QuoteDon't understand why people are rating France & Portugal so highly. Both are struggling in average groups now. IMO France would be a very good draw
I think a team containing Whelan, Kilbane etc cannot expect to beat one of the top four - Portugal, France, Russia or Germany, a draw at home and honourable defeat away is my prediction...I think these seedings are the Final Nail in our coffin.
Don't understand why people are rating France & Portugal so highly. Both are struggling in average groups now. IMO France would be a very good draw
Totally agree. France make very poor use of the players they have, Portugal continue to have problems scoring goals.Originally Posted by Hibs4Ever
If the draw was made today (based on the current top eight teams in the second place table and FIFA rankings) we'd play Greece which I'd definitely take.
Russia (6) v Slovenia (54)
Croatia (9) v Bosnia & Herzegovina (46)
France (10) v Norway (43)
Greece (12) v Ireland (38)
(Current FIFA Ranking in brackets.)
I don't think it works like that, there'll be a draw made with 4 teams in one pot and 4 in another and then a second draw to determine home and away legs will take place. It's not a case of just bottom ranked team plays top and so on.
Disgraceful decision by FIFA but not in the least bit surprising.
We tend to struggle against weaker teams anyway, bring it on if we get second. Had a terrible dream last night that we got beaten 1-0 by Montenegro and missed out on 2nd, think it was down to watching that Montenegrin lad destroy Liverpool last night! Mind you Dunne had got injured so Gary Breen had been recalled and was at fault for the goal so it wasn't exactly realistic!
Last edited by Drumcondra 69er; 30/09/2009 at 9:01 AM.
Apologies, you're right. Just re read the article:
"We have decided on seeding the teams into two groups of four, taking the Fifa world rankings into account, with the top four in one pot and the others in another pot," Blatter said. "There will be a separate draw to decide home and away," he added of the two-leg ties to determine four European places at the 2010 finals in South Africa.
Even more annoyed now as there's no benefit in being 5th seed as opposed to 8th (although I know this may all change).
FIFA are definitely like Fianna Fail. Look after their friends and sh*t on the little people.
People are saying that France and Portugal are not performing well of late but with the calibre of players available to them, they can always pull a win out of the bag. Wouldn't mind playing Croatia or Greece out of the current top 4 2nd placed teams.
Let's hope the bottom 7 mess-up in their remaining games and we get 4 points to put us in the strongest possible position.
Anyway, this is Ireland. We don't do things the easy way....
Depressing news indeed, on a slightly brighter note newstalk are reporting that if we do get to South Africa we'll be in pot number 2 for the group draw.
This is a complete joke and there is no way FIFA can justify this, the FAI and others really should be making more of a song and dance about this. If anything the seeding should be based on the number of points accumulated in each respective group. Even still that wouldnt be necessarily fair, an open draw is the only thing that makes sense. I'd take Greece, France and Croatia above Russia anyday.
I'm numb about this. It's enough being punished for past sins by being seeded in the groups.
If the groups were arranged fairly, surely all the teams who finish second should be treated equally?
That said, I'm extra nervous when Ireland go into matches as favourites (however slight) and I think I'd prefer us to play someone like Greece, Portugal or Croatia than Bosnia or Norway or someone.
If 2 teams tie on points for 2nd place does it go down to goal difference or games played against each other?
If it's goal difference, then Sweden have a good chance of holding onto 2nd place ahead of Portugal, Latvia (if they draw in Greece) could sneek into 2nd spot by outscoring Greece in the last game of the group (Lat v Mol, Gre v Lux), Slovenia could hold on to 2nd place ahead of Czech, and there is a chance Ukraine can catch Croatia if they beat England at home (not that it matters in terms of seeding).
Russia/Germany, France and Bosnia have all secured 2nd place. If it was to work out as above, Russia/Germany, France, Croatia/Ukraine and ourselves would be in the top seeds. It's a long shot but there is always a possibility.
Although, if we win our last 2 games and Cyprus snaggle a draw against Italy then we can forget about this play-off fixing scandal!!!!
If we were in the top 4 group then I suppose everybody would think that it was our fully deserved hard earned right to be seeded and FIFA done good.
In a way, a tie against a potentially complacent France could be easier than a nationalistically fired up Bosnia.
I'll take what comes to be honest. I just hope we get to the playoffs first.
I felt like puking up my breakfast after reading about this but after thinking about it, apart from the Germany/Russia group, I'd fancy our chances against any of the others. Shame though, I had my heart set on a trip to Ljubljana.
it was my understanding that the seeing would work on FIFA rankings, not based on the points we finish with in the group, so we are destinted to play either france, russia, greece or croatia, and so we can't play sweden, slovenia or bosnia.
so, out of those, i'd say i'd take my chances against greece or at a push croatia,
(being the two i'd say that there's less of an "interest" from within FIFA to get them to the world cup)
Agree with that, though I really really hope we beat Italy and with a play off spot secured the final game against Montenegro really meaning something and with plenty of pressure on Italy to deliver a result it would make it really interesting and nervewracking - but in a good way!!!!
I thought you were off the drink Ronnie?
"No, I drink to help me mind my own business....can I get you one? (c) Ronnie Drew
From some reason the penalty shoot out against Spain comes to mind here, Remember Beglin saying as Finnan steped up to take the last, "make them finish the job Steve" or something along those lines, anyway my point is if we only get a draw at home to Italy, happy days for Italy home and dry. Whereas if we win, it puts all the pressure on them, they must win at home to Cyprus, you never know what could happen in that scenario.
Sickening to see FIFA do a u -turn on this. Am I surprised? No, after all it is obvious that they are making sure that countries with big tv audiences qualify. They are also trying to give players like Ronaldo every chance of being there.
Decisions like this really shake my love of the game to the core, but then we are talking about a rotten corrupt organisation like FIFA here.
''and I for one welcome our new insect overlords''
would you guys want Ribery running at Kilbane or McShane? France are not the force they were but they still have the individuals to conjure up a bit of magic and capitalise on any defensive howlers. Henry at LR a few years back is a painful memory.....
We have to get 2nd place first but we are still in with a shot of 1st and two wins next month would make the other nations sit up and take notice if we still finished second.
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