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I would take any of these scenarios
Pot 1
Greece or
Czech Republic (I dont think they are as good as they were and they have an ageing team in my view)
Pot 2
Poland
Romania
Pot 3
Norway
Bulgaria
Slovakia
Pot 5
I think they are all a bit of a much of a muchness in this pot.
Hungary
Finland
Estonia
Wales
Lithuania
Albania
Iceland
Pot 6
Armenia
Pot 7
Luxembourg
San Marino
Interesting...Another team with a superb record in qualifying in recent years...will be looking to avoid them myself! Good trip though.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
Eh, no. This is about which team you would rather draw - Sweden or Greece. How good Ireland are has nothing to do with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by mypost
Eh, no. Again. I don't know how you define a one-off. They were one of the favourites for the tournament, had won a major tournament before, have done so since, generally qualify and generally do well when they qualify. Greece, however, were in one major tournament ever that I can think of (1994 World Cup), so it was quite clearly a one-off.Quote:
Originally Posted by mypost
[QUOTE=Well, some people regard a comprehensive 3 or 4 goal beating as a sound walloping. Maybe you don't.[/QUOTE]
Of course I do. See eirebhoy's post.
Incidentally, you bring up Greece's last trip to Dublin as an example of why Greece are better than Sweden. Should I bring up our last meeting - in Greece in 2002, with Greece in the middle of qualifying for the tournament they would win. With Ireland managed by the person generally considered to be the worst Ireland manager at any level in a long time (Givens), with a threadbare squad necessitating the first eL player (Crowe) to start for Ireland in 20 years and with another (Hoolihan) on the bench, Ireland secured a quite comfortable 0-0 draw. Ireland, incidentally, have never won in Sweden - even when we were both rubbish.
Anyway, you're entitled to your opinion. I'm entitled - with everyone else, it seems - to rubbish it. Neither opinion matters a hoot when the draw's made, so there's no point continuing this argument. But I for one won't be scared of the nasty, noisy, past-it Greeks.
On a separate note while I think about it - Lawrie Sanchez was on BBC there sayiing how he'd love to get Ireland in the draw and play in Croker...don't know if he quite knows what he's saying!
What time is this Irish time and anyone know what site will have the draw live?Quote:
The draw procedure has been announced for the UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying competition draw in Montreux, Switzerland on 27 January at 12.00CET.
CET (central european time) is an hour ahead of us so the draw is at 11.00 our time.Quote:
Originally Posted by boysingreen
UEFA.com would be the best for the draw. You just sit there looking at the teams being grouped together on your screen. :)
Great heh. I'm in Connecticut so guess I'll be setting the alarm for 6am. Not gonna like the nerves that go with a draw at that hour of the morning :(
Well the ceremony starts at 11am God only knows when they'll actually start taking the balls out of the bowl!Quote:
Originally Posted by boysingreen
Who is UEFA employing to tickle the balls before pulling the balls??:D :D
I'm afraid it has everything to do with it. By even suggesting teams that you want in the draw, it automatically implies it is so, because you feel that we would fare best against those teams. So yes, Ireland has everything to do with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
France of course do well when they qualify. All the tournaments they have staged and qualified for, has yielded only 1 WC, and a couple of Euro wins. France will never forget their last World Cup adventure of course. Out first round. They will also remember how "well" they did in their last European Championship adventure, where they were knocked out by....you'll never guess....:DGreece!!!:DQuote:
[France] generally do well when they qualify. Greece, however, were quite clearly a one-off.
Greece are European Champions, and will walkover an Irish team in decline with an out-of-his-depth boss should we meet them in the next campaign, as will Poland if the situation arises.
Actually, Crowe earned his call-up, and didn't disappoint either. Other more senior players couldn't be bothered turning up, citing "injuries". :rolleyes: That excuse always surfaces when we play away friendlies.Quote:
Should I bring up our last meeting - in Greece, with Greece in the middle of qualifying for the tournament they would win. Ireland, with a threadbare squad necessitating the first eL player to start for Ireland in 20 years...
Of the #1 seeds I think the teams I would least want are Sweden or Czech Republic.
Poland probably would walk all over us as they have proven they can do that, Greece haven't. Greece don't do thumpings and they would not beat us by a big margin. We might find it hard to beat them but its in our hands if they came to Dublin.Quote:
Originally Posted by mypost
[QUOTE=pineapple stu]Interesting...Another team with a superb record in qualifying in recent years...will be looking to avoid them myself! Good trip though.
They do have a fantastic qualifying record For the Euro's but not for the World Cup. This is their first ever World Cup that they are qualifying. I just think a lot of their main players are coming to the end and will retire after the World Cup. It has been this squad that has earned them their 1st seed place. The Czechs are not like Italy, England Spain, Germany etc who always will have very good teams. They are a smaller country with a smaller pool of players so they will have cycles to a certain extent. I just think out of the Top seeds, Greece stand out as the easier of the top seeds to draw but after that I would like the Czech Rep, both for the trip and also I dont think they will be as good as they were. But I dont think it would be easy.
Walk all over us?? No chance. How have they proven that?? Those days are gone. They struggled to beat the north at home in the WC qualifiers. Having been out there for the friendly I wouldnt fear them and hope we get them again.Quote:
Originally Posted by eirebhoy
KOH
mypost said Greece and Poland would walk all over us. Greece most definitely wouldn't as they don't do thumpings. Poland recently beat Azerbaijan 8-0, they proved they can score. They beat Ecuador 3-0 in Spain a couple of months ago too, Ecuador came 3rd in the S.America qualifiers (Brazil and Argentina only ahead of them). Poland can beat thems heavily, Greece don't seem to be able to. That's all I'm saying. BTW, the team they put out in the friendly against us is a different team to the current one. In fact, only 3 players that played against us that day played against England in their last competitive.Quote:
Originally Posted by NY Hoop
If we were drawn against Poland I'd give us both an equal chance of qualification, I was talking about Greece not having the ability to "walk all over" other teams.
Ah wouldnt read to much into what mypost posts. The days of us getting thumped are over. Last time was Portugal in 95 and Denmark in 85.Quote:
Originally Posted by eirebhoy
Kazhakstan sounds fun!
KOH