Will Ireland Qualify for WC2010??

**Hibernian** · 14/05/2008, 2:15 PM

Do you guys think we will be seeing South Africa in 2 years time at this stage?

Personally I think we can do it but me thinks it will be through the play-offs.

What are your reasons for thinking we will/wont get there??

All opinions welcome and what do you think needs to be changed for us to be successful in reaching our fourth World Cup??

**Greenforever** · 14/05/2008, 2:37 PM

Originally Posted by Hibernian

Do you guys think we will be seeing South Africa in 2 years time at this stage?

Personally I think we can do it but me thinks it will be through the play-offs.

What are your reasons for thinking we will/wont get there??

All opinions welcome and what do you think needs to be changed for us to be successful in reaching our fourth World Cup??

Yes we will qualify as it's so far away....

Seriously we need to tighten up our defence and learn how to defend a 1-0 lead when neccessesary.

This I believe will be Trap's strong point.

We have a lot of potential goalscorers and Im confident that we will score in all our qualifiers with the exceptions of Italy & Bulgaria away.

I can see us off to a flyer with 12 points on the board before the critical double header of Bulgaria home and Italy away next March / April. A home win there would be huge.

I reckon we should get 2nd spot and an outside chance of winning the group. Remember our managment team are made up of winners and to them 2nd will be failure if they don't win a play off.

**seanog2001** · 14/05/2008, 2:43 PM

i reckon we can qualify alright but its going to take alot of effort and a vast improvement in front of goal at both ends Trapp will sort the defence out its the strikers we should worry about when they fail to score where do the goals come from??

Also people seem to be underestimating how hard a group this actually is Montenegro are no pushovers and they are bottom seeds also Bulgaria have some excellent players the two petrovs and berbatov if will dont qualify it will be deemed failure but its going to take a lot of effort and a hell alot of luck

**Kingdom** · 14/05/2008, 2:45 PM

As far as I'm concerned its all about how we do against Bulgaria and Italy. Primarily Bulgaria.
Obviously its all about what the players do on the pitch, but I really feel we've a manager who will instill a positive attitude into our players against the lesser nations.

what would worry me is that Kerr tried to instill a professional approach in the squad and ultimately it backfired with players sniping to the press.

**Hibernian** · 14/05/2008, 2:46 PM

Originally Posted by Greenforever

Yes we will qualify as it's so far away....

I reckon we should get 2nd spot and an outside chance of winning the group. Remember our managment team are made up of winners and to them 2nd will be failure if they don't win a play off.

Great point I was thinking the same thing there.

Our Management team wont be just happy to get to the World Cup they will want 1/4 final at best and I think that winning attitude that they have can only help Ireland in the short term.

**bellavistaman** · 14/05/2008, 2:48 PM

yes,. if he doesnt do what stan did, if he can get robbie and duffer back to their best, and id love to see a midfield with the creativity of a reid and S. Ireland with steven reid or carsley sweeping up. 3-5-2 the way to go IMO.

**Greenforever** · 14/05/2008, 2:50 PM

Originally Posted by Hibernian

Great point I was thinking the same thing there.

Our Management team wont be just happy to get to the World Cup they will want 1/4 final at best and I think that winning attitude that they have can only help Ireland in the short term.

One of only 2 tournaments Trap has not won, the other being the Euro championships, I reckon he honestly believes we can win the Euros. If that mentality gets through to the players it is possible, look at Denmark and Greece.

**bwagner** · 14/05/2008, 3:11 PM

I think we will see a lot of our players shine and sure there true potenial ..Hunt , Dolye ,Mc Geady, Kelly and the like , we need Ireland back for goals and the extra option of a quality ball player. The like of Finnan , Dunne and Kiely will be vital .I cant see shay playing in many of the 1st games. So Kielys return is a pure godsend,He is a quality keeper who has been there and done that.
Who knows what other players may emerge in this campaign ..somebody like Hoolihan or Rowlands can never be ruled out.
The 1st two games are so important and i think max points will be taken.

**Hibernian** · 14/05/2008, 3:15 PM

I think a key will be the fact that Trapattoni will want to win all games. He wont be going to Italy and Bulgaria and looking to play for draws (of course he will take them) but his attitude will be to try and win and settle for point if needs be.

**jbyrne** · 14/05/2008, 3:58 PM

think we can make the play offs but not convinced we will qualify i'm afraid. we have a good management in place but that guarantees nothing if we simply dont have the players. hope i'm wrong obviously

**Morbo** · 14/05/2008, 4:16 PM

Definitely maybe. I'd give us a little better than a 3-1 shot, maybe rising to 2-1 if we get Finnan and O'Brien back, I expect us to be competitive, with us and Bulgaria competing for the 2nd spot all the way to the last game, I'd be very surprised if we were effectively eliminated with 3 games to go again.

**Kingdom** · 14/05/2008, 4:38 PM

Originally Posted by bwagner

I cant see shay playing in many of the 1st games. So Kielys return is a pure godsend,He is a quality keeper who has been there and done that.

First and foremost I want to say how much I respect Shay Given as a keeper and that I'm glad he is our #1.
But, when it emerged a while back that he took umberage at being dropped for friendlies and made his feelings known about this to the relevant managers I have to say I was surprised and to be honest, angered.
Who the fcuk has the right to dictate to any manager who should play or who should not play in a friendly. For one it contributed to Kiely retiring early. Shay is our number 1 and I'd imagine the other gk's would readily admit this, but friendlies are for testing out alternatives.

**Razors left peg** · 14/05/2008, 4:42 PM

Ive never be so excited with our potential going into a qualifying campaign.I do think Italy, Bulgaria and Montenegro are good teams with some top players but I think they are all vunerable too, and we have some top players ourselves. Berberatov is obvious quality but Robbie has more goals and more assists than him for Spurs. The majority of out first team will be Premiership players and I dont see why facing players from an inferior Serie A should hold any fears for them when they are used to coming up against some of the best players in the world week in and week out.Also as has being said already on here we have a management team of real winners.

**Greenforever** · 14/05/2008, 4:43 PM

Originally Posted by Kingdom

First and foremost I want to say how much I respect Shay Given as a keeper and that I'm glad he is our #1.
But, when it emerged a while back that he took umberage at being dropped for friendlies and made his feelings known about this to the relevant managers I have to say I was surprised and to be honest, angered.
Who the fcuk has the right to dictate to any manager who should play or who should not play in a friendly. For one it contributed to Kiely retiring early. Shay is our number 1 and I'd imagine the other gk's would readily admit this, but friendlies are for testing out alternatives.

while i understand where you are coming from, the other side is his desire to play for his country. if we had more like him!

**carloz** · 14/05/2008, 4:56 PM

I have this horrible horrible feeling that we will be the team that finished second but doesnt get into the playoffs

**Greenforever** · 14/05/2008, 4:57 PM

Originally Posted by carloz

I have this horrible horrible feeling that we will be the team that finished second but doesnt get into the playoffs

dont go there

**Paulie** · 14/05/2008, 5:08 PM

I reckon that we'll end up second to Italy. No great revelation there I know. I also think that Montenegro will have a big say in the outcome of this group. The only reason they are a bottom seed is because they are a newly established independent state so they haven't yet played competitive games. Having had a quick look at their squad it seems as though the majority of their players play in Eastern Europe while they also have a few players in the likes of Italy, Portugal and France etc. I think a combination of the pride they will have in being able to compete as an independent nation in WC qualifiers for the first time and also having some pretty handy players is going to make things very difficult for teams travelling to Montenegro. I know that on the back of the last campaign that some people are saying Cyprus will probably end up 4th in the group but I full expect Montenegro to end up either 3rd or 4th. At least Bulgaria have to go there in their first home competitive match. I'm not trying to make them out to be World beaters or anything, I just think that particularly at home, they are going to cause teams a lot of problems.

http://www.fscg.cg.yu/en/igraci.php?sel=1

**Bungle** · 14/05/2008, 5:26 PM

Georgia 1 Ireland 2
Montenegro 0 Ireland 0
Ireland 2 Cyprus 0
Ireland 2 Georgia 1
Ireland 1 Montenegro 0
Ireland 2 Bulgaria 1
Bulgaria 0 Ireland 0
Cyprus 1 Ireland 1
Ireland 0 Italy 1
Italy 2 Ireland 0

total 18 points.

My prediction should see Ireland go through to the play off. Who we get will determine whether we qualify.

Italy will win the group easily enough, though they could drop points to someone like montenegro. Bulgaria and ourselves will slug it out, but overall I think we are the better team. Many of their players play in the Bulgarian, russian and turkish leagues, while by and large our lads play in the premiership.

could really see montengro being a complete banana skin and the trips to georgia and cyprus will be uncomfortable.

**zenokelly** · 14/05/2008, 7:04 PM

To qualify we can't afford many injuries, if any in defense throughout the campaign. However injuries are always inevitable but to lose Dunne for even 1game could be extremely harmful. I hesitate to think about what our central defense woulkd be up to without him in there, and with the risk that A O Brien won't return.

By the way I would be very happy with a good 4 points from our opening double header and hopefully that will put us on our way.

**back of the net** · 14/05/2008, 9:04 PM

Originally Posted by zenokelly

To qualify we can't afford many injuries, if any in defense throughout the campaign. However injuries are always inevitable but to lose Dunne for even 1game could be extremely harmful. I hesitate to think about what our central defense woulkd be up to without him in there, and with the risk that A O Brien won't return.

By the way I would be very happy with a good 4 points from our opening double header and hopefully that will put us on our way.

agree with that - defensive injuries will make us or break us

And for the players to actually go out and play against the smaller nations and beat them home and away without making a complete f**k up of it.

Also depends on italys performance in the euro's - european success on top of the world cup win would surely mean a lot of retirments from their side and them coming into the WC quals with less experience.

But all in all - we will qualify i think.