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The taxi thing didn't really bother me in Bratislava really. Even ripping us off it was still probably cheaper than here I found. Like somebody above said you just had to agree a price beforehand. The hotel we were leaving charged us a few ridiculous hidden extras as well but again - no big deal. I just thought the place itself was ugly, gloomy and miserable and the people were the same. Of course the weather didn't help but even so.
I was in getting a meal with the girlfriend, the waitress(although seriously hot so i let her away with it) just threw the plates on the table, seriouslly, literally slipped her hand from under the plates before they touched the table and turned away.
If you go to cuba you will find the same sorta service, its a communist mentalitiy, why work harder for the same amount of money?! Very unfriendly place, and as I say I was with the girlfriend we didnt really hang around the Irish bars, so no real reason why people would be "suspicious" etc. Having said that Ive met a lot of slovaks over here and all have been more than friendly, but then again when away from home you need to be that way.
Not surprised but it's typical bennocelt when that's the only single point you've picked up on. I had a good time in Bratislava because there was a good crowd there. But it seemed like we weren't wanted there which is a pity. Although it had the highest proportion of good looking women of all the cities I've been.Quote:
Originally Posted by bennocelt
Yeah I met a girl from Bratislava in Cork and she was sound. She couldn't believe that I thought her homeland was such a sh!thole!! I could have left it off I suppose but it wasn't long after the trip and I felt fairly passionately about it.Quote:
Originally Posted by paul_oshea
Hope you were not trying to chat her up DeLorean. Never a good line to destroy someones home country.
HAHA, good way of breaking the ice there....You annoy her and then start joking and reel her in. "how much does a fat polar bear weigh?!" " i dont know" "either do i but it breaks the ice " :DQuote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
And if the ice hasn't broken, she is wondering why you thought of a fat polar bear.
If the ice hasn't broken thats some thick ice, and a frosty reception received, or else its not a very fat polar bear ;)
Just out of interest I sent the following e-mail to FIFA in Zurich a week or so ago:Quote:
Originally Posted by shakermaker1982
'When the draw is made on 19th October for the 4 ties to determine the remaining 4 places allocated to the European Zone between the best eight second placed group teams in the European Zone, will those eight teams be seeded or will it be a straight forward open draw?'
This morning I got this reply:
'we thank you for your enquiry. Please understand that - at the moment - there's no more information available.
Kind regards
Communications & Public Affairs
FIFA - Fédération Internationale de Football Association
www.FIFA.com'
Smells of rats and hot balls :eek::confused:
I love a good conspiracy theory myself, but who of these would be FIFA's favourites?Quote:
Originally Posted by SUB of the day
Portugal (or Sweden), Russia & France on basis of perceived pedigree and size of TV audience.
How would you rank Greece, Bosnia, Czechs, Croatia and ourselves (assuming...)?
On size of country ourseves, Croatia & Bosnia would be at bottom I think.
From Edgar's site the October FIFA rankings are:
7 Croatia
8 Russia
12 France
13 Portugal
21 Czechs
22 Greece
29 ROI
45 Bosnia
If any open draw was to be fixed the only guess I'd make would be that Russia, France & Portugal would be kept apart. The rest FIFA can live with or without.
Sweden's ranking of 41 would put a spanner in the works if they got second ahead of Portugal. I think FIFA would like them at a WC. I would. Good looking birds and all that.
Yeah, tact passed me by on that occasion, as well as many others.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilMcD
If these were the eight teams. I could see FIFA using the rankings as justification to keep the top four apart and from a footballing point of view they are probably the four teams of the eight they would prefer to be at the finals.Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
If that was the case, I could not see us beating any of them over 2 legs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stuttgart88
The big thing is tv audience. France is a big country with a big tv market share. Germany is a massive tv market. They will be there.
Portugal is simply a Ronaldo thing - FIFA will want him at the World Cup.
Good looking Swedish fans or a big travelling Irish contingent don't really factor in. France's away support has always been pathetic. They sold half their allocation for a World Cup semi final in a neighbouring country and most of those were to touts. We had more fans at Israel v France ( I went home but my mates stayed on) than they had in 2005.
Although Russia is a massive market I don't know how financially lucrative it is for FIFA.
If it is just France then they'll probably let the balls fall as they do. If France, Germany and Portugal are in the playoffs then expect a seeding change at the last minute.
I wouldn't underestimate the power of good looking Swedish birds to heat up the balls.
very good
A guy on newstalk tonight said that Uefa have announced that the play off draw will be seeded, anyone hear anything to confirm this?
I take it you got your hole then.Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
I'd actually be quite hopeful against all of those except Portugal and Russia. Germany would also be incredibly tough, were they to be involved.Quote:
Originally Posted by Superhoops
Don't get me wrong i wouldnt actually jump with joy whoever we get. Some previous play-offs have included a weak team that everyone wanted to draw; but not this time it would seem.
Nevertheless, some of the more 'established' names there are in terrible form (France, Croatia), whilst we should feel confident of at least matching up to the others like Bosnia or Greece. All to play for, to use the old cliche.
Speaking of Greece - if we got them in the playoffs, surely that'd be the most boring 2 legs of football ever?!
Well, seeing as FIFA run the competition, chances are he was talking through his hole. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by elroy
The midfield for both sides could agree to meet in the centre circle before kick off for a few cans of guinness and a bottle of ouzo and sit out the entire game with no-one being the wiser.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tipp Townie
Think he said that it would be based on the final positions in the 2nd place table, top 4 v bottom 4 (excluding last place obviously).Quote:
Originally Posted by elroy
Dunno if there's any truth in it, was the first I'd heard of it anyway.
Do we have any chnace of being in the top 4?
win last two games and were in most likely
If Germany qualify automatically and Portugal fail to qualify for the playoffs it may well be an open draw as of the likely 8 nations the only ones that FIFA would be concerned about would be France and Spain who should really be capable of beating any of the other qualifiers. They will be miracously kept apart with no need for seedings. :D
However if Germany and Portugal end up in the mix they will find some way of seeding Spain, France, Portugal and Germany. The method of seeding will be chosen to accomodate the required result :D
Why would FIFA want to demote Spain into it? They've booked their flights already.Quote:
Originally Posted by Greenforever
This **** really annoys me. Every team knew the story at the beginning of the playoffs, and every team have had the same struggle to get into the playoffs. Why not just leave it at that instead of ****ing around with a seeding system. No doubt this will benefit France, but im sure that has nothing to do with Mr. Platini :rolleyes:. Changing the system this far into qualifying is a joke
edit: this is for a world cup, i presume then its Blatters idea. Silly me
That doesn't necessarily mean that Platini doesn't have a big say. It is the UEFA jurisdiction of the WC qualifying afterall.Quote:
Originally Posted by carloz
How was the draw for the 2002 qual play offs made?
Looking at it, the 4 top teams played away first, though 2 of them failed to go through.
Belgium v Czech Rep
Ukraine v Germany
Austria v Turkey
Slovenia v Romania
For those of you interested (especially in the first match) the live Qualifiers on ESPN are:
Saturday
Russia v Germany (1600)
Denmark v Sweden (1900)
Wednesday
Germany v Finland (1700)
Denmark Sweden would be worth watching from an Irish pov as we want the swedes to finish second in that group and beneath us in the seedings.... we will prob need a draw in that game, with the swedes hammering albania in a shoot-out against the portuguese, who are at home to hungary saturday and Malta wednesday... portugal currently two points down, 10 5, GD +5, Sweden 9 3, GD +6Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
We need a Sweden win. Albania are decent now and much much better than Malta. Portugal will score what they need if it comes to a shootout.Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
We'll only get the see the first half of the Sweden match at most really. Delighted the Russian match is on earlier. Nobody seems to be covering Cyprus v Bulgaria, pity RTE didn't go for it.
It's a non event really. Bulgaria have as much chance of getting second as we have of getting top, it's not going to happen.Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
mmm maybe....Quote:
Originally Posted by gspain
what we want to happen is this
group 1
who we want: sweden, not portugal
what we need: sweden win (or draw possibly, then sweden to win wednesday's shootout as outlined above) v denmark away on saturday, or alternatively portugal failing to beat hungary at home
likely outcome: clearer after saturday, probaby 50/50
group 2
who we want: latvia, not greece
greece latvia draw (then a wednesday shootout, with latvia finishing second on GD)
likely outcome: greece, though not by much
group 3
who we want: slovenia, not n ireland or czech rep
what we need: slovenia probably need a point away to slovakia (who themselves only need 1 point to qualify) on saturday then a truckload against san marino away on wednesday.... currently 2 points above Czech Republic, who are at home to N Ireland and Poland, with the same GD and above N Ireland on GD only
likely outcome: clearer after saturday, probaby 50/50 slovenia / czech rep (NI nowhere, as slovenia will win in san marino)
group 4: either germany or russia, either way top seeds
group 5
who we want: bosnia, not turkey
what we need: bosnia four points clear, GD 10 better, home to spain, away to estonia, who they beat 7-0 at home.... 2 points should be enough, though none might do it should turkey fail to beat belgium away on saturday.... little chance of turkey finishing second
likely outcome: bosnia
group 6
who we want: ukraine, not croatia
what we need: ukraine to beat england and go one point above croatia, then ukraine to win in andorra, assuming croatia win in kazakhstan
likely outcome: clearer after saturday, probablt slightly in croatia's favour, also likely ukraine will not fall beneath us in the rankings should they beat england and we don't beat italy
group 7
who we want: austria, not france
almost certainly france, barring a draw with the faroes at home and a defeat to austria at home, with austria also having to beat lithuania at home
likely outcome: france, also note austria could go above us in the rankings with a win in france
group 8
our group!
group 9
likely outcome: norway to finish bottom of second placed teams group. only teams who could conceivably finish lower are the group one teams and bosnia, though either of these outcomes is most unlikely.
hope that is clear!
Two defeats for Ireland and we could finish bottom of the 2nd place group, although if that happens Bulgaria would probably over take us.Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arnold Layne
Dont worry,you will beat us;).
Vucinic will not play against you,if that helps somehow.
That does help. Is he injured?Quote:
Originally Posted by Montenegrin
Any chance Jovetic could pick up a yellow card too on saturday? I think he needs to rest himself for some important champions league games coming up.
Thanks for the summary SuperDave. So realistically, we hope for Sweden, Latvia, Slovenia and Bosnia to come second in their respective groups. If this happens and we finish second, does that mean we'll be one of the top four seeds in the play-offs?
Yes, assuming Sweden don't pass us in the rankings....which is unlikely, especially if we beat Italy. Could be a big ask for Latvia though, need them to win in Greece on Saturday. They lost in Riga to them 2-0. If Greece finish second in that group then they will certainly be the top ranked team that we will want from the drawQuote:
Originally Posted by lionelhutz
No I doubt it - the top ranked teams are likely to be Russia, France, Portugal and Croatia.Quote:
Originally Posted by carloz
Our chances of top seeding are pretty remote really as we cannot overtake any of the above.
The real concern should we get France or Portugal is the pressure on the referee knowing who FIFA want in the finals. They won't try and influence him but he will know and will be loathe to make a key decision against them unless absolutely sure.