UEFA World Cup Qualifiers
 

They get into full swing this weekend. Obviously with most of the football followers on here being British, this topic will turn out as a discussion on the British national teams. What do you Englishlads think of your chances against Austria this weekend? I don't know much about their football but I'd say you guys would have an away win there. Wales should overcome Azerbaijan, and Scotland should...well...who knows. :lol:

Greece open their Germany 2006 campaign with an away game as well, against neigbouring Albania. Hopefully they keep up the form which saw them win the Euro, and beat the blockheads. Can't wait for Greece-Turkey in Greece next week though, that will be fucking insane. :eek: :y:

Discuss whatever you want about the qualifiers in UEFA or anywhere else in the world.

I think we should win both our games to be honest (Poland away on wednesday), 4 points would be alright though.That's mainly based on their recent home defeats in friendlies but Austria lost at home to Holland and Czech Republic in their last qualifying campaign and Poland finished behind Latvia in their group. Heskey shouldn't have been dropped though, we need an alternative option up front and it looks like he's been dropped because of one bad game at Tottenham, which is unfair considering he got good reviews against Pompey and scored against Man City.

I'm trusting Theo's in your squad, yianni :love:

If we don't win both games just wait for all the sven haters to resurface again.

In the FA.

I reckon dropping Heskey was the right decision although we do lack a target man upfront. Defoe seriously deserves a chance.

And I hope Wright Phillipsssssssssssssss gets a chance though apparently he might miss out with injury :(.

I feel we will win both to be honest. Anything to get me away from the shit going on at St James' these days :(.

I remember in the 2002 World Cup, when Australia got knocked out of the final qualifers, an Aussie substitue teacher took a day off work

And they won't qualify yet again this time around, deathtrap, the way they're bloody going at the moment.

Hm, I can see them slipping up against British Samoa

They're ordinary but not THAT bad...:p

Czechs should go through this time. Holland will be the toughest to get by.

I've got my Wales v Northern Ireland tickets secured :cool: Hopefully we can get 6 points in our opening 2 games (Azerbaijan, N Ireland) but you just never know in football these days. Baku is no easy place to go and play a game of football, especially after a tiring journey and rather depressing surroundings. But footballers are professionals, so hopefulyy they can overcome that and play some class footy and fly home with 3 points in the bag. I like our form going into these qualifiers. In our last five games we:

Beat Scotland at home 4-0

Beat Hungary away 2-1

Drew with Norway away 0-0 (in that game we must have had about 3-4 max Premiership players on the field, and all the rest were either Championship or League 1 players)

Beat Canada at home 1-0

Beat Latvia away 2-0.

Also, in our last 7 games we have scored 9 goals and conceded just 2. And with the form Hartson and Bellamy are in at the moment, I think this will turn out to be an enjoyable campaign for us Welsh. Certainly looking forward to it :y:

Ireland start off with Cyprus on Saturday and then away to Swizterland next Wednesday.

We've got a tough group, with basically all the teams fighting it out behind France. I'm basically going to rule out getting anything from France and take any kind of encouraging performance as a bonus.

I think we're good enough to finish second, I just hope we play to our abilities. Roy is back, so he'll put some composure and experience, as well as quality, back into central midfield.

Also, since the Euro 2004 qualifying campaign, a number of players have emerged as international players: Andy O'Brien, Liam Miller and Andy Reid in particular, with Graham Barrett impressing and Jon Macken a badly needed extra striking option.

Our first eleven for the most part should be:

Given
Carr
O'Shea
O'Brien
Cunningham
Andy Reid
Kilbane
Roy Keane
Miller
Duff
Robbie Keane

Holland, Morrison, Finnan, Barrett etc. will figure strongly.

That's a talented and hard working side. Enough to dismiss the likes of Switzerland.

We better win. That's all I'm saying.

I can see you beating France at home, they are not a great side and they're beatable. But then I see you slipping up against one of the smaller sides.
I hope you qualify though, unlucky at the last world cup.

Zidane retiring from internationals is a big blow for France, like Scholes for England, but i can still see them qualifying.

Ireland should be good enough for 2nd and they'll get it hopefully.

The side ECG posted is certainly good enough, i'd maybe have Holland ahead of Kilbane but he's injured right now anyway.Roy Keane will probably miss the games though and i read this morning that Delap and Miller are doubtful too, Connolly almost certainly out but,given his form for us so far, that's not too much of a bad thing.

Delap has strangely never figured for Ireland. I'd rather have Kilbane over Holland. Holland is kind of shit. Kilbane has that work ethic and penetration about his game. He really fits nicely into central midfield. Good engine, box to box man. He's a powerful runner, and good at getting into the box for crosses.

lol, who saw that news report on Sky Sports News earlier? The reporter was in the stadium and there was an Austrian flag and a Union Jack hanging up there. Nobody had noticed anything wrong with it until someone from Sky contacted the head guy at the stadium and pointed it out. Then a guy went to the roof of the stadium, embarrasedly pulled down the Union Jack and took it away. The Stadium manager was said to be furious, and promised that there will be a St. George's cross there by kick off tomorrow. They said this was because Austria haven't played England for ages and the last time they played eachother, it was kind of a trend to bring Union Jacks to matches, but nobody hardly does it anymore. Dumbass Austrians :lol:

As opposed to the dumb arse English fans who bring Union Jacks to matches or the dumb arse England team who play the BRITISH national anthem before games?

1-0 against Austria and Poland beat the Northern Irish scum 3-0:cool:

I'm getting France and Israel right now on the international channel, its a really slow game though

Try telling that to about 30 000 Sunderland fans :'(

lol

lol we called him Skillbane.

Great irony we Geordies have.

AND AFLAKDFKADLFKAFDAL

David James...can't believe it.

And how Wright Phillips didn't get on the pitch but Jamie Carragher did is beyond me.

Bye Sven. Take Calamity with you please.

Oh, nice one on missing from 8 yards Smithy

Drawing away to Austria isn't that bad.

Yes it is you crazy Mackem bastard :foc:

Drawing against Austria full stop is a bad result.

They are ranked 90th. i.e teams such as Burkina Faso, Kenya, Iceland and Guatemala and EVEN SCOTLAND ;) are better than them. Seriously there are only 205 teams ranked which includes all those tiny ones like Cook Islands therefore they are only halfway in the entire world. Therefore a draw is no where near good enough.

When you consider we were 2-0 up with 30 mins to go its a crime.

Ah see I see this kind of stuff all the time from Sunderland. We're always giving people two goal starts and then coming back. Unfortunately there aren't any keepers in the Coca cola Championship that gift you goals.

Yeah thats right Mackem you're used to this shit.

Spare a thought for us who support better teams :(.

Like England :lol:

Like Newcastle :mad:

Oh wait :( :'(

1-1 away to Azerbaijan doesn't seem so bad now :cool:

My gf served Mart Poom in a supermarket.

She said he had huge hands.

Probably a good job.

They don't call him Big Kev for nothing.