I can imagine a load of Irish lads in Russian doll outfits already.
No and there wonât be nuns getting married either .
Had a quick look at all this. From an Eire perspective, in real terms it boils down to needing Scotland to trip up in Slovenia or a draw in the Ukraine v Croatia game.
Thereâs all kinds of permutations in Group A and Group H or Northern Ireland losing heavily to Norway in Oslo but the overwhelming likelihood is if Sweden beat Luxembourg at home in Group A or if Greece win in Cyprus tonight in Group H, theyâre both on 13 points and with a goal difference that Eire currently on 10 points and a goal difference of +1 wonât overhaul unless they win by 3 or 4 in Cardiff.
If Bosnia beat Belgium, this scenario is definitely a runner.
Michael OâNeill and Gordon Strachan may yet be anxiously looking over their shoulders.
Thereâs also a scenario of two draws in Cardiff and Ljubljana resulting in Wales going through the 10 game campaign unbeaten but exiting on goal difference to Slovakia, whoâve lost 4 of their 8 Top 5 head to heads.
I just couldnât see Luxembourg getting anything against Sweden. I didnât realise until now that France were away to Bulgaria tonight. If they donât win that Sweden top going into last round of games and France scrubbing around with the runners up. What are Bulgaria like at the moment. Sofia was one horrible place to visit in the old Iron Curtain days (with the honourable exception of Scotland in 1987).
Update as of 7/10/17
Group A and Group B are dead to us.
Group H results:
Bosnia 3-4 Belgium
Cyprus 1-2 Greece
Greece are in second place in the group and are guaranteed to finish second, given that their final match is at home to Gibraltar.
They have now completed their matches for the purposes of the second place league.
Their final record is:
13 points and goal difference of F9 A5.
Eire currently stand on 10 points and a goal difference of F6 A5.
A 3-0 win in Cardiff would mean Eire finish on an identical record to Greece.
The tiebreaker for that is Fair Play points.
I cannot find a fair play points table anywhere, but will now tot up the amount of cards that Eire and Greece have picked up over the qualifiers so far.
Stay tuned.
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The good news is that it would appear we are ahead of them in the Fair Play league.
In 2018 World Cup Qualification, Eire have picked up 17 yellow cards in 9 matches.
Greece have picked up 21 yellow cards* and 1 straight red card.
*Note that of Greeceâs 21 yellow cards, four of them comprised âdouble yellows = redâ.
ie. They have had three red cards overall, but two of them were on double yellows as opposed to a straight red.
So, the bottom line is: A 3-0 win in Cardiff will guarantee a play-off.
Itâs in our hands now, sort of.
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Itâs the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham, circa February 1991 all over again.
When Bambi On Ice was a joy to behold as big Neil Quinn (as George Hamilton used to call him) knocked in two beauties.
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Not to forget John Byrne who got the crucial 3rd goal for Eire.
Arguably the best striker in British Isles football circa February 1991 - May 1992.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGIW6iD2QkQ&t=89s
sitting down at the kitchen table to this with 5 cans of carling and a few marlboro lights
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I think so.
Did Mike Milligan play in that too?
Mark Pembridge scored the winner for Wales.
We played Wales in a friendly early in every year from 1990 to 1993 inclusive, each at a different venue.
I have two main memories of Daish.
i) Him playing for Cambridge in their run to the Sixth Round of the 1990 FA Cup where they lost 1-0 at home to Crystal Palace, and
ii) Him sitting alongside Noel Gallagher on the Soccer AM couch the morning Celtic stopped the 10 in a row in 1998. The Soccer AM people did some skit about a new, made up product called âDaishâs Nailsâ, the joke being that Daish was hard as nails. Gallagher was coked off his head and fell about laughing uncontrollably on the couch.
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Sid what happened you in your life that you have to block it out with this rubbish?
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Bravo Sidney.
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very nasty post kev,
fellas have different interests in different things
i thought it was a great post fwiw,
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Group F - 8/10/17
Key fixture: Slovenia v Scotland
From an Irish point of view, the position is simple - we want Scotland to fail to win. That would mean any sort of Irish victory in Cardiff would be enough to get a play-off.
But letâs take a look at it from a Welsh point of view, as whether Wales need a win or only a draw against Eire will be determined by the result of the Scotland game.
Should Scotland fail to win, Wales would know that a draw would be enough for a play-off.
Should Scotland win today, Wales could conceivably still get a play-off with a draw against Eire, if Ukraine and Croatia draw. But in reality Wales would have to assume that they need to win.
Wales currently have a record of 11 points and a GD of F7 A5 in the second place league.
Croatia have a record of 11 points and a GD of F6 A4.
So Wales and Croatia both have a +2 goal difference, but Wales have one more goal scored, so have the advantage as things stand.
But should, say, Wales v Eire finish 0-0 and Ukraine and Croatia finish 1-1, then Wales and Croatia would have identical records and the tiebreaker would be fair play points.
Croatia lead that Fair Play tiebreaker - they have 8 yellow cards and 1 red card to Walesâs 13 yellows and 1 red.
Thus Croatia would go ahead of Wales if they get a higher scoring draw than Wales do.
And any sort of win for either Ukraine or Croatia would put that team ahead of Wales should Wales only draw.
Eireâs possible dilemma
Should Scotland fail to win today, Eireâs task would be clear - any win will do.
But should Scotland win, a Ukraine-Croatia draw would be the last possible fallback result for Eire in order to get a play-off, barring a catastrophe for Serbia where they lose at home to Georgia, in which case Eire would win the group by winning in Cardiff.
In this case, Wales would also have to play to win. Eire would know that a three goal win guarantees a play-off.
Now, should Eire find themselves, say, 1-0 up, with say, a quarter of the match remaining, what do they do?
Do they hope to hang on to that 1-0 lead in the hope that Ukraine and Croatia will finish in a draw?
Or do they chase the two extra goals that would remove any doubt?
Will Martin OâNeill, Roy Keane and the players be fully aware of the permutations, should such a scenario emerge?
It would be nice to avoid the situation that Alan Ball got into in 1996 when he erroneously told his Manchester City players to defend in order to get a draw, when they needed to beat Liverpool to avoid relegation.
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Its useless spending all that time in this capacity.
What is sid getting? What is he giving?
They are the 2 questions we really should be concerned about when allotting a huge chunk of time to something. Which this kind of recall and watching takes.
Its more a kick up the arse than a slag