Euro 2012 Qualifiers

[Gustaf]

I'm not seeing a topic on it.

Great start for Sweden with a solid 2-0 win over Hungary, while Finland surprisingly lost against Moldavia by just as much.

Also great start for England who beat Bulgaria 4-0.

Italian start for Italy, beating Estonia 2-1 after being down 1-0 at half-time.

France continues to suck and lost against Belarus by 0-1. Portugal also sucked, drawing against Cyprus 4-4 (!).

[Gustaf]

In Sweden it is also called EM. I've never heard a Swede, in Swedish, refer to it as "Euro" (although I know it is called that in English, hence why I used it for this thread title).

[Gustaf]

Great result for France, especially since Romania continue to suck.

Lol, Portugal.

Bad for Sweden losing Mellberg for the Holland game.

Lol, Scotland.

Good for England. And good for Turkey, bad for Belgium who are going to struggle for a top-two spot now. Lithuania and Slovakia are doing great!

I don't think Ireland is looking good though, despite winning. Sorry Jas.

[Gustaf]

Bosnia is a pretty strong team, beating them by 2-0 is a strong showing and bodes well. If you can get the stars back and get the team to work together again there is still great potential in the team.

[Gustaf]

In the last Euro qualifiers Northern Ireland had a strong home record, beating Sweden, Denmark and Spain there. So they're not a team to be trifled with.

Also, Italy actually has a pretty tough group. Serbia, Slovenia and Northern Ireland aren't teams you can just breeze past. 

[Gustaf]

In the last Euro qualifiers Northern Ireland had a strong home record, beating Sweden, Denmark and Spain there. So they're not a team to be trifled with.

NI have been in hellish form recently. Up until the Slovenia game they were 7 games without a goal; and 10 without a win (since, funnily enough, beating Slovenia the last time).

David Healy has stopped scoring goals. If they're going to match their form from the last qualification campaign than something will have to change very soon.

Oh, right. I'm certainly not predicting a similar performance by them this time. Merely pointing out that they have it in them, so to speak.

[Gustaf]

Hoping that we can pull out a draw versus Holland tomorrow. :S

France is looking better now. So is Portugal, unfortunately.

[Gustaf]

Obviously wasn't a good night to be a Swede.

Ah, well. We should still pull out the 2nd place.

[Gustaf]

Decent game overall. Moldavia isn't as simple an obstacle as one might think so 4-1 is pretty good.

And what happened to Bosnia and Lithuania? There weren't generally that many interesting games tonight, unfortunately.

[Gustaf]

Decent game overall. Moldavia isn't as simple an obstacle as one might think so 4-1 is pretty good.

And what happened to Bosnia and Lithuania? There weren't generally that many interesting games tonight, unfortunately.

Yeah, the interesting games are tomorrow. Norway vs. Portugal ought to be the biggest one.

As for Lithuania, that is just too funny. Not only to lose by to lose 0-2 to Liechtenstein. Ouch. That's Liechtenstein's first competitive win in four years. As for Bosnia, that is less surprising. Romania might be pretty pathetic these days but they had home field advantage and Bosnia isn't exactly a good team anyway.

Another real embarrassment is France continuing to struggle against Belarus. They might just give France a good run in the home stretch especially since two of France's remaining games are in Romania and Albania. The former has put on very good performances at home while the latter isn't a pushover on home turf either.

Bosnia is criminally underrated. Dzeko just moved to Manchester City, for instance. In the last World Cup qualifier they finished second in their group behind Spain, ahead of Turkey and Belgium. In the WCQ before that they finished 3rd in their group, having tied Spain in both legs.

And, they're undefeated against Italy.

Romania, on the other hand has been sucking really hard ever since the 2008 Euros. In the last WCQ they were thrashed by Lithuania 3-0 on home ground. That is just embarrassing. Before yesterday their only points were beating Luxembourg and tying Albania and Belarus. So I was surprised that they could just sweep Bosnia to the side (especially since they lost the away leg against Bosnia)

[Gustaf]

Nice thrashing of Finland tonight.

[Gustaf]

Northern Ireland thrashed Faroe Islands and continued to tip-toe their way towards the Euros. They still have a decent shot at a play-off.

[Gustaf]

Northern Ireland thrashed Faroe Islands and continued to tip-toe their way towards the Euros. They still have a decent shot at a play-off.

Oh, damn. I forgot that there was a qualifier today. They certainly do have a shot at the playoffs. It should be a nail biter between Slovenia and Northern Ireland. I'm assuming that neither will take points from Italy since both have to play them away and we're on fire now. However, if one of them is able to do so, that should seal their place in the playoffs. I still think Slovenia has the edge but only by a single point.

It might help Northern Ireland, though, that Italy will likely have already qualified by the last game (they should qualify two games from now against Slovenia) and that would mean a far more relaxed style for Italy. We saw how they almost threw away their final qualifier for the 2010 World Cup against Cyprus while at home because they had qualified in the second to last game.

Serbia still has a chance but they finish with two tough matches. I'll say that they're going to finish in fourth.

Remember that Northern Ireland already has tied Italy once. The thing I think speaks in their favour is that they have two games against Estonia left and Estonia is a quite weak team. Serbia should have performed better and might surge at the end, but I think they'll still lose against Italy and that might make things too uphill for them.

[Gustaf]

Sweden plays Hungary. Key, key game. A win there and the chances of getting best runner-up and qualify automatically would be very, very good.

Even with a draw or, God forbid, a loss we should have a good shot at second place in the group, but we would then have to face a play-off. And that's no good, of course.

[Gustaf]

Austria defeats Germany tomorrow in Gelsenkirchen by 4:1 !!!!!!!

I'll tell you what, I'll put a picture of your choice in my forum signature if that happens

ok

It should be a picture of Joe Republic's choice.

[Gustaf]

A win there and the chances of getting best runner-up and qualify automatically would be very, very good.

Sorry to break the bad news but they aren't doing that anymore for the Euros. The group runners up now plays in a two legged playoff round like in World Cup qualifying.

Except for the best one. There's 9 groups and 14 places, what can they do?

Right 

Lewis is correct - I was referring to Sweden's chances of being the BEST runner-up and thus qualify automatically.

Sadly, given the disaster yesterday that now looks very unlikely. We really need to find a good left-back.

[Gustaf]

Phil, on your previous post about Sweden, I'm not worried about Hungary. As long as we beat Finland and San Marino (teams that we beat by 5-0 and 6-0 respectively in the last games) we're automatically ahead of Hungary regardless of how the rest goes (if they win all their other games and we lose the last game against Holland we would, given that, be tied on points and be ahead based on better head-to-head record).

So, to my mind this isn't really about the second place. I'm almost counting on Sweden not screwing that up. It was about being the best runner-up - a win against Hungary would have made it likely, but now the dream is more or less over, I'm afraid. And I don't trust Sweden in a play-off against anyone, really.

At least I'll be happy if the Norwegians get that best 2nd place spot.

[Gustaf]

Sweden's group is quite boring tonight. I guess Moldavia stealing a draw from Hungary is not impossible, but beyond that the games look pretty set.

Lots of exciting matches elsewhere though. I hope Northern Ireland can beat Estonia and keep themselves alive in their group. And I hope Austria manages an upset against Turkey.

Of course I'm also at least semi-hoping for Denmark to upset Norway and allow Sweden a new shot at that best runner-up. In a similar vein I'm cheering for Israel against Croatia as well.

[Gustaf]

Best result for Ireland would be a draw of course.

In group E, Netherlands can technically qualify now if they beat Finland.
And Hungary plays Moldova half an hour from now. I guess I'll cross my fingers for Moldova, since I'd like to see Sweden in the Euros.

Appreciated.

GMantis, while I am, as noted, cheering on Austria in that game anyway, I'm not too worried about the Turks being best runner-up. They've already at 2 losses, 1 draw with a game against Germany still left. Sweden's at 2 losses, with a game against Holland left. I'm more worried about Croatia and Norway.

[Gustaf]

Slovakia has one more game left, but they still have to go to Russia

Slovakia's remaining game against Russia is in Slovakia.

Going to Moscow and walking away with a draw is decent for the visiting team. However, there are problems ahead. The way I look at it, I think all three top teams will end with 21 points. I think that is going to hurt Ireland when it comes to the head-to-head record.

Yeah, I agree that is worrying for the Irish. Slovakia hasn't looked that strong though. They lost against Armenia so it's hardly out of the question for them to lose points in their remaining games (outside of Russia).

[Gustaf]

Sweden really sucked, especially in first half. Still ended with 5-0 in the end, which is respectable. With Greece's tie and Norway's loss there is still hope!

Armenia's result is really bizarre. And Northern Ireland...what happened? Estonia almost has a shot now!

[Gustaf]

Italy officially qualifies for Euro 2012 as group winners!

Congratulations! But the Netherlands beat you by a few minutes

The Netherlands haven't won the group mathematically yet. All we have to do is beat them by 4 goals in the last match and count on them losing against Moldova.

[Gustaf]

Although, come to think of it, I think Holland is guaranteed best runner-up even if they were to lose the remaining games.

[Gustaf]

Well, having studied the table I think best runner-up is realistically between Denmark and Greece, with Sweden as an outsider.

It could also be Croatia, if they lose to Greece and finish second in their group.

[Gustaf]

Well, having studied the table I think best runner-up is realistically between Denmark and Greece, with Sweden as an outsider.

It could also be Croatia, if they lose to Greece and finish second in their group.

Greece has won all but one game (which ended in a draw) at home so I think their remaining home game against Croatia should go their way. Croatia will win its last game but as long as Greece don't lose in Georgia, Greece will win the group.

I think it's going to be between Sweden and Croatia for the best runner-up spot. You guys should beat Finland but I'm guessing that even with The Netherlands' taking their foot off the pedal a bit, they'll still get a draw against the Swedes in the final game. That would put Sweden and Croatia equal with 22 points from their respective groups.

I'm not certain that Croatia can't get their act together and beat the Greek. Tying Latvia is not particularly impressive. Not that it matters - either way the best runner-up out of that group is likely to have 22 point (16 once you deduct those against the worse team).

We should beat Finland, which would put us at 21 (15). So we need that point against Holland quite badly. It's at home and they will have nothing to play for, so hopefully we'll get it. Although Holland sort of strikes me as the kind of team that might whip us for fun anyway.

I also wouldn't count out Denmark though. Even if they lose against Portugal, a win against Cyprus would put them at 16 as well.

At least we have an edge in goal difference - especially against Greece. Croatia has a good goal difference so I'm hoping for them to win their group...