Good away draw for the Sasanach !Originally Posted by geysir
Way ahead of you
Only nerds go there.
I'll pass your comment on to the person who told me
Sweden beat Lux 4-0, Lux had a player sent off just 20 minutes into the game, a straight red.
The dices are now loading up in Sweden's favour, but they are at the rear of the chasing pack.
I see there have been a raft of enforced withdrawals from the Italian u21 squad, up to 8 of them. And now there's some talk that the Italian u20 squad will replace their u21 squad and face Ireland tomorrrow. That could augur well, then again the u20s might well be as good if not a better unit.
It's the under 20s but I think still with four or five first teamers from the under 21s, so it's not the under 20s really. I'd imagine they'll still be strong, a lot of our players would still be classed as under 20s as well.
Keane O'Shea Given Best Smallbone
Am I right in thinking it would take a pretty major disaster for us not to qualify for this now? Three games left, two of them we'll be red hot favourites to win, even if we did lose the reverse v Iceland. How many dropped points out of the nine available could put us in playoff rather than automatic territory, even if we do slip to second place in the group? We've more points than eight of the nine second placed sides as things stand. Of course it's possible that we could drop to third in the group too but that seems very unlikely.
Ireland were in a good position before you jinxed it.
Quick update, which I think was mentioned in another thread - no more playoffs due to COVID - it's group winners and five best runners-up (not counting results against sixth-place teams). Right now, I think a draw against Italy and a win against Iceland would be enough to put us through as Romania and Poland, currently ranked second and third of the second-placed teams, would not be able to match our record of seventeen points after taking our Luxembourg results out (Germany, Portugal and Scotland, in fourth, fifth and seventh, still could).
If we lose to Italy and beat Iceland, then we will need a couple of favours elsewhere, which is possible - Poland have to play Bulgaria, who are just behind them in their group; Romania finish their campaign at home to their group-toppers Denmark; Scotland are in a group where four teams are in contention, which could lead to a second-placed team with a lower points record; and perhaps Bosnia or Wales will pull off a shock in Germany.
Anything less than that would probably rule us out, even if we hang on for second place
Is the Italy game televised in Ireland?
Eir Sport 1
Think we have a decent chance to win the group. I think we’ll beat Iceland at home and beat Luxembourg. If we can draw with Italy, they have to win every game left to match us on points...
That’s the away game to Iceland which is a difficult place to travel, especially in November - and home against Sweden who beat them recently. Harder games than we have...
Shame for the 21s that we’re missing 7 players with the senior squad... nonetheless, italy playing with a mixed u20/u21 squad helps us...
Last edited by elatedscum; 13/10/2020 at 2:52 AM.
Hard to predict the team.
Bazunu will definitely start in goal.
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Lee O’Connor at right back
Masterson in the centre
Second centre half is hard to predict. If Collins is fit, I think it’ll be him. If not, it’s a toss up between Scales and McCarthy.
Left back will probably be Thomas O’Connor but could easily be Leahy. Leahy is probably defensively better and is the more conservative choice, but O’Connor is the better footballing fullback and will contribute more when we have the ball...
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Coventry will start in a holding midfield role
The Molumby/Knight role will go to either Taylor or Mandriou. Both are talented footballers. Mandriou was good against Sweden. Taylor has had the better time recently at club level.
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As for the number 10, and the front 3, it’s 4 out of 5 I think:
Number 10 could be Ronan or Smallbone.
Centre forward could be Obafemi or Afolabi.
Afolabi could play wide left, Obafemi could play wide right too, Smallbone could also play out side. Then there’s Elbouzedi who has been a regular squad member and can play either wing.
Amazing how strong the side looks considering how it’s missing it’s best players
I would think Smallbone will play alongside Coventry, I hope so. I think he could be good there
Is this televised folks?
only place I heard of is here...
https://www.aceodds.com/bet365-live-.../football.html
Afaiu UEFA’s directives post covid, if a game cannot be rescheduled, the team that were the cause of the cancellation shall forfeit the game. Unless UEFA can order Iceland to concede home advantage and play the game in neutral territory, Iceland should be awarded a 3 nil victory. No way that a rescheduled game could be played in Iceland before March 2021.
Bazunu
L O’Connor
Masterson
Collins
Leahy
Coventry
Taylor
Ronan
Smallbone
Elbouzedi
Obafemi
Good team all things considered
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