How good are Sweden though. They’ve Zlatan but who else? I always believed they were about on a par with us.
Mellbourg, Wilhemson, Elamnder and Kallstrom, a 35 year old Anders Svensson is still a key player for them, don’t think they are a great side in the grade scheme of things, i would rate the Russian’s as a better side with more depth
They don’t need anybody else when they have him but I know a few of their players. I actually think they’re beatable - they still had Daniel Majstorovic playing for them last season anyway. Olof Mellberg too. Other notable names would be Kallstrom from Lyon; Seb Larsson latterly of Birmingham, now Sunderland; Toivonen from PSV upfront but I’m not sure he’s in the team now that Zlatan is back from his exile. They also have Elmander of course. They tend to be organised and a solid unit, which goes for a lot in international football - same as what Trap’s doing with us really. Probably be tight enough games but more individual quality than Slovakia, for example.
Does Zlatan have over 50 international goals? We should beat this shower handy enough.
They are beatable alright but they’re better than Slovakia and Germany are better than Russia.
You probably wouldn’t have seen it on Saint and Greavsie Thrawneen (sweet jesus) but Sweden are doing pretty well at the moment. Currently second in their Euro group behind the Netherlands. While the Dutch fairly hammered them, they’ve been scoring freely, including a 5-0 win over Finland in their last match.
I know it may be hard to understand, but many of us with an interest in sport actually look at form and try to project this onto future potential results, which is why you may possibly hear that Germany are favourites to win this group. If you don’t understand this concept, maybe you should talk to friends or family with an interest in horse racing, they do it quite a bit.
No one’s saying its impossible, what some are saying is that its a difficult group. I would tend to think along the lines of the Rocko / Bandage school of thought in this instance.
Fitzy on the ball here, but there is no talking to that child. I fear for him when he leaves college and reaches the real world.
I run marathons in a shirt that says “Impossible is Nothing”
We’ll win the group
Were you in the Centra beside Quinns before the Limerick game?
I wasn’t. I went straight to Quinns with a big bag of sandwiches for the old man.
Quinns was very quiet. The drink is still shit there too.
The only place I have ever consistently gotten bad pint bottles of cider.
What in the fuck would you be drinking them for? The Guinness is excellent. The place is insane after 6pm, it’s like being in Coppers. They’d even a black in the jacks from 12am onwards.
I would have thought “Just Do It” would have been more your style Thrawneen.
I am style. Yannick Noah short shorts and a Roma jersey. I define it.
At €6 for a flat bottle I wasn’t drinking them for long.
+1 a real Limerick man drinks all his cider from a can
[left]
UEFA decides on less rest for international qualifiers
Wednesday, October 05, 2011 - 02:19 PM
International qualifiers will be played across six days between Thursdays and Tuesdays from 2014 to maximise TV coverage and broadcast income, UEFA have announced.
The move will see national teams having just a two-day break between matches in World Cup and European Championship double-headers, in what is being dubbed The Week of Football.
Teams will play either Thursdays and Sundays, Fridays and Mondays, or Saturdays and Tuesdays. Most double-headers are currently being played on Fridays and Tuesdays – leaving the weekends without football.
UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino told the Leaders in Football conference in London: “You can play every three days – it’s what happening in club football all year long so that’s not a problem.
“This has been unanimously supported by all 53 national associations.
“If we leave the weekend to other sports then in the medium and long-term it will be damaging.”
Read more: http://examiner.ie/breakingnews/sport/uefa-decides-on-less-rest-for-international-qualifiers-523224.html#ixzz1Zuwq4VpP[/left][/left]
I see the fixture meeting for our group is taking place later this week. Presume we would want ot avoid Sweden, Germany and Kazakstan away in the opening few games in case of a Euro’s hangover. Faroes away followed by Austria at home would be a nice start
Mr Delaney is in Frankfurt today to negotiate our World Cup 2014 qualifier fixtures.
Just to recap; our opponents are Germany, Sweden, Austria, Kazakhstan & Faroe Islands.
Could I urge everybody to make a special upfront effort to get the spelling of “Kazakhstan” correct?
Trap reportedly wants to start with a lesser team away from home. I think the first two fixtures are a double header so something like away to Kazakhstan and home to Austria might be okay.
Fixtures announced for World Cup Brazil 2014 qualification Group C
[i]The Football Association of Ireland today (November 18) announced that it has reached agreement on fixtures for UEFA qualification Group C for the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014.
In order to reach final agreement, the participating teams agreed to play one match, Faroe Islands v Austria in early June 2012. This proposal has been supported by UEFA.
Ireland’s fixtures for the group were agreed at the headquarters of the DFB in Frankfurt as follows:[/i]
September 7, 2012
Kazakhstan v Republic of Ireland
October 12, 2012
Republic of Ireland v Germany
October 16, 2012
Faroe Islands v Republic of Ireland
March 22, 2013
Sweden v Republic of Ireland
March 26, 2013
Republic of Ireland v Austria
June 7, 2013
Republic of Ireland v Faroe Islands
September 6, 2013
Republic of Ireland v Sweden
September 10, 2013
Austria v Republic of Ireland
October 11, 2013
Germany v Republic of Ireland
October 15, 2013
Republic of Ireland v Kazakhstan
Welcoming the announcement, Republic of Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni said,
“This is a good fixture schedule for our team with a good balance to the matches. We finish the campaign at home and start with a single away match against Kazakhstan which was important given the long distances involved. I am also happy with the balance obtained in the double headers and the timing of what we would expect to be some of the key matches in the group.”