QuoteMines a pint of carlsberg
Originally Posted by Ruben Sosa
Ireland Bulgaria to qualify for World Cup.
Mines a pint of carlsberg
Fair Play died Nov 18th 2009, Stade Francais.
how in the name of god will the irish beat that wall of an italian defence?
LOL if you think Italy would even think of playing like that against us. Probably in Dublin but no chance in Italy. Counter-attack FYI.
Thankfully we don't have these two away games back to back. There's no easy way to get from Bulgaria to Italy by land (Kosovo???)
The game with Bulgaria on 28th March is in Croker and then Trapp's army marches on Italy.
"There's man all over for you, blaming on his boots the fault of his feet" - Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
we dont have to. two scoreless draws and we will end up beating them on goal difference
But serious why not. The scotlands of this world believed they could beat them (nearly did) so why should we not think the same. Over in Italy fair enough might be asking too much even too get a result but they dont look like they will score goals in the other end either by what I saw of them in Euro 08.
Im really just saying that maybe we should not be frightened of Italy as much as people think we may get the backlash yes but for now I remain hopeful that there light at the end of the tunnel.
I mean if they are going to beat us the way you say should we not just give them the six points now would that be the best thing to do?
Stranger things have happened and who knows, maybe Trappatoni can pull off a victory against a (currently) troubled Italian team.
That said, it should not be overlooked that since the start of 2000, Italy have played 21 competitive matches at home. They have won 17 of these, drawn four and lost none, scoring 45 times and conceding 10. I hardly think this is entirely due to luck or coincidence.
http://www.rsssf.com/tablesi/ital-intres2000.html
Moreover, I've not checked, but when was the last time you won a competitive away match against a ranking team?
ROI could play very well in Italy (and Bulgaria, for that matter) and still come away without a point. Indeed, you could play very well throughout the whole campaign and still not qualify.
Indeed, if Trap is the manager you might reasonably expect him to be, he will make ROI into a very competitive side. Nonetheless, I'd still make Bulgaria favourites (albeit narrowly) for 2nd place in the Group, with Italy overwhelming favourites to win it.
For once EG I would agree with you though on paper I believe that we should have a slightly stronger first team than Bulgaria.
However football is not played on paper and on recent form they have been far better than us and I'd go along with your assessment that this should make them slight favourites to get second place.
I don't see Trapatonni being able to completely turnaround our dire performances over the last few years in the space of a few games and this could leave us playing catch up after the first set of matches. By the end of qualifying I'd expect us to be more competitve and to be playing closer to our full poential but by then it might just be too late to grab second spot. Anyway even if we do get into second place we'll very possibly be beaten in the play off unless we get lucky and avoid one of the better teams.
To sum up I can only see Italy topping the group and think it will be between ourselves and Bulgaria vying for second spot (the other teams will take points off ourselves and Bulgaria but will not be consistently competitive enough IMO to seriously stake a claim for second spot). I would think Bulgaria will struggle to beat anyone they are likely to get in the play offs. We should be more competitive against some of the better teams though might still fall short.
As for anyone thinking we'll beat Italy twice then you are living in footballing fantasyland. I'd be overjoyed if we got 2-3 points off them.
Last edited by youngirish; 24/06/2008 at 2:33 PM.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/foot...ly/7471598.stm
Italy have got rid of Donadoni. It won't be the same Italy that face Ireland in the qualifying group. With there players, if they get a better manager, they can easily do a lot better than they did in the Euros.
Extratime.ie
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I don't know why I thought we had back to back away matches against Italy and Bulgaria.
I think saying ''we will win'' is a bit stupid, and I shouldn't have said it. A nation the size of Ireland IMO should never expect to qualify. Saying that minimizes the efforts the managers and player have gone through to qualify.
I would be dissapointed if we don't qualify, but I really want our credibility back. Ok we finished third in Euro 2008 qualifers, but it was the worst of the third place finishes of these Islands in my opinion(Scotland, England, Northern Ireland)
If we play well, and come November 2010 we haven't qualifed, then so be it.
What can they do better though? They were beaten in a fluke game by Holland, and went out on penalties to the best team in the competition arguably.
No matter who Italy have as their coach they will never run away with a qualification campaign. They don't play their ultra defensive style anymore(they did for some reason against Spain) but they are a team who struggles to score goals.
They are not a team to be frightened by, but they are a bitch to play against.
Having said that I remember Gilardino scoring a few against us a while back in a friendly.
i think people are getting caught up in the whole trapa fever, he is a top coach but he is not working with a brilliant squad , as i have said previously i do not expect to be supporting the boys in green in africa, but i will be delighted if we get into the playoffs and then lets see who we draw.
Was he crazy!! Yeah , in a very special way , an Irishman.
I slept, and dreamed that life was Beauty;
I woke, and found that life was Duty.
I think we were in a far far worse position 8 years ago. Remember seeing Holland and Portugal (both class acts) as the 2 defeated semi finalists in our group. We actually beat Cyprus 4-0 twice in that campaign... I think that was a much harder ask then the next one, so you never know.
Italy don't have the class players that they used have
No you're right , I look at the team sheet and see Buffon , Cannavarro , Aquilani , De Rossi , Pirlo , Gattuso , Toni , Chiellini , Cassano , Zambrotta and wonder where it all went wrong for them
If we improve and win our first three games then winning the group is not beyond us. But it will take massive improvement for that to happen and the emergence of a few stars (such as mcGeady stepping up to a Ribery type level which I believe he is capable of). The Italian's will always be strong and if we can get 2 points off of them then that will be huge. I would be very happy with 2 draws against the Italian's and 2 against the Bulgarian's. Then win every other match. A bit like 02 qualifying.
I think we have an excellent chance of progressing...how many friendlies do we have before qualifying begins?
1 more left against Norway away in August. im more confident than iv been in a while regarding our qualification hopes. I think we will get 2 draws against Italy and i also think we will beat Bulgaria twice.
I was looking for details everywhere about the norway game but the FAI site is crap. Who do ye think RTE will get to replace Brady?
Graeme Souness
btw I'm very glad it isn't souness involved with the Irish team!!
Souness will be a better analyst (than the often times drab Brady) but I much rather Brady involved with the team than the disasterous Souness. A win-win imho.
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