NI v Latvia : Any Predictions?

[Dassa]

Well lads match day tomorrow any scorelines predicted for the match.

Im an optimist another win please - 3-2

[stickyjoe]

would be typical of ni to mess up after a decent result on saturday but i reckon yous will sneak it 2-1.

good luck

[paul_oshea]

ya ive a feeling ye will draw this one, though it would be nice for to see ye win.

good luck.

[Dassa]

yea I fear us letting ourselves down. seems to be the case when we are favourites. Latvia 4-0 defeat of Iceland really put into context what a poor result we had against Iceland, i hope we have learned from our mistakes.

[Dublin12]

The North 0 Latvia 3

[paul_oshea]

dublin 12 i dont think its going to be that much in fairness, though imagine if ye had beaten iceland where ye would be now? a draw against latvia tonight would even be seen as a good result. but now ye really need to win.

i see sanchez wants NI to overtake rep of ireland in the rankings, that is his goal!!!! what the fcek does he have a goal like that for? a bit petty if you ask me, though Im sure from a NI point of view ye loved that comment. NI should be looking to up their seedings for future qualifying tables and that way make things easier for you in maybe reaching a finals....

[Dassa]

It not that its petty. He sees the ROI as our greatest rivals and the team immediately in front of us in terms of the 'home Nations' to catch.

i think every country sets targets and as you are 10 places ahead of us, to climb 10 places would be a good target for us.

[OwlsFan]

0-1 Latvia I am afraid or possibly 0-0.

[EalingGreen]

i see sanchez wants NI to overtake rep of ireland in the rankings, that is his goal!!!! what the fcek does he have a goal like that for? a bit petty if you ask me, though Im sure from a NI point of view ye loved that comment. NI should be looking to up their seedings for future qualifying tables and that way make things easier for you in maybe reaching a finals....

When LS took over, his objectives were:
1. To score a goal - we hadn't done for over 12 games;
2. To win a game - we hadn't done since Adam was a Lad;
3. To move into the top 100 in the rankings - we were 120something (below Cyprus, inter alia).

As he has achieved these, he has consistently set higher targets.

I think the NI-ROI comment was part of his latest target, designed to highlight how far we've come. As he went on to point out, when he took over, NI and Scotland were in the doldrums, whereas ROI and Wales were flying high. We've now overtaken Wales (in our last WCQ Group), so the ROI are in our sights next. As such, these other 4 "home" countries are a reasonable benchmark (imo)

As for the seedings, although there is no direct correlation, if a team rises in the rankings, it usually means they are winning matches (esp. competitive matches vs. higher-ranked opposition), which will improve a team's seeding coefficient.

This sort of objective-setting and motivation is something Steve Staunton might consider, what with all his talk of planning for "four years time".

[Of course, it may be that he has an additional agenda, if the rumours are correct that he's on a bonus scheme, related to NI's ranking! ]

[-lamb-]

well, he's earned another few quid tonight then!

[David]

Superb result. How good would it be if it was not for the Iceland debacle. Completely outplayed Latvia in the first half and had good chances in the second with a goal ruled offside despite the goalscorer (Davis) being onside and Lafferty being off but did not touch the ball.

[paul_oshea]

ya, but like irelands performance last night, which we should have won, are these results in effect created by the shambles that was iceland? ye would be 10 points now in second 3 points ahead of anyone else. who knows? draws away from home against the bigger teams etc......home wins against the lesser nations....its going to be a tight group....