Official Seedings Thread

[ramondo]

San Marino. When was the last time they didn't lose a qualifier?

Hearing someone say "well, at least we're guaranteed 6 points against San Marino" seems, on current form, presumptuous.

[eirebhoy]

Cyprus will destroy San Marino in their home stadium. Cyprus are about as strong as an Eircom league XI. An EL XI could give any team a decent game at home as Cyprus usually do. San Marino's best player plays in Serie C1 and they're the worst team in Europe. The rest of their players play in San Marino I think which I guess is probably equivalent to a decent Sunday league over here. A draw against them in San Marino would be a lot more embarassing than the 5-2 defeat to Cyprus.

Just to put their league into perspective.

The Champions of San Marino lost 7-1 on aggregate to APOEL of Cyprus this season in the 1st round of the UEFA cup. APOEL finished 3rd in the Cypriot league.
The previous Champions lost 8-0 on agg to NK Domzale of Slovenia.
The year before that they lost 9-1 to FK Zeljeznicar of Bosnia.
And before that they lost 9-0 to a Russian team.

[cavan_fan]

I can't think of another international team that I would be as confident we would beat. Obviously anything could happen but I would have thought if we played the 100 times we would win 99. This isnt being disrespectful, it's being realistic.

[galwayhoop]

San Marino V Leitrim would be a fairer match than SM V ROI.... see below:

San Marino:
Population (2006 est.): 29,251
Largest city: Serravalle: 8,700
Currency: Euro
Source: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107939.html

Leitrim:
Population (2006 Census): 28,837
Largest Town: Carrick-on-Shannon: 8,192 (includes rural area)
Currency: Euro
Source: http://www.cso.ie/census/documents/2...naryReport.pdf

Now I think than the National Team should be able to beat a Leitrim Select XI.... shouldn't we????

[livehead1]

San Marino V Leitrim would be a fairer match than SM V ROI.... see below:

San Marino:
Population (2006 est.): 29,251
Largest city: Serravalle: 8,700
Currency: Euro
Source: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107939.html

Leitrim:
Population (2006 Census): 28,837
Largest Town: Carrick-on-Shannon: 8,192 (includes rural area)
Currency: Euro
Source: http://www.cso.ie/census/documents/2...naryReport.pdf

Now I think than the National Team should be able to beat a Leitrim Select XI.... shouldn't we????

For the first time in our history we are now ranked below the north, see bbc:

N Ireland ranked above Republic

Lawrie Sanchez has guided Northern Ireland into the top 50
Northern Ireland have overtaken the Republic of Ireland in the Fifa rankings for the first time.
After beating Latvia in their most recent Euro 2008 qualifier, Northern Ireland have risen 13 places to 45 while the Republic slip to 49.

It is Northern Ireland's highest ranking since 1995 and the Republic's lowest for eight years.

Steve Staunton's Republic suffered a 5-2 defeat in Cyprus before holding the Czech Republic to a draw at home.

Under Sanchez, Northern Ireland have risen from 124th place in the rankings.

However, their progress did not stop the former Wimbledon midfielder considering his position in September after receiving criticism he felt his team did not deserve.

Sanchez recently stated that he would like to get Northern Ireland higher than the Republic during his time in charge.

[cavan_fan]

Although the food in San Marino may be better than in Leitrim

[antrimgreen]

Totally depressing them ranking.

[pineapple stu]

San Marino. When was the last time they didn't lose a qualifier?

Hearing someone say "well, at least we're guaranteed 6 points against San Marino" seems, on current form, presumptuous.

I said we should beat them, and we should. I didn't say we will beat them.

Stastically, a Lansdowne Road crowd XI should be as good as San Marino. I wouldn't see it as presumptuous that the best 11 players from the crowd would lose to the 11 players they're watching represent their country!!

[EalingGreen]

taking 6 points off wales is do able.

Having seen Wales in recent years, I would have to agree. That said, their problem is inconsistency, often stemming from not having all their top players available, plus Toshack's policy of giving youth its head.
But considering how poor the ROI have been recently, the Welsh may be equally justified in thinking they could take 6 points.
Frankly, any of 0, 1, 2, 4 or 6 points could be the ROI's haul from the two Welsh games, with my money being on two points (and one or four dead-heating for the "podium places").

[Paddy Garcia]

Sanchez recently stated that he would like to get Northern Ireland higher than the Republic during his time in charge.

He might still get fired for a lack of ambition.

[galwayhoop]

Although the food in San Marino may be better than in Leitrim

but nothing in comparison to the cuisine de cavan i'm sure

[eirebhoy]

			World Cup 2006	Euro 2008		
		Team	Played	Points	Played	Points	Avg Points
1	A	Holland	12	32	4	10	2.625
2	A	Sweden	10	24	4	12	2.571
3	A	Germany			4	10	2.5
4	A	Croatia	10	24	4	10	2.429
5	A	Czech   12	27	4	10	2.313
6	A	England	10	25	4	7	2.286
7	A	Serbia	10	22	4	10	2.286
8	B	Portugl	12	30	3	4	2.267
9	B	Poland	10	24	4	7	2.214
10	B	Italy	10	23	4	7	2.143
11	B	Romania	12	25	3	7	2.133
12	B	Turkey	12	23	3	9	2.133
13	B	France	10	20	4	9	2.071
14	B	Ukraine	12	25	3	6	2.066
15	C	Greece	12	21	3	9	2.000
16	C	Russia	12	23	4	8	1.937
17	C	Denmark	12	22	3	7	1.933
18	C	Norway	10	18	3	6	1.846
19	C	Slovak.	12	23	4	6	1.813
20	C	Switz.	10	18			1.800
21	C	Israel	10	18	4	7	1.786
22	D	Spain	10	20	3	3	1.770
23	D	Bulgar.	10	15	4	8	1.649
24	D	Ireland	10	17	5	7	1.600
25	D	Finland	12	16	5	11	1.588
26	D	Scotlnd	10	13	4	9	1.571
27	D	Austria	10	15			1.500
28	D	Bosnia	10	16	4	4	1.429
29	E	Belgium	10	12	5	7	1.267
30	E	Hungary	10	14	4	3	1.214
31	E	Latvia	12	15	3	3	1.200
32	E	Sloven.	10	12	3	3	1.154
33	E	N.Irel	10	9	4	7	1.143
34	E	Estonia	12	17	3	0	1.133
35	E	Lithua.	10	10	3	4	1.077
36	F	Belarus	10	10	4	4	1.000
37	F	Maced.	12	9	5	7	0.941
38	F	Albania	12	13	3	1	0.933
39	F	Wales	10	8	3	3	0.846
40	F	Georgia	12	10	4	3	0.813
41	F	Cyprus	10	4	4	4	0.571
42	F	Liecht.	12	8	3	0	0.533
43		Armenia	12	7	4	1	0.500
44		Iceland	10	4	4	3	0.500
45		Malta	10	3	3	3	0.462
46		Moldova	10	5	4	1	0.429
47		Andorra	12	5	4	0	0.313
48		Azerb.	10	3	4	1	0.286
49		Kazakh.	12	1	5	2	0.176
50		Faroes 10	1	4	0	0.071
51		Luxem.	12	0	3	0	0
52		San M.	10	0	4	0	0

[gustavo]

Some more spin for Delaney to fire out
"Hey we might be managed by a man out of his depth ,
clueless tactically ,
lacking in belief,
ran incompetently
but when all is said and done ,WE ARE BETTER THAN SCOTLAND SO THERE!"

[shakermaker1982]

still in bloody pot D!

[eirebhoy]

So are Spain.

[neville neville]

Sorry for not knowing this but do friendlys count towards seeding, considering the are 2 winable games in US in the summer. although maybe it would be a good thing if it didnt count as we'd get spanked on current form. Hopefully we'll have a new manager by then

[geysir]

This is the real thing, friendlies don't count.
I like the way we are written as Ireland.
Proper order, none of this ROI shíte.

Belgium are on a "bit" of a downer.

[Jerry The Saint]

2 winable games in US in the summer.

Who are we playing, Djibouti and Guam

[clearskies]

This is the real thing, friendlies don't count.
I like the way we are written as Ireland.
Proper order, none of this ROI shíte.

Belgium are on a "bit" of a downer.

Do they still call Ireland Eire on BBC and UTV???

[Bungle]

Does anybody have the link to that upto date seedings page? It would be good to see know where we stand.

If this group is about damage control and we're looking at getting into the third seeds batch for the World Cup, then there appears to have been some good results last night i.e Belgium being hammered, Norway losing at home to Bosnia (although they must be a rival of ours, as they are fourth seeds also), Estonia losing to Russia and Denmark losing in Spain.

To be comfortable of nicking into the third seeds batch, we'll have to take 12 points of the Welsh and Slovaks, though I think 9 points should be enough.