Official 2010 World Cup Qualifying Thread

[DFF]

Actually, I just looked it up. They drew away to Latvia 1-1 in the game I was thinking of.

By the way, did you know they won their only match to date as recently as 2004 - a 1-0 home win over Liechtenstein?

Edited June 6, 2009 by DFF/WFS

[Matt]

Actually, I just looked it up. They drew away to Latvia 1-1 in the game I was thinking of.

By the way, did you know they won their only match to date as recently as 2004 - a 1-0 home win over Liechtenstein?

Fucking well done them, beating the might of Liechtenstein, who are probably falling into the category of "so shit they shouldn't be in it" themselves anyway.

They really should run preliminary qualifying events during the previous tournament, so the preliminary qualifiers for the world cup take place whilst the European championships are on (or right after they finish, either way) and vice versa.

[DFF]

Actually, I just looked it up. They drew away to Latvia 1-1 in the game I was thinking of.

By the way, did you know they won their only match to date as recently as 2004 - a 1-0 home win over Liechtenstein?

Fucking well done them, beating the might of Liechtenstein, who are probably falling into the category of "so shit they shouldn't be in it" themselves anyway.

They really should run preliminary qualifying events during the previous tournament, so the preliminary qualifiers for the world cup take place whilst the European championships are on (or right after they finish, either way) and vice versa.

What would be the point of the prelims, though? I mean, there'd only be, what, 4 or 5 teams there anyway. Teams are, in general, getting better and it shows with groups being generally a little closer each time around. I'd say the only real 'whipping' boys still around were San Marino, Liechtenstein and Andorra, with the Faeroes and Luxembourg just above them. Having those 5 have a prelim tournament would be a bit pointless, surely?

[Dynamite]

I would think that letting the minnows face off against the likes of England and Spain would be better in helping them develop than if you made them play others in their situation only. Having these big superstars come over and play in an actual competitive match will bring a lot of interest into the domestic game from people who would not care less about their countries football team otherwise. The main point is that unless you change the sport at grassroots level in these countries then it won't improve at all but through playing against the big nations, they might be inspired to do so. It's a shitty system and one of the big reasons why I don't take much interest in the international game but I can understand why it's in place.

[mikevandam]

LOL @ Sweden. That is all

[Fudge]

Never won a competitive game though, is what I meant.

[METALMAN]

What did Sweden do to lol at?

[Scott McFly]

Lost to Denmark at home. I'm guessing it's because he's from Denmark.

[METALMAN]

Oh. That's not that funny.

Although I am glad because I do not like Sweden.

[mikevandam]

it pretty funny really. The swedish media have been on hyper mode all week up to this match reminding everybody who would listen that they once finished third in a world cup and that they have Zlatan

[METALMAN]

Zlatan isn't even that good though.

He's only good on Football Managerland

[mikevandam]

What matters is that Denmark won and that we're running wild in the group

1 Denmark 16 (played 6 matches)

2 Hungary 13 (played 6 matches)

3 Portugal 9 (played 6 matches)

4 Sweden 6 (played 5 matches)

5 Albania 6 (played 8 matches)

6 Malta 1 (played 7 matches)

Oh and swedens goalscore is 2-2

We also have -2 but we have scored 13

Loving it

[IAceI]

Leitchenstein are probably the best of the minnows. They have drawn against Portugal before, and I'd say they're better than the San Marino's and Luxembourg's and Faroe Island's. They're a young nation, I reckon they're probably the better of the minnows.

Everyone's getting better as it is, and it provides a different challenge for the big teams. Think of a knock out tournament in like tennis, Federer and Nadal still have to play the first round because they have to and even though they generally breeze through - it has to be done. Much like England and Spain and the likes generally breeze through against the likes of Kazakhstan and Andorra etc.

What I'd like to see though is maybe when the Euro's are on, there's a tournament for some of the other teams? Or just like an annual tournament for 8 teams every year. So the likes of Lietchenstein play San Marino in a small knock out, and it rotates around the 8 teams every year so they get a chance to host it. It'd be a chance for them to play in their own level while still generating income from the big matches.

You saw the England match, they got a bigger reception than Kazakhstan and the tabloid cameramen were going nuts getting their pictures with the players and shirts and the lot when the match finished. You can't take that away from the minnows, everyone has their place even if it's just a formality match.

Just my thoughts.

[Crybaby Bunting]

It's the same reason never understood why the likes of Premier League teams don't play in the first rounds of the FA cup... They'd generally breeze through it, they'd get a training match out of it, and there'll some team from the Conference who'll be excited to play Manchester United.

The problem with limiting tournaments is that you end up with a group of the elite who think that they're better than the tournament, and the easier it is for them to get into the tournament, the harder it is for any team to break into this elite.

[Matt]

Leitchenstein are probably the best of the minnows. They have drawn against Portugal before, and I'd say they're better than the San Marino's and Luxembourg's and Faroe Island's. They're a young nation, I reckon they're probably the better of the minnows.

Everyone's getting better as it is, and it provides a different challenge for the big teams. Think of a knock out tournament in like tennis, Federer and Nadal still have to play the first round because they have to and even though they generally breeze through - it has to be done. Much like England and Spain and the likes generally breeze through against the likes of Kazakhstan and Andorra etc.

What I'd like to see though is maybe when the Euro's are on, there's a tournament for some of the other teams? Or just like an annual tournament for 8 teams every year. So the likes of Lietchenstein play San Marino in a small knock out, and it rotates around the 8 teams every year so they get a chance to host it. It'd be a chance for them to play in their own level while still generating income from the big matches.

You saw the England match, they got a bigger reception than Kazakhstan and the tabloid cameramen were going nuts getting their pictures with the players and shirts and the lot when the match finished. You can't take that away from the minnows, everyone has their place even if it's just a formality match.

Just my thoughts.

Yeah but they don't play the qualifying rounds. >_<

I don't see how Andorra benefit at all from playing England, we get 90 minutes of the kicking us around a we stick 5 past them. How does that help anyone? England players risk injuries, Andorra look more of a joke and we get 3 points that everyone else in the group is going to get.

Oh and I'd say there's about 8 really shit countries.

Malta

Moldova

Luxembourg

San Marino

Armenia

Andorra

Faroe Islands

Georgia

On top of that you could easily argue cases for:

Azerbaijan

Liechtenstein

Estonia

Kazakhstan

Montenegro

Cyprus

Macedonia

Maybe put those 15 in 3 groups and have the winners of each group qualify for the qualifiers.

And teams won't take a holier than thou attitude, either because there are still plenty of "midcard" teams who could move up and take their spots if they started getting cocky and to be honest - teams are more likely to get cocky when they're thrashing Faroe Islands 8-0.

[The Quasi Juice]

What matters is that Denmark won and that we're running wild in the group

1 Denmark 16 (played 6 matches)

2 Hungary 13 (played 6 matches)

3 Portugal 9 (played 6 matches)

4 Sweden 6 (played 5 matches)

5 Albania 6 (played 8 matches)

6 Malta 1 (played 7 matches)

Oh and swedens goalscore is 2-2

We also have -2 but we have scored 13

Loving it

Yes, finally Denmark is going to reach a major competition again. This is shaping up to be a cool World Cup; no Portugal, no Sweden, no Mexico, Denmark and Hungary in. I'm pulling for Hungary because Erwin Koeman is their coach No Portugal would be good for Holland and England, considering they managed to mess with us like two times already at World and Euro Cups.

[Crybaby Bunting]

It's a shame regarding Portugal, there's nothing I like more than seeing them play another 'dirty' team somewhere in the tournament causing everyone to kick the shit out of each other.

Plus it means each starting 11 can be radically different

[9 to 5]

Leitchenstein are probably the best of the minnows. They have drawn against Portugal before, and I'd say they're better than the San Marino's and Luxembourg's and Faroe Island's. They're a young nation, I reckon they're probably the better of the minnows.

They have an away win against a team who didn't lose at the last world cup in this qualifying campaign, they can have top spot for me on that alone.

[Slogger]

Australia are now locked into the World Cup now if anyone cares.

[EddieG]

South Africa, Australia, Japan, North Korea and Holland are the countries qualified so far.