Euro 2008/future

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Originally Posted by geysir

BTW how did Germany do in their qual. group after their wc02 exertions?
France struggled badly to qualify out of their Euro group after their WC'98 victory.

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They qualified in first place but their group was very easy.

Team P W D L GF GA Pts

Germany 8 5 3 0 13 4 18
Scotland 8 4 2 2 12 8 14
Iceland 8 4 1 3 11 9 13
Lithuania 8 3 1 4 7 11 10
Faroe Is 8 0 1 7 7 18 1

They had some poor results including a 0-0 draw with Iceland away, 1-1 draw with Lithuania at home and they beat the Faroes 2-0 away but if I remember correctly they scored those goals in the last 10 mins and the Faroes were unlucky not to score before that.

Anyway they did enough, as usual, and won the group by four points. It would have been a different story if Scotland didn't throw away somany points against the smaller teams (lost 1-0 against Lithuania and drew with the Faroes) or if there had been a team from the top 30 in the group.

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Originally Posted by Irish_Praha

they beat the Faroes 2-0 away but if I remember correctly they scored those goals in the last 10 mins

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I think it was later than that - both were in injury time, no? And in the return game the Faroes came a hair's breadth from equalising too!

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

I think it was later than that - both were in injury time, no? And in the return game the Faroes came a hair's breadth from equalising too!

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You could be right - I just remember it was very late in the game. Back in a few mins with my Google results -:D

Here from eleven-a-side:
http://www.elevenaside.com/euro2004/group5.asp

full details of the qualifiers. So they scored in the 89th min and then again in injury time.

dunno how much to read into that, it was a different German side, the majority of the 2002 World Cup side was still in the squad, and went on to play in Portugal. One of the cristicisms levelled at Voller (manager at the time IIRC) was that he didn't bring through any younger players, bar Klose and Schweinsteiger, in preperation for the World Cup, even though he knew most of the team would be too old in 2006. Klinsmann was left to do most of the rebuilding himself, and that was one of the reasons given for their poor results in the run up to the World Cup

I heard Bobby Robson on the radio the other day, he sounded very rough, his voice more raspy than ever, I hope he lasts out for the campaign.

He was quoted in Monday's Examiner as saying that our main players are Dunne Keane S Reid and O´Shea

“From our point of view, we are going to have certain players in the squad who will have a certain job to do and their application will have to be spot on. Dunne, Keane, Reid, O’Shea, our most prominent players, have to be leaders and get the team going.”
"With defences so tight, to have a player who from 25 yards can have a pot shot and put it in the back of the net, is a must. (Steven) Reid can do that for us.”
“I think we will have to play to our best to give ourselves a chance. We need to know how we are going to play and we need to be able to deal with the very special players who are going to play against us. For example, Ballack"

good comments from robson
would be great to see steven reid nail down his place in centre mid with some big performances this term.

Every quote from Robson indicates O'Shea is one of the foundations on which the team will be built. I suppose we've just got to hope his & Stan's judgment is correct.

I suppose he's about the only candidate we have to do a man-marking role on Ballack or Borowski though.

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Originally Posted by geysir

I heard Bobby Robson on the radio the other day, he sounded very rough, his voice more raspy than ever, I hope he lasts out for the campaign.

He was quoted in Monday's Examiner as saying that our main players are Dunne Keane S Reid and O´Shea

“From our point of view, we are going to have certain players in the squad who will have a certain job to do and their application will have to be spot on. Dunne, Keane, Reid, O’Shea, our most prominent players, have to be leaders and get the team going.”
"With defences so tight, to have a player who from 25 yards can have a pot shot and put it in the back of the net, is a must. (Steven) Reid can do that for us.”
“I think we will have to play to our best to give ourselves a chance. We need to know how we are going to play and we need to be able to deal with the very special players who are going to play against us. For example, Ballack"

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This is worrying that he would mention Dunne and O'Shea particularly before Given, Duff and Finnan. He mustn't be watching the same players as me.

The future looks less promising than ever if O'Shea is going to be one of our most prominent players.

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Originally Posted by youngirish

This is worrying that he would mention Dunne and O'Shea particularly before Given, Duff and Finnan. He mustn't be watching the same players as me.

The future looks less promising than ever if O'Shea is going to be one of our most prominent players.

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I think the other 3 are a given i.e. they consitently perform well. I think Robson is correct in naming Dunne, OShea, Reid and Keane. If we are to get through this group these lads have to do the business. By naming them he's applying some pressure.

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Originally Posted by colster

I think the other 3 are a given i.e. they consitently perform well. I think Robson is correct in naming Dunne, OShea, Reid and Keane. If we are to get through this group these lads have to do the business. By naming them he's applying some pressure.

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Totally agree with you, what's more he's right.

booby robsons experience is going to be hugely beneficial this campaign. löw certainly doesnt have it, not even bruckner.

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Originally Posted by youngirish

This is worrying that he would mention Dunne and O'Shea particularly before Given, Duff and Finnan. He mustn't be watching the same players as me.

The future looks less promising than ever if O'Shea is going to be one of our most prominent players.

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I think Robson is referring more to their position on the field, they form the spine of the team. I don't understand why you mentioned Dunne though. It's absolutely vital that he's a leader at the back for us.

It's kind of relevant to the above, but I saw this quote from Bristol City's Luke Wilkshire today. Despite playing in Leage One in England he performed very well in the world Cup.

"Funny as it may seem, I did find it easier playing at a higher
level than I did in League One at times. It is a hard league and the
best way I can put it is that it didn't really suit my style of
play."

It just goes to show that it is possible to get good international results without a team packed full of Premiership stars.

IMO our best chance of qualifying is if the players clubs are doing well in the premiership. Look at keane for example he was a fringe player at spurs for most of the last campaign and hence wasnt performing well at international level. Kilbane is the same played well for a while but only while everton were having their good run of games.

Dont think we have a very good chance of qualifying unless our key players have good seasons and stay injury free and cant see us being that lucky.
Think June 2008 is going to be just as crushing as June 2006...