Euro 2012 Qualifying

[The Quasi Juice]

Might eventually become the official Qualifying thread, once the World Cup's out of the way...

GROUP A

Germany

Turkey

Austria

Belgium

Kazakhstan

Azerbaijan

This is laughable, Germany gets an easy group as usual.

GROUP B

Russia

Slovakia

Irish Republic

Macedonia

Armenia

Andorra

Pff, seems like an easy road to the Euro Cup for Russia. I know Slovakia qualified for the World Cup, but I doubt they'll be able to pull it off again, especially with Ireland in the group who are uber determined to be present at a cup again.

GROUP C

Italy

Serbia

Northern Ireland

Slovenia

Estonia

Faroe Islands

Meh, Italy and Serbia seem the likely candidates with N. Ireland fighting 'till the end and failing in the end sadly.

GROUP D

France

Romania

Bosnia

Belarus

Albania

Luxembourg

Could be an interesting group. Sucks France gets an easy group to be honest.

GROUP E

Netherlands

Sweden

Finland

Hungary

Moldova

San Marino

One of the toughest groups. Sweden has some good players, Finland as well and Hungary did very well in the qualifiers despite being in a tough group with Denmark and Portugal.

GROUP F

Croatia

Greece

Israel

Latvia

Georgia

Malta

Booooring. Hoping for Israel to qualify for once.

GROUP G

England

Switzerland

Bulgaria

Wales

Montenegro

Nice group for England, definitely. Second place is really up for grabs here and I'm hoping for Wales or Montenegro.

GROUP H

Portugal

Denmark

Norway

Cyprus

Iceland

GROUP I

Spain

Czech Republic

Scotland

Lithuania

Liechtenstein

Great draw for England. The rest of the UK is fucked though. >_>

It actually looks pretty good for UK teams.

[Scott McFly]

Fuck sake, Scotland shafted yet again. Italy AND France in the 2008 qualifying and now Spain and Czech Republic. Christ, I'd even have taken England over Spain. And literally any of the other pot 2 teams over Czech Republic. Oh well, let's hope Levein and the boys can pull some magic out of the bag.

I know Stokerino mentioned about it, and said he didn't buy this, but seriously, the Czech Republic aren't that good anymore, and are definitely beatable.

Fine, we'll swap you for Switzerland if that's the case.

[stokeriño]

Would that be simply 'beatable', or 'beatable even by Scotland'?

[METALMAN]

Craig Levein will make us world champions again! Just you wait and see!

[hackerjack]

GROUP G

England

Switzerland

Bulgaria

Wales

Montenegro

Great group for Wales, yeah there were easier options in every pot but coming from pot 4 all we could have hoped for is teams we stand a chance against and that's what we got.

The England matches are pretty much a write off in terms of points, anything there would be a massive bonus because I don't see any of the others taking points off them either and they should easily top the group (not that the matches will be easy, I just dont see them losing any). I'd want to get those games out of the way as soon as possible, in fact England at the Millenium up first would be ideal, kick the campaign off with a bang, get a big crowd in while everyone else is still hopeful and a World Cup/Early season hangover is probbaly our best shot at a point as well.

Getting the matches in the right order is important for us, leave the critical ones until last to give our youngsters time to grow. We have a real chance against any of the rest at home, in fact all four teams will think that so it will be points picked up away that will be key. If we could finish with the three away matches that would be ideal, hopefully get some points on the board early at home and then go away with the team as good as possible.

As for the rest, there is noexcuse for any of pot 1 not getting through, there is a fair gap in class between any of them and the best of the pot 2 teams, group F with Croatia is the only exception as they aren't that much better than the Greeks or Israel.

The Irish will be decided entirely on the matches with Slovakia, toss up that one. The Northerners have been excellent in recent years but they're never getting past Italy and Serbia. Scotland are screwed as well, as bad as the Czechs are right now compared to the late 90's scotland are even worse.

[Baddar]

GROUP G

England

Switzerland

Bulgaria

Wales

Montenegro

Great group for Wales, yeah there were easier options in every pot but coming from pot 4 all we could have hoped for is teams we stand a chance against and that's what we got.

I thought we stood a chance against Finland, but we were fucking awful in the home game against them.

Every country (apart from England) in the UK are bound to get tough draws until they can start qualifying for these competitions on a regular basis. Yes, you might say Wales stand a chance against the likes of Montenegro, Bulgaria and Switzerland (and maybe England at home if we can get enough fans behind the team...more on that shortly) but there's too many occasions when Toshack plays so defensive minded when at home. Hughes did it too.

At least Northern Ireland have a go. Wales give way too much respect to the teams they play against. What's more frustrating is the FAW's insistence to have the ticket prices sky high. People are not following the country in football as much as rugby not because it's "the sport of Wales" but because the ticket prices are extortionate every time a qualifying campaign comes around. When we we beating Italy at the Millennium Stadium years ago, the stadium was full. That was because the team was playing well and winning games. If they're not winning games and playing negative football in the home matches, why should the public be expected to pay £30-60 to go and watch them play?

I'll more than likely go to one or two games this time around (whichever fixtures are played in Cardiff) but if the FAW were to do deals on family tickets or even a £70 ticket to all four home games, at least it'd encourage people to stump up the cash.

There have been a couple of occasions in the last few campaigns where Wales had a home game on the Saturday and then the Wednesday. Why not offer a double ticket so that people had the option to pay a little less for the second game if they were going to the first? It annoys the fuck out of me, because doing it that way would bring the money in. Having a 30,000 gate on a Saturday only for that to be halved because the next game is only four days later is ridiculous.

[karlosJC]

Craig Levein will make us world champions again! Just you wait and see!

Again!! You must be talking about the time that you beat England when they were world champions.

Anywho England have got to be in Euro 2012.

[METALMAN]

Craig Levein will make us world champions again! Just you wait and see!

Again!! You must be talking about the time that you beat England when they were world champions.

Anywho England have got to be in Euro 2012.

yes!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFWC#Rankings_table

[EddieG]

The Dutch are champs.

[karlosJC]

The Dutch are champs.

Looking at the group the Dutch have drawn they could lose their title

[EddieG]

The Dutch will NEVER lose their title.

[METALMAN]

they fucking better

[EddieG]

The only team I will accept being beaten by would be Scotland though, actually, I like the Scots. Nearly as much as the Irish, not a big fan of the Irish football team though. *flashback to world cup 2002 qual. playoff*

[karlosJC]

they fucking better

What do you have against the Dutch?

[METALMAN]

nothing really. I just hate them because they are foreign.

[EddieG]

Nothing to do with us beating you twice in the WC quals?

[karlosJC]

nothing really. I just hate them because they are foreign.

I see the good ol'd British mentality shining through.

[METALMAN]

Yes, we are a people who enjoy jokes.

[Crybaby Bunting]

The jokes being Northern Ireland and Scotland

[9 to 5]

Metalman just hates everything.