Group 4 - World Cup Qualifying

Third_Echelon

Group as of now is tight as a ducks @rse.....

How will it end up... my predictions...

Group 4

Teams

---

Pld---W---D---L---GF---GA---Pts

Republic of Ireland

---

7

---

3---4---0---11---4

---

13
Switzerland

---

6

---

3---3---0---13---4

---

12
Israel

---

7

---

2----5---0---10---8

---

11
France

---

6

---

2----4---0---5----1

---

10
Cyprus

---

6

---

0----1---5---4----12

---

1
Faroe Islands

---

6

---

0----1---5---3----17

---

1


Remaining Games that matter.

Switzerland 03/09 Israel - ( Israel capable of getting a draw. )

France 03/09 Faroe Islands - ( France should win this)

---

Cyprus 07/09 Switzerland - ( Swiss to win that one )

Faroe Islands 07/09 Israel - ( Israel win )

Republic of Ireland 07/09 France - ( A draw I reckon)

---

Cyprus 08/10 Republic of Ireland - ( Ireland to win )

Israel 08/10 Faroe Islands - ( Israel to Win )

Switzerland 08/10 France - ( Probably Ireland's most important game/result....We would want a draw but i think France might do it. Win for France)

---

Republic of Ireland 12/10 Switzerland - ( Ireland to Win. I think we have the beating of the swiss )

France 12/10 Cyprus - ( France )

---

**********So with all those results here is what the final table will look like **********

Group 4

Teams

---

Pld---W----D

---

L

---

Pts

Republic of Ireland

---

10---5

---

5

---

0

---

20
France

---

10---5

---

5

---

0

---

20
Israel

---

10---4

---

6

---

0

---

18
Switzerland

---

10---4

---

4

---

2

---

15



Comments??

johnor

I think on paper we can beat the swiss, we defo arent showing it at the moment tho

eirebhoy

The Swiss aren't that great. If we play like we did against Israel or France we'll destroy them.

Team vs Faroes:
Pascal Zuberbuhler (Basel)
Philipp Degen (Basel)
Patrick Muller (Basel)
Alain Rochat (Bern Young Boys)
Ludovic Magnin (Werder Bremen - joined Stuttgart this summer)
Tranquillo Barnetta (Hanover)
Johann Vogel (PSV)
Raphael Wicky (Hamburg)
Alexander Frei (Rennes)
Daniel Gygax (FC Zurich)
Johan Vonlanthen (PSV - loan to Brescia)

Basel are poor. Hearts beat them 2-1 in Basle. Young Boys and Zurich are worse. So thats 5 players from the above lineup playing for crap teams in a crap league.

Magnin only started 16 games for Werder in the league, mostly in midfield (I think he plays left back for Swiss?).

Vonlanthen couldn't even make the PSV bench for a lot, if not most games, so was loaned out to Brescia in January. He made just 3 sub appearances for the club with a total of 25 minutes football.

Frei is top class, Vogel very good too. Hakan Yakin can't get a club. His brother Murat is playing crap. Henchoz got let go today by Celtic. Bernt Haas isn't good enough for West Brom.

We're much better than these. The only tough match left is France.

My predictions are:
Faroes and Cyprus lose to everyone but each other.
Switzerland beat Israel.
We draw with France.
France beat Switzerland.
We beat Switzerland.

That leaves us level on points with France and it goes down to goal difference to decide who wins it.
If France and Switzerland draw we are guaranteed first with 1 win and 1 draw.

Pigman II

Unlike Eirebhoy and yourself I actually rate the Swiss as our main rivals in the group. I certainly wouldn't write them off as ending with 4-4-2 and couldn't really care less which clubs their players play for or whether they're getting their game or not. I evaluate them purely on what they have done so far in this group and so far they have :
1) score the most goals of any team
2) dropped the least number of points of any team
2) in the 7 games played so far been the only team who came anyway close to beating us.

I've not been impressed by Israel at all and I think will be out of the running by the time the final round of games is played.

France is still an unpredictable quantity and could just as easily lose to us at Lansdowne in Sept as they could beat us. But all I'm confident for sure is that the Swiss will be there or there abouts when times comes for us to play them and it won't be an easy game (if France are still in contention that is. My table predicts that might already be out ).

Prediction (presuming France stay on current 'form'

Swi	10	6-4-0	22
Ire	10	5-5-0	20
Isr	10	4-5-1	17
Fra	10	4-4-2	16
Cyp	10	1-1-8	4
Far	10	0-1-8	1

Draupnir

Right this minute, theres only one thing Im sure off in this group, Id settle for a winner takes all game against the Swiss come October.

France are brutal most of the time these days, but Thierry Henry on his own has the ability to beat us if he decides to turn up that day. We play as well as we can and we can beat both France and Switzerland. On saying that though,

if we had played as well as we can in every game in this group, we would have it won already. 6 points dropped in Switzerland, Israel and Lansdowne that we should have won would have the group sewn up.

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

mada999

yeah think Ireland didn't take their chance by drawing twice with Israel....France I think will beat us (i hope not tho) and Keane will get suspended for the game after France......

eirebhoy

I think the French and the Swiss will qualify. The 4 dropped points against Israel are going to prove very costly IMO

Could they not be costly to the French also? Israel were never really the better team against us or France but they ran the show against Switzerland. Benayoun was strolling through the defence. I'm not usually one to compare individuals but half their team now plays in the Swiss league. People laugh about the quality of the SPL, the Swiss league is worse.

thejollyrodger

ireland will defintely qualify IMO. The team doesnt really know itself yet. I think things are starting to come together. It always seems to come down to big games at lansdowne and I expect we will have a great game and turn over the French.

I expect Israel to get a draw with the Swiss. Yes they are total muck, but they belive in themselves and the swiss are going to have a tuff time putting them away.

I expect us to beat Cyprus and go on to beat Switzerland in the final game. Were the best team in this group and I think the final strech will just highlight it.

BaZmO*

I don't know why everybody is being so pessimistic. We are in a great position to qualify automatically.

We have to look at the Cyprus game as a given, just like the FI match last night, if we can't beat them well then we don't deserve to qualify.

That then leaves us with 2 home matches against our biggest rivals in the group, France and Switzerland. They are the teams that have slipped up, having dropped points against us at home.

And as for the comments about us dropping points against Israel, yes we should of won both matches, but we didn't and so far either did France in their 2 matches against them and The Swiss only managed a draw in their away fixture.

The real test is how we can deal with them during our home matches and I'm fairly confident that we can definitely get at the very least a draw and a win.

I think a lot of people, if asked when the draw was made, would they take the position we're in come June the answer would've been a resounding yes.

B.

20 Times 20 Times

if france finally get there campaign in 4th maybe 5th gear they will have the beating of everyone and this is what worrys me

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

thejollyrodger

France are on the ropes.. there is no way they are suddenly going to come right for us in September. I think we will win all three matches.

BaZmO*

thejollyrodger wrote:

France are on the ropes.. there is no way they are suddenly going to come right for us in September. I think we will win all three matches.

Exactly. I just can't see how people can be so negative about our chances saying that we've blown it and we've lost vital points here or there, yet they fail to acknowledge the fact that we're in a better position than France and Switzerland. So far they're the ones that have slipped up more than us but strangely enough according to some people they're just gonna walk away with automatic qualification.

I'm not so confident about the 3 wins but we could definitely manage 2 and a draw.

B.

mike65

France in the Autume will be a diffferent side. Trust me.

Mike.

Dempsey

Its the end of the season, players are knackered and its showing. I wouldnt be too hard on the performances in the last two games. We are all unbeaten so noone is dropping points against each other so if Ireland can manage a win against Swiss or France or both we will go along way to qualifying

thejollyrodger

mike65 wrote:

France in the Autume will be a diffferent side. Trust me.

Mike.

I bet you €20 bucks that we beat France in September !! Im convinced of it. Were in great form that time of year.

Chucky the tree

Draupnir wrote:

6 points dropped in Switzerland, Israel and Lansdowne that we should have won would have the group sewn up.

Did you see thw swiss match? we were lucky to get the draw, if it wasnt for given it would of won comfortable.

BaZmO* wrote:

yet they fail to acknowledge the fact that we're in a better position than France and Switzerland..

Switzerland are in a better position. They will beat israel easily, and cyprus.

That leaves FRance and us, They just need a win and a draw from those Where as we need a 2 wins.

eirebhoy

Chucky the tree wrote:

Switzerland are in a better position. They will beat israel easily

You mustn't have seen the Israel-Swiss match or even the Israel-France match. They won't beat them easily. Israel don't rank the Swiss up with us and France so they'll go to Switzerland and play football. Most Irish only seen Israel against ourselves which won't give you any idea of what they can do.

Chucky the tree

eirebhoy wrote:

You mustn't have seen the Israel-Swiss match or even the Israel-France match. They won't beat them easily. Israel don't rank the Swiss up with us and France so they'll go to Switzerland and play football. Most Irish only seen Israel against ourselves which won't give you any idea of what they can do.

I still think there weak, we should of gotten at least 3 against the israels on wednesday. IT was jsut luck, not defending.

THe swiss tore us apart. I would be amazed if israel's pull off another draw.

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

thejollyrodger

And im putting another €20 on a Israeli Swiss draw.

tetsujin1979

I've worked out the permutations here - http://members.boards.ie/tetsujin1979/Permutations.html - I've left out the possibilities of Ireland losing though, if we lose any of the three games against France, Switzerland or (god forbid) Cyprus, we're as good as out

_blank_

Quality.

BaZmO*

tetsujin1979 wrote:

I've worked out the permutations here - http://members.boards.ie/tetsujin1979/Permutations.html - I've left out the possibilities of Ireland losing though, if we lose any of the three games against France, Switzerland or (god forbid) Cyprus, we're as good as out

:eek: Fairplay, although Eirebhoy now has fierce competition as the Boards.ie resident statitician!!

B.

eirebhoy

BaZmO* wrote:

:eek: Fairplay, although Eirebhoy now has fierce competition as the Boards.ie resident statitician!!

hehe. And I sponsered him to post on this forum. :eek:

DamoRed

I can't help thinking, if we don't manage to qualify, it'll be another case of saying, Group 4, there's another one that got away!


Damo

BaZmO*

DamoRed wrote:

I can't help thinking, if we don't manage to qualify, it'll be another case of saying, Group 4, there's another one that got away!


Damo

If we don't qualify you will DEFINITELY be saying that!!!

B.

Sooner or Later

I'd hate to see us going into the last game against the Swiss having to win to qualify. Historically we haven't coped well with that kind of pressure. Hopefully the other teams will take points off each other and it won't all come down to the last game.

thejollyrodger

yeah, i agree. the next game against france is a must win imo. there are too many permuations left and we could end up with egg on our face