Okay Lads!
I'm guessing we be in Pot 4 for the draw in December?
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Okay Lads!
I'm guessing we be in Pot 4 for the draw in December?
For certain, with Wales, Albania, Iceland and the north.
Which one of us is getting England? We're due.
What about playing the north on 12th July for a bit of craic?
Right Roy get the hotel booked!
Any dodgy pitches in Guernsey?
England please!
Germany please!
Belgium please :)
Hungary please!
Might squeak through as a best third-place team. :)
Seedings confirmed by UEFA: http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuro/finals/...raw+pots+could
Pot One:
France
Spain
Germany
England
Portugal
Belgium
Pot Two
Italy
Russia
Switzerland
Austria
Croatia
Ukraine
Pot Three
Czech Republic
Sweden
Poland
Romania
Slovakia
Hungary
Pot Four
Turkey
Republic Of Ireland
Iceland
Wales
Albania
Northern Ireland
I'm thinking a group of England, Ukraine and Hungary would be a good draw, especially considering four of the 6 third placed teams will advance. Nightmare would be Germany (they'd love to have a crack at us again I'm sure, and hard to pull the same trick three times), Italy and the Czech's.
No one to fear in Pot 3 unlike the last Euros. Best draw England, Austria, Hungary, Ireland. Worst: Germany (yes, despite the 4 points) or Spain, Italy, Poland, Ireland.
I'm weirdly delighted we can't get Iceland, even if it means we're both lower seeds. They are going to take some scalps. The North have one in them as well, for sure.
Was surprised to see that of the 24 teams, we are the 23rd ranked side. So who is below us? Albania ? Norn Iron ? Iceland ? No. Sweden. So much for rankings.
I think Austria might be the toughest second seed, along with Italy of course. They won nine in a row in qualifying after drawing their opening match, a run that included a double over Russia and Montenegro and a 4-1 win in Sweden. I'd prefer Switzerland, Russia or Ukraine from that list.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
Would like to avoid Austria because a loss there could give them a bit of a psychological edge going into the World Cup qualifiers; we travel to Vienna in November.
Small matter really, but still. Croatia, Ukraine, Switzerland or Russia as second seeds doesn't sound too bad.
Best-
Portugal (avoiding England/France possibly better for security reasons maybe, wouldn't mind a crack at Belgium either, gigantically overrated)
Switzerland (would take a boring 0-0 draw)
Hungary (or Slovakia maybe, they've never beaten us)
Ireland
Worst-
Spain (Still the best in the world I think)
Italy
Czech Rep
Ireland
Technically we're ranked 20th. UEFA have their own system, which places Iceland, Wales, Albania & Northern Ireland below us. Makes no difference to our pot but it makes a huge difference for Sweden who would be lowest ranked under the FIFA system, but are in Pot 3 using the UEFA one.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan
He meant in the FIFA world rankings - where we're ranked 23rd of the 24 teams, ahead only of Sweden.
UEFA rankings have Sweden in pot 3 though.
Shouldn't it go without actually typing it out (twice), that Ireland is our 4th pot choice?Quote:
Originally Posted by DeLorean
By the time the draw is done, we'll be 31st in the World, or thereabouts. 20th of the 24 teams.
The best draw we could get based on lowest World Rankings is France (25th), Ukraine(29th), Sweden(35th), Ireland(31st). Wouldn't fancy that much.
And the worst based on rankings is Belgium(1st), Austria(10th), Romania(16th), Ireland(31st). Which I prefer the look of. Strange.
France have dropped down the rankings after not playing any competitive games while the qualifiers were going on.
Yeah, as much as a competitive game against France would be en enticing prospect, for obvious reasons, I don't think you ever want to come up against the hosts.
It's all going to come down to our overall health. We have at least 3 key injuries between now and the Summer that will put who knows fitness in peril. At least 3.
Do you remember the first game we played in Euro 2012? Vs Croatia? I remember we tied it at one but then things went downhill and we could all tell it was going to be a short trip. Lalas was laughing at Tommy Smith in the ESPN studios for saying Ireland were even mediocre. I said to myself; "Barbara, this team is not so good." Here was the starting lineup.
Given
Ward
Josh
Ssl
Dunne
McGeady
Duff
Whelan
K Andrews
Keane
Doyle
Subs used: Long, Cox, Walters.
Duff and Dunne were on last legs, Robbie was getting close, my point is we could be much stronger this time. Or am i wrong?
This is a better team than '12, no doubt about it.
Marginally better I'd say. Genuinely not all that much in the difference player for player, but big difference in confidence/coaching over last few games.
the added youth of coleman, McCarthy, mclean and brady is also a big difference between then and nowQuote:
Originally Posted by NeverFeltBetter
McClean was there in 2012 as well. Not sure why Coleman missed out - maybe wasn't established enough. Ditto James McCarthy.
Have to say the age of the squad worries me. There's three who are 23 - Christie, Brady and Hendrick. Arter and McCarthy are 25. The average age of the squad v Bosnia was 28˝ - three months older than the Euro 2012 squad. And there's not one player in the under-21 set-up who has a senior cap - or even have been called up to the senior squad in the past 12 months. We've practically no young forwards coming through - Long (age 28) is as good as it gets really. By contrast, Albania have a 18-year-old forward in their senior squad who scored on his debut and recently signed for Internazionale. The most recent Iceland squad had seven players under 23, five of whom have caps. There's other examples at other smaller countries too.
I think we'll do ok at this Euros - better than last time - but I'd be worried about the next four years as players retire and we're not replacing them quickly enough.
But will save that worry for after the summer!
This became one of the sticks to beat Trapattoni after Euro 2012, why wasn't Coleman there. The simple truth was he had a pretty poor season in 2011/2012. He only started 17 of Everton's 47 games, but the majority of those were before Christmas. Coleman only started four games betweem January and May 2012, two in the league and two in the cup. John O'Shea was the established right full and Kevin Foley was initially selected as cover, but lost out to Paul McShane because he could cover both right full and centre half. In any case, I don't remember too many people being bothered about Coleman missing out when the squad was announced, as I said it was only in the following 12 months, when he had an excellent season in 2012/13, that people started to question the decision of not bringing him to Poland.Quote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
the point being that they were not in the team in 2012. I think mcclean got about 20mins in total at then euros and they other two were not in the squad based on form and family reasons in the case of mccarthy. colemans club form in the build-up to 2012 euros was dreadful from memoryQuote:
Originally Posted by pineapple stu
20 minutes is about all I'd give McClean next year too. :)
Coleman's 27 btw - not exactly "added youth"
We're better equipped for next year - but I think it is more down to coaching/confidence rather than the players. And let's obviously touch wood that we don't get the injuries we did in 2012 (Given/Dunne in particular)
I wouldn't mind Given being completely crocked again the summer.
Four of the six third placed teams advance? Music to my ears heh.
Before hearing that my goal was to still be in contention come the third group game, but now my mind is wandering!
http://www.live-production.tv/sites/...?itok=AZDmfFXE
Would I be correct in assuming we'll be either A4, B4, C4, etc? I know France are automatically A1 but does this mean the rest of the Pot 1's will be B1, C1, etc. If this is the case then these are the possible venues for our group games:
Game No. A B C D E F 1 Lens Bordeaux Nice Paris Saint Denis Bordeaux 2 Paris Lille Lyon Saint-Étienne Toulouse Marseille 3 Lille Saint-Étienne Paris Bordeaux Nice Lyon
I always wanted to go to Marseille. Have any of you been? Ill get a beret and a pack of smokes. Cough. maybe some of you can cycle from Nice to Marseille.
was in Bordeaux for RWC 2007 and is a great city. great transport system, super weather, lots of great pubs and decent amount of accommodation.
I have been in Nice. My brother has a house on the outskirts. He should be afraid, be very afraid.
Was in Nice and the surrounding area years ago myself. My friend's family have a house near Montpellier-Nîmes-Marseille. They should be afraid, be very afraid.Quote:
Originally Posted by OwlsFan