Was Irelands qualifying group the toughest?

**tricky_colour** · 25/06/2006, 6:42 PM

Given that both France and Switzerland have survived the group stages our group must have been one of the toughest to qualify from, two teams from the worlds top 16, or better depending on how they do. I wouldn't be surprised it they both made the quarter finals. Actually I will answer my own question, it was the toughest group, no other group produced two second stage teams. So much for the luck of the Irish eh?

**Junior** · 25/06/2006, 8:16 PM

Group A Table
1 Germany
2 Ecuador
3 Poland
4 Costa Rica

Group B Table
1 England
2 Sweden
3 Paraguay
4 Trinidad and Tobago

Group C Table
1 Argentina
2 Holland
3 Ivory Coast
4 Serbia & Montenegro

Group D Table
1 Portugal
2 Mexico
3 Angola
4 Iran

Group E Table
1 Italy
2 Ghana
3 Czech Republic
4 USA

Group F Table
1 Brazil
2 Australia
3 Croatia
4 Japan

Group G Table
1 Switzerland
2 France
3 South Korea
4 Togo

Group H Table
1 Spain
2 Ukraine
3 Tunisia
4 Saudi Arabia

I would probably disagree. France and Swiss were in the same group and a relatively weak one at that.

Of the 14 european nations only 4 didn't get through to the knockout stages. Poland and Croatia were a disappointment, S&M were in a very tough group and the Czechs fell foul to the surprise package in Ghana.

As far as I am concerned you could have swapped France or the Swiss in our qualifying group for any of the other 12 European nations that qualified and we would still have struggled to do any better.

I think the fact the 2 teams from our qualifying group have reached the knock out stages is in part due to the WC group they found themselves in. France have not looked great, though the Swiss have looked solid enough.

Lets see how France & The Swiss fair in the last 16 games compared to the other european nations.

**tricky_colour** · 25/06/2006, 9:41 PM

Nonetheless two countries from our group made it through. South Korea, are probably better than Ecuador, Ghana and Australia, teams which did qualify ahead of European teams. But as you say we will have a better idea of how good (or bad) we are relatively speaking after KO round one. The further they go the better we look in comparison.

**TheOwl** · 25/06/2006, 9:43 PM

Ehhh even so - we still only finished fourth in our group

**Closed Account 2** · 25/06/2006, 10:35 PM

Originally Posted by tricky_colour

Was Irelands qualifying group the toughest?

Short answer, no. It was a hard group, but not as hard as the Ukraine / Turkey / Greece / Denmark group.

**Declan_Michael** · 26/06/2006, 7:04 PM

We qualified for 2002 in a group containing Portugal and Holland, then overcame a tricky playoff against Iran. The group for 06 was a stroll compared to that - especially when you consider the so called heavyweights France are an aging side. Our side of 04-05 was more experienced than that of 00-01.

**TheJamaicanP.M.** · 26/06/2006, 7:41 PM

Originally Posted by Declan_Michael

We qualified for 2002 in a group containing Portugal and Holland, then overcame a tricky playoff against Iran. The group for 06 was a stroll compared to that - especially when you consider the so called heavyweights France are an aging side. Our side of 04-05 was more experienced than that of 00-01.

Yea you're right. Indeed, I think the starting XI we put out in some of the qualifying games was the most experienced international side in Europe. For one of the games I recall that our starting XI had an average of 45 caps each, which is a high number of international caps.

We had the luxury of picking 11 Premiership players which is something Switzerland were not capable of. They had to rely on the West Brom reserve right-back, Bernt Haas for most of the qualifiers. He wouldn't get near our squad. In tonight's game, they started with a kid at centre-half who has only played a handfull of games for Arsenal.

Man for man, there are European teams at the World Cup that are no stronger than Ireland. What cost Ireland in the qualifiers was a poor attitude, lack of passion, dreadful tactics and woeful management.