Other International Matches

1

Friday’s fixtures:

Austria v Belgium, Group A, 19:30
Hungary v Netherlands, Group E, 19:30
Serbia v Northern Ireland, Group C, 19:30
Slovenia v Italy, Group C, 19:45
Luxembourg v France, Group D, 20:00
Spain v Czech Republic, Group I, 21:00

Saturday’s fixtures:

Armenia v Russia, Group B, 15:00
Wales v England, Group G, 15:00
Bulgaria v Switzerland, Group G, 16:45
Georgia v Croatia, Group F, 17:00
Cyprus v Iceland, Group H, 18:00
Israel v Latvia, Group F, 18:05
Bosnia-Hercegovina v Romania, Group D, 18:15
Albania v Belarus, Group D, 19:00
Andorra v Slovakia, Group B, 19:00
Germany v Kazakhstan, Group A, 19:00
Norway v Denmark, Group H, 19:00
Malta v Greece, Group F, 19:30

Still early days in qualifying campaign but Austria v Belgium (Group A), Slovenia v Italy (Group C), Hungary v Netherlands (Group E), Norway v Denmark (Group H) and Spain v Czech Republic (Group I) all look important in the context of the various groups. Even Bosnia v Romania in Group D is between a couple of lower placed sides but will probably rule one of them out of challenging for a playoff spot already.

2

What a defiant performance so far by Ireland in Belgrade. They’ve totally silenced the home fans. Beautiful set-piece for the goal. Chris Brunt whipped in a free-kick from the left and Gareth McAuley rose high to nod home. The former Linfield, Coleraine and Ballyclare Comrades man will be delighted with his second international goal.

As will this man:

3

Oh no. What a shame. Home fans making a lot more noise now.

4

The Serbs should push on and win this now. I fucking hate Northern Ireland.

5

Lovely jubbly

6

Disappointing night for Irish football. The key moment for me was Kyle Laugherty missing that one on one chance just before half time which would have made it 2-0 . With a striker of the calibre of Laugherty bearing down on goal you only expect the ball to go one place, and so it proved, as he blazed it over the bar, which would have been useful in his days playing Gaelic Football as a youngster*, but not in international association football. Disappointment was tangible in Mark Robson and Gerry Armstrong’s commentary towards the end.

*I think that may have been Billy Wright actually.

7

Czech Republic 1-0 up in Spain approaching half time.

8

This would be a fantastic result on two counts.

9

Fucking hell Wales are pants.

10

Any of ye watching the Armenia and Russia game lads? Russians all over them the first half but Armenia have came into the game since. 60 mins gone so a reasonable chance of the Armenina mob holding out which would be a great result for Ireland IMO.

11

What channel is it on?

12

I’m watching it on bet365 mate.

13

0-0 FT.

A valiant display from the Kardashians and a wonderful result for the Irish, which makes tonights game even more important.

14

We go top of the table if we win tonight. Saw the end of the match there on a sopcast link. does anyone else have the problem that they can’t open any other websites while watching sopcast or the likes?

15

Very good result for us. Our win in Armenia looks a better result with every passing game.

16

We will be level on points with the Igors if we win tonight, I think it’s head to head that counts as oppossed to goal difference, although if Slovakia, Russia and ourselves or level on top I’m not sure how that will play out. Our esteemed admin Rocko will no doubt have the correct answer for this.

This group is wide open at the moment.

17

Any ideas on the sopcast problem rocko?

Here’s the tiebreaksituation in group from wiki. Looks likely to come into play if things keep going as they’re going in the group. Ridiculously tight Macedonia only lost 1-0 to an injury time goal away to Slovakia and 1-0 home to Russia.

As in Euro 2008 qualifying: If two or more teams are equal on points on completion of the group matches, the following criteria are applied to determine the rankings.[8]
Higher number of points obtained in the group matches played among the teams in question
Superior goal difference from the group matches played among the teams in question
Higher number of goals scored in the group matches played among the teams in question
Higher number of goals scored away from home in the group matches played among the teams in question
If, after applying criteria 1) to 4) to several teams, two or more teams still have an equal ranking, the criteria 1) to 4) will be reapplied to determine the ranking of these teams. If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 6) and 7) will apply
Results of all group matches:
Superior goal difference
Higher number of goals scored
Higher number of goals scored away from home
Fair play conduct
Drawing of lots

18

Israel indebted to Kayal against Latvia
Published: Saturday 26 March 2011, 22.28CET
Israel 2-1 Latvia
Beram Kayal headed a late winner for the hosts as they revived their flagging qualification campaign in Group F.

Israel breathed new life into their UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying Group F campaign thanks to Beram Kayal’s late winner at Bloomfield Stadium.

Without a victory in their last three qualifiers, Luis Fernandez’s charges enjoyed the lion’s share of the chances against Latvia but still needed Kayal’s 81st-minute header to seal the points, after Kaspars Gorkšs had cancelled out Elyaniv Barda’s early opener. The result leaves the hosts fourth, four points shy of section leaders Greece, who went top thanks to an added-time winner in Malta.

Bebras Natcho went close to putting Israel ahead in the ninth minute, when he collected the ball on the edge of the area and drove powerfully towards goal, only for Andris Vaņins to save with his fingertips. The home side did not have to wait long for a breakthrough, though, as Barda slid in after Vaņins was unable to hold an Omar Damari effort, Lior Refaelov having provided a fine pass in the build-up.

Latvia refused to give up hope and levelled shortly after the hour mark, with Gorkšs taking advantage of some lax defending from substitute Jurijs Žigajevs’s free-kick. Aleksandrs Starkovs’s men were nonetheless denied a point when Kayal nodded in a Maor Bar Buzaglo cross, raising confidence ahead of Israel’s visit of Georgia on Tuesday.

As for Latvia, fifth in the pool on four points, their next competitive outing will be a chance for revenge on home soil on 4 June.

19

Anyone see the Spain game? Read earlier that Xavi had more passes than the entire Czech team.

Gola - have you a poor broadband connection? Could be that the stream is using all your bandwidth. Try netlimiter or something.

20

I see Iceland U-21s beat England U-21s tonight. They could have an excellent senior team in a couple of years, I watched them make a hollow mockery of Scotland’s U-21s last October in a play-off. They finished 4 points ahead of the Germans to finish in second place in that qualifying campaign. Not bad for a country of a 300,000 people or so.