Austria asked to with draw from Euro 2008 because 'they are so bad'

darkman2

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7431605.stm



hmmm I see their point and can see a couple of hidings on the cards. Record Euro's scorelines coming up? I think they should be in it as they are hosting it.

Mikeyt086

Its a bit of a joke though. These guys are awful and the likes of England (as much as i dislike the FA and the way their public get before/during/after a tournament) are absent.

People were just as worried about Latvia in Euro 2004.

mikemac

England knew exactly what they needed to do and failed. If they are absent, it is nobody's fault but their own.

Poor form from the Austrian fans. Let their team play, they are a host nation and should be proud. They will raise their profile in front of hundreds of millions of viewers at least

DSB

Ugh, idiocy. Teams do badly in competitions all the time.

Eirebear

Whilst i think its a poor show from the fans, i have always questioned the intelligence of letting 2 host nations in automatically, while making the holders qualify

Mikeyt086

Oh i know, im not pushing to get England in.

Just saying, when your countries best players include Paul Scharner, with Gerrard, Rooney and all sitting at home.

Its not really... right.

leninbenjamin

BBC are about a year behind the times there. the Austrian fans HATE their team. various fan groups and media have been suggesting this for the past year or so. it's a shame really. I do think however that Austria are going to cause one or two little upsets this year, they will be doing everything in their power to ensure they aren't humiliated.

shane86

Mikeyt086 wrote: »

Oh i know, im not pushing to get England in.

Just saying, when your countries best players include Paul Scharner, with Gerrard, Rooney and all sitting at home.

Its not really... right.

By that logic rubbish teams like Wales should have been carried to competitions on what you might term the "Ryan Giggs rule" They played rubbish, didnt qualify, simple as. In 2004 most people couldnt name more than two members of the unfancied Greek squad at the start of the tournament.

What seeding are the Austrians?

darkman2

shane86 wrote: »

What seeding are the Austrians?

102nd according to the world rankings. So last seeds presumably.

Necronomicon

Eirebear wrote: »

Whilst i think its a poor show from the fans, i have always questioned the intelligence of letting 2 host nations in automatically, while making the holders qualify

Absolutely. It's a joke that a team who will most likely be cannon-fodder get in automatically while the holders have to qualify to defend their trophy.

Did they change this for the World Cup too? I can't remember.

Eirebear

Necromomicon wrote: »

Absolutely. It's a joke that a team who will most likely be cannon-fodder get in automatically while the holders have to qualify to defend their trophy.

Did they change this for the World Cup too? I can't remember.

As far as i know they did.

Bubs101

shane86 wrote: »

What seeding are the Austrians?

they're in the group of first seeds

estebancambias

The quote about the clubs paying their best players too much is interesting. Its good to see people prefer their country over a business(football team)

ArmaniJeanss

Eirebear wrote: »

Whilst i think its a poor show from the fans, i have always questioned the intelligence of letting 2 host nations in automatically, while making the holders qualify

I think the tournament could be a disaster if the hosts weren't there.(financially, getting volunteer workforce, the whole buzz etc etc).

So maybe abandon the idea of co-hosts?. Problem then is only about 6 countries in europe have the infrastructure to host a 16 team competion.

aidan24326

leninbenjamin wrote: »

I do think however that Austria are going to cause one or two little upsets this year, they will be doing everything in their power to ensure they aren't humiliated.

Can't see them causing any upsets, they're a poor team. But they're in a potentially weakish group (Germany,Poland,Croatia) so they shouldn't get stuffed. They could certainly take a point off Poland and maybe Croatia aswell.

There's very few no-hopers in international football anymore, the likes of Liechtenstein and Andorra excepted, and even Latvia in Euro 2004 weren't disgraced at all. They lost 1-2 against the Czechs, drew 0-0 with Germany and then lost their third game 0-3 against the Dutch.

It's bad form really for Austrian 'fans' to be doing what they're doing.

Charlie

aidan24326 wrote: »

Can't see them causing any upsets, they're a poor team. But they're in a potentially weakish group (Germany,Poland,Croatia) so they shouldn't get stuffed. They could certainly take a point off Poland and maybe Croatia aswell.

I wouldn't consider that an easy group by any means. Germany are, well Germany, and Bilic has Croatia playing great these days. Poland are as tough a third seed team you'll get.

gucci

So poor teams get automatic qualification as hosts....hmmm thats why england are pushing so hard for the world cup

tomred1

I think thay should defo be there but making them seeds was a mistake. I dont fancy them to get anything from there matches but i reckon Poland might cause an upset.

delija_sever029

This is already an old story,i was reading about it months ago,anyway people who organised action that Austria should withdraw are already punished with some money they had to pay,thats what austrian court decided so its over story,anyway no matter how bad my team would be i wouldnt do same thing,you can be worst on the world but dammit its your team,your country,how you can act like you hate it?Instead of supporting those guys they make fun of them every day in Austria and i am reading that,now they dont talk with Austrian press at all,only with other europeans.Anyway,this team have huge motivation now to show everyone are wrong about them.I was watching them few times in latest friendlies and they had fantastic atmosphere on Ernst Happel in Wien where the gonna play these 3 games now too.Crowd still gibing them huge support.I still think they can make something on this euro,i am not so sure Croatia and Poland will win it easily and i expect least draws out of those 2 games.Anyway its close and we will see

Galvasean

I'm so glad I bet on Klose for top scorer. Hat trick against Austria anyone?
Still at 100/1 I might pop a euro on them. Greece were 150/1 when they won the damn thing.