Euro 2016 Qualifying

[Tender Branson]

If we don't qualify for this, we really suck ...

[Tender Branson]

Klose retires from the German National Team (the 2nd player already after Lahm).

[Tender Branson]

The first game for 2016 coming up on Monday:

AUT vs. SWE

Ibrahimovic is once again in good shape, so this will be tough to win.

I predict a 3-2 for Sweden.

[Tender Branson]

Tonight we are all Scots !



Germany needs another trashing ...

[Tender Branson]

Germany vs. Scotland can be watched here:

http://www.olweb.tv/rtl-germany

[Tender Branson]

Its happuninng !

Scotland equalizes against Germany.

[Tender Branson]

Well, that didn't last long ...

[Tender Branson]

Any predictions for AUT vs. SWE (and SUI vs. ENG) today ?

These are basically the only 2 interesting games today.

Mine: 3-2 Sweden/Austria, 1-1 Switzerland/England

[Tender Branson]

You can watch the AUT/SWE game here.

(Currently the Big Bang Theory, if anyone of you is interested how it sounds in German ...)

Starts in ca. 2 hours.

Also: Russia leads Liechtenstein by just 1:0 after 45 minutes.

[Tender Branson]

Congrats, Tender!

Well, a 1-1 is not really something to be happy about.

The performance was actually not all too bad, with Austria pressing hard for most of the time until the 60th minute, when the players decided to take a nap for 20 minutes.

But the thing is that despite the midfield providing the passes to the front, we don't have any competent striker who manages to put the ball into the goal, not even when they are 2 meters in front of it (of which we had some chances).

Also, the brutal elbow-check into the face of Alaba by Ibrahimovic (who then turned away and smiled in a "like I care"-manner).

The referee of course didn't see it, otherwise Ibracadabra would have gotten the well-deserved Red Card early in the game ...

[Tender Branson]

That was also great:

"Don't touch this !"

[Tender Branson]

We play against a country called "Moldova" today, abroad.

I predict a 3-1 win.

[Tender Branson]

We play against a country called "Moldova" today, abroad.

I predict a 3-1 win.

AUT: 2
MOL: 1

The bad thing is that Marc Janko (who scored the 2-1) got a red card in the 80th minute or so, for slightly punching the Mol. goalkeeper and will miss the home game on Sun. against Montenegro.

The home game against MON is a must win if we want to qualify.

[Tender Branson]

The dismantling of Germany by Poland was really great to watch ...

[Tender Branson]

Wait ... what ?

Austria leads Group G now with 7 points.

LOL.

[Tender Branson]

If you look at the summary video (with a crappy Russian commentary), we could & should actually have won by 5:0 or 10:0, but as usual a ton of chances were missed:

http://livetv.sx/en/showvideo/210964_austria_montenegro

[Tender Branson]

Let's hope Liechtenstein defeats Sweden tonight (or at least get a point) ...

[Tender Branson]

Serbia-Albania game was cancelled for skirmishes between fans.

There was a bit more to it than that...

Some Albanian nationalist(s) somehow flew a drone over the pitch carrying a Greater Albania flag.  A Serbian player grabbed the flag and tried to bring down the drone, and then scuffles broke out among the players, which then developed into a riot involving the Serbian fans (Albania had no tickets for the match, so there were essentially no away fans) with some of the fans attacking the Albanian players.

Pictures here.

Some people are apparently suggesting that this fixture should join Armenia-Azerbaijan and Spain-Gibraltar as one to be deliberately avoided in draws.

The Albanian players was also attacked by Serbian security guards inside the player tunnel.

Apparently, the brother of the Albanian Prime Minister piloted the drone onto the pitch from the VIP lounge ...

[Tender Branson]

Tomorrow, we need to beat Russia here at home in Vienna.

Not easy at all without David Alaba, who suffered a knee injury not long ago.

My prediction: 1-1 (but maybe Russia wins, who knows)

If we in fact manage to beat Russia, it would be a good step for qualification.

[Tender Branson]

So, Austria vs. Russia starts now.

LOL @ how about 90% of the stadium audience still sings "homeland of great sons you are" instead of the gender-neutral version ("homeland of great daughters & sons you are") that parliament passed as the official national anthem 2 years ago.

[Tender Branson]

1st half over and it's 0-0.

Both we and Russia had good chances, Russia is slightly more active though.

Wouldn't rule out a Russia win, but a draw would be nice.

[Tender Branson]

The "Russian Bear" got clobbered.

[Tender Branson]

Greece lost to the Faroe Islands...in Greece. Excellent troll routine, Ranieri.

The Faroese celebrate it like they have won EM, not that I don't understand them, it's pretty incredible.

Greece can take comfort though in the fact that they are not the only ones who lost to the Faroe Islands:

http://int.soccerway.com/matches/1990/09/12/europe/european-championship-qualification/faroe-islands/austria/628666

[Tender Branson]

On Tuesday, the next big game is going on here in Vienna:

Austria vs. Brasil (a friendly game and the last one this year)

Of course, it's sold out (actually, it was the game that was sold out as quickly as no game before).

Despite beating Russia, I think Brazil is another caliber and we'll lose 1-3.

But you never know, maybe they have a bad day like against Germany ...

[Tender Branson]

Just read that Brasil is currently on a run and not only unbeaten since their WC debacle at home, but also got no goals in any of their test games (12-0).