Euro 2016 - Round of 16 - France vs Ireland, 2 pm, RTE, ITV

Dirty Dingus McGee

Green Fella wrote: »

They didnt look too fit today? The team collapsed and were exhausted 50 minutes into the match, and we paid the price big time. Never going to get away with that at the highest level, I expected us to tire from 75 minutes but from HT we were toast. The drink stuff is a non event though, could have been N/A they were on sale in the stadium. Even so irrelevant really.

They had just played a game 3 days before in ferocious heat and humidity, France had a full week off that's why they looked a lot fitter than us.If France had played on Wednesday night the difference wouldn't have been so big.

Gringo180

Does anybody want to discuss how unfit Walters was coming on or is it being swept under the carpet?

The_Kew_Tour

Gringo180 wrote: »

Does anybody want to discuss how unfit Walters was coming on or is it being swept under the carpet?

What's there to discuss? yes he seemed lack match practise.

Mec27

The game didn't even suit Walters, we needed to stretch them with Mcgeady

Mushy

Gringo180 wrote: »

Does anybody want to discuss how unfit Walters was coming on or is it being swept under the carpet?

I think it was a huge gamble that didn't pay off. Ultimately compounded by the sending off, but poor management none the less.

Umaro

I thought we lost because France were a superior team who exploited our mistakes.

I'm glad I read Boards.ie though, since now I know that we lost because Jeff had carbs on Wednesday night.

tastyt

It's hard not to be proud of the players for sheer commitment and willingness to have a go. One thing we never lack for is effort.

However we were well beaten in the end by a better side. There would be something fundamentally wrong with football though if we could compete with the best nations for these competitions.

The elephant in the room is our own league. No country has ever or will ever consistently go deep into these competitions without getting their house in order at home and have at the very least a full time professional league that young players can come through.

5 of our starting 11 in the last 2 games started in the league and it's the only way for our future as our youngsters aren't getting in at premier league clubs anymore.

Of course Wel have our flash in the pan results like Germany at home where we ride our luck and run ourselves into the ground while hoping for an off night from the opposition, northern Ireland will have these days too but until the FAI stop patting itself on the back for our brilliant supporters ( which has nothing to do with the FAI ) and grasp the nettle at home , this is as good as it gets and we don't really deserve to go any further.

By the way I don't think we should be winning these competitions but we should be giving ourselves a better chance and taking more pride in our own football culture. Well done to the team again

niallo27

tastyt wrote: »

It's hard not to be proud of the players for sheer commitment and willingness to have a go. One thing we never lack for is effort.

However we were well beaten in the end by a better side. There would be something fundamentally wrong with football though if we could compete with the best nations for these competitions.

The elephant in the room is our own league. No country has ever or will ever consistently go deep into these competitions without getting their house in order at home and have at the very least a full time professional league that young players can come through.

5 of our starting 11 in the last 2 games started in the league and it's the only way for our future as our youngsters aren't getting in at premier league clubs anymore.

Of course Wel have our flash in the pan results like Germany at home where we ride our luck and run ourselves into the ground while hoping for an off night from the opposition, northern Ireland will have these days too but until the FAI stop patting itself on the back for our brilliant supporters ( which has nothing to do with the FAI ) and grasp the nettle at home , this is as good as it gets and we don't really deserve to go any further.

By the way I don't think we should be winning these competitions but we should be giving ourselves a better chance and taking more pride in our own football culture. Well done to the team again

Do you think we will ever have a great home league with the power and popularity of the gaa. Imagine how great it would be to have an all ireland with 32 counties playing football(soccer) be some craic

The_Kew_Tour

tastyt wrote: »

It's hard not to be proud of the players for sheer commitment and willingness to have a go. One thing we never lack for is effort.

However we were well beaten in the end by a better side. There would be something fundamentally wrong with football though if we could compete with the best nations for these competitions.

The elephant in the room is our own league. No country has ever or will ever consistently go deep into these competitions without getting their house in order at home and have at the very least a full time professional league that young players can come through.

5 of our starting 11 in the last 2 games started in the league and it's the only way for our future as our youngsters aren't getting in at premier league clubs anymore.

Of course Wel have our flash in the pan results like Germany at home where we ride our luck and run ourselves into the ground while hoping for an off night from the opposition, northern Ireland will have these days too but until the FAI stop patting itself on the back for our brilliant supporters ( which has nothing to do with the FAI ) and grasp the nettle at home , this is as good as it gets and we don't really deserve to go any further.

By the way I don't think we should be winning these competitions but we should be giving ourselves a better chance and taking more pride in our own football culture. Well done to the team again

Agree with most of that.

It would be great to even have a decent Premier League and decent First Division.

Good league with goods tractate for Kids at Grassroots level would give us couple of stars per era you would hope.

wonderfullife

Say Your Number wrote: »

Disappointing, but at least we weren't f*cked over by a dopey Ref, they gave it everything and just ran out of steam in the end.

The French fans cheering every pass at the end, when just over half an hour ago, they were spitting blood at them.

I know this is churlish as we were ultimately well beaten but i'd argue in mitigation we were very slightly f*cked over by a dopey ref.

That was a definite corner from Wards shot.

The score was 1-0 at the time.

We were getting hemmed in and pushed back.....

To push up the pitch, and a half chance at extending the lead, was clearly better than a goal kick and for them to score from it.

Alright, it may not have changed much and we still needed to pick up Griezmanns run into the box....


The difference in turnarounds itself might have been manageable if the Italy game wasn't played with the roof closed in sweltering heat and humidity.

Less days rest on top of that fact obviously played a role.

I was hoping/praying for a couple of changes at half time.

It would have been a brave/reckless decision given the high possibility of extra time....... but to bring on Whelan or Quinn for fresh legs would have been a gamble worth taking for me.


Either way, we're out, and unlike 4 years ago the team gave us an adventure and we made and left our mark on the tournament, on and off the pitch.

Well done lads.

Mec27

tastyt wrote: »

It's hard not to be proud of the players for sheer commitment and willingness to have a go. One thing we never lack for is effort.

However we were well beaten in the end by a better side. There would be something fundamentally wrong with football though if we could compete with the best nations for these competitions.

The elephant in the room is our own league. No country has ever or will ever consistently go deep into these competitions without getting their house in order at home and have at the very least a full time professional league that young players can come through.

5 of our starting 11 in the last 2 games started in the league and it's the only way for our future as our youngsters aren't getting in at premier league clubs anymore.

Of course Wel have our flash in the pan results like Germany at home where we ride our luck and run ourselves into the ground while hoping for an off night from the opposition, northern Ireland will have these days too but until the FAI stop patting itself on the back for our brilliant supporters ( which has nothing to do with the FAI ) and grasp the nettle at home , this is as good as it gets and we don't really deserve to go any further.

By the way I don't think we should be winning these competitions but we should be giving ourselves a better chance and taking more pride in our own football culture. Well done to the team again

Nobody gives a **** a man, its a pity but Irish football culture is just whatever the **** England does. We never formed our own identity as a football nation.

tastyt

Mec27 wrote: »

Nobody gives a **** a man, its a pity but Irish football culture is just whatever the **** England does. We never formed our own identity as a football nation.

That's true, we have to question the fans too and not always point the finger at the FAI even though they are ****e. They can't physically drag people into a league of Ireland game.

Impossible I know but it would be very interesting to see how many of the tens of thousands of fans that went to France will be at a match at home next week. Sad to say but I'd bet more of them will be at a gaa championship match than a league of Ireland match in the coming weeks.

And I'm not having a go because the fans have been brilliant its just an opinion

Gringo180

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

What's there to discuss? yes he seemed lack match practise.

He was injured even coming onto the field. Nothing got to do with lack of match fitness. It was a joke bringing him on.

JustTheOne

The more I think about it we really missed a great chance today to progress.

They were there for the taking. Fatigue got us in the end but we really should have killed them off in the first half.

Gutted

I'm going to criticize O Neill because IMO if we were ever going to beat France it was in 90 minutes. I wanted an attacking double substitution early in the second half to push for a second.
Dropping further back and inviting pressure was always asking for it.

But credit to the team and everyone involved.
Some huge positives to take from this tournament especially for Hendrick, Brady, Randolph and Keogh. Hopefully they get new clubs out of this bar Randolph who looks happy to be 2ND place keeper. (For me it's not that important that a keeper gets first team football with a PL side for the respective clubs but for the outfield players it's a must).

Let's bring this form into the WC qualifying campaign.

Oh and thanks for the wonderful memories on Wednesday night. Il never forget it in my lifetime.

NIMAN

At least we went out with a fight.
France are a much superior team to us, and we have a few players who are relative rookies to this level of football, and it showed.

But they will get better over time.

No shame in that defeat today for me. We did well to be leading at HT, but very few of us thought we would be able to hold on for the full game.

At least we weren't as shocking as 2012.

fullstop

Omackeral wrote: »

That's because we had 10 men though. And they had 3 extra days rest. Plus we'd an unfit Jonny Walters. The boys were out on their feet.

No, we had 11 men for the 2 goals and Walters was not on the pitch at that stage. Our players are just technically very poor, plenty of heart but when someone just needed to put a foot on the ball and get the team passing they were all panicking.

The_Honeybadger

I'm proud of that performance today, we did as much as we could with the players available to us and put it up to the French. France has every possible advantage today, far better players, home advantage and twice as long to rest / prepare. It was never realistic to beat them. Call that defeatist or whatever but it was just never going to happen for me. Even when we went in at half time leading I knew our players would begin to wilt and make mistakes after a tough game a few days previous. The class of the French eventually shone through and there's no shame in that. Look at the subs they were able to bring on ffs.

At least we can bow out with a bit of pride, unlike 2012 when we made a show of ourselves, with arguably a better squad. We got a rotten draw in both championships it should be said, but at least we showed a bit of fight this time, and a couple of players came out of it with enhanced reputations.

Outlook is pretty grim in the long term. Our squad is paper thin on quality and there doesn't appear to be much coming through. Some meaningful long term planning is badly needed but that's a topic for another day. Looking forward to the WC qualifiers already.

HalloweenJack

I'm very proud of the lads after today and the tournament so far.

We did a lot better than 2012 and, after the results in the Germany and Belgium games tonight, at least we were a lot closer to getting a result. We got better as the tournament went on and fair play to the lads for picking themselves up after the Belgium defeat. Say what you want about the Italian XI that was out there, you still have to beat them.

The game was perfect for us today. Straight from the off we hurried them and got that lucky break with the peno. It was what we were hoping for. We knew we were going to have to deal with France coming at us and we did very well in the first half. The second half was always going to play out that way and it's no surprise that what happened, happened. The only complaint I can really have was the mess up for the second goal. Duffy was damned if he did and damned if he didn't for the red, I'm glad he took the chance. We gave them a good go but they were the better side. It's a lot better to run them close than to get trounced by three or four goals.

Randolph was incredible. He was so calm and collected and I don't feel there was much he could do about either goal. He made several good saves throughout the game and he's proven that he deserves to be first choice. In Brady, we have the best dead ball specialist since Harte, I reckon. He's much more use to us as a centre mid. Hendrick has also impressed me immensely in this tournament. I'm confident about the future of this side with those lads in it.

Overall, I'm delighted with how we turned things around at the tournament. The Belgian game aside, we gave a much better account of ourselves and we can go into the qualifiers with a lot of confidence, compared to when we came back from Poland absolutely deflated. People may say the new format is easier to qualify and progress in but say that to teams like Holland, Denmark and Norway, who didn't make it, or the likes of Russia and Turkey who did worse than us. It's a shame for it to be over but it's a lot better than I expected so I'm chuffed.

nice_guy80

the extra 4 days recovery really showed. the lads were out on their feet.

also the group that we got, but sure that's the luck of the draw

fyfe79

Just noticed in RTE's montage that George Hamilton after the Italy game said that Ireland had made it to the last 16 in the Euro's for the first time. 1988 was an 8 team tournament and 2012 was a 16 team tournament. I know he meant first time to reach the knock-outs, but you know, get it right!

I think he's been slipping recently, getting a lot of players mixed up. He also had no idea what Hendrick was booked for today (time-wasting), but neither did Beglin. Both were as bad as the other. That sort of commentary is annoying.

Arghus

It's rare that I don't feel an sense of frustration or simmering anger after we lose a big game, but there wouldn't be much point after today.

We played extremely well in the first half: withstood the pressure, and they looked a bit frayed at the edges by the end of the of it. Another goal could have really finished them off, but it was hard to shake the feeling that, all of our good play duly noted, that we could find goal number two hard to come by.

All the advantages that France had in their favour worked a charm for them in the second half: more rest, more quality, home support and options to change it up. We were never realistically going to withstand all that pressure, but it was a pity that the winning goal was handed to them a bit cheaply. And some the players were dead on their feet after that. I can't really complain too much - France were really good in the second half and we had fought valiantly until we had nothing left. No complaints.

I felt very proud of the boys. People might scoff that it's small beans to get to a 24 team euros, but you still have to get there. The qualifying campaign was full of memorable moments - Last minute winner in Georgia; fantastic results against Germany; coming back from the dead to salvage something at home to Poland; doing the business against Bosnia - and that was just getting there. Once we were there we were unlucky not to get the result against Sweden. Sure, Belgium was a real sobering experience, but that made Italy all the sweeter. That was a magic result and a few days of magical thinking followed.We never had any of that during 2012, too bad it couldn't continue forever.

A big thanks to team. It was great.

Richard Hillman

I think it was probably the least worst way to get knocked out of a tournament.

1990 and 94 had bad individual errors. 2002 was heartbreaking and filled with what could have been. 2012 was a shambles.

Today there was no single moments, robberies or what could have beens. They performed to the bestof their ability, they gave it everything and were outplayed by a better team but still performed well. No question marks or finger pointing, just proud of how they performed.

A big credit to the French team too. They didn't play well at all in the first half, went a goal down and never panicked. Even the crowd refrained on getting on their backs. It was very Un-French I wonder would it have been different if it had have been in Paris.

siblers

Richard Hillman wrote: »

I think it was probably the least worst way to get knocked out of a tournament.

1990 and 94 had bad individual errors. 2002 was heartbreaking and filled with what could have been. 2012 was a shambles.

Today there was no single moments, robberies or what could have beens. They performed to the bestof their ability, they gave it everything and were outplayed by a better team but still performed well. No question marks or finger pointing, just proud of how they performed.

A big credit to the French team too. They didn't play well at all in the first half, went a goal down and never panicked. Even the crowd refrained on getting on their backs. It was very Un-French I wonder would it have been different if it had have been in Paris.

2nd goal was an individual error, a pretty bad one but I wouldn't personally blame Duffy due to it being such a huge step up to make, maybe O'Shea should have started, easy to say with hindsight

If Hendrick had held up the ball after Murphy's effort, he could have possibly played Long in, dunno why he panicked like he did.

If Ward had placed his shot instead of blasting it/had the ref actually giving us our corner, France wouldn't have broke for the 2nd goal.

I feel like a lot of the players and staff will feel that if things had gone slightly different they would be in the last 8.

FlawedGenius

Richard Hillman wrote: »

I think it was probably the least worst way to get knocked out of a tournament.

1990 and 94 had bad individual errors. 2002 was heartbreaking and filled with what could have been. 2012 was a shambles.

Today there was no single moments, robberies or what could have beens. They performed to the bestof their ability, they gave it everything and were outplayed by a better team but still performed well. No question marks or finger pointing, just proud of how they performed.

A big credit to the French team too. They didn't play well at all in the first half, went a goal down and never panicked. Even the crowd refrained on getting on their backs. It was very Un-French I wonder would it have been different if it had have been in Paris.

Wouldnt agree with that at all. About 10 minutes after we went 1 nil up we had a great chance when Hendrick was at the by line and all he had to do was square a 5 yard ball back to Long and he probably would of scored, but he tamely dribbled into Lloriss hands. 2-0 up and I think we go through. All ifs and buts but if we pushed even a bit harder for the 2nd I think we'd have gotten it.
When it was 2-1 Mclean could of just rolled the ball across the 6 yard box for a Murphy tap in, but he rolled it backwards to Koscielny, was a terrible ball.

And I think we should of brought on Hoolihan or at least switched it up at halftime just to keep hold of the ball there was no way we were gona keep a cleansheet for 90 mins just booting it away and inviting pressure and the start of the second half is nearly always a time for goals(45-60min).

EDIT: poster above me beat me to it and I forgot about Wards chance that was never on for hitting with the inside of the foot.

Arghus

FlawedGenius wrote: »

Wouldnt agree with that at all. About 10 minutes after we went 1 nil up we had a great chance when Hendrick was at the by line and all he had to do was square a 5 yard ball back to Long and he probably would of scored, but he tamely dribbled into Lloriss hands. 2-0 up and I think we go through. All ifs and buts but if we pushed even a bit harder for the 2nd I think we'd have gotten it.
When it was 2-1 Mclean could of just rolled the ball across the 6 yard box for a Murphy tap in, but he rolled it backwards to Koscielny, was a terrible ball.

And I think we should of brought on Hoolihan or at least switched it up at halftime just to keep hold of the ball there was no way we were gona keep a cleansheet for 90 mins just booting it away and inviting pressure and the start of the second half is nearly always a time for goals(45-60min).

EDIT: poster above me beat me to it and I forgot about Wards chance that was never on for hitting with the inside of the foot.

Obviously in any game there are individual moments where one thing could have happened, rather than what did.

I think what the previous poster was getting at was that he couldn't really feel too hard done by with the result today. Sure there were individual moments where maybe things could have gone a different way in our favour. But if you're saying that I think you have to say that France could have made more than just two goals out of their umpteen opportunities.

Mr. Farage

The more I think about the extra rest days France had over us the angrier I get.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Mr. Farage wrote: »

The more I think about the extra rest days France had over us the angrier I get.

We finished 3rd in the group and therefore have no cause for complaint.

There should be a genuine advantage to finishing top of the group as opposed to third.

The_Kew_Tour

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

We finished 3rd in the group and therefore have no cause for complaint.

There should be a genuine advantage to finishing top of the group as opposed to third.

The group winners get to play a third placed team, that should be advantage enough

Mr. Farage

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

We finished 3rd in the group and therefore have no cause for complaint.

There should be a genuine advantage to finishing top of the group as opposed to third.

As above playing the 3rd place team is advantage enough. Those 4 extra days rest in such a month long tournament is a huge advantage but hey when have UEFA or FIFA ever had fairness as a priority once the advertising money keeps rolling in.

Iused2likebusts

Mr. Farage wrote: »

As above playing the 3rd place team is advantage enough. Those 4 extra days rest in such a month long tournament is a huge advantage but hey when have UEFA or FIFA ever had fairness as a priority once the advertising money keeps rolling in.

All the groups don't finish at the same time. So whoever was in group A was always going to get a longer rest. The schedule is complicated by trying to ensure teams that play in the same group don't meet again till much later in the competition. It wasn't ideal but I wouldn't put too much of the blame on the 4 day turnaround.

The_Kew_Tour

Iused2likebusts wrote: »

All the groups don't finish at the same time. So whoever was in group A was always going to get a longer rest. The schedule is complicated by trying to ensure teams that play in the same group don't meet again till much later in the competition. It wasn't ideal but I wouldn't put too much of the blame on the 4 day turnaround.

It's more they had extra 3 days rest more then anything

Fair enough you can't have them finish at same time, but 3 day difference really showed yesterday

Mr. Farage

Iused2likebusts wrote: »

All the groups don't finish at the same time. So whoever was in group A was always going to get a longer rest. The schedule is complicated by trying to ensure teams that play in the same group don't meet again till much later in the competition. It wasn't ideal but I wouldn't put too much of the blame on the 4 day turnaround.

The players I think would disagree. Doesn't matter now but i'd like to see a bigger degree of fairness in future.

Iused2likebusts

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

It's more they had extra 3 days rest more then anything

Fair enough you can't have them finish at same time, but 3 day difference really showed yesterday

The 3 days rest was one of the reasons, it also showed that we needed to go at full pelt in our last group game France didn't, it also showed that France have much better players, it also showed that we have no depth in our squad and France do.

That_Guy

Can't have any fault with the team overall. I don't always agree with MON's tactics and style of play but to his credit, he and the team have given us more incredible memories over the last 18 months than we've had in a long long time.

We looked jaded yesterday but we sure as hell gave them a good go and I have nothing but pride for the team/effort and the fans that made it such a great tournament to be a part of.

It's a shame that they didn't get another day out but it's no shame for the team to have lost in that manner. At least we gave it a good go and didn't roll over as we did in the last European championship.

Given how football is governed in this country, it's still pretty remarkable to get wins over Germany and Italy in the last 12 months. But I guess that's another discussion for another day.

Obviously gutted we're gone but I'd be more than happy to stump up the cash for a season ticket for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers. We've got a team full of very likable players and we've some decent talent waiting in the wings. (Forrester, Towell)

They're not world beaters but despite my own personal opinion of MON, I think we're a team going in the right direction.

The_Kew_Tour

Iused2likebusts wrote: »

The 3 days rest was one of the reasons, it also showed that we needed to go at full pelt in our last group game France didn't, it also showed that France have much better players, it also showed that we have no depth in our squad and France do.

In fairness what other small nation would have a strong 23man team? Not many

ArmaniJeanss

29 day comp with the hosts Group A game starting on Day 1 whilst Group F doesn't start until Day 5.
In order for these teams to meet in the later stages there has to be some compression of schedule which always looks unfair on the later starting groups.

Ideally the compression should be more gradual though (FIFA world cup does it such that Group A/B and Group G/H can't meet until semi final stage). I'm fairly sure it'd be possible to structure a 24 team Euros such that A/B can't meet E/F until the last 8.

NIMAN

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

In fairness what other small nation would have a strong 23man team? Not many

I read the other day that Michael O'Neill said he has a total of 40 eligible players to pick from.

Thats a shockingly low number, and shows the situation that smaller nations are up against when they come up against the 'big boys'.

Iused2likebusts

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

In fairness what other small nation would have a strong 23man team? Not many

None I'm just saying that there was a load of reasons why we lost yesterday and I think that the fact that France had 3 days extra rest is only a small factor in that. I think the lads did the country proud and I feel much better about our future prospects than I did before the tournament started.

Iused2likebusts

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

29 day comp with the hosts Group A game starting on Day 1 whilst Group F doesn't start until Day 5.
In order for these teams to meet in the later stages there has to be some compression of schedule which always looks unfair on the later starting groups.

Ideally the compression should be more gradual though (FIFA world cup does it such that Group A/B and Group G/H can't meet until semi final stage). I'm fairly sure it'd be possible to structure a 24 team Euros such that A/B can't meet E/F until the last 8.

It's probably complicated by the fact that 4 3rd place teams make it through. Before the tournament starts nobody knows what groups these will come from if the the two 3rd place teams that don't qualify come from A and B it would be next to impossible to avoid Group A meeting E or F I'd imagine unless they had teams from the same groups meeting in last 16 or qfs which would be silly.

Omackeral

NIMAN wrote: »

I read the other day that Michael O'Neill said he has a total of 40 eligible players to pick from.

Thats a shockingly low number, and shows the situation that smaller nations are up against when they come up against the 'big boys'.

Couldn't help yourself could you?!

ArmaniJeanss

Iused2likebusts wrote: »

It's probably complicated by the fact that 4 3rd place teams make it through. Before the tournament starts nobody knows what groups these will come from if the the two 3rd place teams that don't qualify come from A and B it would be next to impossible to avoid Group A meeting E or F I'd imagine unless they had teams from the same groups meeting in last 16 or qfs which would be silly.

Nah, this would nail it I think.
Q1. A1 v 3rd BCD. E2 v F2.
Q2. B1 v C2. D1 v 3rd AEF.
Q3. A2 v B2. F1 v 3rd CDE.
Q4. E1 v D2. C1 v 3rd ABF.
Semis Q1 v Q2, Q3 v Q4.

It fulfils all of their current rules (3 group winners in each half, winners and runnersup of each group in opposite halves and a potential team from ABCDEF in each quarter) whilst also preventing AB playing EF until the quarter finals.
Took me 10 minutes to do up.

(Hopefully I haven't messed up in some obvious way, egg on face if so)

Iused2likebusts

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Nah, this would nail it I think.
Q1. A1 v 3rd BCD. E2 v F2.
Q2. B1 v C2. D1 v 3rd AEF.
Q3. A2 v B2. F1 v 3rd CDE.
Q4. E1 v D2. C1 v 3rd ABF.
Semis Q1 v Q2, Q3 v Q4.

It fulfils all of their current rules (3 group winners in each half, winners and runnersup of each group in opposite halves and a potential team from ABCDEF in each quarter) whilst also preventing AB playing EF until the quarter finals.
Took me 10 minutes to do up.

(Hopefully I haven't messed up in some obvious way, egg on face if so)

Fair play send that onto uefa

Green Fella

NIMAN wrote: »

I read the other day that Michael O'Neill said he has a total of 40 eligible players to pick from.

Thats a shockingly low number, and shows the situation that smaller nations are up against when they come up against the 'big boys'.

It also shows what a terrific job Michael done with the limited resources he had, they nearly made the QFs ffs!

Utopia Parkway

Green Fella wrote: »

It also shows what a terrific job Michael done with the limited resources he had, they nearly made the QFs ffs!

Will be interesting to see how they do in the World Cup qualifiers. They did have a pretty handy group for Euro qualification. Helped also by the top seeds in their group being Greece who completely imploded. That said still a great effort from them given resources.

4068ac1elhodqr

Remi Faithful Paperwork wrote: »

Oh lala@19,



also think Sigurdsson@13 might tap one in 1st....

That was close, Rooney (4") just managed to get one in right before Sigurdsson (6"), was e/w anyways so no bother.

JamboMac

Damn we could of had Iceland. We now have no excuses of being a small nation with a shi(ty home league.

Dirty Dingus McGee

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

The group winners get to play a third placed team, that should be advantage enough

The 3rd placed team shouldn't be going through to the knockout stages in the first palce but because of the 24 team tournament they are given a chance they probably don't deserve.

Every advantage should be given to the top placed team over a third placed team.

Portugal beat Croatia despite a similar situation existing.