And it stayed at 666. WTF?
Regretfully I think so Tets, the point of the OCD related behaviour before a match, is not that what you do will benefit the team, but if the team loses, your conscience is clear.
Lady's Well I Cork I hope
The way our lucks going just lately I knew that Trap must have done a deal with someone
Yes its mathematically possible to be eliminated with 5 points. We feared this would happen in our WC 2002 group.
Coming into the final match the table stood like this:
Germany 4 (beaten Saudi and drawn with Ireland)
Cameroon 4 (Drawn with Ireland and beaten Saudi)
Ireland 2 (Drawn with Cameroon and drawn with Germany)
Saudi 0 (lost to both Germany and Saudi)
We feared that had we beaten Saudi and Germany and Cameroon drawn, we could still have been eliminated on 5 points.
Fortunately it didn't transpire that way but it has happened in Euro 2004. Remember the Italians talking about the Scandinavian conspiracy, whereby if Denmark and Sweden drew their final game, Italy would be eliminated irrespective of the fact they had obtained 5 points.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2004_Group_C
Incidentally in 1994, Mexico, ourselves, Italy and Norway all finished on 4 points. So it is possible to get 4 points and still finish bottom.
It is also possible to get two wins and be eliminated. If the three top teams all beat the dud team and then win one of their matches against the other big teams and lose their other match against the other big team, you will have a situation where 3 teams all end on 6 points. Not sure if its ever happened but certainly is a mathemathical possibility.
Last edited by French Toasht; 16/10/2011 at 1:51 PM.
You can also go through with just 3 points I think.
You can, if the 3 points are from 3 draws ….I think.
Yeah and you can lose 2 and win one and go through aswell.
Yes, I was envisaging the following:
Team A wins all 3 games.
B beats C.
D beats B.
C beats D.
B, C & D all have 3 points - "mini-group" winner goes through.
Last edited by Stuttgart88; 17/10/2011 at 6:01 PM.
Yeah, that nearly happened at the 2002 World Cup. Mexico were winning 1-0 against Italy in the final group match. Del Piero came on and scored a late equaliser and Italy ended up going through on 4pts. As it turned out though, even if they hadn't equalised, they would have qualified anyway on only 3pts.
World Cup 2002 - Group G
Nearly?
At least I can offer a 3 draw example, Chile in 1998, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_FIFA_World_Cup_Group_B
Cameroon in '82 as well. First team to be knocked out of the World Cup without losing a game (followed by England later that same tournament).
Edit - Italy going through obviously being the relevant example...
Last edited by pineapple stu; 17/10/2011 at 4:45 PM.
Looks like the 3 draw example is winning hands down.
Is that, 3 points from a win being good enough, just a mere theory?
talk of us regarding finals groups at this stage is ridiculous.
would estonia (ranked 58) putting us (ranked 29) out be any bigger of a shock than slovenia (49) putting russia (12) out of the last wc play-offs?
there is nearly always a bolter from the play offs and id say we are everyones favourite to lose out if it happens again this time.
anyone remember latvia euro 04 (v turkey), switzerland 06 (v turkey again)?
when have we ever been good as favourites?????
playing away first worries me. i can see a drab nil all in estonia followed by 1 all at home and estonia going through on away goals
Last edited by jbyrne; 17/10/2011 at 4:44 PM.
We are already in the last 8 with 3 draws.
Bosnia are going to upset the play-off apple cart and gain revenge on Portugal.
I think you're spot on by giving Estonia the respect that they deserve. In fairness, for the first few days after the draw, I was on cloud nine imagining myself drinking Polish beer in a Krawkow square after the Boys in Green beat the English 1-0 If the Irish team were as complacent as us fans, then we really could get turned over badly!
I don't think that we would have beaten Serbia and Slovenia away from home. Also, if we took 6 points off the North in a competitive group, I would be overjoyed. They are clearly a team greater than the sum of their parts and given that they might not be in this situation for another few years, their players will not make it easy for us. Better teams than Ireland have lost to teams far worse than Estonia.
However, I still stand by my belief when the draw was made that if this was a competitive group, I would only be satisfied with 6 points. This is a playoff that is ours only to lose.
Does anyone know if the Estonians have any suspensions?
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