Will Ireland qualify for Euro 2012?

Drumpot

What people forget is that we were well able to got some decent results in friendlies under Kerr. Friendlies count for little in terms of ranking your team internationally.

We are at best a 2nd tier team (in terms of players) and hovering over the 3rd tier. I wouldnt bet my house on us beating anybody in a playoff game, as most teams that get there are usually as good (if not better) then us.

FIFA do have it rigged, but wouldnt it be so much more satisfying (if you were an irish player) and easier to motivate if you thought you could give them the two fingers on your own ?

Our teams usually punch above their weight. For me, I do get frustrated with Trapps football, but I believe it represents our best hope of getting to the finals.

tim_holsters

IRISHSPORTSGUY wrote: »

I hate his dinosaur tactics, I hate his dire squad selections, I hate his infuriating persistance with central midfielders who treat the ball like a hot potato, and I'm sure we would do better with a more modern manager, however the bottom line are the results and until we fall out of contention I don't think he's done quite enough to warrant a dismissal. But I certainly wouldn't complain if he went...

Aye, Trap is a footballing anachronism, we need somebody younger with a fresher and more positive outlook on the game.

craggles

No, not even a playoff spot

partyndbs wrote: »

wudnt call uruguay a big team at all, bout our level(yeah they got to semis so could ireland with same draw and luck)

Teams that are definitely better than Uruguay:

Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Germany, Holland

Teams that it could be argued are better but aren't really:

France, Portugal, England :pac:

partyndbs

nah before world cup youd only would have know lugano suarex cavani forlan, their group and path to the final wasnt hard relatively speaking, altho for a country like them it was a huge achievment reaching semis like it would been for ireland. still their team isnt great or even very good, becoz of forlan cavani and surarez they have that bit more about them but they're an average side who beat other average sides to get to the semi final of world cup, kinda relating to my thread about usa it be like if us reached semis.

Underground

To all the people calling for Trap to be dismissed:
He's lost 2 out of 17 competitive games in charge of us,pretty formidable especially for a team of our standing.

J. Marston

Macedonia away = 3 points
Slovakia home = 1 point
Russia away = 0 points
Andorra away = 3 points
Armenia home = 3 points

That's my prediction anyway. That'll give us 20 points, should be enough for a playoff spot. Hopefully.

bonerm

Yes, via the playoffs

Underground wrote: »

To all the people calling for Trap to be dismissed:
He's lost 2 out of 17 competitive games in charge of us,pretty formidable especially for a team of our standing.

A team of our standing used to be 6th in the World back in the early 1990s.. Teams of our standing (or thereabout at least) have won European Championships. There's no reason to just settle for mediocrity.

ctrl-alt-delete

Underground wrote: »

To all the people calling for Trap to be dismissed:
He's lost 2 out of 17 competitive games in charge of us,pretty formidable especially for a team of our standing.

Brian Kerr didn't lose too many competitive games in charge either, and i think he has the best win ratio in charge of an Ireland team.

Still didn't save him from the sack.

In my opinion he did more for the development of the squad than Trapattoni too, and managed to get a cork player to play again, something which Trapattoni hasn't managed

To stay on topic, I don't think we will qualify for Euro 2012 - We might have enough to make it into the playoff spot if we are lucky, but if we do I see us falling at that hurdle.

cardwizzard

No, beaten in the playoffs

Think we will get there one way or an other. The dissapointment of the WC to France should drive the team forward. As far as sacking Trap, thats madness, to see how far he has brought us from the shambles that was SS is amazing.

Dont be at yourself

No, not even a playoff spot

Read a quote from Trap that he'd be happy to stay on for the Brazil WC. I personally wouldn't mind.

noodler

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

Read a quote from Trap that he'd be happy to stay on for the Brazil WC. I personally wouldn't mind.

I am not so sure personally.

See how the euro qualifiers finish.

We certainly aren't employing him for freeflowing, entertaining football so he has to be judged on results.

If we don't qualify that will be 0 for 2.

We really need a win against a "big" side like Russia or Slovakia. 10 years since we beat a serious group rival.

WallyGUFC

Yes, via the playoffs

If we don't qualify for Euro 2012 he better get the sack. For the money he's earning, he'd bloody well want to get us qualified!

manic mailman

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

That'll be decided after the draw, probably

It'll be decided to be seeded if FIFA reckon one of the big guns unlucky enough to find themselves in the play-offs might get knocked out.
That's pretty much the common consensus on what happened with the Ireland v France debacle? Or am i mistaken? FIFA will do what suits them, not what's fair.

noodler

manic mailman wrote: »

It'll be decided to be seeded if FIFA reckon one of the big guns unlucky enough to find themselves in the play-offs might get knocked out.
That's pretty much the common consensus on what happened with the Ireland v France debacle? Or am i mistaken? FIFA will do what suits them, not what's fair.

Its been decided for ages.

Play-offs will be seeded.

Disgrace.

ctrl-alt-delete

noodler wrote: »

Its been decided for ages.

Play-offs will be seeded.

Disgrace.

I don't mind them being seeded so long as it is known from the start.

partyndbs

traps record means nothing, brian kerrs record was very good and he got sacked. i think i remember he only lost once and got sacked in competitve games that was over nearly two campaigns

bonerm

Yes, via the playoffs

partyndbs wrote: »

traps record means nothing, brian kerrs record was very good and he got sacked. i think i remember he only lost once and got sacked in competitve games that was over nearly two campaigns

He lost twice. His final comp record was w7-d7-l2 playing mostly conservative football and beating nobody more notable than Georgia over his 16 games. I've always said that a team playing Kerr's way would do well in a finals. The only problem was that he wouldn't get you to the finals in the first place.

FYI his wins were (2x Georgia, 1x Albania, 2x Cyprus, 2x Faroe Island). Minnows all and his dismissal was no loss.

UpTheSlashers

No, beaten in the playoffs

J. Marston wrote: »

Macedonia away = 3 points
Slovakia home = 1 point
Russia away = 0 points
Andorra away = 3 points
Armenia home = 3 points

That's my prediction anyway. That'll give us 20 points, should be enough for a playoff spot. Hopefully.

Ive done a rough calculation and we most probably need 4 points from Slovakia and Russia to come second or higher. Thats assuming we get 9 from the other 3, which isnt a given.

partyndbs

bonerm wrote: »

He lost twice. His final comp record was w7-d7-l2 playing mostly conservative football and beating nobody more notable than Georgia over his 16 games. I've always said that a team playing Kerr's way would do well in a finals. The only problem was that he wouldn't get you to the finals in the first place.

FYI his wins were (2x Georgia, 1x Albania, 2x Cyprus, 2x Faroe Island). Minnows all and his dismissal was no loss.

oh yeah forgot about france at home. we played conservative football under kerr but it was short passing football, with trap its long punt down the field conservative football

UpTheSlashers

No, beaten in the playoffs

Sorry for the double-post, Remaining fixtures and some predictions:

Russia: Andorra (H-W), Armenia (H-W), Macedonia (H-W), Ireland (H-?), Slovakia (A-?)

Slovakia: Andorra (H-W), Armenia (H-W), Russia (H-?), Macedonia (A-W), Ireland (A-?)

Ireland: Armenia (H-W), Slovakia (H-?), Andorra (A-W), Macedonia (A-W), Russia (A-?)

Assuming the 3 better sides beat the 3 smaller sides, Russia, Slovakia and ourselves would be level on 19 points which makes the games against Russia and Slovakia so important. 1 point from these two games will most likely not be enough for second. Then again, there is still a possibility we could win the group, especially if Russia or Slovakia slip up against one of the other three.

Bodhisopha

No, not even a playoff spot

We will win the group and the tournament.

bonerm

Yes, via the playoffs

Bodhisopha wrote: »

We will win the group and the tournament.

I don't agree. We will lose the final on penalties after a 6-6 draw.

dRNk SAnTA

Am I right in thinking that as well as the play-offs being seeded, they will now guarantee that the seeded team plays at home for the second leg (which some would consider an added advantage.)

Blatter

dRNk SAnTA wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that as well as the play-offs being seeded, they will now guarantee that the seeded team plays at home for the second leg (which some would consider an added advantage.)

You are correct.

After confusion caused by the UEFA play-offs for 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying - which was originally to be an unseeded draw, but was seeded by FIFA in September 2009 - UEFA have announced that the draw for the play-offs will be seeded. The four runners-up with the best positions in the UEFA national team coefficient ranking system will be seeded and will play their second legs at home. Each nation's coefficient and ranking position for the draw and final Euro 2012 draw will be calculated per results up to and including 11 October 2011

Dont be at yourself

No, not even a playoff spot

dRNk SAnTA wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that as well as the play-offs being seeded, they will now guarantee that the seeded team plays at home for the second leg (which some would consider an added advantage.)

What a joke.

The_Kew_Tour

Looking at teams in 2nd place throughout the groups not any put any real dread into me at moment.

Even with the disadvantage with seeding and being away second I think we have a chance to qualify but think it be through the playoffs.

Fancy Russia to win group. Think we have at worst a 40% chance to qualify from the playoffs.

WallyGUFC

Yes, via the playoffs

bonerm wrote: »

I don't agree. We will lose the final on penalties after a 6-6 draw.

...with Kazakhstan.

eugeneious

No, not even a playoff spot

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/mar/29/andrey-arshavin-russia-euro-2012?INTCMP=SRCH

Good article about Russia's recent troubles... I really do think Slovakia will be our rivals. Russia aren't a patch on the team that made it to the last Euro semis. Arguably their 4 best players at that point (Zhirkov, Arshavin, Pavluychenko and Akinfeev) have all been playing really poorly for their clubs and Russia. My point being they are on a slippery slope and recent results and performances suggest that, I think we'll finish above them and win the group if we beat Slovakia.

IRISHSPORTSGUY

eugeneious wrote: »

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/mar/29/andrey-arshavin-russia-euro-2012?INTCMP=SRCH

Good article about Russia's recent troubles... I really do think Slovakia will be our rivals. Russia aren't a patch on the team that made it to the last Euro semis. Arguably their 4 best players at that point (Zhirkov, Arshavin, Pavluychenko and Akinfeev) have all been playing really poorly for their clubs and Russia. My point being they are on a slippery slope and recent results and performances suggest that, I think we'll finish above them and win the group if we beat Slovakia.

We have a reasonable chance of turning Russia over if we don't play Gibson/Andrews/Green. And Trap should be shot on grounds of gross incompetence if he goes there planning 4-4-2 again.