European Qualifiers
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With the population of those countries it's never going to develop anyway. It's no fun, and not any sort of spectacle, for any half decent team to play them (and increases the risk of a major injury) and it fucks up the whole purpose of the Goal Difference in a tight table. It's a good idea to have them fight it out in a 'pre-qualifying event'. More fun for them too.
Barkley spawns a goal.
Could be Sweden v ROI
Yep, and I'd hate to see that happen. Would be sad if we knocked out Eire.
I hope we get Slovenia.
Seeded teams: Sweden, Bosnia, Hungary, Ukraine
Unseeded teams: Eire, Denmark, Norway and Slovenia.
Personally want Denmark (Agger), Ukraine, Sweden and Ireland in the Euros.
Iceland has a tiny population and look at them piss through their group.
Also head to head comes before goal difference now.
It's smaller than the population of Liverpool. Made up for them.
Yeah and I'm absolutely made up for them. Brilliant performance - since I spent a month there this year I now have an affinity for the country so will be cheering them on come the Euros. Pity they couldn't top the group in the end.
In Iceland though there really are very few other sports e.g no rugby, cricket, basketball, cycling only for a few months of the year etc. etc. so a relatively large proportion of the country plays football (they have more than a few very high quality indoor pitches which have made the difference). So they really are the exemption to the rule.
Quote from the FIFA link below :
The challenging climatic conditions in Iceland inspired the nation’s sporting officials to undertake what is arguably a unique project: to create ideal training conditions all year round irrespective of the weather in a country known for its Arctic winds and long hard winters. The Football Association of Iceland (KSI)’s solution was to develop an indoor football initiative in partnership with local authorities. To date, 15 full-sized and four half-sized indoor football pitches, 22 artificial pitches and 111 mini artificial pitches for schools have been constructed in a bid to help Iceland’s aspiring youngsters to train consistently.
http://www.fifa.com/world-match-centre/news/newsid/252/480/4/index.html
http://daswunderkind.net/iceland-indoor-football-nurture-nature-34612/
Cyprus (pop. 876k) have put in some good performances too but not only do countries like San Marino (pop. 33k), Gibraltar (34k), Liechtenstein (37k), Faroe Islands (49k), Andorra (78k) mostly have decent all year round weather (Iceland being at / below or close to zero C for most of the year with very high winds and lots of snow - so indoor pitches make a lot of sense) but there are a lot more pastimes for the sports-minded to participate in, so far fewer footballers as a % of the population. Good examples of countries demonstrating this being Malta (425k) and Luxembourg (570k) with much higher populations than Iceland but far less interest in football participation.
They are all playing indoor football !
Play Offs
Seeded or unseeded there doesn't seem to be a lot of difference between these teams. I'd like to see Ukraine (something for the people in that country to cheer for - God knows they need it) and Norway qualify. ROI too naturally. Norway threw away automatic qualification - winning 0-1 in Italy and they lost 2-1 and lost out on not only winning the group but dropped to 3rd with Croatia overtaking them.
Seeded or unseeded there doesn't seem to be a lot of difference between these teams. I'd like to see Ukraine (something for the people in that country to cheer for - God knows they need it) and Norway qualify. ROI too naturally. Norway threw away automatic qualification - winning 0-1 in Italy and they lost 2-1 and lost out on not only winning the group but dropped to 3rd with Croatia overtaking them.
It's gotta happen now, after that. 🙂
Post moved to the Tayto wars thread.
I want Hungary, Bosnia, Sweden and then Ukraine.
The first two we've got a good chance of beating, Sweden can go either way but we'll probably lose and we've got no chance against Ukraine.
A Sweden without Zlatan would be a different story though. That would be like playing against Estland.
The first two we've got a good chance of beating, Sweden can go either way but we'll probably lose and we've got no chance against Ukraine.
A Sweden without Zlatan would be a different story though. That would be like playing against Estland.
I'm going to France so I want Sweden to be in there
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