Why Ireland will qualify for the World Cup?

shane86

Dun laoire wrote: »

Sep 6 v Georgia (a) 3

Sep 10 v Montenegro (a) 3

Oct 15 v Cyprus (h) 3

Feb 11 v Georgia (h) 3

Mar 28 v v Bulgaria (h) 3

Apr 1 v Italy (a) 0

Jun 6 v Bulgaria (a) 1

Sep 5 v Cyprus (a) 1

Oct 10 v Italy (h) 1

Oct 14 v Montenegro (h) 3


21 points lads

Assuming 3 away against Georgia is nuts. I saw them vs Scotland. They are by no means a bad team. Defended well. Montenegro are the biggest 6th seed nightmare we could have drawn. Cyprus is no longer a sure bet even at home.

tbh I think we have more chance of upsetting Italy in Rome than beating Georgia in Georgia.

Dun laoire

shane86 wrote: »

Assuming 3 away against Georgia is nuts. I saw them vs Scotland. They are by no means a bad team. Defended well. Montenegro are the biggest 6th seed nightmare we could have drawn. Cyprus is no longer a sure bet even at home.

tbh I think we have more chance of upsetting Italy in Rome than beating Georgia in Georgia.

I wouldnt say nuts shane. Well doable in my opinion. Saying getting 3 points in Italy is nuts but not georgia. Realistically i believe we can nab all wins in the first 5 games. It's from April 1 on that we will probably drop the points.

ArmaniJeanss

gosplan wrote: »

Oh no, we're in group 8. :eek::eek::eek:

Trust me, 9 European groups, 9 group winners, 8 best runners-up playoff for four places. 13 European teams go to the finals.

You're quite right, don't know where I got my groups from at all.

gosplan

Y'know I was trying to think of the last time we won 5 in a row and had to consult the archives. We did it though - twice!

Won 5 in 2000/2001 vrs Estonia, Finland, Cyrpus and Andorrra * 2.

But we won a whopping 8 in a row under Charlton in the run up to Euro 88 - Brazil, Lux * 2, Bulgaria, Israel, Romania, Yugoslavia and Poland.

Imagine we went on a winning streak like that against those teams these days!!

gosplan

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

You're quite right, don't know where I got my groups from at all.

Understandable, your mind was probably preoccupied with thoughts of floating and 3-betting light and that kind of stuff. :D

Balfa

Don't forget, head-to-head results are reckoned after goal difference again for this tournament. Goal difference/goals scored is bad for a team like Ireland who can't put matches out of reach or trounce the minnows.

Of course we have a chance with Trap. Like most people are saying, the first two matches will be the telling factor.

anonymous_joe

Think the obvious factor would be a slight improvement in the quality of the squad since Stan.

Stan was an awful manager, but the team he inherited was God-awful.

Saying that, there's always hope, we've a canny old manager, and some very decent players.