The Swiss were so superior all game, 3 nil would not have flattered them. Denmark were very average and the team we will be aiming to finish ahead of in this campaign. I'm beginning to feel smatterings of optimism.
Though a point for them tonight is a negative for us.
Last edited by geysir; 26/03/2019 at 9:11 PM.
We are still in a good position, a draw in Copenhagen would be a great result but if we could just nick a 1-0 win out their we would have a 8 point gap over them, after that game we have Gibraltar so we should go all out in that game.
Eriksen still inspires nightmares. I hope Mick is conspiring against him as we speak.
I think the same.. a three nil beating for them would have been grand to be honest..Originally Posted by geysir
I still think this is going to be a seriously tight group, with Georgia taking points off teams in Tblisi, and potentially lots of draws between Switzerland/Ireland/Denmark.. so Denmark losing and having a -3 goal difference would have been grand in my opinion.
Get the draw in Copenhagen, and give Gibralter a battering in June to send the fans away happy for the Summer
Ireland's campaign will hinge on 3 days in October.. Georgia and Switzerland away
Because I am an extremely nerdy person, after week 1 of qualifying, here are the 20 teams in qualifying positions
England Bulgaria Ukraine Luxembourg Northern Ireland Germany Ireland Switzerland Slovakia Wales Spain Sweden Poland Isreal France Turkey Italy Greece Belguim Russia
Because I am an extremely nerdy person, after week 1 of qualifying, here are the 20 teams in qualifying positions
England Bulgaria Ukraine Luxembourg Northern Ireland Germany Ireland Switzerland Slovakia Wales Spain Sweden Poland Isreal France Turkey Italy Greece Belguim Russia
And the play offs would be:
A B C D Portugal Bosnia Scotland Georgia Netherlands Denmark Norway Macedonia Croatia Austria Serbia Kosovo Poland Czech Republic Finland Belarus
What would worry me is if we end up in the playoffs and 4 other league B teams end up in the B playoffs we would get parachuted into league A playoffs with someone like Portugal who have made a slow enough start as an example, Croatia another example.
I disagree with this. I don't necessarily see either Switzerland or Denmark as being stronger than each other. Between injuries and plain old bad luck either of them could stumble over the 18 months of qualifying end up in our cross-hairs.
At this stage I consider them dropping 4 points between them to suit us more than one of them dropping 3.
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
true, but as I said here before, I expect them to get their sh*t together and get back into automatic qualifying positions before the end of the campaigns..
I think the only Group A teams that won't qualify automatically will be Iceland and Poland, and we'll end up bumped up to A to play them and maybe Northern Ireland.
There's actually a dream scenario of us playing in the A play off with Iceland, Norn Ireland, and a group C team
Heading to Parken in June, with the Danes having lost 3-0 to Switzerland would have been great in my opinion. It would have put them under serious pressure to get a win. Their confidence is likely to be good after coming back to get the point. I'd much prefer for Swizz to have done the double on Denmark, and let us duke it out with Denmark, with the proviso that anything we take from the Swiss ourselves is a bonus. Switzerland already have the 3 points in the bag from Tbilisi. Weiss said that last night's outcome would dictate how they play out the rest of the campaign, with the play-offs to come for them next year. For me it means they'll rotate and try new players, reducing the likelihood of a shock against Denmark.
If there was a criticism of Mick, it was that generally speaking he chickened out when it came to away games against proper teams. I'm thinking Belgium, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Turkey, Iran. When the pressure was on to get a result late into a campaign away from home, it didn't really happen. It's an area that will have to improve.
The flip-side is that his record against weaker seeds generally was excellent, and his home record against top seeds quite impressive. You'd imagine given how it unraveled against them the last time, he'd love to stick one over them in Lansdowne Road.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
True about Mick's away record --- before the 2002 qualifiers campaign commenced.
I qualified my point specifically with that campaign in mind, when the pressure was all on Holland and Portugal.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
I missed that.
For this era though, it probably suits us better to build shape and confidence into the team before tangling with Denmark away. I'd expect them to be thoroughly arrogant about their chances in June against us, their football inferiors, the cavemen in green.
I think it’s the best time to play Denmark, we have now played two games where we are starting to build a decent team but not enough time has gone by for Denmark to take notice and may think we are like what we were like during the MON regime. The Georgians looked surprised so if they are surprised imagine what the Danes will be like.
This site Football Seedings offers some extra or different explanation to how the play offs take shape, should there only be 0 to 3 teams left in the div 1, div 2 or div 3 play off positions
The empty places in the higher divisions will be filled by the best placed non-qualified teams from the lower divisions, as that impressive and innovative Uefa balls video implied.
One thing I missed previously was that they are not using the traditional method to seed the qualified team for the Euro Finals groups draw
The seeding for that draw will be based on results throughout the qual campaign, with group winners taking top seed positions and results earned will determine position in that pot.
What this means is that the play-off winners are firmly in the 4th seeded pot, the bottom of the pile and at a distinct disadvantage which may not reflect their position in the Uefa rankings.
According to my own reading of the rules for the play offs, at the half way stage of the qualifiers only 1 Group A team I think is in danger of not qualifying, ie Iceland, who are currently level on points with Turkey in 3rd place in Group H
I am also assuming that both Germany and Holland will eventually overtake Northern Ireland, and if this scenario happens then should Denmark and Switzerland overtake us for places one and two, we will finish up in a play off with
Iceland
Ireland
N Ireland
Isreal
Should Iceland qualify directly, pushing Turkey into third, then Turkey will take a place in the Group B play off making the Group A play off look like this
Ireland
Northern Ireland
Isreal
Romania
(a dream scenario which would mean Ireland would have a home semi and final if they qualified in the play offs)
A real fly in the ointment at the moment, could be the Czech Republic overtaking Kosovo meaning Ireland could still end up in a Group B play off with Bosnia/Wales/Slovakia
All in all though, it would take an absolute crazy set of results to ensure Ireland won't get the minimum of a play off if they do not go through automatically
Who gets to play at home in the play off final is decided by a throw of the dice, in your dream scenario that could be Windsor Park.
On League B play off positions, I fancy the Finns chances to beat Italy today, if so they'll be favourites to qualify ahead of B&H. Another potential defining game is Sweden v Norway.
You would need Kosovo or Montenegro, Slovakia, Norway, Slovenia to qualify. Then Czech, Croatia, Sweden and Austria wouldnt have an auto qualification and would take four of the playoff spots before us.
You would still need one more upset (eg Albania popping up ahead of Turkey/Iceland) to take N. Ireland out of their spot.
And finally another like Greece putting Italy into the playoffs - they'd get the spot before us.
Something like that - we're currently in the 6th last spare playoffs spot as handed down from above. So need 6 lower teams to put 6 higher teams that would be expected to qualify directly into the playoffs. They'll need their playoff spot then, so we wont get it.
Actually Slovakia doesn't matter as Slovakia/Croatia are both above us anyway. So yep would be quite crazy have to find a 6th scenario maybe Luxembourg consigning Portugal to the playoffs.
I think its likely that Kosovo and maybe Slovenia can qualify automatically - it will only affect Romania and Hungary (or Israel or Bulgaria if Hungary qualify directly).
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