QuoteAnd me. They deserve it.
Well, regardless of all the fights that go on here, I'm sure I won't be the only one cheering for "Norn Iron" tonight. They've had a great campaign and it would be cool to see them make a tourney.
And me. They deserve it.
I was '' gutted'' they didn't make it
Very creditable performance both last night and overall. Who was the co-commentator on BBC NI? It was funny in the first half, Fullerton(?) saying they've got to get closer to the Spanish and the co-commentator saying "that's easy to say but I've tried and you just CAN'T get close to them" and laughed.
was it John O'Neill?
"If God had meant football to be played in the air, he'd have put grass in the sky." Brian Clough.
You'll NEVER beat the Irish.......you'll just draw with us instead!!!
Norn Iron had some great nights in this campaign sadly counterbalanced by a couple of horror show afternoons ...most noteably Iceland.
Last night they had plenty of huff and puff but ...it's still Spain away. They were a little lucky not to be behind sooner as that was a stone cold penalty in the 7th minute.
They can be very happy with their campaign though. To answer the question that gives this thread it's title, notwithstanding our generally better players I'd agree with whoever said you'd have to be an idiot to want NI in your group ahead of us at the moment.
They're better organised and they've a striker who's got his shooting boots on. While we conceded six goals to Cyprus, won two home games against weak teams and by the only goal, can't win away, can't hold a lead, have become sub-useless at set pieces, can't retain possession...
It's not rocket science to conclude that anyone who gets us will conclude they could scarcely get us at a better time.
" I wish to God that someone would be able to block out the voices in my head for five minutes, the voices that scream, over and over again: "Why do they come to me to die?"
Originally Posted by Lionel Ritchie
Yes I dont think anyone will loose sleep if they get us I know.
But lets say Sweden get in our group we have given them few hammerings (all be it in worthless friendly matches I will add) would they be not thinking to themselves we dont want them after the last time we played them??
Also do any ye guys think teams should be higher or lower pot(seed) then what they should be. I mentioned earlier that I cant believe that Hungary are in Pot Three. What are your taughts on this guys???
I suppose England should be in pot Five after last night
[quote=Bungle;819480]In my opinion, pots 2 and 3 are almost inseperable in terms of standard.
I respect your comment
IMO I dont think they. I think Pot 1 are the teams everyone has to beat (or get above) in order for them to qualify for WC2010.
Pot2 have teams which certainly not as strong as Pot 1 most teams in Pot 2 I would not fear
but San Marino in Pot 6 does frighten me
Norway
Ukraine
Serbia
Denmark
Northern Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Finland
Switzerland
Belgium
If i was looking at this as a pot 2 or 4 team, i would want to avoid Switzerland, Serbia, Ukraine and Ireland. Norway or Denmark i take if offered. I would consider Finland, Belgium or NI a result.
Notwithstanding that it couldn't happen since we share 3rd Seeding, I would remind you of our last 5 competitive home results:
Spain W 3-2
Latvia W 1-0
Liechtenstein W 3-1
Sweden W 2-1
Denmark W 2-1
You might well beat us at Croke, but we'd hammer you at Windsor. That's right, I said "hammer".
We have better players than the North that's beyond doubt. But they are getting results at the minute where we aren't and fair play to them for it. I'd still expect us to take at least 4 points off them in a qualifying group though, espicially if (when?) we get a decent manager.
Fingers crossed we get Israel from pot 2. I would sincerly like to give Mr. Dudu Awat a nice good Dublin welcome
Looking at this group we are maybe only ahead of Denmark at the moment. I think a top seed would be worried about playing us away from home but I dont think they would consider us a threat to their qualification. Remember we are a country who have not won a decent game away from home since 1987!!
Notwithstanding that it couldn't happen, i would remind you you haven't beaten us in a competative fixture since 1979. I would remind you that NI are at a high point, while we are at a low. Despite this we both finished 3rd in our groups. We sacked our manager, while you lot are getting the MBE's out.
History is against you maintaining that level of performance, and against us maintaining our recent bad form.
But don't feel you have to believe me, why not ask someone with real experince of international football?
"I will be going to UEFA to ask if there's any possibility of exchanging the Republic of Ireland for Northern Ireland in our Group."
Karl Bruckner - Jan 2006
I wasn't basing my prediction on events from nearly 30 years ago, rather events from the last 3 or 4 years. (Anyhow, competitive fixture or no, remind me of the score the last time the two teams met? It was recent enough for half of our team still to be playing, after all
Aye, but NI are unlikely to slump immediately from our "high point", nor the ROI to rise immediately from your "low point" - at least not before the last WC Qualifier in 2009.
You finished 3rd in a weaker Group, having gained 17 points, almost all of them from the minnows in your Group. We finished 3rd in a tougher Group, having gained 20 points, including 11 out of 18 against Spain, Sweden and Denmark.
Er, we lost our manager (poached by a Premiership team) half way through the qualifiers, when we were top of the Group. It could be argued that had we kept him, we might well have qualified. As for a replacement, we may be closer to securing a decent appointment (Worthington) than the FAI.
Perhaps, but these things don't change overnight. I'm talking about if we met ROI in the next 18 months to 2 years.
Nah, he left his best years behind him at Bresden...
http://www.royoftherovers.com/whoswho/brucknerkarl.htm
Besides, as the man says, these days Roy of the Rovers reads David Healy comics
There's a flaw in your argument EG. You say yourself you only get points from good teams and we only get points from the small teams. We're crap, you're small, so only one outcome...
The one area i will agree you lot are stronger is an abundance of half decent managers. If Ian Dowie was from the south he would probably have been appointed by now
We were also the only team in our group to go through our home programme unbeaten, which is more than can be said for our NI friends. With a decent boss, we'd have at least picked up 5 more points from the Cyprus games and a win in Slovakia, to claim 24 points, possibly 2 more from Wales away, and a draw from Prague to make it 27 in total.
Our EC campaign was a fluke with a clueless puppet "in charge". Things will return to normal next time, even if only with a semi-decent boss.
Hibernian makes a very valid point that what we really need is a fairly weak 1st seed (Greece or Czech Republic spring to mind), as ultimately if we get a team like Italy, the chances are we will be fighting it out with the second and fourth seeds for the playoff place.
i was watching Eurosport yesterday and the commentator made the point that the average age of the Czech team is approaching 30. After this tournament, they will have to seriously rebuild and whoever gets them as a frst seed has landed on their feet.
ultimately, Ireland need to learn to go to places like Georgia and Azerbijan and come away with the three points, if we are to have any hope of finishing in the top 2 of our group. This is a major flaw with our team at the moment. I could genuinely see us beating a top seed in Dublin, but I would be highly anxious about trips to the old soviet union or yugoslavia. I have a feeling that we will struggle to qualify for tournamanets until we correct this problem and become ruthless like countries like sweden.
regarding northern ireland, their incredible home record makes them a great team for us to avoid. a **** poor n.i team could get a result against us, let alone a well organised and motivated n.i team. also, they have some great talent like cathcart and j.evans coming up. i for one am glad to avoid them.
dream on. while ye are getting good results at home ye still very rarely beat teams by more than a goal - the above exception being liechtenstein. yet you would expect to hammer us???? of the teams listed above the Irish team, at this moment in time, would sit somewhere in the same stakes as sweden / denmark. in that we would be reasonably confident playing either team (and they of us i am sure).Notwithstanding that it couldn't happen since we share 3rd Seeding, I would remind you of our last 5 competitive home results:
Spain W 3-2
Latvia W 1-0
Liechtenstein W 3-1
Sweden W 2-1
Denmark W 2-1
You might well beat us at Croke, but we'd hammer you at Windsor. That's right, I said "hammer".
to even think ye would hammer us is a bit rich. also while i think sanchez did a fantastic job with ye i don't really rate Worthington since he took over. losses against iceland and latvia would not inspire confidence in me anyway.
i have a feeling that the 'punching above yer weight' which sanchez had ye doing fairly regularly may prove too much for the players ye have who, lets admit it are not world class incl. the effective, for ye, healy who has struggled in ther EPL.
that said i think ye could manage 3rd in yer world cup qualifing group, but i reckon ye may finish 4th/5th tbh.
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