Portugal, Greece, France or Russia

[blobbyblob]

**** any of them. I mean really. At this point, **** them.
We are Irish and we go right?

It depends where you are standing of course but if you go right , you might get to Portugal, France or Greece, Straight on is Russia. Theres no top seeds left to the left, right?

[reder]

good point. Then again, Greece have just won 5-2!

You need to take the quality of opposition into account there. Over 2 legs we can beat Greece. If the away leg is first I would expect and away score draw on current form.

[Den Perry]

Jesus h christ where is you lots pride in your country.I dont give two ffs who we get ive been following ireland for close on 40 years and this has been the best campaign i can remember for a whole lot ofr reasons. We are the biggest shower of knockers i have ever seen including number one on the list is is that excuse of an Irishman who us fools are paying 0ver €500k a year to spout **** on our national airwaves.

While im at it how can the bertie ahern chuckle club get away with the bull we had to endure from one of the most corrupt politicians ever on Todd Andrews Grandsons show on friday night.

Of course its relevant who we get in the play-offs. Just because we we want the easiest draw possible does not make us "knockers".I agree wholeheartedly that Dunphy was way off target the other night. Nonetheless, this bravado of "I don't give two ffs who we get" is nonsense.

However, I'm wth you all he way regarding your point on Bertie Ahern and Tubridy

[Den Perry]

I've gone through the hassle of getting a Visa for Russia. Believe me it's an absolute nightmare. The Embassay opens for 3 hours a day and the queue's do be forming from early. If you're not there at 9am you won't make it to the top of the queue by 12. They are so slow it's unbelievable.

You'll have to get a letter of invitation too from the hotel you're staying at. It's got to the stage that when I have to get a Visa I go down at 7am to be first in the queue.

If Ireland get Russia and more then a couple of hundred are going the Embassay won't be able to cope with the demand, especially with the short time frame involved, add into that all the thicks that'll just turn up at the Embassay expecting to just get a Visa.

If you don't have the forms filled in correctly, your letter of invitation, your proof of travel etc, they won't entertain you.

Read "Zone 22" by Tig Hague before you go to Russia!!!

Did any of you lads experience the problems Irish fans had when we played there in the 4-2 defeat under Mick?

[shakermaker1982]

This is the response back I got from FIFA after I sent an email in about the recent seeding announcement.

We thank you for your enquiry. As this is a decision taken by the Executive Committee in Rio last month, please understand that we're not in a position to give you any comments.

very helpful.

[donalmcdonagh]

I hear that the FAI have said they are giving first preference for the home leg of the playoff to people who go to the match on wednesday. Does anybody know anything about this.
I have a feeling the match on wed will be empty...Im going regardless.

I think I am mid flight for the 2nd leg so if its at home I will miss it anyway...sh!t.

[skimcg]

Yes I also heard this, if you post or return your Ticket stub from the Montenegro game you will recieve ticket however this on a first come first served basis but I presume this only applicable to ticketmaster and the extra tickets fai will sell as everybody else has their tickets block booked anyways ...

[likealion]

I'd definitely want greece out of those 4 and want to avoid russia for footballing and travel reasons. Portugal with no Ronaldo would be okay too but if he's fit he could tear us apart. France would be beatable too over 2legs plus we owe them one!

[likealion]

[QUOTE=donalmcdonagh;1248352]I hear that the FAI have said they are giving first preference for the home leg of the playoff to people who go to the match on wednesday. QUOTE]

Heard this on radio this morning alright but they gave f*ck all details, nothing on the fai site about it earlier either

[punkrocket]

I think I am mid flight for the 2nd leg......

Mid flight?? cor, are you superman?
I know someone who nicked a pair of your pants, you should go over and sort him out.

[punkrocket]

Tickets for the playoffs
I hear that the FAI have said they are giving first preference for the home leg of the playoff to people who go to the match on wednesday. Does anybody know anything about this.

Details are on over at eleven a side. It's for people who aren't members/block bookers,and buy their tickets from Ticketmaster etc. You send your stub to the FAI after the game on Wednesday along with your details and then hope that you are one of the first that they open.

[wexfordman]

i wonder how soon after the draw is made will the country we are facing confirm the venue.

So far france have played all their home matches in the stadium st denis in paris, portugal alternate between lisbon, braga and oporto greece alternate their home venue as do russia.

would it be fair to say the most likley the games will be played in the country's capital and national stadiums or will some have it in less appealing locations to tryand deter a large away support from travelling.

hoping to watch the draw and book asap before the airlines jack up their prices

[Crosby87]

It depends where you are standing of course but if you go right , you might get to Portugal, France or Greece, Straight on is Russia. Theres no top seeds left to the left, right?

Sorry had way too much to drink yesterday.
Ugh.

[philliyk]

i wonder how soon after the draw is made will the country we are facing confirm the venue.

So far france have played all their home matches in the stadium st denis in paris, portugal alternate between lisbon, braga and oporto greece alternate their home venue as do russia.

would it be fair to say the most likley the games will be played in the country's capital and national stadiums or will some have it in less appealing locations to tryand deter a large away support from travelling.

hoping to watch the draw and book asap before the airlines jack up their prices

Going by the scenario we had going to Italy I would assume venues would have to be announced at the draw(90 day rule i think it was)- but i aint done any research here so most likely the guy's in the know will confirm it

Cheers to all the posters for the info on russian visa's - god i hope it aint there - i'll need to take 2 weeks of work just to sort the visa out alone

[NeilMcD]

i wonder how soon after the draw is made will the country we are facing confirm the venue.

So far france have played all their home matches in the stadium st denis in paris, portugal alternate between lisbon, braga and oporto greece alternate their home venue as do russia.

would it be fair to say the most likley the games will be played in the country's capital and national stadiums or will some have it in less appealing locations to tryand deter a large away support from travelling.

hoping to watch the draw and book asap before the airlines jack up their prices

France did not play all ther matches in Paris, They played the Faroes the other night in Brittany I think Althought if they play us it will be in Paris no doubt.

[boysingreen]

I'm trying to forget Greece are in the draw, because we won't get the most favorable of the bunch. Preparing for France, Portugal, or Russia. If there's a consensus so far it seems to be to avoid Russia. Then again, Russia could be the least experienced of the "big 3."

Without Ronaldo I'd probably say Portugal. With him, hard to choose between Portugal and a talented yet underperforming French side. Will the playoffs turn out to be the straw that breaks Domenech's back or, like Italy, will they turn it on just enough to get over the finish line?

I've butterflies already thinking about the draw, nevermind the ties. Going to be a long month of anticipation. Soak it in boys, cuz there's a lot of countries around the world would give their right arm to be in our boots, and that was us 4 years ago!! Very grateful we have a playoff to direct our attention to, really takes the edge off that bloody equalizer.

[Yard of Pace]

I watched Russia against Germany and wasn't too impressed. You'd hardly fear Portugal either.

[Duggie]

the reason id fear portugal is.....
nightmare scenario they have a good night in lisbon, passes start sticking, free flowing one touch passing through midfield and then there is ronaldo(if fit). nooooo i could see a bad result against them. id put money on us getting them.

[Kingdom]

It really is a tough draw in terms of the playoffs and the seeds. To be fair there are a couple of groups (GR 1,3,5,6,7) where the uninformed (and that includes a few of us ) wouldn't have expected the teams that finished 2nd to actually finish there.
So does that mean we overestimated the quality of say, France and Portugal, or did we underestimate the ability of Serbia and Denmark?

I'd go along with what the likes of CF Ed have been saying re: Russia. Moscow is a horrible place to go to, and the Russians I feel would eat us alive over there.
I would like to see us getting Greece as on paper they would appear to be the most functional of all teams left, quite similar to ourselves, and that we would have a real shot at qualifying.

France and Portugal are very similar. Yes they stuttered through qualifying, but look at the two groups. Portugal were in a nasty enough group with a grudge between Sweden and Denmark, without taking into account a resurgent Hungary who were right in the mix with three games to go, while France were demoted to runners up by arguably the most impressive of group winners, so while some might say 'they're in decline', perhaps they were just were just edged out by better teams? I mean realistically a France attack of Henry and Benzema supported by Malouda and Ribery attacking Killer puts the shivers down my back. Portugal not as much but they have a very, very skillful group of players and the thoughts of Raul Merieles sitting in the park dictating play makes me feel queasy.

We really need to be drawn away first. For a few reasons. It would suit Trapper Tony's tactics I'd imagine to play away for the draw or to nick a goal and sit back, and keep the game alive going to Dublin. Having to set his team out for either a narrow victory first or prevent conceding a goal would be more difficult first up at home. Also having the second leg, alive at home, would make a massive difference to the atmosphere in Croker. No disrespect, but we seem to have a serious amount of either unknowledgable, or stupid 'supporters' at our home matches, and this can be good and bad.
Can you imagine how people would perceive a 0-0 draw at home first off? A shocker thats how, and the longer the game would go on, the more frustrated the fans would get, and this always permeates its way to the players. Whereas if we bring a team to Lansdowne with the tie 0-0 or 1-1 and we need some specific result, the atmosphere would be exceptional.

[magnumpi]

i wonder how soon after the draw is made will the country we are facing confirm the venue.


hoping to watch the draw and book asap before the airlines jack up their prices

yeah, it'd have to be fairly soon after the draw. don't wanna go booking flights to the wrong city. i think france would be wary of playing it in paris following 2004, but we'll see.

portugal could have it anywhere. i can't afford russia, but any of the other three i'll do.