Euro 2012 draw

[dan o d]

im prayin for-
croatia
sweden
ireland
latvia
lichtenstein
san marino

[Razors left peg]

whats the most difficult group we could get...Im lazy and havent even looked at the seedings

[TheBoss]

God love the optimists! I may be mistaken but I think we have only once ever topped our group and that was for Euro 88. Not sure we could top our group in a group like Italy/Portugal/Holland, England/Russia/Turkey and Slovakia/Bosniia . So, for example, if we draw Italy, England and Slovakia you'd still be reasonably optimistic that, not only would we qualify, but that we would top our group?

I can see Ireland getting something from the away games against the teams I have mentioned and have a good chance of beating them at Home, Its not optimism, its more realistic thinking. In all the away games that Ireland played, they were pretty impressive. We can not England and Italy but say, England are a good team, but only at the back, in other areas, they lack togetherness, and will rely on Rooney too much. Slovakia were in a group with very little quality, Ireland would have breezed through that group in fairness.

[Colbert Report]

Here's a link to the pots.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2012_qualifying

[Gather round]

Slovakia were in a group with very little quality, Ireland would have breezed through that group in fairness

In fairness to who? All the groups are of roughly the same quality, that's the whole point of a seeded draw. Your 18 points would only have managed third place in the Slovakia and NI group, hardly a breeze. You couldn't score a single goal against the group minnow, everyone else in ours got at least seven.

[pineapple stu]

.....The draw for the Euro 2012 qualifying stages takes place in Warsaw this Sunday morning at 11am, with live coverage on RTE Two television and online at www.rte.ie, hosted by Peter Collins with studio analysis from John Giles and Kenny Cunningham.

Anyone know if it's on t'radio?

[Paulie]

In fairness to who? All the groups are of roughly the same quality, that's the whole point of a seeded draw. Your 18 points would only have managed third place in the Slovakia and NI group, hardly a breeze. You couldn't score a single goal against the group minnow, everyone else in ours got at least seven.

You're not honestly trying to say that just because Montenegro were in the same seedings group as the likes of San Marino for the last WC campaign, that they are of a similar standard? We both know that Montenegro were in that group as that was their first qualifying campaign as an independent state, and therefore had not had the opportunity to gather enough ranking points to move them up the international teams rankings table.

[twoenz]

Here the group i would like
GERMANY
DENMARK
IRELAND
WALES
ICELAND
LUXEMBOURG

Apart from the ease of reaching all the away matches, it'd be a nightmare to get out of.

[TheBoss]

In fairness to who? All the groups are of roughly the same quality, that's the whole point of a seeded draw. Your 18 points would only have managed third place in the Slovakia and NI group, hardly a breeze. You couldn't score a single goal against the group minnow, everyone else in ours got at least seven.

Put it this way, most teams would have wanted to be in that group.

[Gather round]

You're not honestly trying to say that just because Montenegro were in the same seedings group as the likes of San Marino for the last WC campaign, that they are of a similar standard?

No, I'm not implying anything of the sort. I said the groups were of roughly equal standard.

We both know that Montenegro were in that group as that was their first qualifying campaign as an independent state, and therefore had not had the opportunity to gather enough ranking points to move them up the international teams rankings table

Yes, so what? They're a very small country, with a limited playing pool, and unlikely to become a giant of international football. At worst you could have felt slightly hard done by in having effectively two fifth-rate teams in your pool, with no real minnow. It's a bit of a leap from that to assuming that a team unable to score against Montenegro or beat Bulgaria would breeze past Czechia, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

[mypost]

You couldn't score a single goal against the group minnow, everyone else in ours got at least seven.

As it was, we won both games against the team that finished bottom of the group, so Montenegro weren't that bad a "minnow" after all.

[Gather round]

Put it this way, most teams would have wanted to be in that group

How can you be so sure? The other top seeds included Portugal, Greece and Croatia, as well as the Czechs. Good teams all but hardly World-beaters. Apart from the Poles, the second seeds included Israel, Bulgaria and Scotland.

[Paulie]

No, I'm not implying anything of the sort. I said the groups were of roughly equal standard.



Yes, so what? They're a very small country, with a limited playing pool, and unlikely to become a giant of international football. At worst you could have felt slightly hard done by in having effectively two fifth-rate teams in your pool, with no real minnow. It's a bit of a leap from that to assuming that a team unable to score against Montenegro or beat Bulgaria would breeze past Czechia, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Firstly, by saying "You couldn't score a single goal against the group minnows, everyone else in ours got at least 7", you are drawing a direct comparison between San Marino and Montenegro. It's a ridiculous comparison. That's a fact.

Secondly, you're correct in saying that we drew 0-0 in both of these fixtures. However, the first fixture against them (away) was early on in the group and considering some of the players available to them, regardless of their seeding, this was viewed as a reasonable result. Not brilliant by any means, but we were content enough with four points from our first two fixtures away to Georgia and Montenegro. The home fixture was irrelevant as it was our last group fixture and we had already secured the playoff spot, with first spot being out of reach to us.

Lastly, I wouldn't assume that we would "breeze past" any of the teams you mention above. Currently though, I don't think it would be beyond us to get 4 out of 6 points against all of them. If we get a reasonable group, I have great hope that we can qualify for the next Euros. This is based on our away form and the hope that if the lessons of the last group are learned with regard to attacking a bit more at home, and the eradication of stupid individual mistakes as opposed to a breakdown in the working of the defensive unit, we can push on and make the most of the opportunities presented to us.

[Bungle]

The group I want

Croatia, Denmark (very good team but we would edge these games I think), Macedonia (could take points off Croatia and probs the poorest in pot 4), Liechtenstein, San Marino.

Predictions;
Ireland 1 Croatia 1, Croatia 0 Ireland 0, Ireland 2 Denmark 1, Denmark 0 Ireland 0, Ireland 1 Macedonia 0, Macedonia 1 Ireland 2, Ireland 4 Liechtenstein 0, Liechtenstein 1 Ireland 3, Ireland 5 SM 0, SM 0 Ireland 2.

The group I would hate

Spain, Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Azerbaijan

Predictions;
Ireland 0 Spain 1, Spain 2 Ireland 1, Ireland 1 Serbia 1, Serbia 1 Ireland 1, Ireland 0 Slovenia 0, Slovenia 1 Ireland 1, Ireland 2 Montenegro 1, Montenegro 1 Ireland 1, Ireland 2 Azerbaijan 0, Azerbaijan 0 Ireland 1.

[Gather round]

Firstly, by saying "You couldn't score a single goal against the group minnows, everyone else in ours got at least 7", you are drawing a direct comparison between San Marino and Montenegro. It's a ridiculous comparison. That's a fact

Gently exaggerated for effect rather than ridiculous, I think. We drew the lowest-ranked minnow, you the highest. You shouldn't overrate Montenegro, over 10 games they still only managed nine points with one win.

To even things up a bit, we drew four and fifth seeds good enough to see off Czechia, Poland and Russia; you got Cyprus and Georgia. As I said, overall the groups tend to be of roughly even standard. So I'd distinguish a bit more carefully between fact and partial opinion, if I were you.

Secondly, you're correct in saying that we drew 0-0 in both of these fixtures. However etc. etc.

You drew both games because in both you weren't good enough to win. Fact. Apart from anything else, four more points might have got you second seeding this time?

Lastly, I wouldn't assume that we would "breeze past" any of the teams you mention above

Fair enough, I was answering another poster who did.

[stiffler]

Gently exaggerated for effect rather than ridiculous, I think. We drew the lowest-ranked minnow, you the highest. You shouldn't overrate Montenegro, over 10 games they still only managed nine points with one win.

.

Which is the same number of points you got for the previous world cup qualifying campaign!!

[Uncle_Joe]

....and we're back!

Russia
Slovakia
Macedonia
Armenia
Andora

It could have been a hell of a lot worse. Russia or Croatia are probably the worst of the top seeds. Slovakia dont particularly scare me. We should be able to get Macedonia home and away, as with Armenia and Andora.
Sometimes you have to wait for the chance to get an easier group to crawl up the rankings. Hopefully we can take this chance and make it easier for ourselves to qualify for future tournament.

24 points should do it!

[pineapple stu]

Have to be reasonably happy with that. We've done OK against Russia and Slovakia in recent campaigns - one point against Russia and four against Slovakia; get that again and it's a huge step to coming second. Can keep an eye on Slovakia in the World Cup too.

Armenia starting to grow on me for a trip away.

[finbarrk]

A few costly away trips there.

[dan o d]

good group for us. a lot hinges on whether hiddink extends his current contract with russia beyond this june, which is unlikely