Basically our only hope of qualifying now is beating Bulgaria by 1 goal and concede a goal, so a 2-1, 3-2 etc to ensure Finland finish last of if we win by 1-0 or by more than a goal then Bulgaria finish last meaning our results against them wouldn’t count and we still certainly be out. As long as Portugal win the rest of their games and we beat Bulgaria 2-1 then we will
be second and we might stand a chance of getting through as having 3 points as a 2nd place team should be enough to get you through.
Apologies a high scoring 1 goal win for Ireland is required now for Ireland to have any chance of qualifying, 3-2, 4-3 etc. the good thing is we create chances and we can’t defend for **** so there’s every chance of that happening. Essentially todays score line but reversed along with a Portugal clean sweep will see us through.Originally Posted by CSAD
We seemed to tire in the last 20 minutes quite badly leaving mahoney very isolated. Zefi went out of the game totally as well for the last half hour. Not playing zefi as a 10 centrally seems a bit of a waste
I don’t know what but something just didn’t feel quite right from the beginning this campaign, almost felt like a Jim Crawford side. I think what summed it up was the first kick off against Portugal the first thing the Irish team did straight from the kick off is lump the ball down field straight to the Portuguese back four, almost sending a message that we had no intention of even trying to play football. I found it unusual as it’s not something you ever see from the Irish underage sides. And even today even letting Finland dictate the game was incredibly disappointing, we arguably dictated the game more versus Portugal in the 2nd half then the entire game today, yes we created chances but it felt most of the chances were just us breaking out of defense rather than us trying to systematically break down Finland like we did for instances versus Poland in the preliminary round.
So assuming Portugal win against Finland (they've already qualified). Basically, if we win by 2 goals, we come second in the group, Finland come third, Bulgaria come 4th.
But when it gets to the best 7 of 8 second placed qualifiers, only the results vs the first and third teams count. So we'd have 0 points and have a -4 goal difference. So, it's possible to qualify under those circumstances but unlikely.
However, if we one by a single goal, we could go through on goals scored. We'd need to outscore finland across the games excluding the portugal ones, so 1-0 would have us level which means we come 3rd. 2-1 is enough for us to win the group, but Bulgaria still come last. However as CSAD said, if we win 3-2 or 4-3, then we come second and bulgaria come third.
And in that case, we'd have 3 points and a -2 goal difference, which should be enough to qualify, but not definitely. It's further complicated by Russia being kicked out and how their results will be counted for the 2nd place team in their group and Ukraine's group being postponed to April.
Anyway, I hope the boys know if they're 3-0 up, going into the last few minutes, they've got to throw the ball into their own net twice.
Yeah, the GD is an issue but it’s incredibly unlikely that all 8 teams will have 3 points so a win should be enough if by the right margin.
Final game kicked off 15 minutes ago, already 1-0 down
Live text commentary here: https://www.uefa.com/under17/match/2034000--republic-of-ireland-vs-bulgaria/
Portugal leading Finland 2-1 in the other game in the group: https://www.uefa.com/under17/match/2...d-vs-portugal/
It’s 2-2!
Ireland now just need 1 more goal and they will have the 3-2 result they need to give them a fair shout of qualifying with 15 minutes left!
Portugal 6-1 up in the other game, so that’s done there.
So one goal and it looks good
That one goal didn't come I assume.
You assume correct!
They showed great character to come from 2-0 down to make it 2-2 and give themselves a fighting chance of qualifying. Ultimately they haven’t shown enough over the 3 games to deserve it. I would put a lot of blame at the coaches door for these performances, for whatever reason they just never looked comfortable and looked bereft of
Ideas.
CSAD - just wondering, is this the group of players who Andy Reid took over at u15s level a couple of years ago before heading off? Because if so, they were a poor side (in comparison to other years) under him, just Zefi and Vata have glossed over things a bit perhaps.
also, cathal heffernan was weak against Portugal, and sounds like he made howlers against Finland too?
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
No Jason Donoghue was definitely in charge, it was my first season following them so I definitely would know!
We just seemed like a very badly organized team but afew players with moments of brilliance here or there papered over the cracks.
yes, that's right, Jason Donohoe. good man well remembered. I struggle to identify the different years unless I get to see them in flesh.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
He follows me on Twitter, so I asked him about declaring, said he's never spoken to anyone at the FAI
Thanks Tets. That's a shame . Hopefully he goes on to have a fine career anyways
I passed on the contact email address I've used before to him, we'll see what happens next
What is his link to us ?
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