'd have 4.
For us yes. Anything but a spanking might still be good enough for NI though. Not sure if that means 2,3 or 4.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fergie's Son
Thank you Germany! It's in our hands now! Beat Italy and we're through to the last 16.
Ukraine have been whitewashed. They've lost all 3 of their group games.
So 1-0 for NI was that good for us?
I think is must be as they can only get 3 where and we will never get 4.
Does allow us to live in a state of delusion until then though!:cool:
Right so that is definite then?Quote:
Originally Posted by legendz
We would have qualified if we had beaten Italy?
Yes definitely beat Italy and we are definitely into the next round.Quote:
Originally Posted by tricky_colour
Quote:
Originally Posted by davidatrb
Ah right so we won't qualify then!
And the flip side is if we don't beat Italy, the North are almost definitely into the next round (have to have Sweden not beat Belgium as well, but that's quite likely based on the two games so far)Quote:
Originally Posted by davidatrb
Well, we haven't played them yet, but we will have to see how Martin O Neil and Roy Keane to managed Ireland tomorrow.Quote:
Originally Posted by tricky_colour
Win and in. Happy that it's in our hands, and there won't be any "Ah sure if only X and beaten Y" recriminations.
I'm content that it's in our hands. Some suggested before the tournament that 3 draws might have been enough. They might not be too far off the mark.
In the history of this format, a win and a draw is usually enough. It's proven to be the case again. As I said a few days ago, if we can't win a group game having lost a group game, we'll deserve to be going home.
N. Ireland's loss today was enough to ensure Slovakia qualified as one the best 3rd placed teams. If the Czech Republic fail to beat Turkey in the current live game, N. Ireland will be through tonight.
And the way it is going it is looking more and more like the prize for beating Italy would be a date with France.
I'd say most of us would take that at this moment in time.Quote:
Originally Posted by davidatrb
It's just frustrating.
We got Bosnia in the playoff for which was probably the worst case.
We were drawn in the toughest group from our point of view getting Italy as a second seed.
And now if we do get through we will be playing France host and second favourites.
Croatia just scored. We need Portugal to lose tomorrow for starters for a chance of them in next round.