Good stuff out of Braz. So from the nine possible scenarios we finish 2nd in four and we finish 1st in one. What do people think is the most likely outcome?
2nd place teams possibly; (with fifa ranking)
Turkey 24, Serbia 29, Bosnia 39, Sweden 18, Greece 14, Montenegro 19, Denmark 21, czech R 42, plus our group (Ireland 31)
2 hosts + 9 group winners + best 2nd qualify and leave 4 playoffs. (btw it will be 24 teams for 2016)
if UEFA use the rankings stunt like last time, we could play Sweden, Montenegro or Denmark.
Iceland aside I don’t think we have been drawn with them that often, not in recent times anyway. think we had Denmark in our group for USA 1994 and pipped them for second thanks to Alan McLoughlin’s late goal in Belfast
Yes indeed, a dour affair. Staunton got convincing wins over both Denmark and Sweden in friendlies in recent times while Norway beat us late last year but you couldn’t place any stock in those
Was Kerr’s first game not an away win over Scotland in a friendly.
I remember the Denmark match alright, they booed a lad who they thought was Lovenkrands but it wasn’t him and didn’t even look like him. Think we also beat Denmark or sweden the easter before the 2002 WC in a friendly, Clinton Morrison was amongst the scorers that night
trying to guess the likely results with 2 games left to play in most groups, I reckon we’ll be looking at something along these lines
Seeds -
Greece, Denmark, Serbia and Czechs
Plucky Minnows -
Turkey, Ireland, Bosnia and Montenegro
Health warning: UEFA rankings are from August 15th, so could be a degree of variation there.
Brief synopsis for the hard of reading: Turkey are our main rivals for a place in the seeded pot.[list]
[]Better to be seeded than not (obviously) based on likely opponents.
[]Best draw would be Bosnia or Montenegro?
[*]Serbia or Turkey means nightmarish away games.
[/list]
I await the opinion of the more informed posters as to who would be the ideal opponent.
Edited for updated rankings - switched Ireland and Serbia
just changed it there Mr T, provisional rankings mean we’d be in the minnows pot along with the turks (should spare rocko making a difficult decision) and the serbs are now seeded
Did we beat Denmark away fairly comfortably in a friendly under Stan?
I also have a vague memory of us playing a friendly away to Norway in pissing rain not so long ago and Stephen Reid playing excellently - it might actually have been near the start of Trap’s reign.