Preliminary Draw of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil

[Cymro]

Also Cymro... Irishmen will do. There's no such thing as Republic of or Northern Irishmen.

(queue GR)

True, but the two are seperate countries in footballing/political terms, and people have a tendency to say 'Ireland' or 'Irish' when actually referring to the Republic and Northern Irish when talking about the North. Personally I use Irish normally but in this context it makes sense to distinguish.

[backstothewall]

Would like

Greece
Slovakia
southern Ireland
northern Ireland
Faroes
Luxenbourg

Avoiding France Sweden and Russia has to be the priority.

What about this for a group...

England
France
Ireland
Scotland
Faroes
Wales

That might not happen, but I can't help the feeling that we are well overdue to pull England out of the hat. Obviously its impossible to tell this far out, especially with England, they could well be beating the world under Harry Redknapp by then, but if we were playing them tomorrow I would fancy our chances.

[DannyInvincible]

If we're "due" to draw someone from that first pot, it's probably Greece. Ireland have never played Greece in a competitive fixture. Not sure if we've ever played them in a friendly.

[Irish_Praha]

If we're "due" to draw someone from that first pot, it's probably Greece. Ireland have never played Greece in a competitive fixture. Not sure if we've ever played them in a friendly.

I remeber we had a bore scoreless draw with them in 2002 in between McCarthy leaving and Kerr being appointed. Givens stood in as caretaker manager and there were caps given to player who rarely if ever got another one.

Think we also lost agianst them in 2000 when Finnan and a few others made thier international debuts.

[back of the net]

I remeber we had a bore scoreless draw with them in 2002 in between McCarthy leaving and Kerr being appointed. Givens stood in as caretaker manager and there were caps given to player who rarely if ever got another one.

Think we also lost agianst them in 2000 when Finnan and a few others made thier international debuts.

yeah played them in a right borefest in 2002 under givens....pretty sure glen crowe made his ireland debut that night

It was also the game that led to David Connolly and his angry ant nickname for not been a first choice squad member as far as i remember

[backstothewall]

If we're "due" to draw someone from that first pot, it's probably Greece. Ireland have never played Greece in a competitive fixture. Not sure if we've ever played them in a friendly.

We're not that lucky!

[Sullivinho]

I remeber we had a bore scoreless draw with them in 2002 in between McCarthy leaving and Kerr being appointed. Givens stood in as caretaker manager and there were caps given to player who rarely if ever got another one.

Glen Crowe called up after a comical exchange between Givens and David Connolly if memory serves.

I wouldn't mind getting them at all.

Edit: Didn't see back of the net's post there. My memory's grand but the eyesight may be a concern!

[geysir]

I hope ye lot don't get Iceland. "We" prefer to play against sides who play decent football.
"We" definitely don't want Norn Iron, "we" have humped them so many times (a soft 6 pointer), it just wouldn't be a challenge and nothing to learn from the lower grades.

[mypost]

That sunny group wouldn't be the handiest on the field either. The bad group is very bad.

The sunny group wouldn't be the easiest on the field, but at least we could look forward to good weather on the travels.

1988 qualifiers since we last played Luxembourg, about time we got them again. Moldova would be a cheapo trip, and somewhere we haven't played before. As usual, we'll get a mix of challenges. It won't be all hard or all easy. The FAI are praying for a big name, but I'm hoping for a good draw.

Same format as last time, which I hate. At least in the next qualifiers, a top two spot will guarantee qualification.

[Noelys Guitar]

True story. Can't remember the exact date but the draw for the 1982 World Cup took place sometime in late 1980. Absouletely no coverage from RTE (or any of the British channels). Zero. Called up the then Irish Press sports desk (from a pub call box)to get the draw (Which took place on a midweek night). After about 10 mins convincing the hack that I didn't work for the rival paper he eventually told me the draw. Holland was mentioned as top seed and this was greeted with huge roars in the pub (Cumann Inn, Kimmage Road). Travel plans immediately set in motion. It will be great to actually watch the draw tomorrow.

[Charlie Darwin]

I hope ye lot don't get Iceland. "We" prefer to play against sides who play decent football.
"We" definitely don't want Norn Iron, "we" have humped them so many times (a soft 6 pointer), it just wouldn't be a challenge and nothing to learn from the lower grades.

You're starting to sound like a Sligo Rovers fan, geysir.

[Murfinator]

According to random.org the group we draw will be...

Croatia
Serbia
Republic of Ireland
Georgia
Cyprus
San Marino


Think I'd take that.

[mypost]

Like in the last qualifiers, Russia and Georgia can't be in the same group, and Armenia and Azerbaijan also, for reasons which you know. Because of that this time, we avoided the German group, and the long haul to Almaty. Armenia is a spin in comparison to travelling over there.

[BonnieShels]

Like in the last qualifiers, Russia and Georgia can't be in the same group, and Armenia and Azerbaijan also, for reasons which you know. Because of that this time, we avoided the German group, and the long haul to Almaty. Armenia is a spin in comparison to travelling over there.

Never heard about that. Where did you hear about that?

[Crosby87]

If people see some of the groups in the last decades drawn as a result of corruption, or trying to make it easy on certain nations, will this draw be an actual honest draw due to the fact that FIFA are pretending they are not corrupt right now?
Or is the general consensus that they are all pretty much honest draws?

[DannyInvincible]

Never heard about that. Where did you hear about that?

I think they did something like that for the last draw as well.

[DannyInvincible]

If people see some of the groups in the last decades drawn as a result of corruption, or trying to make it easy on certain nations, will this draw be an actual honest draw due to the fact that FIFA are pretending they are not corrupt right now?
Or is the general consensus that they are all pretty much honest draws?

They don't really need to invoke the warming-some-balls-on-a-radiator method when they have the pots seeded anyway.

[geysir]

That would be way too retro, Danny.
These days, it's the FIFA secret ops dept custom designed remote control chip, that powers the heating element inside each ball.

[boovidge]

greece, slovenia,ireland,northern ireland, azerbaijan,luxembourg

that'll do nicely please.

[geysir]

I´m not really that fussy about which top seeded team we get, but definitely would not want Spain or Germany, Italy too because they usually manage to do enough, then Holland have turned into high fliers in the qualification games. So apart from those 4, it's all much of a muchness,
Though Portugal have improved since WC 2010. So apart from those 5, I'm not fussy.