They got to semis last time, which isn't bad...Quote:
Originally Posted by Tipp Townie
64 different group combinations possible for us...
They got to semis last time, which isn't bad...Quote:
Originally Posted by Tipp Townie
64 different group combinations possible for us...
I hope we get England. The lads would be raring to go for that and as underdogs would really relish it
Never thought qualifying for a major tournament would be such an anti climax. Is this what qualifying is like for the likes of Spain and Germany!?!?!?
I know, I know, never happy. Great to have qualified but the euphoria had sunk in over the wkd. Great to applaud the full squad at the end last night, they deserved that. As they were going around, my mate with me took out his phone and showed me the picture he had taken of the squad on their lap of honour after the game in Paris. What a difference a couple of years make eh!?!?
Well done Trap, the ends justifies the means as they say. Many of us here have had to defend him pretty hard through the likes of the Russia and Slovakia games but by and large you have to say his two campaigns have been a success. The team is in a good place, good harmony, good structure, good results........its all good really. Deserves a contract no doubt!! Not pretty but realisitcally who really cares, its a results business!!
Interestingly when comparing to prior campaigns, with the exception of maybe WC94 there was always at least one really big result in those successful campaigns that saw us qualify. For example, beat Bulgaria at home (Euro 88)beating Spain at home for WC90 qualification, the draw away to the North or to Spain/Denmark for WC94 (although we didnt beat either Denmark or Spain), and the draws against Portugal and win against Holland for WC02. What would be the big results from this campaign? Estonia away is an obvious choice but I suppose you'd have to say the draw away at Russia? We still havent had a real big win at home since 2001.
For the euros, I think drawing the hosts as first seed is an obvious choice and preferably Poland from a location point of view. Would like Italy from the second seeds, no reason why we should fear them (dont want England for as much non footballing reasons, tickets, accomodation more difficult etc). Pot 3 choice would be either Greece or maybe Sweden. Realistically we are probably the fourth seed everyone will want, with perhaps the Czechs a close second.
Fun fun times ahead!!!!
I think we all would've taken two play-off places in two qualifying campaigns after the disaster that was Stan 'the Gaffaw' StauntonQuote:
Originally Posted by elroy
Indeed, can't be sniffed at.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodge
Being harsh, you'd have to say that was off the back of just one, admittedly excellent, performance v Holland in the quarters**. They got stuffed by Spain in their opening match and then benefitted from being in a weak group v Greece and Sweden. Then they got boomed again by Spain in the semis.
But looking at other tournaments like '94, '96, '02 and '04 they were a bit of a waste of space. You can also throw in the play-off failure for the last WC when they really should have had too much for Slovenia.
Flatter to deceive and bottle it when it counts, basically.
(EDIT **and if you ask a dutchman about that (i have), they'll tell you it was because team morale caved following Khalid Bouhlarouz's tragedy. Don't get me wrong i know i'm being hard on Russia, but still)
I'm just saying that they've oput performed us in pretty much every tounament of the last 20 years and beat us in Dublin. Certainly not world beaters, but we can't really dismiss them either
I hear what you're saying. I wouldnt want to dismiss anyone. I just think we can take them and would feel more confident about that then i would the other teams in 'Pot 2'.
The most relevant match is the Dublin match, as you say. If we play them then surely Trap won't let us get so overrun a second time? Would have to be looked at. The Moscow game was a classic backs-to-the-wall effort that i'm sure Russian fans have seen in their back yard hundreds of times before. Not sure much can be taken from it.
And they were the bottom seeds in the whole draw, despite having higher coefficients than both host countries.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dodge
Spooky!
Did I dream that Stan period(nightmare, cold sweats, shakes). You tell me?Quote:
Originally Posted by Fixer82
We are in a very similar situation to pre 1988. If you look at the team that started against England 1988 I would say there is very little difference between that side and the current team. Paul McGrath was not fully fit during 88 (still had a great tournament). Morris, McCathy, Moran and Hughton about the same as O'Shea, Dunne, Sledge and Ward. The 1988 midfield was better McGrath, Sheedy, Houghton, R.Whelan than G.Whelan, Andrews, McGeady and Duff but I consider our current forward options of Doyle, Keane, Walters, Long, Best and Cox much better than Stapo (end of career) Aldridge (yet to score a goal for Ireland) Quinn(yet to improve) and Cascarino (same as Quinn in that both would become much better all round players later on). So very even Steven. And who can forget Beckenbauer's comments before 1988 saying only 7 of the 8 teams have a chance of winning the tournament. Herr Franz was seen furiously writing notes during our game against Holland. All we need to do is become even harder to beat than we currently are. And who knows what will happen come next summer.
Ah the permutations ...I'm speculating we get Holland, Germany and Portugal.
I always think it's bizarre that you can theoretically get out of a four team group with just two points or you could go home with six. But thems the breaks
I'd obviously prefer to avoid Spain and Holland in pot 1.
Germany the only team I really fear from pot 2, they look sensational at the moment. I think we could grind out a result against Italy and England. We always seem to have a big performance in us when it comes to major tournaments. Fingers crossed this continues.
Pot 3 - Portugal would be tough. Avoid.
Dream draw? Poland, England and Greece
Nightmare? Spain, Germany and Portugal.
their 3 goals from last night. each one superb...Quote:
Originally Posted by shakermaker1982
http://www.youtube.com/user/TvLinCom.../1/PWv_6zLQkzI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=i0lQMikgHgY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orwlCT9JftQ
I hope we get Poland, Italy, Greece and would want to avoid Holland, Germany, Portugal. Ideally we would get an easy group and we would also see Spain, Germany, Portugal and France as another group which would elimate two potential tricky teams if we got out of our group.
Top seeds:
Poland - would probably be the team I want the most, they have looked underwhelming in friendlies, had a disaster of a campaign for WC2010 (their last set of competitive matches) and only had three wins (H & A to San Marino, H to Czech) finishing behind Slovakia, Slovenia, the North and the Czechs. Player for player I think we would have an edge, and despite home advantage, should be looking at 3 pts.
Ukraine - I'd rather avoid them, of late they've picked up some decent results (e.g. draw with Germany), they were ok in WC2010 qualification, finishing behind the English but ahead of the Croatians, then narrowly losing to Greece in a play off. They only points they dropped were a defeat in England (they beat them at home), 2 draws with the Czechs, and another draw iaway in Minsk in a grudge match. They have a reasonable squad, with some class players like Milyevski, Aliev (best FK taker in Eastern Europe), the new Shakhtar keeper Rybka, Tymoschuk, Yarmolenko, Nazarenko, Shevchenko like Keane can still punish any mistake our defence makes even if he isnt the force of 10 years ago. If we got them, given they would be at home, I think we might draw.
Holland - this is the team I would least like to face out of all the top seeds, I could see them imposing themsevles on our midfield, and the pace and dribbling of Robben (if fit) and the finishing of Van Persie could cause us problems. De Jong and Van Bommel could snuff out our midfield. The one weakness is, maybe, their reserve players arent quite of the world class calibre of their first team and so if they had injures and fielded players like Strootman, Elia, Scharrs we might have a chance.
Spain - not a great team to get, but they can be frustrated and struggle to break down very defensive teams if they dont score early. The Scots ran them close a year ago in Hampden, the Swiss played the perfect (underdog) game against them and won in Durban, England frustrated them at weekend, they've lost to Italy in Bari and been utterly tonked by Portugal and Argentina and drawn with Costa Rica and Mexico since Joburg... I'm not saying it would be easy at all, and a point would be great, but Trap's system could stifle them, and they are not this invincible force that media drum them up as, you will get a chance or two and they do conceed. Even if we did lose as long as we won our other games we would have a chance of going through (as the Russians did in 2008).
Rank two teams.
Germany - a bit of a disaster if we get them as a second team, especially if we are paired with Holland as a first team. The Germans have class all over the pitch, and they have masses and masses of it. If Neuer's out they can bring in Adler, if Ozil's out they can play Schrulle or drop Muller back to his position. Their strikers are leathal and I think it would be great if we somehow scraped a point against them, maybe they might pick up a lot of yellows in games one and two and we play them in game three or something. Very very occasionally they will have an off day (e.g. Serbia last world cup, Croatia in 2008) and do things that Germans simply dont do (getting players sent off, missing penalties), or maybe they might already be through and we play them in the third game, but if they are in our group I would be more than happy with a point
Italy - not ideal (but none of the 2nd pot are), but given the circumstances I wouldnt mind getting them. It looks like Cassano and Rossi are out long term and have a slim chance of making it back within 6 months. Balotelli and Pazzani are good back ups and still a threat, but if either of them get injured or they take time to adjust to the system there might be a degree of bluntness to their attack and they might be playing players like Matri or Di Natale (who are similar in ability to our players like Doyle and Keane respectivly). We werent outclassed by them in Bari or Dublin a few years ago and beat them in Liege over the summer, some of their key players (Pirlo, Buffon, Gilardino) are past their peak. Trap knows a lot about Italian football, and often when you see a foriegn manager play his birth nation his team puts in a good performance. e.g. Hiddink Holland v Germany in 2008, to a lesser extent Ericsson v Sweden in 2002 and 2010 (didnt beat them but he got the results England needed).
England - I would rather not face the English. Aside from the logistical issues (e.g. flights hotels etc) they do have some decent players, their coach is reasonably astute. It wouldnt be a disaster to get them, and they might underestimate us, but they have a very decent keeper, pace in the wings and I think our full backs would be tested.
Russia - Again less than ideal opponents, they tore us apart for the first hour in Dublin, and had us under the kosh in Moscow, that being said all the pot 2 teams are strong so it wouldnt be a disaster to face them. At least there wouldnt be any surprises from them. There is quality in their team (Denisov, Arshavin, Dzagoev), but Kerzakhov and Akinfeev are out at the moment and the Russians dont have masses of strength in depth. The re-jigging of their domestic season (where most of their players play) might cause fitness / sharpness issues. If we do get them in our group then I hope the matches arent in Kharkov or Donestk as these would be virtually home matches for them (Eastern Ukraine is very Russian and also Russian fans could do day trips there from Moscow).
In the third pot teams I would only really want to avoid Portugal, as they seem slightly better than the other three. There is little to choose between Greece, Croatia (both were in the same qualification group) and Sweden, possibly we might deal worse with the pace of Croatian attackers like Mandzukic, Olic, Petric etc than the more physical attackers of Sweden or Greece.
Agree - I watched Ireland v Slovakia in a bar in Barcelona. 6 foot next to the TV that was showing the Ireland game, there was another TV showing Germany v Austria. Ended up about 6 -2 to Germany. Tore them apart at will.Quote:
Originally Posted by shakermaker1982
No. Don't want the draw for ages. Need to plan my first flight.
Really hasn't. Sure beating Estonia couldn't mean reaching a first Euros in 24 years. Even reading wiki saying that we're one of just four countries to qualify who weren't there last time, and that it's our first appearance since 1988 doesn't make it real. Gonna have to wait till the first game I think.Quote:
Originally Posted by BonnieShels
Attachment 1807
Are the boys happy or what?
Duff looks skinny - starved even. His shorts are triple tied to stop them falling off.
Surely they should all be holding up three fingers in accordance with the massive 3 banner and Delaney should be out front (or even better on the players' shoulders) :rolleyes: Still a quality picture though...any chance of a better quality one?Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan