Surely they would work better if the gloves were off the other foot?Quote:
Originally Posted by boysingreen
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Surely they would work better if the gloves were off the other foot?Quote:
Originally Posted by boysingreen
Getting to Russia isn't that expensive. You'll get flights there for €250-300. Do you think you'll get a flight to France or Portugal for that price should Ireland get there?Quote:
Originally Posted by magnumpi
The Visa cost and hassle adds to it though, but if they lift that for this game it won't be as expensive as you might think.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Evertonian
http://foot.ie/forums/showpost.php?p...9&postcount=40
Over two legs I am 100% confident of beating any of the sides that could possibly finish 2nd in the other groups.
My first point would be, if they were anything to seriously fear then they would have finished top of their respective groups.
Secondly, we are unbeaten in our group so far and over two legs Trappatoni should have his team organised to bring a good side to at least extratime in the second leg.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arnold Layne
FRANCE - not an issue, i live in paris.
PORTUGAL - i imagine there'll be cheap flights
GREECE - easyjet fly to athens, probably get a return for €100/150.
RUSSIA - have looked at Moscow from Paris, minimum €500 return. maybe i'm looking in the wrong places.
I really hope Switzerland don't mess up against Israel on Wednesday night and end up in the playoffs instead of Greece.. I'm sure none of us want to see the Swiss for a long long time!
Don't know about Paris, but from Dublin - Moscow for the dates of the second leg the cost is €261.31
Sure you could drive from Paris to Moscow ;)
it's been tried.Quote:
Originally Posted by Arnold Layne
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_invasion_of_Russia
Well if it was a posibility that the Swiss would be one of the top 4 seeds I would love to get them.I will never forget being out in Dublin after the nil nil draw which meant that they made the playoff ahead of us.Their fans were the most miserable bunch Ive ever come across anywhere.There didnt seem to be any emotion from them at all and I remember thinking at the time (while severely depressed and having consumed a number light ales) that I couldnt imagine a bunch of fans that were so undeserving of success. I said to my mates at the time that if we had beaten them they would have been acting in exactly the same manner so Id like to test if my theory is true:)Quote:
Originally Posted by holidaysong
Au contraire mon ami! Few things in life would give me more pleasure than giving them the mother of all hidings. I would have to be sedated if we drew them as I would derive so much joy from a victory against them. They are a poor side, beaten by Luxembourg at home in a result that will live long in the memory (well my memory anyway) we would have nothing to fear from them except nepotism from FIFA/UEFA in terms of refs.Quote:
Originally Posted by holidaysong
A poor side which beat Greece twice this campaign...Quote:
Originally Posted by cfdh_edmundo
They were probably the poorest side in the weakest Euro 2008 group*, being defeated by Czechs and Turkey and only winning the dead rubber match with an already progressed Portugal. Pretty dire in the previous competitve match before Euro 2008, 0-0 with the Ukraine in Cologne and missing all of their penalties. Even in this campaign they've drawn away in Israel and Latvia, I'd say they are probably a touch poorer than Greece and would grab them with both hands if we got the chance to be drawn against them in the play offs.
*Austria, France and Greece ran them close too but at least they had harder groups.
Absolutely. A second leg at home is the priority for me. Bring it on!Quote:
Originally Posted by Evertonian
Weighing up the options in terms of probability of victory and ease of travel, I'd hope we get Portugal just ahead of France.
The Portuguese will struggle without Him. Their recent revival has come against weak sides after failing to get the better of Denmark and Sweden. And it's been mentioned somewhere the curse of the 3rd/4th Place Play-off will keep them out of the 2010 finals. So long as we don't concede last minute goals again, we can win this.
Getting to Portugal won't be too hard either, but France would be better in terms of travel. Another 30,000+ at the Stade de France for sure and I can see French parallels with the Dutch team of 2001; Some of the best players in the world, but not playing together as a unit, coming up against an organised Irish side.
As pretty much everyone has pointed out, Russia is the team to avoid. Yes they lost twice against Germany, but were unlucky to do so. Plus they won all their other matches. Getting visas will be a nightmare. Moscow in November on a plastic pitch will be grim. And it's the most expensive city in the world. And seem to recall some Irish fans being beaten up by Russian gangs in 2002?
Moscow in 2002 was an experience alright.Quote:
Originally Posted by newrynyuk
The night before the match ended up drinking with local down and outs at a chip van and had great crack, fantastic tour of Red Sq the day of the match and returned to our hotel to find out a gang of skinheads had attacked a group of Irish fans (men in their 60s) INSIDE the hotel.
Trying to get taxis after the match was a disaster like Xmas in Dublin prederegulation, and that was after been held back for almost an hour by the Russian cops.
The day after the match we couldnt leave our hotel due to the smog and then chaos at the airport where fans were fined for their Visas having expired ( the Visas were due to expire that night but as the Russian Cops said your Visa will have expired before you leave if you dont pay!!)
And it was cold in September
It will have improved since then, but I would advise caution at all times. Wearing team colours is a bit risky on the way to and from the ground. Nine times out of ten there will be no problems, but there are real problems with gangs of feral youths who think every Western European football fan is a cross between Danny Dyer and Ray Winstone. Also, especially amongst the youth, there isn't an understanding that Ireland and England are different countries - much in the way young people here mightnt understand that there is a difference between say Belarus and the Ukraine.
It's well worth avoiding the cops, even Moscovites strive to avoid them. There are special tourist police who speak English (sort of) now, and they have only introduced them recently. If you get hassle off them (and I never have despite being there a few times) your best bet is to say "Jah pozvohnyu posol-stvo Irlandii" - I will call the embassy.
If there are groups of you staying all in the same hotel arrange for a coach pick up and wait, most hotels can arrange this. Taxis are bizzare there, most people hail local traffic (it's the done thing). You could walk to the Luzhniki from Central Moscow, it's a fine walk along the river takes about 1 hour at a slowish pace, but on a November evening that would be suicide. Also what ever you do, don't get totally wasted - if you want to do that stay in the hotel, or have at least 2-3 people in the group who will stay sober. Every year a lot of (well some) tourists die by getting drunk then lost, then not being able to speak the language and ask for directions / taxi etc. Sitting on a bench at night can mean you never wake up due to the cold. Write down the cyrillic address of where you are staying on bits of paper so you can give it to a taxi driver if you are stuck (get front desk to do this).
Some people say it's cheaper to fly to Eastern Europe (Tallinn, Kiev, Riga) etc and get a night train to Moscow, probably true but its more hassle and aviod going thru Belarus or you will need another visa (in advance) to transit.
Put the in date on your visa 1-2 days before you intend to travel (to avoid a mess in case there are problems with flights) and exit date 3-4 days after you intend to leave.
If anyone has questions or needs (bad) translations for phrases let me know and I'll try and help. You need health insurance to go into Russia, sometimes they check - not too often - and usually you can show them a debit credit card and say it has health over. If you have any illness (like diabetes, or are on anti biotics) get the relevant medical words in cyrillic.
Also in terms of expense it's not that bad, just try and keep outside of the inner metro ring as beyond there stuff is cheaper.
Moscow was an experience, but in fairness 25c minimum during that weekend wasn't cold. It was a good deal warmer than here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Greenforever
Managed to avoid all the aggro in the city, but then again, I didn't wear any colours except at match time.
You're probably right though on the visa scandal.
In other words they finished with 3 times more points than France at Euro 08 and also shared in the Silver Boot. While in the previous World Cup they became the first team ever to go out while undefeated. (That same tournament they won as many games as Ireland ever have in 3 World Cup participations, finishing top of their group).Quote:
Originally Posted by cfdh_edmundo
But your most bizarre statement has to be that they are poorer than Greece, a team they beat home and away and are currently 3 points clear of...
I see Feech is back with his persecution complex. Welcome back.
From a travelling point of view, Switzerland would be a good bit better than Greece, so getting them would be a good draw, and for the football as well.