Euro 2016 qualification

Alex Meier

homerjay2005 wrote: »

what are the seven?

netherlands - 2-0 in a neutral game at Anfield.
turkey - lost on away goals
belgium - lost 3-2 on aggregate, to two very dodgy goals.
iran - won
france - lost after extra time
estonia - won

whats the 7th?

in those 11 games, we have won 3, lost 4 and drawn 4.

all of those games apart from Estonia were exceptionally close and we were very unlucky against France, Turkey and Belgium.

We lost an infamous qualifier to Spain to qualify for the 1966 World Cup

mickmackey1

homerjay2005 wrote: »

whats the 7th?

v Spain for '66 World Cup.

bullvine

homerjay2005 wrote: »

what are the seven?

netherlands - 2-0 in a neutral game at Anfield.
turkey - lost on away goals
belgium - lost 3-2 on aggregate, to two very dodgy goals.
iran - won
france - lost after extra time
estonia - won

whats the 7th?

in those 11 games, we have won 3, lost 4 and drawn 4.

all of those games apart from Estonia were exceptionally close and we were very unlucky against France, Turkey and Belgium.

Spain back in the 60s

homerjay2005

GavRedKing wrote: »

Our away record against decent opposition is well documented as being pretty terrible, I'd take a score draw at the drop of a hat, even a 2-1 loss isnt too bad IMO.

As long as we're not 2 or 3 goals down going into the 2nd leg at the Aviva we stand a good chance of getting through IMO.

is it? in the last 4 campaigns, we drawn with the top teams away from home -> 1-1 in Italy , 0-0 with Russia, 0-0 in Sweden and 1-1 in Germany.

theres also a 1-0 play off win in there against France, the 4-0 away to Estonia, a 1-1 in Bulgaria.

even many games we lost were all really close games - 1-0 to austria, 2-1 to poland, 1-0 to scotland, 1-0 to Germany.

a draw away from home would give us a great chance IMO and i think we are well capable of going there and getting a 0-0 or 1-1

Royal Irish

Oh ye of little faith.

1-1 draw away

1-0 win at home

Dots1982

homerjay2005 wrote: »

what are the seven?

netherlands - 2-0 in a neutral game at Anfield.
turkey - lost on away goals
belgium - lost 3-2 on aggregate, to two very dodgy goals.
iran - won
france - lost after extra time
estonia - won

whats the 7th?

in those 11 games, we have won 3, lost 4 and drawn 4.

all of those games apart from Estonia were exceptionally close and we were very unlucky against France, Turkey and Belgium.

If we go out it'll be the first time we lose to a smaller country in a playoff which may or may not be a good omen..

homerjay2005

Dots1982 wrote: »

If we go out it'll be the first time we lose to a smaller country in a playoff which may or may not be a good omen..

smaller in terms of what, population or rank?


if population, sure we have the 124th biggest in the world so the vast majority of teams we play against, will always be bigger than us!

its something that everybody forgets, we probably are in the bottom 1/5th of world football in terms of population (excluding the minnows such as San Marino, gibraltar etc etc etc), yet are expected to be world beaters.

Royal Irish

homerjay2005 wrote: »

(excluding the minnows such as San Marino, gibraltar etc etc etc)

I'm eagerly awaiting a boards user from Gibraltar or San Marino to see this post and give you guff.

ArmaniJeanss

homerjay2005 wrote: »

its something that everybody forgets, we probably are in the bottom 1/5th of world football in terms of population (excluding the minnows such as San Marino, gibraltar etc etc etc), yet are expected to be world beaters.

I think its reasonable to aspire to be as consistent in qualification (sprinkled with some visits to the latter knockout stages) as Croatia and Denmark who are the standout performers in the 3.5M - 5.5M population bracket.

murpho999

Mushy wrote: »

Why should they be?

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

A ball from the seeded pot and a ball from the unseeded pot were taken out, put into a seperate pot and mixed around, the first team out of the pot was drawn to play at home first and the second leg away (in our case, Bosnia were out first).

Away goals do count.

dogcat wrote: »

They're not home for the second leg because they were drawn first.

I can't believe how many people responded to my original post. No sarcasm detectors lads?

Mushy

murpho999 wrote: »

I can't believe how many people responded to my original post. No sarcasm detectors lads?

Nope, I'm awaiting a replacement for mine!

mada999

my friend wrote: »

Why is MON talking to shay given's doctor?

Just shows how bad a manager MON is, anyone with a clue would have retired Given

I was glad Given went off against Germany.. Randolf was far quicker and better with his distribution... Given is a slow motion, kick it anywhere keeper now..

mada999

briany wrote: »

It's whatever works at the end of the day. If Ireland lose by lumping long balls, there'll be outrage over that, but, similarly, if Ireland lost by a single goal because a nice bit of play in the middle of the park gave rise to a Bosnian interception and goal, we'll have people moaning about why the players couldn't have just knocked it long, and the players aren't good enough to play modern football so they should just stick to route one. This was a sentiment expressed by some Scottish supporters about their own team.

Ireland are certainly a lot more bearable to watch when they actually try to play, I'll agree there, though. Nothing worse than watching Ireland lumping up long balls when there's a goal needed. It just feels hopeless, like they've no real ideas.

we had nothing to lose against Poland and the manager was defensive... best defense is attack... if long is out we are goosed.. too many players missing..

edgecutter

mada999 wrote: »

we had nothing to lose against Poland and the manager was defensive... best defense is attack... if long is out we are goosed.. too many players missing..

I still feel Poland was the opportunity to get qualification, especially since we were gifted a penalty in that game.

Alex Meier

edgecutter wrote: »

I still feel Poland was the opportunity to get qualification, especially since we were gifted a penalty in that game.

Well I think it was a penalty.

Also I agree. . . .We had a goal after 12 mins (a dream start) and all we needed was another.

But we created little.

Berserker

Alex Meier wrote: »

But we created little.

One header on target after we scored the penalty.

noodler

Alex Meier wrote: »

Well I think it was a penalty.

Also I agree. . . .We had a goal after 12 mins (a dream start) and all we needed was another.

But we created little.

It wasn't a penalty.

homerjay2005

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

I think its reasonable to aspire to be as consistent in qualification (sprinkled with some visits to the latter knockout stages) as Croatia and Denmark who are the standout performers in the 3.5M - 5.5M population bracket.

they are countries that soccer is by far the number 1 sport in those countries. if you are a successful male sports player, you more than likely are a soccer player in both countries.

in ireland, you have Football, Hurling and now Rugby competing for our kids time with soccer - it makes a huge difference which again, people seem to completely ignore or else dont understand the importance of whats happening our kids when they are 7-14 years old.

Alex Meier

noodler wrote: »

It wasn't a penalty.

The referee did not give the benefit to the defender committing the foul.

inforfun

homerjay2005 wrote: »

they are countries that soccer is by far the number 1 sport in those countries. if you are a successful male sports player, you more than likely are a soccer player in both countries.

in ireland, you have Football, Hurling and now Rugby competing for our kids time with soccer - it makes a huge difference which again, people seem to completely ignore or else dont understand the importance of whats happening our kids when they are 7-14 years old.

I wouldnt be so sure about that regarding Croatia.
They are pretty fond of their basketball stars there.

They are a talented crowd those Croatians. Pretty good in football, world class in basketball, handball, waterpolo

dan1895

This nonsense of other countries not having other sports to compete with soccer has to stop. It's just an excuse at this stage. Ice hockey and basketball are huge in some countries, especially eastern Europe.

2ndcoming

It's not really nonsense. Most of them that are competitive in several sports have populations that are many multiples of our own, but none of them regardless of population have an indigenous sport that dominates the sporting culture like we do.

Hyzepher

Next Tuesday for tickets

homerjay2005

inforfun wrote: »

I wouldnt be so sure about that regarding Croatia.
They are pretty fond of their basketball stars there.

They are a talented crowd those Croatians. Pretty good in football, world class in basketball, handball, waterpolo

football is the number 1 sport in Croatia and its not even close, lets not kid ourselves here.

theres a complete different drawing pool and skill spectrum for things like ice hockey and basketball. if you want to break it down to low-level sports, you could say that ireland is world class at horse racing, golf, boxing.

i cant even believe that people continue to ignore the fundamental problems in developing elite soccer players in ireland due to them being split between football, hurling, soccer and Rugby (and in alot of cases Athletics, swimming and more) at key age groups.

inforfun

homerjay2005 wrote: »

football is the number 1 sport in Croatia and its not even close, lets not kid ourselves here.

theres a complete different drawing pool and skill spectrum for things like ice hockey and basketball. if you want to break it down to low-level sports, you could say that ireland is world class at horse racing, golf, boxing.

i cant even believe that people continue to ignore the fundamental problems in developing elite soccer players in ireland due to them being split between football, hurling, soccer and Rugby (and in alot of cases Athletics, swimming and more) at key age groups.

I bolded the part in your post i was referring to.

I am just not so sure the most popular sports person in Croatia by definition is a football player.

Of course the GAA takes up a lot of players that would otherwise probably play football.

astonaidan

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

I think its reasonable to aspire to be as consistent in qualification (sprinkled with some visits to the latter knockout stages) as Croatia and Denmark who are the standout performers in the 3.5M - 5.5M population bracket.

That is just lunacy, look at the domestic league of these countries and you will see how wrong your statement is. Soccer in Ireland is the 3rd sport in this country and the gap between it and rugby is not even that big for 4th.

homerjay2005

astonaidan wrote: »

That is just lunacy, look at the domestic league of these countries and you will see how wrong your statement is. Soccer in Ireland is the 3rd sport in this country and the gap between it and rugby is not even that big for 4th.

as regards 4th spot, we have the second biggest volume of registered rugby players/population in the world.

when i was 12-18, i was playing GAA football and hurling, soccer, Rugby, doing athletics. this was the norm for 100's of 1000's of kids across the country.

by contract my godson in the UK does one thing and its soccer - he plays it 6 or 7 hours a day and he is already on his way to being a really really good player, far better than the rest of the kids in my family who are all around the same age but based in Ireland, but happen to be playing 3 sports - they are good at all 3, but nowhere near the level of the UK based child in soccer.

i was on an FAI coursing course over the weekend and they spoke about technique at agents 6-12 and focused on mentality, skills and how these key fundamentals are missing. a huge part of that is that kids are not getting enough time to focus on these key aspects, as its being divided in several ways and this is a huge problem.

considering our population, we are producing lots of "good players"....but at the elite level, we have virtually none and this is the difference. if you look back at the successful teams 25 years ago, majority of them players grew up in other countries - 16 of the Italy 1990 team was Scotish, Welsh or English born, this seems to be forgotten about and then people complain when we dont do as well as that team. its made us believe we are a top footballing nation when we are not, we are normally punching about our weight to consistently finish in qualiftying spots in groups time and time again -

qualified in 1988, 1990, 1994, 2002 and 2012, play offs for 1996, 1998, 2000, 2010, 2016 and took 2 other qualifications down to the last game. thats 10 good finishes out of 15, with 2 close calls for other play off spots.

kupus

We played lfc youth team when I was younger, a couple of others as well.
THis was in the 90's.
You never guess what kind of game we played... Hoof ball....because we didnt know any better. we beat lfc, btw. it was only a challenge, but not bad for a team that was used to playing in mud, where because of conditions and pitches it was more of a case of playing the man and not the ball.
but we had a handy enough team for a side from outside dublin.

so is it a case of teaching players to play. (Im looking at you FAI) its all good and well having mangers that are dad of one of the players and is the only one interested in coaching the kids. But these dads need help in coaching.

Is it a case of having pitches like a pool table. Ive played in some countries and my god the difference in pitches is astounding.


Christ i remember games where we couldnt see the opposition goal and needed someone in midfield telling us when the ball was coming...
ah those were the days...

Billy86

dan1895 wrote: »

This nonsense of other countries not having other sports to compete with soccer has to stop. It's just an excuse at this stage. Ice hockey and basketball are huge in some countries, especially eastern Europe.

Handball of all things is apparently very big in both Denmark and Croatia, too.

Beefy78

Handball is an awesome sport. Shame it is not big here and in the UK.

Dozen Wicked Words

Billy86 wrote: »

Handball of all things is apparently very big in both Denmark and Croatia, too.

The exciting, team handball, not the gaa squash with your hands handball.

ronjo

Beefy78 wrote: »

Handball is an awesome sport. Shame it is not big here and in the UK.

I was living in Slovenia a good few years ago and they hosted the Euro Championships and beat Croatia (who were world champions) in the semi.
Nobody really gave a sh*t about the final which they lost once they had beaten the Croatians

Billy86

homerjay2005 wrote: »

football is the number 1 sport in Croatia and its not even close, lets not kid ourselves here.

theres a complete different drawing pool and skill spectrum for things like ice hockey and basketball. if you want to break it down to low-level sports, you could say that ireland is world class at horse racing, golf, boxing.

i cant even believe that people continue to ignore the fundamental problems in developing elite soccer players in ireland due to them being split between football, hurling, soccer and Rugby (and in alot of cases Athletics, swimming and more) at key age groups.

Croatia have had 14 basketball players make it to the NBA since 2000, while their neighbours Serbia currently have 21 playing there (only the US, Canada and France have more), while several other Eastern European countries like Greece, Russia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Turkey, Montenegro and Georgia also have multiple players in the league. I'm not saying it is as big as football in those countries, but it's not as if other sports don't even get a look in.

As for your second paragraph, the same can just as easily be said of hurling and rugby.

homerjay2005

Billy86 wrote: »

Croatia have had 14 basketball players make it to the NBA since 2000, while their neighbours Serbia currently have 21 playing there (only the US, Canada and France have more), while several other Eastern European countries like Greece, Russia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Turkey, Montenegro and Georgia also have multiple players in the league. I'm not saying it is as big as football in those countries, but it's not as if other sports don't even get a look in.

As for your second paragraph, the same can just as easily be said of hurling and rugby.

and i will repeat, if you want to include "secondary" sports like Basketball, you have got to acknowledge just how successful weve been in this country in these type of events also - we've won 7 medals at the last two Olympics in boxing and probably another 15 in this time frame at European/World level. we are world leaders in Horse Racing and have a massive reputation in golf.

our cricket team has made huge progress in recent years, we have a very decent % of the population playing basketball, even swimming and golf have more people actively engaged in it than GAA and soccer combined.

at the last sports survey, over 60 different sporting activities are regulary practiced in this country and rugby doesnt even make the top 10. we have one of the most diverse sporting nations in the World, if not the most. unfortunately this means apart from GAA, we are a jack of all trades, but a master of none.

now, croatia are an exceptional example of a "small" country like us that does well, however there are probably 150 + countries that arent a patch on Ireland when you look at their sporting achievements overall and then factor population into account.

ArmaniJeanss

So rugby is a major sport hence the playing of it in Ireland is a threat to soccer, but basketball and handball are just minor sports which don't count as threats in those European countries (almost all of continental Europe) where they are played. Got it.

homerjay2005

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

So rugby is a major sport hence the playing of it in Ireland is a threat to soccer, but basketball and handball are just minor sports which don't count as threats in those European countries (almost all of continental Europe) where they are played. Got it.

nobody has said that at all, so you dont "got it". what you've done however is seen what you want to see and ran with something that


in Ireland we have 4 major sports competing together for our kids ability. we then have multiple other sports that 1000's of kids also play, the same as other countries of which some of them happen to excel in 1 or 2, like we do. thats a completely different thing to what you are saying

football is the #1 sport in almost every country in the world, Ireland is not one of those countries.

tastyt

homerjay2005 wrote: »

nobody has said that at all, so you dont "got it". what you've done however is seen what you want to see and ran with something that


in Ireland we have 4 major sports competing together for our kids ability. we then have multiple other sports that 1000's of kids also play, the same as other countries of which some of them happen to excel in 1 or 2, like we do. thats a completely different thing to what you are saying

football is the #1 sport in almost every country in the world, Ireland is not one of those countries.

Your 100% spot on. How anybody can say that the GAA doesn't have a massive influence on football in this country is unbelievable.

One prime example is the schools. They have the schools taken over, especially outside Dublin. If a young lad of 12 or 13 is a good soccer player and a good hurler or footballer the chances are he will progress in the GAA. They play/train players in school 5 days a week now and expect nothing but full commitment.

If you have pep guardiola as a coach in your club in rural Ireland it wouldn't make a difference. You cannot make a player an elite footballer technique wise in a couple of hours session a week no matter who you are or what badges you have. Kids must practice these skills and be obsessed with the game. They are no longer on the streets until midnight kicking a football.

In these other countries if a boy is excellent at soccer he will be given a lot more opportunities. He will be exposed to the sport every day in school and more than likely have a full time professional club within a short drive.

The bottom line is our culture is not a football one, it's a GAA one. The majority of villages and towns in Ireland are GAA mad. Every village and town in 90% of the other countries in Europe is football mad. It's a huge obstacle to overcome.

Edit : and that's without even mentioning the ever growing rugby interest

Lucifer MorningStar

Pjanic scored again from a free kick tonight against Bayer Leverkusen.

citytillidie

Euro 2016 Play offs
1st Legs
12 Nov
Norway V Hungary

13 Nov
Bosnia and Herzegovina V Republic of Ireland

14 Nov
Ukraine V Slovenia
Sweden V Denmark

2nd Legs
15 Nov
Hungary V Norway

16 Nov
Republic of Ireland V Bosnia and Herzegovina

17 Nov
Slovenia V Ukraine
Denmark V Sweden

ArmaniJeanss

first leg Norway v Hungary kicks it all off tonight at 7.45, live on SS3.

ShoulderChip

Norway dont win in November, but they dont lose at home - eek

Rikand

ShoulderChip wrote: »

Norway dont win in November, but they dont lose at home - eek

0-0 draw so lol

Pinturicchio

So much for Hungary being the easy draw.

Francie Barrett

It's been all Norway and in fairness they should have had a pen.

Francie Barrett

lol crossbar norway - not their night.

cj maxx

Francie Barrett wrote: »

lol crossbar norway - not their night.

Cant believe he missed that header

yabadabado

Both teams are fairly poor.Norway can't be as bad again in the second leg.

ArmaniJeanss

Ukraines zero from five record in playoffs makes us look like experts.
They look to make it 6th time lucky against one of their previous conquerors Slovenia, starting now on Sky Sports 1.

briany

Ukraine 2-0 up v. Slovenia. Slovenes badly need an away goal to keep themselves in the tie, you'd feel.

PTH2009

Ukraine (easily)
Norway (will win 2-0 in hungry)
Bosnia (will win 1-0 in dublin)
Sweden (will win in both sweden and denmark)

to all go through to the finals for me