International Distraction Thread - Saturday 13th

mike65

Saturday, 13 October 2007
European Championship Qualifying

Armenia v Serbia, A, 16:00
Azerbaijan v Portugal, A, 17:00
Belarus v Luxembourg, G, 16:00
Belgium v Finland, A, 19:45
Croatia v Israel, E, 19:15
Cyprus v Wales, D, 17:15
Denmark v Spain, F, 19:00
England v Estonia, E, 15:00
Faroe Islands v France, B, 16:00
Greece v Bosnia-Herzegovina, C, 19:30
Hungary v Malta, C, 15:20
Iceland v Latvia, F, 17:00
Italy v Georgia, B, 19:50
Liechtenstein v Sweden, F, 18:00
Moldova v Turkey, C, 19:00
Poland v Kazakhstan, A, 19:30
Rep of Ireland v Germany, D, 19:45
Romania v Holland, G, 18:15
Scotland v Ukraine, B, 15:00
Slovakia v San Marino, D, 14:00
Slovenia v Albania, G, 19:30

The good news is that Lawro has ROI down for a 1-0 win against Germany.

Mike.

Nunu

Armenia v Serbia AWAY
Azerbaijan v Portugal AWAY
Belarus v Luxembourg HOME
Belgium v Finland DRAW
Croatia v Israel HOME
Cyprus v Wales DRAW
Denmark v Spain AWAY
England v Estonia HOME
Faroe Islands v France AWAY
Greece v Bosnia-Herzegovina DRAW
Hungary v Malta HOME
Iceland v Latvia DRAW
Italy v Georgia HOME
Liechtenstein v Sweden AWAY
Moldova v Turkey AWAY
Poland v Kazakhstan HOME
Rep of Ireland v Germany HOME (ever the optimist!)
Romania v Holland DRAW
Scotland v Ukraine DRAW
Slovakia v San Marino HOME
Slovenia v Albania DRAW

International week is always great for accumalator betting. I always seem to do well. Pick all your dead certs and then look for good odds on a couple of the tighter games to bring up the winnings.

shane86

Come on Scotland, always been my no.2 if we werent going to make it, and this cracker at their win in Paris just seals it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1A1Rpr5b9E

Apologies about the bad picture, very few clips available.

Who are the Czechs playing next, Slovakia on Wednesday is it? I know you claimed you were optimistic re Germany, can you stretch it to no Czech wins and 2 losses over the next month?

Nunu

shane86 wrote: »

Come on Scotland, always been my no.2 if we werent going to make it, and this cracker at their win in Paris just seals it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1A1Rpr5b9E

Apologies about the bad picture, very few clips available.

Who are the Czechs playing next, Slovakia on Wednesday is it? I know you claimed you were optimistic re Germany, can you stretch it to no Czech wins and 2 losses over the next month?

Czechs are playing Germany...in Germany. We still have a chance to take it to our last game I tells you:D

shane86

I dont doubt the Germans will beat the Czechs, and us beating zee Germans in Croker isnt impossible. Neither is the Cypriots holding the Czechs to a draw at home. They held Germany to a draw. However, it will take some act of divine intervention and a "fuk you, we`re the best half of the old country" attitude for the Slovaks to pull of a win in Prague. And if our Bratislava match proved anything, its that they dont hold much sway with holding back on scoring a goal when they know their qualification chance is gone.

Even if the Slovaks did win, I get this gut feeling we would play woefully against a poor Welsh side and would let it go at the last.


http://www.euro2008info.com/groupd.htm

Looking at that, it would be some buzz nonetheless if the Czechs lost against Germany and lost or drew with Slovakia. On November 21st pubs in Ireland would be packed out with people watching a far off game between Cyprus and the Czechs, praying for a miracle (personally, recent events in Glasgow and Denmark inspiring me would mean Id be out in a stadium in Europe wearing a Czech jersey and preparing to assault the ref/goalie to get one of those 3-0 forfeit results called )

It would be somewhat ironic that a team that looked like ending our hopes ended up saving our arses. Unfortunatly it looks as if we could win all 3 remaining matches and have our fate effectively decided come the end of the Slovak match.

Disappointed with Stan actually. Despite his bizarre ramblings throughout the campaign about issues such as a tribute to our tireless never say die fight to the death in San Marino, and accusing reporters of fabricating stories of fans booing and having a "Russia back in the 50s" agenda (we were booing in the pub ffs, god knows how loud it was in SM), has has all but thrown in the towel, he admitted what we do may not matter, its in the hands of the gods now. The old Stan would have appeared at a press conference saying the team was strong, more determined than ever, and assuring us he was confident of qualification like Comical Ali during the Iraq war

Actually he would make at least an entertaining football manager or pundit Too bad Saddams football manager son Uday is dead. He knew how to motivate a team......

KdjaCL

Nunu wrote: »

Czechs are playing Germany...in Germany. We still have a chance to take it to our last game I tells you:D

give it up man, your only gonna hurt yourself



kdjac

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Oh my good god.

Lads.

It's simple.

Ireland aren't going to qualify.

Now, I took twenty quid off someone (gosplan) last time there were internationals.

Any fancy losing money this time round?

An Citeog

Of course we're not gonna qualify; we're not even gonna beat Germany! I don't know if I'll even be able to watch this match!

kinaldo

Raúl left out again, despite the loss of David Villa.

Aragonés finally snaps at reporters, "how many World and European Cups have we won with Raúl?"

http://www.marca.com/

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=443656

Graham Hunter was on Newstalk tonight defending Raúl, saying that since March he and Van Nistelrooy have been by far and away the most effective partnership in Europe, with Raúl finally having found his replacement for Morientes.

I can't remember what they were but last week he had their goals / assists stats to back that argument up. Raúl apparently also covers more ground than anyone else so it's quite bizarre to have had him in the side when he was playing poorly and then drop him when he rediscovers his old form.

Interestingly, Raúl's old buddy Fernando Hierro is now Aragonés' superior, so I imagine Raúl will be having the last laugh when it all blows up in the manager's face.

_blank_

kinaldo wrote: »

Interestingly, Raúl's old buddy Fernando Hierro is now Aragonés' superior, so I imagine Raúl will be having the last laugh when it all blows up in the manager's face.

The Spanish FA won't sack the manager for racism, but will for dropping an aging Raúl?

How does that work then?

PHB

Raul is back to being one of the best players in the world. His partnership with Van Nist has been nothing short of amazing. IMO, they are favorites for the CL and La Liga, if only because Raul, one of the greatest players of his generation, is back to his old self.

BaZmO*

An Citeog wrote: »

Of course we're not gonna qualify;

For an eternal optimist I'd have to agree with that, however, the unfortunate thing is that we'll probably beat Germany on Saturday.

shane86 wrote:

Even if the Slovaks did win, I get this gut feeling we would play woefully against a poor Welsh side and would let it go at the last.

Even if by some miraculous divine intervention Germany and Cyprus gave us a walkover for both games and the Czechs somehow lost their next 3 matches we would still Fvck up in Cardiff.

whiskeyman

Does anyone even care about Saturdays game in Croker?
Up to a few months ago, these were probably the hottest tickets around!!
Now I'm hearing people giving them away so they can watch the England Vs France rugby match.
I mean, wtf??
I'll be in Croker watching and supporting our team. Yeah, I know we haven't a snowballs... but I'll be looking forward to it regardless, win lose or draw. Am I a idiot???


Maybe being a Sheffield Wednesday fan makes me use to poor results more often and a perfect Ireland fan I expect very little!!

eirebhoy

whiskeyman wrote: »

Does anyone even care about Saturdays game in Croker?
Up to a few months ago, these were probably the hottest tickets around!!
Now I'm hearing people giving them away so they can watch the England Vs France rugby match.

I've seen pairs of tickets sell for €400 and €520 on Ebay for the Germany game. Face value €50.

_blank_

eirebhoy wrote: »

I've seen pairs of tickets sell for €400 and €520 on Ebay for the Germany game. Face value €50.

Idiots buying them.

When was this?

whiskeyman

eirebhoy wrote: »

I've seen pairs of tickets sell for €400 and €520 on Ebay for the Germany game. Face value €50.

Nuts!! Maybe a few months ago I'd understand (I think we expected this to be a 'crunch' match back then... little did we know ).

I know lots of friends that are coming across tickets for face value no problem in their workplaces. Obviously a lot of the corporate heads couldn't be arsed going as it's not 'important' now and their interest is more into the rugby. Kinda glad these sort of 'fans' won't be there actually.

Mr Alan

Anyone paying over face value for these tickets is insane. I must've turned down about 20 pairs already! Even in work they are giving away tickets and finding it hard to get people to take them (for free!)

_blank_

Mr Alan wrote: »

Anyone paying over face value for these tickets is insane. I must've turned down about 20 pairs already! Even in work they are giving away tickets and finding it hard to get people to take them (for free!)

I'd take a couple of free ones...

Nunu

Mr Alan wrote: »

Anyone paying over face value for these tickets is insane. I must've turned down about 20 pairs already! Even in work they are giving away tickets and finding it hard to get people to take them (for free!)

For the Germany game? I know there are a lot of Cyprus spares but not too much for Germany. and i doubt anyones giving them away for free...if so you are an idiot for turning them down!

BaZmO*

whiskeyman wrote: »

Does anyone even care about Saturdays game in Croker?

Yeah I care, hope Ireland win but it won't make much of a difference for this campaign but might help with our seeding for the next. Was at the match in Stuttgart so it'd be nice to get a bit of revenge, not that the Germans give a sh1t though.

whiskeyman wrote: »

Now I'm hearing people giving them away so they can watch the England Vs France rugby match.
I mean, wtf??

Really? I had a mate looking for tickets yesterday and he was finding it hard to get some. I can normally get freebies through business contacts and couldn't get any. I have my own tickets through the block booking though.

whiskeyman wrote: »

Am I a idiot???

I dunno, are ya?

shane86

Mr Alan wrote: »

Anyone paying over face value for these tickets is insane. I must've turned down about 20 pairs already! Even in work they are giving away tickets and finding it hard to get people to take them (for free!)

Where the hell do you work?

Only tickets our place puts up for grabs are for the late late show every few months

We are in a no win situation. Win the next 3 matches (which we probably will do) and Stan is staying. If we lose the German game, Ive this feeling the Czechs will monumentally **** up against both the Germans and the Cypriots, meaning we will be thinking back thinking "jesus, if we had beat them in Croker we would have made it". Either Stan should resign or they need another qualified person pulling his strings (seeing as Robson seems to be gone). If we score/win on Saturday I dont know what to think. Yes, we are in with a slim chance, but Stan is staying for WC qualifiers if they win.

whiskeyman

shane86 wrote:

but Stan is staying for WC qualifiers if they win.

Stan is staying, even if we lose the next 3. I'm always amazed why the fans and media want his head when this was made fact from day 1.
He was employed on the basis of qualification to the next WC.

_blank_

shane86 wrote: »

but Stan is staying for WC qualifiers if they win.

Do people forget what the FAIlure said after the last games?

That Stevie S will be staying on for the World Cup Campaign. That he MUST BE ALLOWED to continue his work.

Why are people saying that if Ireland beat Germany that it will mean Stevie is staying on?

The FAI have made it more than clear that he ain't goin' nowhere for the foreseeable.

shane86

I didnt always want his head, I excused Cyprus and Holland on account of what must have been the worst injury crisis in living memory. I was expecting a call up myself it was so bad

However, the Slovak match truly ended it for me. Why didnt Hunt or Long come on? How come he didnt signal to his players that the match was nearly over, everyone on guard and defend like hell? You just get this feeling that bringing on Hunt in the 70th could well have brought us a 3rd goal.

His habit of continually leaving Robbie on in poor games also got to me.

DesF wrote: »

Do people forget what the FAIlure said after the last games?

That Stevie S will be staying on for the World Cup Campaign. That he MUST BE ALLOWED to continue his work.

Why are people saying that if Ireland beat Germany that it will mean Stevie is staying on?

The FAI have made it more than clear that he ain't goin' nowhere for the foreseeable.

I had read somewhere pre the E European games that the FAI would accept 2 points from the away games as enough to keep his job (in the end of course we got 1).

Anyone foresee many banners/booing on Saturday?

_blank_

shane86 wrote: »

Anyone foresee many banners/booing on Saturday?

Having a laugh yeah?

The majority of people at the game on Saturday will be leprechaun suit, green hat, orange wig wearing goons.

PHB

I'm tempted to make a Delaney out banner, just to counter the odd Stan out banner

BaZmO*

DesF wrote: »

Having a laugh yeah?

The majority of people at the game on Saturday will be leprechaun suit, green hat, orange wig wearing goons.

yawn

Mr Alan

Nunu wrote: »

For the Germany game? I know there are a lot of Cyprus spares but not too much for Germany. and i doubt anyones giving them away for free...if so you are an idiot for turning them down!

Yea, definately the Germany game. I would have taken the free ones in work but i am down in Galway for the weekend so no joy. Neil1984 who posts here took some of the free ones going, he was the only person in our section who wanted them.

shane86 wrote: »

Where the hell do you work?

Only tickets our place puts up for grabs are for the late late show every few months

Large insurance company in city centre. Always get loads of tickets for anything on in Croke Park...got complimentary Police tickets last week, good crack

BaZmO* wrote: »

yawn

He has a point in fairness.

(ps. i like this multi quote feature)

eirebhoy

DesF wrote: »

Idiots buying them.

When was this?

Just recently.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180163077277
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190157517982

BaZmO*

Mr Alan wrote: »

He has a point in fairness.

(ps. i like this multi quote feature)

And that would be?

Mr Alan

That the majority of people at the game on Saturday won't give a **** or even realise that we are being led into international wilderness by a manager and football assosciation that, at best, can be described as a joke.
They'll be too busy, "having the craic".

Xavi6

Mr Alan wrote: »

That the majority of people at the game on Saturday won't give a **** or even realise that we are being led into international wilderness by a manager and football assosciation that, at best, can be described as a joke.
They'll be too busy, "having the craic".

Can't believe I'm agreeing with you but +1

Mr Alan

Xavi, dont worry i wont expect it to happen again

KdjaCL

eirebhoy wrote: »

Just recently.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=180163077277
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190157517982

That cant be right i have 6 to get rid off


kdjac

kinaldo

DesF wrote: »

The Spanish FA won't sack the manager for racism, but will for dropping an aging Raúl?

How does that work then?

They decided he wasn't a racist so didn't sack him.

Now he's in danger of not qualifying for the European Championships having taken the stance of refusing to select his best player, also Spain's greatest player of all-time (and still only 30), regardless of form.

Pretty simple really. Add to that the the fact that his squad has enough talent to be winning these competitions outright, his overall tenure in charge has been an unmitigated disaster.

d22ontour

kinaldo wrote: »

Add to that the the fact that his squad has enough talent to be winning these competitions outright.

You could say that about every Spanish manger for the last 20 years so ...

kinaldo

d22ontour wrote: »

You could say that about every Spanish manger for the last 20 years so ...

Perhaps. They have been extremely unlucky to be fair. The 94 team were exceptional, as was 96 despite Clemente opting to leave Raúl at home.

In 94 Luis Enrique was given a broken nose in the penalty box by Massaro I think, but no penalty was given and Robbie Baggio went up the other end and made it 2-1 in the last minute.

In 96 they had two good goals disallowed against England at Wembley and lost on penos.

98 was the only real fúck up by Clemente. His decision to play his mate in goal, the aging Zubizarreta ahead of Cañizares, cost him dear.

In 2000 it was Raúl who missed a last minute penalty against World Champions and eventual winners France in a very even game, so again slightly unfortunate.

In 2002 they were again the victims of 2 perfectly good disallowed goals and penalties against a host nation.

In 2004 they only had themselves to blame, likewise in 2006 which was Aragones' responsibility - that French side were really there for the taking, and the tactics he employed in that game were bizarre to say the least.

tdv

Sky is showing the Aregtina & Brazils WC Qualifiers. Might actually see some decent football this week after all.

_blank_

McLaren has grown some balls.

Lamps on the bench, and Barry starts.

Come on England.

eirebhoy

Seconded.

_blank_

France have had a hard time of it getting to the Faroes.

Couldn't land yesterday because of fog, and had to reroute to Bergen in Norway.

Houllier said about an hour ago that the plane had landed on the islands, and they have an hour drive to the stadium, for a game that kicks off at four o'clock :eek:

Upset in Thorshavn?

eirebhoy

They can certainly trouble the best of them so it'll be interesting.

What are people watching? Scotland or England (or other)? I'll be watching the Scots anyway.Just looking at their team and only McFadden, Naysmith and Gordon haven't played for either Celtic or Rangers.

Nunu

DesF wrote: »

France have had a hard time of it getting to the Faroes.

Couldn't land yesterday because of fog, and had to reroute to Bergen in Norway.

Houllier said about an hour ago that the plane had landed on the islands, and they have an hour drive to the stadium, for a game that kicks off at four o'clock :eek:

Upset in Thorshavn?

That's my line of thinking anyway!:o
I've put a sneaky tenner on a draw at 10-1:D

Fwaggle

COME ON SCOTLAND

1-0 Kenny Miller

_blank_

Get in Scotland

_blank_

Get in Wright Phillips.

Ha - nuts the keeper.

Nice finish.

England 1-0.

Fwaggle

Lee McCulloch ya legend

2-0 scotland

:D:D:D

ROCKMAN

SCOTLAND are on fire at the moment
2-0

Nunu

Slovakia 6 - 0 against San Marino with half an hour to play.

_blank_

Shev scored for the Ukraine.

2-1 now.

_blank_

Rooooo-ney


Rooooo-ney

2-0


Deflected goal after Owen dummies in the box.

GO TEAM ENGLAND