Welcome on board Eoin.
Certainly don't want Spain or Russia. Russia beat us easily at Aviva and we were blessed we didn't get a hiding over in Moscow.
Always look on the bright side of life
Cheers for the welcome, anyways!
Been a lurker here for quite a while. Banter usually seems well informed/intended and there's not too much infighting and abuse to have to trawl through. Glad to have finally registered. The excitement of qualifying pushed me to it.
- Back on Topic, aside from the Old Enemy buzz, I can't see why so many people fancy England in the draw. I think they'd be well able for us, with or without Rooney. I know they are usually overhyped, but they have the players, especially on the wings, to see us off handy enough I reckon.
I can understand why most people wouldn't want Spain, but I thought we were hugely off form against Russia in the Aviva, and lacked the ability to control the ball in Moscow. I think in a neutral venue, with so much at stake, and hopefully with some personnel in the team that can out their foot on the ball, that Ireland wouldn't be one bit afraid of Russia.
For me:
Pot 1 - anyone but Spain
Pot 2 - anyone but Germany, though being apart from England and their entourage would be great. Trap has the sign over Italy.
Pot 3 - anyone but Portugal (despite their recent vulnerabilities). Greece or Sweden ideal.
Interestingly we play Pot 1 teams last, so by that stage the nationalistic euphoria might have worn off (or got worse!). Poland is ideal first seed I reckon.
There aren't gonna be any easy points.
I think some people might be underestimating Ukraine a little bit. They seem to be thrown loosely into the same bracket as Poland but I suspect they're a far more dangerous animal. That said, it's difficult to know where they are at right now. They've had fairly mixed firendly results over the past year and a half. I think they might be a very dangerous side on home turf and could go far in the competition.
Wait 'til the hangover sinks in and she finds out that Razor cares more about winning than about her feelings.
Here it is. Or at least this is one of them - it may have been expanded on elsewhere. Anyway we could be number 2, 3 or 4 on the group depending on where we're drawn. So could conceivably be in the opening game, for instance.
Ou-est le Centre George Pompidou?
Well looking at Tuesday's game, any team that score all of their goals from long range like Portugal would be mad not to want us in their group.
Last edited by Charlie Darwin; 17/11/2011 at 3:01 PM.
I just did a hypothetical draw for the craic now and this is what came out!
Group A Group B Group C Group D
Poland Holland Spain Ukraine
Russia Italy England Germany
Portugal Croatia Greece Sweden
France Denmark Czech Ireland
It just shows how hard it is to get a decent group.
I would prefer Poland.....England/Italy.......Greece/Sweden......Ireland......
But i suppose we will get something in the middle....hopefully since....
Its better than the group of death....Spain...Germany...Portugal
Last edited by Hale; 17/11/2011 at 3:19 PM.
I just see all these power houses of Europe and we're among them . I'd take your draw of Ukraine, Germany and Sweden. Reasonable chance of 2nd place there.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
Conjurs up images of you stood at home in the kitchen with a cooking bowl full of plastic balls, possibly on a wooden pallet to provide a raised platform. Possibly Pele is there with you.
The tension is palpable as we progress to Pot 3.
"Nan, if you'd do the honours........................ooh, Croatia".
Quoting years at random since 1975
OK, so the way the draw would work is..? To draw from a bowl with bits of paper saying A2, A3 and A4. They then draw a random team from Pot 2 (based on temperature ). Then onto the bowl with B2, B3 and B4 (obviously they'll have filled B1 and C1 with the two teams from Pot 1 beforehand) and drawing from the remaining names in Pot 2. And so on...
Yup I'd imagine that's exactly how it'll work, UEFA confirm it minus the exact method (or reference to heated balls).
Ou-est le Centre George Pompidou?
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