Ah yes self righteous geysir, the clairvoyant lone wolf running free in the Icelandic wilderness. I'm sure he'll remind everyone how right he was, oh wait....Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
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Ah yes self righteous geysir, the clairvoyant lone wolf running free in the Icelandic wilderness. I'm sure he'll remind everyone how right he was, oh wait....Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Now now,
of course the discussion was relating to Sweden's chances of finishing in top second spot and I felt their run in was a lot harder than it would appear to those not in the know :)
Yes Nolely, if we make it to the play offs, you would't want to be paired with a functioning Portugal.
99% of my attention is on the game tomorrow and the rest looks at what could happen :)
HAha, like any good betting man geysir got it right, and just like any good betting man with conditions etc, he also predicted that Mccarthy would be in Midfield for us now.
What he didn't predict was how Trap viewed Mccarthy and what type of player he sees him as. Trap will never play the likes of Mccarthy, in his head he thinks he needs to play in the front of a diamond(if there is such a thing ;) ) and not as a second midfielder, and with such a weak midfield and our strongest area is the 2 strikers, Mccarthy will never be a mainstay whilst Trap is in charge and we have whelan and andrews as the best option midfielders.
Azerbaijan beat Kazakhstan 3-2 in group A today. It means that if Turkey do end up finishing second in that group, as expected, their loss against Azerbaijan will almost certainly not be eliminated from their record and will count against them in the runners-up rankings. We'll probably rank ahead of them if we win our next two and finish second, although I still think either Norway or Croatia will take the automatic qualification spot for best runner-up.
Elsewhere, Holland are beating Finland 1-0 away. Half-time in that game.
So we'd be looking for Israel to get a result in Croatia tonight?
And Denmark to beat Norway?
I still think Norway will finish with more than 15 points even if they lose to Denmark. As will Denmark if they beat Norway and somehow manage to clinch second place in that group. Both of them still have Cyprus to play. 15 points is the maximum we can achieve in the runners-up table.Quote:
Originally Posted by elroy
A win for Israel would be great though, but second place in group H will surely take the automatic spot.
Israel ahead.Quote:
Originally Posted by DannyInvincible
Just thinking, unless Armenia get a result tonight then its probably best that our group wont have the automatic second spot. Otherwise Russia and Slovakia will definitely just play out a draw in their game.
3 points taken from a possible (albeit highly unlikely) 12 against the top seeds and still in with a chance of automatic qualification. Crazy group.
Hmm. Anyone care to update the 2nd place permutations?Quote:
Originally Posted by elroy
Russia 17
Ireland 15
Armenia 14
Slovakia 14
Macedonia 7
Andorra 0
7 October
Armenia - Macedonia
Slovakia - Russia
Andorra - Ireland
11 October
Russia - Andorra
Ireland - Armenia
Macedonia - Slovakia
If we win both our matches we are guaranteed at least second place. If we do that and Slovakia beat Russia we get first.
Croatia won tonight so I think automatic 2nd place is well out of our group now
I am emotionally and physically drained from the day's events. Crazy but ultimately very satisfying day. Don't know what more to say really, been going crazy on mobile and facebook for the last 3 hrs, have no energy left. Going to bed a happy man. We are so so so close . . . . . .
Croatia have to be favorites to win their group and Greece for 2nd spot, Greece only drew away to Latvia tonight.Quote:
Croatia won tonight so I think automatic 2nd place is well out of our group now
We won't get the automatic qualification spot for runner-up if either Denmark or Norway beat Cyprus. Croatia may well win group F now. They're a point ahead of Greece although those two still have to play one another. Greece are on 18 points though with two games to go. Croatia are on 19 with two games to go. If they both tally over 21 points, that'll also knock us out of the running. Really can't see us taking the runner-up spot, although if all those teams do somehow manage to mess things up completely à la Slovakia this evening and they end up on 15 in the runners-up table, goal difference will come into play.
After tonight I don't think the Armenia game can be taken for granted. With our poor home record, they'll be coming in hope. A Slovakia win over Russia on the next matchday give us a great chance to win the group.
I'm wondering where the two draws against higher-ranked opposition will leave us as regards the rankings that will dictate possible seeding for the play-offs. This list needs to be updated, but we'll have a better idea how we're faring when it is as, at present, we wouldn't be seeded in any play-off draw: http://www.world-results.net/uefa/ranking.html#2011
In the meantime, these are the current second-placed teams throughout all the groups:
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...one85/ties.png
"AG" stands for "away goals" and "rating" is the team's current UEFA ranking. The others are pretty obvious.
We have one game left, as far as that table is concerned, as our results against Andorra will be discounted from the tie-breaking tally. So, if any of those other teams manages over 15 points for the purposes of the tie-breaking table, we'll have to settle for the play-offs if we finish second. If no team manages 16 or more points but one or more finish on 15 points, it will be decided on goal difference. It's not likely it will come to that anyway, and even if it does, you can see that the likes of Sweden and Denmark have superior goal differences to us at present. Unless we bag a few against Andorra, of course. Still, I can't see it coming down to goal difference as far as we're concerned anyway.
Edit: Actually, no, sorry. We'd have to score our goals against Armenia as our Andorra games will be discounted.
You'd expect Denmark to beat Cyprus so we can forget that.
I think it was called "The group that couldn't slow down"