UEFA European Championship 2016 Draw

obezyana

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Neither do we.

Clark and Keogh did well for us but they're no Paul McGrath.

If Germany struggled against us Italy will also find it hard. I don't think we will be beaten at all but whether we can win a game is another matter.

corny

obezyana wrote: »

I don't see the doom and gloom. Italy ain't great no more, Belgium yeah a good team but beatable and Sweden well only Ibra is top notch. Not as bad as it seems I think.

The Italians are the best team in the group for me. Rock solid spine. They won't give us a kick if they haven't secured qualification by the last game.

Belgium? Yes they've good players playing in good leagues but they never look convincing against organised defences. I'd fancy our chances of getting a draw.

All that means we'll probably have to beat Sweden to progress.

Mr.Nice Guy

'I thought I was going to enjoy the draw. I'm not sure I have after this.'

- O'Neill speaking to the BBC.

I wanted you to cheer me up, MON. :pac:

obezyana

corny wrote: »

The Italians are the best team in the group for me. Rock solid spine. They won't give us a kick if they haven't secured qualification by the last game.

Belgium? Yes they've good players playing in good leagues but they never look convincing against organised defences. I'd fancy our chances of getting a draw.

All that means we'll probably have to beat Sweden to progress.

I watched some of the Italian qualifiers and they were not like they used to be. Their forward players just ain't as good anymore. I'd fancy our chances with nicking a result of them. Belgium will be harder plenty of top players but again beatable. Unless Ibra is on fire then Sweden won't bother anyone

citytillidie

Lets see how the North do against the teams in Ireland's qualifying group

Flint Fredstone

An awful lot of travelling if you're going for the duration.

Korat

Our best chance is in the first game so avoid defeat there and we'll still have an interest by the final group game.

deaddonkey15

Tough group but we should be optimistic. If we can take 4 points of Germany in qualification we can definitely get something against any side in the group. Sweden only come in through the playoffs like ourselves. Ordinary enough apart from Ibrahimovich.

garra

obezyana wrote: »

I don't think they will they don't have the players like they used to.

Yeah that is often said of Italy before they go far in a tournament

Red Kev

Shut down Zlatan and we can beat Sweden. He doesn't get the same quality of service as with PSG, so it's doable.

Belgium will be under a fair bit of pressure, especially if they lose the first match against Italy.

Italy may well win their first two matches and will be more or less through by the time we meet them, so they may put up a weaker squad.

HalloweenJack

Group D (for Death), definitely looking forward to it.

Would be very happy if we get through. A win against Sweden is essential.

tonycascarino

Eden Hazard
Azzuri
Sweden
Ybig

corny

obezyana wrote: »

I watched some of the Italian qualifiers and they were not like they used to be. Their forward players just ain't as good anymore. I'd fancy our chances with nicking a result of them. Belgium will be harder plenty of top players but again beatable. Unless Ibra is on fire then Sweden won't bother anyone

They haven't had a decent forward since Vieri or Inzaghi. Didn't stop them getting to the final of this tournament 4 years. Sure they had Luca Toni up front when they won the WC in 2006.;)

You can achieve a lot with a good defensive unit. We're the ultimate evidence i suppose.

Omackeral

IamtheWalrus wrote: »

Will we be voted best fans in the world in France?

We'll have to defend our title in Las Vegas tonight first.

kenco

Isnt our record against this lot something like as follows;

Sweden - last two games draws which we had a chance of winning
Italy - beaten last game but dont forget what came before hand then two draws which we had a chance of winning
Belgium - not quite England but not too far off it, predomindently PL players...

So we might fluke a win (unlikely) which should get us 3rd spot or we might draw all 3 games (likely) and if we do I think we will be in a tie for 2nd spot which means if we win that coin toss we have a round of 16 against another 2nd place team (could be the Cechs....). Not great but not at all lost and a hell of a lot better than being drawn with Germany, Spain or France

All in all we got to turn up and play like we did in '88, '90, '94 and '02 (:eek:)if we dont we are toast

Mr.Nice Guy

kenco wrote: »

Isnt our record against this lot something like as follows;

Sweden - last two games draws which we had a chance of winning
Italy - beaten last game but dont forget what came before hand then two draws which we had a chance of winning
Belgium - not quite England but not too far off it, predomindently PL players...

Sweden beat us in Dublin 2-1. Zlatan was MOTM that night.

4 points might be enough to take third place. I think Sweden are our best shot at 3 points. Getting a draw against one of the other two will be a big ask though.

kenco

Yes its coming back to me now. Thanks for correcting that. Still nothing too scary I would have thought? Ala 2012 lose to the Swedes in the first game and its all over....still think we can get something from that game....Belgium Italy first game for both fascinating....could be a draw too

Isnt our record against this lot something like as follows;

Sweden - last two games draws which we had a chance of winning
Italy - beaten last game but dont forget what came before hand then two draws which we had a chance of winning
Belgium - not quite England but not too far off it, predomindently PL players...

So we might fluke a win (unlikely) which should get us 3rd spot or we might draw all 3 games (likely) and if we do I think we will be in a tie for 2nd spot which means if we win that coin toss we have a round of 16 against another 2nd place team (could be the Cechs....). Not great but not at all lost and a hell of a lot better than being drawn with Germany, Spain or France

All in all we got to turn up and play like we did in '88, '90, '94 and '02 (:eek:)if we dont we are toast

brianregan09

Seem to be seeing a familiar pattern here to the one after the 2012 draw

Oh we might get a result against the croats there not great sure

Spain we might get a draw but will more than likely lose

Italy they could be out by then

We all know how that turned out , that said I do think we have a great chance here and will need to play out of our skins to get through it though

Lemmy Scott

Omackeral wrote: »

We'll have to defend our title in Las Vegas tonight first.

Goosed there as we had planes diverted over:eek:

blade1

Just booked my Flights!
Roll on June!

gandalf

Dammit really wanted England!

ush

Mrs is Swedish and we live in Belgium. This should be interesting.

obezyana

corny wrote: »

They haven't had a decent forward since Vieri or Inzaghi. Didn't stop them getting to the final of this tournament 4 years. Sure they had Luca Toni up front when they won the WC in 2006.;)

You can achieve a lot with a good defensive unit. We're the ultimate evidence i suppose.

Back then they had top attacking midfielders in the team and this time around they don't. I'm not dismissing them I'm saying they ain't what they used to be and we can get a result off them.

DubDani

Quite interesting that there will be a Game involving 2 Brothers facing each other. Not sure how often that has happened before at a final tournament.

The Xhaka brothers were both born in Switzerland, with Granit playing for Switzerland and his brother Taulant playing for the Home Nation of their parents, Albania.

MarkY91

blade1 wrote: »

Just booked my Flights!
Roll on June!

What price? I was seeing 330 for the Paris game from Saturday night til Monday night.

blade1

MarkY91 wrote: »

What price? I was seeing 330 for the Paris game from Saturday night til Monday night.

Flight cork to gatwick on Sunday morning €28 +25 for bag.
Eurostar to Paris €60

Mushy

blade1 wrote: »

Flight cork to gatwick on Sunday morning €28 +25 for bag.
Eurostar to Paris €60

Where you get eurostar at that price?

blade1

Mushy wrote: »

Where you get eurostar at that price?

Voyages-sncf.com

Red Kev

DubDani wrote: »

Quite interesting that there will be a Game involving 2 Brothers facing each other. Not sure how often that has happened before at a final tournament.

The Xhaka brothers were both born in Switzerland, with Granit playing for Switzerland and his brother Taulant playing for the Home Nation of their parents, Albania.

Jerome Boateng played for Germany v Ghana in the 2010 WC. His brother Kevin-Prince Boateng played for Ghana in the same match.

They were both born in West Berlin.

Red Kev

Red Kev wrote: »

Jerome Boateng played for Germany v Ghana in the 2010 WC. His brother Kevin-Prince Boateng played for Ghana in the same match.

They were both born in West Berlin.

Vidigal who used play for Portugal had a couple of brothers playing for Angola too but im not sure they ever played each other at a tournament. 2006 WC perhaps?

mada999

Jelle1880 wrote: »

I think you need to readjust your definition of 'dire'.

We may not be as good as the ranking suggests, but that's got more to do with the coach than anything else.

all individuals..not a team imo

DubDani

Red Kev wrote: »

Jerome Boateng played for Germany v Ghana in the 2010 WC. His brother Kevin-Prince Boateng played for Ghana in the same match.

They were both born in West Berlin.

True, forgot about them. But still slightly different scenario. The Boateng's are half brothers, who grew up with their (separate) mums and didn't actually have a real relationship when growing up. The Xhaka Brothers on the other hand grew up together and share both parents.