Group winners and 2 runners up? Not adding an extra roundOriginally Posted by Dodge
It is broke given the size of our regional tournament proportional to strength of our region. No other continent in the world has teams the quality Bosnia, Belgium etc who continuously miss their regional tournament. What is the point of another tournament to face off the same elite nations who'll be facing off again in 2 years time and previously 2 years ago in the world cups? The Euros needs greater coverage of the continent and not just being a world cup minus the non-euro teams. No other region has their regional tournament entry numbers practically identical to their world cup allocation.
An easier way would be to have 12 groups ( 4 of 5 and 8 of 4) Group winners and runners up to qualify apart from the 2 worst 2nd placed teams who play-off for the last spot.
Draw could look something like this…..(based on Seeding today)
Would be short but not boring I think.Code:Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Group 6 Spain Germany Netherlands Engalnd Croatia Denmark Switzerland Norway Czech Rep Bosnia Slovenia Hungary Armenia Romania Ukraine Belgium Estonia Austria Lithuania Bulgaria Georgia Macedonia N Ireland Azerbaijan Malta Liechtenstein Andorra San Marino Group 7 Group 8 Group 9 Group 10 Group 11 Group 12 Portugal Italy Russia Greece Sweden Rep of Ireland Turkey Serbia Wales Slovakia Scotland Montenegro Poland Belarus Finland Latvia Albania Isreal Luxembourg Faroe Is Cyprus Iceland Moldova Kazahkstan
Bosnia and Belgium have the same opportunity to qualify as everyone else has.
Most of these additional nations will be eliminated early and the same elite nations will face off regardless.
If we've learned anything from the last couple of weeks -just getting to these things and performing poorly when you get there is not enough.
Quoting years at random since 1975
Bosnias "opportunity" to qualify for the WC in 2010 was to knock out either Spain or Portugal. For Euro 2012 their opportunity was to knock out France or Portugal. The demands are justified for a world cup but not for a regional championships. Are chile, Peru or Ecuador asked to eliminate Brazil to qualify for the Copa America? Well they're all ranked lower then Bosnia and yet have far greater opportunities to exist frequently in a major tournament purely because of geographical location.
Last edited by Murfinator; 20/06/2012 at 4:27 PM.
"Belgium, Bosnia etc." are mediocre at best. That's why they continuously fail to qualify.
Four of the 13 European teams at the last World Cup didn't qualify for the Euros. Five of the 14 qualifiers (plus the 2 hosts) for the Euros weren't in the World Cup....
Nobody has to qualify for the Copa America because there are only 10 member countries in COMNEBOL. They even invite teams from other federations to make up the numbers for a 12-team turnament, so you comparison is meaningless.
You have no idea what Bosnia's level is other than its lower than France, Portugal, Spain and higher than everyone else they've faced.
I don't know a huge amount about them but a team with Mignolet, Vermaelen, Fellaini, Vertonghen and Hazard can't be too bad. I'd have all of them in our team.
Don't forget Kompany. I read before there's a lot of mistrust in Belgian sides between players from the French and Dutch sides of the country, along with the native Walloons, who often don't speak the same language as their team mates
There's a saying that the only thing that unites Belgians is the King and the football team.
There are some talented footballers winding their way through for Belgium. I'd have them in my certs to qualify for the next world cup and to do well at the next Euros. You heard it here first.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
Dembele is an excellant footballer. He'll get a big move soon. Lukaku on his way up to
Can't agree with that. Belgium are on the up and if they reach their undoubted potential, they could be a truly world class side. Bosnia have some very good players too and they deserve more tournament opportunities. Some very good international teams didn't make this tournament, so it reduces this happening in the future.
Some very good Irish players and Irish teams have been denied their opportunity to play in tournaments and at least this gives them more opportunity to test themselves at the highest level. The despair I felt in Poland was balanced by my hope that whatever about Brazil 2014, our young guys like McCarthy, McClean, Wilson, Brady and Coleman could be very good players in 2016.
To be fair, it is good that fans from Wales and the North will also have a better chance of getting to tournaments. Ultimately, the bigger nations will still be at the business end of the tournament anyway.
Hardly a bold prediction, everyone has been predicting them to make waves for the past 4 years and it hasn't happened yet. Though as the names of Kompany and Hazard who most people have known about for half a decade begin reaching the uncultured masses no doubt many will have their own "clever" prediction of Belgium achieving something and pass it off as something sagely.
On paper right now they have a team thats better than portugal and top 10 in the world, its young and it'll get better. Forget about qualifying, they could win things although why they've not shown any signs of that so far may very well be an attitude problem that holds them back.
Oh Murf. :-) You're great.
DID YOU NOTICE A SIGN OUTSIDE MY HOUSE...?
funny. So true
I like high energy football. A little bit rock and roll. Many finishes instead of waiting for the perfect one.
They are badly short of a prolific striker. If Lukaku develops as well as they would hope they will be a force to be reckoned with again.
Bring Back Belfast Celtic F.C.
Belgium if things go according to plan are going to be unreal. Remember a few years ago, they were like 70th in the rankings!! The depth of their playing pool is absolutely staggering for such a small country. The only thing is a few of them might be a bit overhyped and not really as good as we're led to believe. On paper, or in a game like football manager they would be awesome. On paper I'd put them on same level as Portugal!
I know a few Belgian lads, most of them put their underachievement in recent years down to bad management. Plenty potential there alright, no real great full backs thou and lacking a striker, until Luka grows up a little, he was a far better (more confident) player pre Chelsea, still just a baby thou, plenty of time for him. Theres 4 Belgians in the Chelsea 1st team squad now, 3 if you leave out the keeper who will probably be sent out to Madrid again. let alone the likes of Vermalen, Kompany, Fellani and whoever I'm forgetting. I wish we had a pool of talent like that! I suppose having a decent domestic league has its advantages.
That lad at(who was at?) Fulham, looked great V the English.
Last edited by Acornvilla; 23/06/2012 at 9:05 AM.
Posting Permissions
Quote
Bookmarks