2014 FIFA World Cup qualification draw (UEFA) thread

IRISHSPORTSGUY

This Saturday

Pot 1: Spain, Netherlands, Germany, England, Portugal, Italy, Croatia, Norway, Greece

Pot 2: France, Montenegro, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, Slovenia, Turkey, Serbia, Slovakia

Pot 3: Switzerland, Israel, Republic of Ireland, Belgium, Czech Republic, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Belarus, Ukraine, Hungary

Pot 4: Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Georgia, Lithuania, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Austria, Poland

Pot 5: Armenia, Estonia, Finland, Cyprus, Latvia, Moldova, FYR Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Faroe Islands

Pot 6: Wales, Liechtenstein, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Malta, Andorra, San Marino

G.K.

Ideal draw for us.... (I refer to Wales here as I am Welsh)

Greece, Slovenia, Israel or Hungary, Albania and a pot 5 team that isn't Estonia, Finland or Macedonia

Liam O

IRISHSPORTSGUY wrote: »

This Saturday

how are Montenegro in pot 2

dreamers75

Spain
France
Ireland
Romania
Faroes
Kazaksthan

Vokes

Norway in Pot 1? Strange. They must've done pretty well in some recent qualifying campaigns i guess?

And Montenegro...hmmm.

Anyways, would like us to get Norway, Montenegro, Scotland, Faroe Islands, San Marino.



EDIT: Ah, I see Pots are being organized according to FIFA rankings only.

G.K.

Liam O wrote: »

how are Montenegro in pot 2

They're doing very well in EURO qualifiers atm.

LuckyGent88

Liam O wrote: »

how are Montenegro in pot 2

they are 16th in the FIFA rankings and only played 30 competitive matches winning 12.

Ideal draw for Ireland imo: Norway, Slovenia, ROI,Norn Iron, Faroes & San Marino.

IRISHSPORTSGUY

How about.....

England
France
Ireland
Northern Ireland
Cyprus

:eek::D

Degag

It's pretty ridiculous really. I remember that in other years, seeding was determined on your previous records in international competition. Now it's based on World Ranking. I'm pretty sure that if it was based on Rankings in previous years, Ireland would have made it into pot 2 on 1 or 2 occasions. I think it's pretty ridiculous that Montenegro who finished 5th out of 6 teams in the 2010 World Cup qualification group are suddenly ranked above us. Also when was the last time Norway made it to an international competition finals? 1994? (Not that our record is much better.)

Edit:// they were in the 1998 WC apparently too.

stesaurus

Happy in a way we're avoiding Belgium by being in the same pot as them, they've got an excellent young team and will be a danger to any of the top seeds.

I would be delighted with Greece/Norway and Slovakia/Slovenia. Other pots not too worried about.

Poor Wales though, looking up to the Faroes!!!! haha, is Kerr still in charge?

IRISHSPORTSGUY

Poland pissed on us at home, surprised they're borderline Pot 5

Poor Wales though, looking up to the Faroes!!!! haha, is Kerr still in charge

Yup. Brian is doing a very good job considering what he has to work with.

Helix

from an irish point of view id say that the dream group would probably be

denmark
belarus
ireland
northern ireland
azerbaijan
san marino

youd have to be expecting no more than 4 dropped points in that campaign

Degag

Helix wrote: »

from an irish point of view id say that the dream group would probably be

denmark
belarus
ireland
northern ireland
azerbaijan
san marino

youd have to be expecting no more than 4 dropped points in that campaign

And how do you propose we draw Belarus?

Fr Tod Umptious

Degag wrote: »

It's pretty ridiculous really. I remember that in other years, seeding was determined on your previous records in international competition. Now it's based on World Ranking. I'm pretty sure that if it was based on Rankings in previous years, Ireland would have made it into pot 2 on 1 or 2 occasions. I think it's pretty ridiculous that Montenegro who finished 5th out of 6 teams in the 2010 World Cup qualification group are suddenly ranked above us. Also when was the last time Norway made it to an international competition finals? 1994? (Not that our record is much better.)

Edit:// they were in the 1998 WC apparently too.

Ok lets just introduce a few facts here

1. 2010 WC - qualifying draw made on 25/11/2007. So lets use 10/2007 as the Ranking benchmark
ROI ranking = 32nd (21st in UEFA)
One place less than current World ranking of 31 and exactly the same as our current UEFA ranking of 21st.
Hardly Pot 2 material

2. 2006 WC - qualifying draw made on 05/12/2003. So lets use 11/2003 as the Ranking benchmark
ROI ranking = 15th (10th in UEFA)
Pretty high but Ireland were in Pot 2 for that draw anyway.

So no we would not have done any better pot wise in previous world cups that we failed to qualify for if they used world rankings

LeeroyJones

I'd rather avoid Azerbaijan. Hefty distance to travel and they have taken points from Russia and Turkey in their recent campaigns at home.

Helix

Degag wrote: »

And how do you propose we draw Belarus?

ahaha sorry, read the pots wrong... add the danes in

G.K.

You already have.

The_Kew_Tour

Normally these draws are not on till November- February before the competition starts...Bit odd that's so early

newballsplease

Anyone know what time its at on Sat? Our time?

My senses tell me we will be drawn in the same group as En ger land!
You heard it here first!:cool:

dsmythy

We won't be bemoaning Norway and Montenegro being in the pots they are if we get them.

LiamMc

CAF teams have had to suffer the garbage maths that is FIFA World Rankings in previous WC (Double-u See) qualifiers so either the use in quailiers should be scrapped or other confederations embrace the suspect calculations. (e.g. comparing teams results that have never played each other)

England, Russia or Serbia, Northern Ireland, Azerbaijin, Kazakhstan would be my choice.

NufcNavan

We're well overdue being put in a group with England. Law of chances surely must point towards it happening soon.

newballsplease

LiamMc wrote: »

CAF teams have had to suffer the garbage maths that is FIFA World Rankings in previous WC (Double-u See) qualifiers so either the use in quailiers should be scrapped or other confederations embrace the suspect calculations. (e.g. comparing teams results that have never played each other)

England, Russia or Serbia, Northern Ireland, Azerbaijin, Kazakhstan would be my choice.

id much prefer faroe islands and san marino then them 2. For travel purposes if nothing else.

newballsplease

NufcNavan wrote: »

We're well overdue being put in a group with England. Law of chances surely must point towards it happening soon.

Law of what now?

ya its well due i feel aswell

Zebra3

Liam O wrote: »

how are Montenegro in pot 2

Because they failed to beat Bulgaria in their last game. :pac:

LiamMc

newballsplease wrote: »

id much prefer faroe islands and san marino then them 2. For travel purposes if nothing else.

Just that the Faroe Islands staff would have a head start on knowledge of the 40 or 50 potential RoI players that may play against the Faroes Islands.

newballsplease

LiamMc wrote: »

Just that the Faroe Islands staff would have a head start on knowledge of the 40 or 50 potential RoI players that may play against the Faroes Islands.

that really shouldnt bother us

homerjay2005

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Normally these draws are not on till November- February before the competition starts...Bit odd that's so early

yep and it could be said, that this happening so early, could cost ireland a place in pot 2. if we were to pick up 9 or 10 points in the remaining 4 games and avoid defeats in the friendlies, even winning a play off game (all possible) we could for example overtake slovakia who are on a huge downward slide for the rankings at the moment.

The_Kew_Tour

homerjay2005 wrote: »

yep and it could be said, that this happening so early, could cost ireland a place in pot 2. if we were to pick up 9 or 10 points in the remaining 4 games and avoid defeats in the friendlies, even winning a play off game (all possible) we could for example overtake slovakia who are on a huge downward slide for the rankings at the moment.

Yes your right thats why its a little annoying from our point of view...

Just hope we dont get tough draw now, it would be class country to go to if we were lucky to get there.

jive

Pot 1: Italy, Croatia, Norway, Greece

Pot 2: Montenegro, Sweden, Denmark, Slovenia, Turkey, Slovakia

Pot 3: Ireland

Pot 4: Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Georgia, Lithuania, Northern Ireland, Austria, Poland

Pot 5: Armenia, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Moldova, FYR Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Faroe Islands

Pot 6: Liechtenstein, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Malta, Andorra, San Marino

If we draw a group with any of the teams listed above it would be a good draw. I dropped some of the danger teams in each pot and I would like to avoid Wales in pot 6 in particular. There are some soft teams in pot 6 and with Wales being a home nation they'd be best avoided, they have a few quality players like Bale and Bellamy. I'd like to avoid Scotland as well due to them being a home nation with a somewhat decent side. Getting N.I. wouldn't really bother me too much as it would be good to watch but that'd be the kind of match to spring a surprise! Having said that it'd be ideal as they wouln'd have to travel far and would have some good support away from home. I think who we get out of pot 1 and pot 2 is the most important though, hopefully we can avoid the big guns or at least get one of the softer teams in pot 2 which would be most important. If we dodge France/Russia/Serbia I'll be happy enough! Montenegro would be nice

busyliving

There are quiet a few teams in pot 1 & 2 who are very beatable and who we shouldn't fear

Dont be at yourself

Top team goes through, 2nd team into the play-offs, yeah? No matter what the draw, we'll have a chance of the play-offs, and if we avoid Spain/Holland/Portugal/Germany, we'll be able to push for the top spot.

ArmaniJeanss

NekkidBibleMan wrote: »

Top team goes through, 2nd team into the play-offs, yeah? No matter what the draw, we'll have a chance of the play-offs, and if we avoid Spain/Holland/Portugal/Germany, we'll be able to push for the top spot.

Just 8 of the 9 runners up go into playoffs, the worst runner-up misses out completely.
***********
Only 8 teams in pot 6 so kinda hope we get the group thats a team short.
A game against Liechstenstein or Andorra is fairly pointless as goal difference won't count (and if it does come to goal difference after head-to-head we never seem to beat them by more than 2 anyway), and generally all these games are is a risk of silly yellow cards or injuries.

Mr.Nice Guy

Have a feeling we'll draw the English. Seems like we're due a game at this point.

JerryHandbag

We'll draw France and qualify at their expense, controversially

batistuta9

the draw is on RTE2 at 8.15pm on saturday & sky sports news have a world cup draw special on from 7pm as well.

@jive a lot the teams you listed from pot 2 would be difficult opponents to get points from Turkey, Sweden, Denmark even Montenegro and in pot 1 Greece & Croatia are not going to be easy to beat away from home.

some people are going on about the fifa world rankings being used to decide the pots, did they not always use these to determine the pots the teams were placed in?

Fr Tod Umptious

batistuta9 wrote: »

the draw is on RTE2 at 8.15pm on saturday & sky sports news have a world cup draw special on from 7pm as well.

@jive a lot the teams you listed from pot 2 would be difficult opponents to get points from Turkey, Sweden, Denmark even Montenegro and in pot 1 Greece & Croatia are not going to be easy to beat away from home.

some people are going on about the fifa world rankings being used to decide the pots, did they not always use these to determine the pots the teams were placed in?

Well they often used a mix of ranking + performance in recent world cups, or just rankings alone.

Either way at the moment Ireland are no better that Pot 3 material so I don't know why people are complaining about it.

batistuta9

the rankings would reflect the performance in the world cup though wouldn't it & the friendly matches they play don't have as great an impact in the ratings as a competitive match either so people shouldn't be blaming them.

yeah i agree with you that Ireland are no better than a pot 3 team.

best draw imo
1. Norway
2. Slovenia
4. Albania/Georgia
5. Moldova/Azerbaijan/Faroe Islands
6. avoid Wales & Iceland

henke

I would love it if we came up against France .

killwill

MichaelM1987 wrote: »

I would love it if we came up against France .

I wouldn't, they are a different team these days and will do quite well.

Dont be at yourself

killwill wrote: »

I wouldn't, they are a different team these days and will do quite well.

Their results haven't been that good. Still very beatable, and our players would be fired up for it.

henke

I think it is one fixture that would bring the best out of most Irish players. True they probably aren't the shambles they were when Domenech was in charge but still I wouldn't fear them.

Speak Now

NufcNavan wrote: »

We're well overdue being put in a group with England. Law of chances surely must point towards it happening soon.

What about Germany? even longer!!!

ArmaniJeanss

Jerry Seinfeld wrote: »

What about Germany? even longer!!!

Aye, at least 4 years since we were in a group with Germany.

Speak Now

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Aye, at least 4 years since we were in a group with Germany.

my recent memory has failed me

ArmaniJeanss

Jerry Seinfeld wrote: »

my recent memory has failed me

Not to worry, and besides anyone who has managed to erase the Steve Staunton campaign from their memory is in a happier place.

newballsplease

group of death

Spain
France
Rep Ireland
Romania
Macedonia
Iceland

stesaurus

newballsplease wrote: »

group of death

Spain
France
Rep Ireland Belgium
Romania
Macedonia
Iceland

Fixed that for ya!

IRISHSPORTSGUY

s.welstead wrote: »

Fixed that for ya!

McCarthy + left back (probably Ward) will surely be in the team instead Andrews and Kilbane by then though. If so, we should be a hell of a lot better.

adamski8

so the draw is at 7pm most likely 8 after alot of faffing about

ArmaniJeanss

adamski8 wrote: »

so the draw is at 7pm most likely 8 after alot of faffing about

Probably closer to 8.30PM+ for the bits that concern Ireland.
They usually leave Europe until last and there are relatively complex draws for Africa, Concacaf and Asia.