Euro 2012 Qualifiers

[GMantis]

England's taken the lead against Montenegro, as has Netherlands against Moldova.

[GMantis]

Reminder to everyone: teams finishing on equal points will be ranked on head-to-head record before anything else. Might be important in a number of groups.

UEFA's use of head-to-head record instead of goal difference is really stupid.

No, it's the better method as it compares how well the teams did against each other and not how good they were at beating up the minnows.

[GMantis]

What a lame match between Wales and Switzerland ... fortunately England is about to crush Montenegro.

Perhaps like Montenegro they are focusing on the last game.

[GMantis]

Russia and Ireland both score... Armenia will have to win in Ireland then.

You thought Andorra could draw with Ireland?

[GMantis]

Quite an interesting game between Turkey and Germany. Germany almost made it 2-0, then very shortly after that, Turkey almost equalized. Germany's playing really strongly for a team that has no stake in the result.

[GMantis]

And they've made it 2-0.

[GMantis]

Wales has taken the lead against Switzerland!

[GMantis]

Reminder to everyone: teams finishing on equal points will be ranked on head-to-head record before anything else. Might be important in a number of groups.

UEFA's use of head-to-head record instead of goal difference is really stupid.

No, it's the better method as it compares how well the teams did against each other and not how good they were at beating up the minnows.

It may be more fair, but it ultimately makes the outcome less exciting/fluid and fails to promote attacking play, unlike deciding by goal difference.

In some cases however teams which might have scrapped through with a draw would need a win under the direct result tiebreaker. So it depends on every specific case.

Wales has taken the lead against Switzerland!

That was a terrible performance by the Swiss, plain and simple. If you lose to Wales in such a way, you have no business trying to qualify for the World Cup.

It also means that Bulgaria will have to defeat Wales in their last game to avoid finishing last. Looking at how Wales played, I'm not very optimistic at this happening. 

[GMantis]

And Montenegro makes it 2-2 in injury time!

[GMantis]

England qualifies for the tournament and Montenegro qualifies to the play-off.

[GMantis]

Just an observation going into the final day of the Group stage: while I support Belgium for the runner up spot and don't want to see Armenia get through Group B, the former has to be the least deserving team in contention for a playoff spot while the latter is probably to most deserving.

If you think Armenia is the most deserving team to go through, why don't you want them to?

[GMantis]

We're not getting defeated by Belgium at home...

You don't need to be for Belgium to progress as long as Turkey loses or draws against Azerbaijan.   Let's remember that Azerbaijan did beat Turkey in this campaign. Unfortunately for those that want to see Belgium move on, I wouldn't be too hopeful that there will be a repeat even though Turkey has been less than impressive lately.

Azerbaijan will lose not only because they've been dreadful, but because they are not about to trip up Big Brother Turkey on their way to qualification As for Belgium defeating Germany, the problem with that is that both Germany and the Netherlands have won all their games and neither will want the other to have a perfect record while they don't This is bad news for Sweden as well, of course.

[GMantis]

We're not getting defeated by Belgium at home...

You don't need to be for Belgium to progress as long as Turkey loses or draws against Azerbaijan.   Let's remember that Azerbaijan did beat Turkey in this campaign. Unfortunately for those that want to see Belgium move on, I wouldn't be too hopeful that there will be a repeat even though Turkey has been less than impressive lately.

Azerbaijan will lose not only because they've been dreadful, but because they are not about to trip up Big Brother Turkey on their way to qualification

You mean, like they did in Baku?

Anyways, Germany are up 2-0 already, so the current 0-0 draw would actually be enough for Turkey.

At that point Azerbaijan still had a chance to qualify.

[GMantis]

Armenia's goalkeeper has himself sent away in a foolish foul - stopping a clear goalscoring opportunity with his hands. Outside the penalty area.
In other news, Germany continues to demolish Belgium, while Turkey and Azerbaijan is (surprisingly) still a tie.

PS: Incidentally, I think the Irish player whose shot the goalkeeper stopped with his hands was also controlled with his hand. What's with Ireland and all these handballs?

[GMantis]

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No.

Well it was when I was writing it

[GMantis]

And Armenia scores an own goal

[GMantis]

And Croatia up 2-0, you forgot that one.

Just saw that. Looks like Croatia is taking the group.

Greece have just equalized. I think that's them back on top, right?

Wow! What drama! Yep, they're back on top because of head-to-head.

They still have a chance to win the best second place. As long as they score 6 goals in the last five minutes

[GMantis]

The Croatia result is good news for Sweden which still have a chance to finish second best if they manage to hold Netherlands to a draw.

[GMantis]

Now Ireland has lost a player as well!

[GMantis]

Russia qualifies to the tournament and Ireland reaches the play-offs.
But Armenia deserves congratulations for the way they played. And they are a young team and really have the potential to do something in the future (which means that Bulgaria's group is even more horrible than it seemed before )

[GMantis]

Also, while I love the German team at the moment, it would be nice if we didn't concede random goals at the very end of the game all the time.

As long as they are 3:0 up, it doesn't really matter

[GMantis]

This means that if (nd that's rather a big 'if') Belgium qualifies for the WC 2014, it  will be their  return to the international stage after 12 (Twelve!) years in the wilderness.

That's probably what will happen with Bulgaria. The way they playing now and with their group, they'll be lucky to finish 4th.

[GMantis]

The Czech Republic qualifies for the play-off. Not very sorry for Scotland, if you play like that you should be kept as far as possible from a tournament.
In other news, France equalizes with a penalty. Let's hope it's not a dodgy one

[GMantis]

Estonia has reached the play-offs as well. And that's a team that lost to the Faroe Islands!

[GMantis]

We were undefeated (one of only four teams that can say that).

Five, actually