Your expectations for Ireland's World Cup qualifying campaign

Godot.

Wales
Austria
Serbia
Rep. of Ireland
Moldova
Georgia

I am really looking forward to it. I think we can win the group for a change rather than praying we'll scrape a play-off

Unearthly

Austria have always been awkward to us in the past. Not looking forward to playing them.

Although it's first time in a long time I think we can win a group. Usually it's Germany/Italy/France will get top spot, let's fight it out for playoff

Godot.

If Wales could go back to being absolute bobbins that would be a tremendous help

All the top 4 teams will be fancying themselves to win the group. Serbia have some great young talent coming through - they won the U20 World Cup last year in New Zealand.

Mec27

Serbia always **** up, the one time they qualified they were the worst team in the tournament despite being pre tournament ''dark horses''(2006)

I'd be optimistic enough tbh, Austria qualified unbeaten but out of a group with Russia and Sweden as rivals so it might be a bit misleading but regardless they could win the group, same way we can. Our teams age profile is fine for the next campaign, but after that we will be quite an old outfit if no players of quality come through over the next few years.

Zaph

From Euro qualifying we know we can beat Georgia, and while I know nothing about Serbia or Moldova, they didn't do an awful lot in their qualifying groups so I see no reason why we can't beat them. Austria have looked nothing special in the Euros, so I'd be confident of getting a couple of decent results against them. That leaves Wales, and you never know, Bale might pick up an injury or two if we're lucky. But realistically, without him they're not significantly better than we are and we could just as easily pick up a couple of wins against them or lose both games. Discounting the Belgium game, our performances in the Euros show that we can play decent football, doing it consistently is always our problem. But for once I think we can go into a qualifying campaign with a bit of confidence and optimism, and despite being an eternal pessimist I'd be pretty disappointed if we didn't get a play-off place.

Mec27

Zaph wrote: »

From Euro qualifying we know we can beat Georgia, and while I know nothing about Serbia or Moldova, they didn't do an awful lot in their qualifying groups so I see no reason why we can't beat them. Austria have looked nothing special in the Euros, so I'd be confident of getting a couple of decent results against them. That leaves Wales, and you never know, Bale might pick up an injury or two if we're lucky. But realistically, without him they're not significantly better than we are and we could just as easily pick up a couple of wins against them or lose both games. Discounting the Belgium game, our performances in the Euros show that we can play decent football, doing it consistently is always our problem. But for once I think we can go into a qualifying campaign with a bit of confidence and optimism, and despite being an eternal pessimist I'd be pretty disappointed if we didn't get a play-off place.

The last time this happened we completed bombed, our manager got sacked and we failed to qualify from a group we were favorites for.:D

GavRedKing

I'm more confident now than I was two months ago, theres a good enough 11 there but it doesnt really have much depth after that, IMO.

PTH2009

Serbia away on the 5th sep will be a good test

Will we be hungry and ruthless or suffering from the euro hangover ???

Wales play Moldova and Austria play Georgia on matchday 1 Also

Always important to win our first game

Minderbinder

Will Duffy and Hendrick be suspended for the first game?

HalloweenJack

Didn't get to see much of Austria but I imagine their campaign is being described as a disaster. Wales haven't looked too impressive. In the England game, they were hammered and in the NI game, they were not overly impressive at all. Serbia are always going to be tricky but I imagine Serbian football is in the doldrums at the moment. Moldova, I haven't a clue. At least, we know something about Georgia and we know we can get six points off them.

But mainly, the team's performance and the manager's adaptability has made me a lot more confident than before the tournament started. There's no reason why we can't get second place, at least.

ArmaniJeanss

Fixtures this year.

September.
Serbia Away.

October (Double Header)
Georgia Home, Moldova Away.

November.
Austria Away.

Mix of good and bad news.
3 away games is tough, however the quick turnaround double header being against the two weakest teams is a big bonus.
Kolarov and matic are suspended for the Serbia game. Which is nice.

8 points at the end of the year would be excellent and have us well in the mix for winning the group, 6 the very minimum to stay in the hunt for a playoff.

ArmaniJeanss

Minderbinder wrote: »

Will Duffy and Hendrick be suspended for the first game?

Duffy will be suspended. Hendricks yellows are wiped from history.

Zaph

Mec27 wrote: »

The last time this happened we completed bombed, our manager got sacked and we failed to qualify from a group we were favorites for.:D

Just give me this one brief opportunity for some misplaced optimism. Normal service will be resumed in September. :pac:

nullzero

Form is hard to translate from a tournament to a qualifying campaign. Some tricky sides involved, Serbia could spring a surprise, Wales and Austria should be fancied to be vying for first place. I'm more confident after a reasonably good tournament performance by our recent standards. Hopefully we can continue to improve and have an idea of what our preferred first eleven will be, if we can do that we could be a handful for any of the sides in the group.

Trey13

Nasty enough fixtures to start with but if we can grind out 7 points id be happy. 8 would be very impressive.

Citizenpain

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Duffy will be suspended. Hendricks yellows are wiped from history.

Before you get slated

Hendrick's

GavRedKing

Minderbinder wrote: »

Will Duffy and Hendrick be suspended for the first game?

I'm not 100%, I assumed that both suspensions would carry, the next games we play will be qualifiers and both, if they werent injured would be shoe ins to start so would be big losses, especially Hendrick whos had a fantastic tournament.

Mec27

Bonner is on RTE and he implied scouts througout Europe have been talking about Hendrick.

ArmaniJeanss

GavRedKing wrote: »

I'm not 100%, I assumed that both suspensions would carry, the next games we play will be qualifiers and both, if they werent injured would be shoe ins to start so would be big losses, especially Hendrick whos had a fantastic tournament.

Nah, yellows get wiped, reds carry is a fairly universal rule of football.
Except for the LOI who carry yellows as they like collecting the fine money.

Minderbinder

Mec27 wrote: »

Bonner is on RTE and he implied scouts througout Europe have been talking about Hendrick.

I said earlier in the tournament he'd fit in very well in Serie A. Would love to see it happen!

The_Honeybadger

On paper we should certainly be able to finish in the top two spots. Of course it doesn't always work out like that and we have an infuriating habit of turning winnable situations into draws which has cost us dearly over the years. Wales look good in these euros and will certainly fancy winning the group, but take Bale out of that team and it changes everything. If he misses key games they'll struggle.

I think our first choice starting eleven isn't too bad and we'd beat most of the above teams with everybody available. We have almost no depth in the squad however, and no real impact subs to change the game and give us an edge as teams are tiring.

If I had to give an answer I'd say we might get the playoff spot. Can't see us winning the group.

Mec27

Minderbinder wrote: »

I said earlier in the tournament he'd fit in very well in Serie A. Would love to see it happen!

He actually said 'UEFA' people since he works with UEFA AFAIK, but he's been mentioned.

I agree, but probably wouldn't get the money there he would in England.

Irish_rat

No team to fear in that group, Austria are bang average. It's the best qualifying draw we've had in a while.

It's a 3 way battle basically. The first game is huge.

Green Fella

The other 3 sides are all about our level. So we could finish 1st or 4th quite easily . Need to be careful for Moldova and Georgia away, they aint no Gilbraltar. Overall it could go either way, a bad start and we are in big trouble. I fear expectations are now very high on the team, we are 4th seeds in this group for a reason.

enzo roco

I think Serbia are underrated by some.

They made a complete mess of their group to qualify for 2016, the albania game where it was abandoned, so they lost 3-0, and then were deducted three points, and that was only the second game of the campaign. So it was over for them.
Serbia have some good players. Id take a draw away to them right now.

Mec27

enzo roco wrote: »

I think Serbia are underrated by some.

They made a complete mess of their group to qualify for 2016, the albania game where it was abandoned, so they lost 3-0, and then were deducted three points, and that was only the second game of the campaign. So it was over for them.
Serbia have some good players. Id take a draw away to them right now.

They are the best team on paper in the group. They'll probably mess it up though.

Lovely Bloke

4th seeds, finish 3rd an achievement, no matter the recent tournament.

topmanamillion

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

4th seeds, finish 3rd an achievement, no matter the recent tournament.

Jesus can't believe I read that.

Theres no one in this group we should fear.
We've a good footballing side now. With Henderick, Brady, McCarthy and hopefully Arter as our midfield 4 and Long up front we'll be a tough nut for any of the sides in the group.
Austria have proven they are over rated.
Wales are no world beaters.
Serbia will be tough but I'd like to think we can take 4 points minimum off them.

Top 2 is eminently doable.

HalloweenJack

An important thing to consider is that a lot of the other teams will take points off each other. I don't see there being one or two teams pulling away.

The_Kew_Tour

I think we can get playoffs at best.

I reckon we will come 2nd or 3rd.

But much depends on the start. Win against Serbia would be lovely, point would do though.

topmanamillion

HalloweenJack wrote: »

An important thing to consider is that a lot of the other teams will take points off each other. I don't see there being one or two teams pulling away.

Absolutely.
I think MON has found his starting 11. If we emulate Sweden first half, Italy game and France first half performance throughout the qualifying campaign I see no reason why we shouldn't get to Russia.

Stephen15

I think we could do well I'd love for ireland be in a world cup finals for the first time in years it's just a pity it's in russia and then the next one is in Qatar I hope it returns to a sane country for 2026. Back on topic I'd the the most difficult game will be serbia away never nice going to eastern Europe away especially a team with fans like serbias the best way nearly to beat serbia would be to hope their fans get the game abandoned like they did once with italy a few years ago and with albania during euro 2016 qualifying.

Lovely Bloke

^^that's the problem with fans of this Irish team.

We are not better than we are seeded.

if we finish 3rd in that group that is definitely an achievement to build on for 2020 quals.

Any Irish team from now on should be targetting last 16 of a 24 team euros, and possibly, in a miracle situation, a 2nd place on a WC qual group, and finishing 3rd in the WC group.

Anything better than that is a bonus, and thinking we can do better regularly, is fantasy land.
our previous tournament results are

2016 - qf
2014 - dnq
2012 - last place gs
2010 - dnq
2008 - dnq
2006 - dnq
2004 - dnq
2002 - l16
2000 - dnq
1998 - dnq
1996- dnq
1994 - l16
1992 - dnq
1990 - qf
1988 - group

PTH2009

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_(UEFA)

Some Tasty pairings

France/Netherlands
Spain/Italy
England/Scotland

Playoffs

Us vs Northern Ireland or Scotland

Mec27

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

^^that's the problem with fans of this Irish team.

We are not better than we are seeded.

if we finish 3rd in that group that is definitely an achievement to build on for 2020 quals.

Any Irish team from now on should be targetting last 16 of a 24 team euros, and possibly, in a miracle situation, a 2nd place on a WC qual group, and finishing 3rd in the WC group.

Anything better than that is a bonus, and thinking we can do better regularly, is fantasy land.
our previous tournament results are

2016 - qf
2014 - dnq
2012 - last place gs
2010 - dnq
2008 - dnq
2006 - dnq
2004 - dnq
2002 - l16
2000 - dnq
1998 - dnq
1996- dnq
1994 - l16
1992 - dnq
1990 - qf
1988 - group

It can be easier to finish second in those WC(main competition) groups than third in the Euros.

Guy:Incognito

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

^^that's the problem with fans of this Irish team.

We are not better than we are seeded.

if we finish 3rd in that group that is definitely an achievement to build on for 2020 quals.

Any Irish team from now on should be targetting last 16 of a 24 team euros, and possibly, in a miracle situation, a 2nd place on a WC qual group, and finishing 3rd in the WC group.

Anything better than that is a bonus, and thinking we can do better regularly, is fantasy land.
our previous tournament results are

2016 - qf
2014 - dnq
2012 - last place gs
2010 - dnq
2008 - dnq
2006 - dnq
2004 - dnq
2002 - l16
2000 - dnq
1998 - dnq
1996- dnq
1994 - l16
1992 - dnq
1990 - qf
1988 - group

That was the last 16 we played in today, not the QF

The_Honeybadger

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

^^that's the problem with fans of this Irish team.

We are not better than we are seeded.

if we finish 3rd in that group that is definitely an achievement to build on for 2020 quals.

Any Irish team from now on should be targetting last 16 of a 24 team euros, and possibly, in a miracle situation, a 2nd place on a WC qual group, and finishing 3rd in the WC group.

Anything better than that is a bonus, and thinking we can do better regularly, is fantasy land.
our previous tournament results are

2016 - qf
2014 - dnq
2012 - last place gs
2010 - dnq
2008 - dnq
2006 - dnq
2004 - dnq
2002 - l16
2000 - dnq
1998 - dnq
1996- dnq
1994 - l16
1992 - dnq
1990 - qf
1988 - group

True, people may be getting carried away with a couple of decent performances. Our upcoming WC qualifiers group does look on paper to be the 'easiest' we have had in my memory though. There are no heavy hitters in there. In almost every campaign that I remember you could pick the winner before a ball is kicked and we are scrapping for second place with 1-2 other teams. More often than not we fall short as you have pointed out.

Can't see us winning the group but I don't think it'd be a major shock if we got second. It's a fairly open group IMO.

Green Fella

topmanamillion wrote: »

Absolutely.
I think MON has found his starting 11. If we emulate Sweden first half, Italy game and France first half performance throughout the qualifying campaign I see no reason why we shouldn't get to Russia.

Divide our Euros into halves of football we had 4 good (Italy, France first, Sweden first) and 4 terrible (Sweden 2nd, Belgium, France 2nd) .

So like I said it could go either way. We tend to play better against bigger opposition but there aren't any "big" teams in this group. We tend to fail when we are expected to do well. Serbia have a fairly good defense and recently won the U20 World Cup so some very handy young players. Seen us lose to them 2 years ago in Aviva, albeit a poor enough friendly if I recall.

Green Fella

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

That was the last 16 we played in today, not the QF

Technically it was no better than 2016 we made the last 16, yet I've heard people talk about homecomings etc, which in my mind is absurd stuff.

Rothko

I'm actually fairly optimistic about it, especially if they keep playing like they did against Italy and France. Moldova and Georgia should be pushovers. Serbia and Austria are nothing great. The games against Wales will be vital obviously. I don't think there's any reason why Ireland shouldn't at least finish 2nd.

Cake Man

It's not a bad group by any means, as others have rightly said there are no heavyweights in the group like what we faced before (Germany, Italy, France, Spain etc.). Ireland, Wales, Austria and Serbia all capable of beating each other and all will definitely take points off each other. Even Georgia I reckon will take a scalp or two. When the draw was made I was very pleased but said drawing Georgia again wasn't ideal as we just about scraped by them in the last campaign.


The good news - we'll hopefully go into this qualifying campaign on a high and with MON/RK knowing our best team, as mentioned above no real top seed in the group and we're capable of getting a result off anyone, Austria coming into this off the back of a dire Euros, Serbia good on paper but always seem to implode and by all accounts have a sh!te manager. Matic and Kolarov also suspended for our game against them.


I think we can get out of the group but we'll need a good start in September.

emo72

is second place an automatic qualifier?

Mr.Nice Guy

I think there is cause for optimism but I don't think people should get too carried away. We don't tend to do things the easy way, and I feel this is a group where teams will take a lot of points off one another.

Georgia were very good in the recent campaign, beating Scotland and coming close to beating us. I think they were the toughest opponent we could have landed from that pot.

Wales will be like a derby contest, similar to the Scotland games we had last time out (where we only picked up a point) and I would say a tougher prospect given that they have a world class talent - unlike Scotland. I see these games being tight and close to call.

Austria outplayed us a few years ago and I still think they're better than their Euros campaign indicated. We should not write them off.

Serbia could be a wildcard. Playing away will be a challenge and the Moldova games, while we'll be expected to win, won't be the walkovers that the Gibraltar games were.

Overall I think it will boil down to a three-way scrap with ourselves, Austria and Wales and I'd fancy Austria to take the automatic spot; so I think the matches with Wales will determine our fate. I'm cautiously optimistic we can secure the play-off spot.

Dick phelan

Off topic i know but England always seem to get very easy qualifying groups, they should piss the qualifying for the world cup.

youreadthat

Dick phelan wrote: »

Off topic i know but England always seem to get very easy qualifying groups, they should piss the qualifying for the world cup.

Cause they're usually top seeds as they beat most diddy teams.

Mec27

Dick phelan wrote: »

Off topic i know but England always seem to get very easy qualifying groups, they should piss the qualifying for the world cup.

All groups are easy for big teams.

Stephen15

Mec27 wrote: »

All groups are easy for big teams.

Spain drew italy who for reason were second seeds despite uefa ranking romania as top seeds

RedemptionZ

topmanamillion wrote: »

Baldy Conscience wrote: »

4th seeds, finish 3rd an achievement, no matter the recent tournament.

Jesus can't believe I read that.

Theres no one in this group we should fear.
We've a good footballing side now. With Henderick, Brady, McCarthy and hopefully Arter as our midfield 4 and Long up front we'll be a tough nut for any of the sides in the group.
Austria have proven they are over rated.
Wales are no world beaters.
Serbia will be tough but I'd like to think we can take 4 points minimum off them.

Top 2 is eminently doable.

Come on man, we're not a good footballing side. We're incredibly limited on the ball, definitely behind Serbia and Austria in that regard. If we play defensively and organise ourselves well we can get results against teams our level or below and with a bit of luck we can get some points off the better teams.

But let's not get carried away. We did incredibly well to get out of our group in the Euros. We did well just to qualify. If we qualify for the World Cup then great. But like someone else has alluded to, we're living in fantasy land if we think we can start qualifying for every major tournament. Croatia have had a much better squad than us for the last World Cup and still couldn't make it. Austria on paper are better than us. We could definitely get a result, could easily lose too. Serbia again better than us on paper, same story as Austria. If we finish third it's still a respectable result given our squad.

namloc1980

emo72 wrote: »

is second place an automatic qualifier?

No. Only the group winners. 8 of the 9 group runners-up will go into playoffs.

Cosmo Kramer

It's really not unrealistic to think we could do well here. For instance the ELO ranking system - different to the FIFA rankings but considered more accurate - has us ranked as the highest team in our qualifying group, though there isn't much between the four teams (Ireland 26th, Wales 29th, Serbia 33rd, Austria 40th).

With none of our best 11 likely to retire and a solid team available together with a good manager, we have every chance to contend with a view to trying to win this group.

8-10

Cosmo Kramer wrote: »

With none of our best 11 likely to retire and a solid team available together with a good manager, we have every chance to contend with a view to trying to win this group.

Is Walters not likely to retire?