Euro 2012 Qualifiers

[Gustaf]

That draw went horribly wrong. Basically two matches of Grade A teams vs Grade B teams and two matches of Grade B teams vs Grade C teams.
And bad luck for Bosnia again, who really deserve to qualify some of these days, missing out over the past decade while several weaker European sides got a qualification or even two in edgewise.

Croatia vs Turkey has entertainment potential. Though not with the way Turkey have been playing recently.

Agreed. A better draw would have been Estonia/Montenegro v Portugal/Croatia with Czech/Ireland meeting Bosnia/Turkey.

I am hoping Bosnia can get Portugal this time. They definitely deserve to qualify for a tournament at some point.

[Keystone Phil]

Poland
Italy
France
Ireland

Well, here is a group that will make Philadelphia bar owners happy.

I think a lot of people would love that group.    You know France vs. Ireland is in high demand and Italy vs. France is always a classic.

[Lief 🗽]

Who would you want to get second in that group Phil? You hate the French team, but France is clearly more of an established power than Poland or Ireland.

[minionofmidas]

Who would you want to get second in that group Phil? You hate the French team, but France is clearly more of an established power than Poland or Ireland.

I think it's ordered by seed pot.

[Keystone Phil]

Who would you want to get second in that group Phil? You hate the French team, but France is clearly more of an established power than Poland or Ireland.

Certainly not Poland. It's extremely unfortunate that they'll even be allowed to participate. I guess I'd want to see France progress though I really wouldn't care. I have to go with France because there's the possibility of meeting the runner up in the Final and I'd obviously rather beat them (for the second time of the tournament, of course) there. It would also totally even us out regarding the rivalry because of their victory over us in 2000.

I think it's ordered by seed pot.

No, he means who would I rather see finish a runner up in my ideal final tournament group.

[GMantis]

Who would you want to get second in that group Phil? You hate the French team, but France is clearly more of an established power than Poland or Ireland.

Certainly not Poland. It's extremely unfortunate that they'll even be allowed to participate.

The host not participating would kind of dampen the tournament...

[Keystone Phil]

Who would you want to get second in that group Phil? You hate the French team, but France is clearly more of an established power than Poland or Ireland.

Certainly not Poland. It's extremely unfortunate that they'll even be allowed to participate.

The host not participating would kind of dampen the tournament...

Not when the hosts are a mediocre at best team. 

I don't think Euro 2008 was the best of tournaments but that wasn't because Switzerland and Austria didn't go far. Do you think fans in those countries honestly expected their teams to pull of miracle runs to the Final?

[GMantis]

Who would you want to get second in that group Phil? You hate the French team, but France is clearly more of an established power than Poland or Ireland.

Certainly not Poland. It's extremely unfortunate that they'll even be allowed to participate.

The host not participating would kind of dampen the tournament...

Not when the hosts are a mediocre at best team. 

I don't think Euro 2008 was the best of tournaments but that wasn't because Switzerland and Austria didn't go far. Do you think fans in those countries honestly expected their teams to pull of miracle runs to the Final?

No, but at least they got to participate. You can't expect a country to put an effort in hosting a tournament and then be excluded from it.

[Keystone Phil]

You can't expect a country to put an effort in hosting a tournament and then be excluded from it.

Uh, I absolutely can. It isn't enough that we're helping their economy immensely? It isn't a crazy thought that teams should actually earn their place in the final tournament.

[Landslide Lyndon]

You can't expect a country to put an effort in hosting a tournament and then be excluded from it.

Uh, I absolutely can. It isn't enough that we're helping their economy immensely? It isn't a crazy thought that teams should actually earn their place in the final tournament.

It's tradition. And it's VERY difficult to change tradition in football. Just ask all those that tried to abolish the off-side rule.

[Keystone Phil]

You can't expect a country to put an effort in hosting a tournament and then be excluded from it.

Uh, I absolutely can. It isn't enough that we're helping their economy immensely? It isn't a crazy thought that teams should actually earn their place in the final tournament.

It's tradition. And it's VERY difficult to change tradition in football. Just ask all those that tried to abolish the off-side rule.

No, I'm not saying that it ought to be changed. I really don't care that much and though I think teams ought to earn their place in the final tournament, I respect the tradition of letting the host nation(s) participate (as strange and contradictory as that sounds).

[Keystone Phil]

The playoff round begins on Friday! I can't wait. It almost makes me forget about Italy's Friendly against Poland. Almost. 

[Lief 🗽]

Obviously the most important thing happening this weekend is the Germany-Netherlands friendly. I hope both sides take it at least somewhat seriously. Should be good.

[Keystone Phil]

I'm heading down to one of the Irish Soccer pubs in a bit to watch the matches. Unlike the last time I was there to watch an Ireland match (Italy vs. Ireland when Italy qualified with a last minute goal), I'll actually be rooting for them this time.

[Tender Branson]

60 minutes played and Germany gets pwned by Ukraine 3:1 ...

[GMantis]

This time around it seems that all the seeded teams will go forward. Well, Portugal might be the exception

[Tender Branson]

Ukraine almost shot the 4:1, but now Germany scored the 2:3 ...

[Keystone Phil]

Croatia is almost surely through after beating Turkey 3-0 in Istanbul. Ireland is up 3-0 in Estonia. Czech Republic has to be favored after winning 2-0 at home. It looks like Portugal's second leg game will be the most interesting.

Oh, and Italy is up 2-0 in the Friendly against Poland. 

[Keystone Phil]

Estonia is down to nine men. What a disaster.

[Tender Branson]

Germany equalizes.

3:3

What else ... meh. And Ukraine was really good so far ...

[Keystone Phil]

Ireland is up 4-0. Dublin must be exploding with joy. Tuesday's game might be the most pointless match they'll play during this qualifying campaign.

[minionofmidas]

Ireland is up 4-0. Dublin must be exploding with joy. Tuesday's game might be the most pointless match they'll play during this qualifying campaign.

Or so they thought... until Estonia go up 4-0 with four obvious handgoals within the last four minutes.

[republicanism]

Yay Ireland!

[Tender Branson]

A few good games tonight (incl. my predictions):

Slovenia - USA (1:1)
Ukraine - Austria (2:1)
Croatia - Turkey (2:1)
Denmark - Finland (3:0)
Luxembourg - Switzerland (0:3)
Montenegro - Czech Republic (1:1)
Poland - Hungary (2:0)
Greece - Romania (0:0)
Germany - Netherlands (2:2)
Italy - Uruguay (2:1)
Ireland - Estonia (3:0)
England - Sweden (0:0)
France - Belgium (2:1)
Portugal - Bosnia-Herzegovina (0:1) - Big surprise of the night and I hope BH wins !
Costa Rica - Spain (0:1)

Games in bold are EURO 2012 qualification games - round 2.

[Keystone Phil]

One of my favorite days of the year.  

Ireland and Croatia will cruise, the Czechs might get a bit of a scare and Portugal should come away with a nice victory (not a crushing win but I think they'll dominate).


I'm going to skip Italy's game again since I'd rather watch qualifying playoffs on TV as opposed to finding a live stream for the Azzurri but it should be a good game. Here's hoping we measure up well against the South American champs. It should be a good warm up.