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Post by Panda on Nov 19, 2007 20:29:08 GMT 1
and there's probably a few examples from earlier occasions! Others that spring to mind: we needed and got draws against Poland in qualifying for Euro 92 and the 1990 World Cup. In the World Cup game, Poland hit the bar in the last minute with the score at 0-0. Generally we tend to be good enough to get ourselves into the position of only needing a draw in our final game but rarely good enough to get the job done with a game to spare. The last World Cup qualifying campaign was the only recent example I can think of.
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frag
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Post by frag on Nov 21, 2007 19:35:20 GMT 1
Seedings are decided entirely on the basis of performances in qualifying for WC06 and Euro2008, and "pot one" is Austria, Switzerland, Greece + one other - the other will be Holland unless they don't beat Belarus. They're currently losing... wonder if they've already worked out the perils of finishing top?
If they qualify, England could be anywhere from pot 2 (if they beat Croatia) to pot 4 (if they draw, Germany don't lose and Portugal, Sweden and Poland all win) - sounds likely to me.
What a ludicrous seeding system.
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Thor
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Post by Thor on Nov 21, 2007 20:15:12 GMT 1
It surely can't be as bad as the time they decided to group the countries geographically and not bother seeding at all after pot one (World Cup 2002 I think).
It's also ridiculous that we're using FIFA world rankings to determine the world cup groups, I don't think they're as good a guide as the normal methods. Plus I think Switzerland (pot 3/6) and Austria (pot 5/6) surely would have ended up higher had they competed in the Euro 2008 qualifying.
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Thor
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Post by Thor on Nov 21, 2007 23:49:44 GMT 1
Austria Switzerland Poland Portugal France Italy Greece Turkey Czech Republic Germany Croatia Russia Spain Sweden Romania Netherlands
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Post by Panda on Nov 22, 2007 0:38:18 GMT 1
These will apparently be the seedings for Euro 2008:
POT ONE Austria Switzerland Greece Holland
POT TWO Croatia Italy Czech Republic Sweden
POT THREE Romania Germany Portugal Spain
POT FOUR Poland France Turkey Russia
How about Holland-Italy-Germany-France for a group of death?
Or Austria-Sweden-Romania-Poland?
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Thor
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Post by Thor on Nov 22, 2007 0:44:27 GMT 1
I always think it's odd when teams are seeded below other teams they finished higher than in qualifying - Romania below Holland, Spain below Sweden, Poland below Portugal...
Any group with Holland in looks pretty difficult tbh. I'd love your group of death combination, you could throw Spain in their and not weaken it too much.
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Post by paulgilb on Nov 22, 2007 0:52:06 GMT 1
Teams that reached Euro 2004 that did not reach Euro 2008: Latvia, Denmark, Bulgaria and the obvious one...
Teams that reached Euro 2008 but not Euro 2004: Romania, Turkey, Switzerland, Poland.
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Post by Panda on Nov 22, 2007 0:58:18 GMT 1
If the new FIFA rankings are published this week and used for the World Cup draw, there's now a realistic possibility England will miss out on a top seeding.
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Post by Panda on Nov 22, 2007 1:11:11 GMT 1
Consecutive European finals appearances for the 16 qualifiers:
10 - Germany 6 - Holland 5 - France 4 - Portugal, Italy, Czech Republic, Spain 3 - Sweden 2 - Switzerland, Greece, Croatia, Russia 1 - Austria, Poland, Turkey, Romania
It would've been England's 6th consecutive appearance if they'd made it. Denmark missed out on a 7th consecutive appearance (including 1992).
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Post by Panda on Nov 22, 2007 1:22:55 GMT 1
Teams that reached Euro 2004 that did not reach Euro 2008: Latvia, Denmark, Bulgaria and the obvious one... Teams that reached Euro 2008 but not Euro 2004: Romania, Turkey, Switzerland, Poland. A lot of the same teams then... At Euro 2004, there were only 10 teams who were also at Euro 2000.
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frag
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Post by frag on Nov 22, 2007 2:13:38 GMT 1
If the new FIFA rankings are published this week and used for the World Cup draw, there's now a realistic possibility England will miss out on a top seeding. I heard that Scotland would come ahead of England for that place iff Scotland beat Italy and England lost... only one of those happened, so Scotland can't be the ones to come ahead of us. ..well, at least we're *probably* still one of the top three (national) teams in the british isles...
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Post by Panda on Nov 22, 2007 9:51:33 GMT 1
If the new FIFA rankings are published this week and used for the World Cup draw, there's now a realistic possibility England will miss out on a top seeding. I heard that Scotland would come ahead of England for that place iff Scotland beat Italy and England lost... only one of those happened, so Scotland can't be the ones to come ahead of us. I think it would be Romania who jumped ahead of us...
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Thor
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Post by Thor on Nov 22, 2007 12:15:39 GMT 1
Teams that reached Euro 2004 that did not reach Euro 2008: Latvia, Denmark, Bulgaria and the obvious one... Teams that reached Euro 2008 but not Euro 2004: Romania, Turkey, Switzerland, Poland. That's incorrect. You should have Austria on that second list instead of Switzerland.
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Thor
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Post by Thor on Nov 22, 2007 12:16:29 GMT 1
If the new FIFA rankings are published this week and used for the World Cup draw, there's now a realistic possibility England will miss out on a top seeding. They're out tomorrow aren't they?
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Thor
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Post by Thor on Nov 22, 2007 12:17:23 GMT 1
I heard that Scotland would come ahead of England for that place iff Scotland beat Italy and England lost... only one of those happened, so Scotland can't be the ones to come ahead of us. I think it would be Romania who jumped ahead of us... Yeah that is a worry! Eeek
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Post by Panda on Nov 22, 2007 12:22:21 GMT 1
If the new FIFA rankings are published this week and used for the World Cup draw, there's now a realistic possibility England will miss out on a top seeding. They're out tomorrow aren't they? Probably. I don't pay a great deal of attention to the FIFA rankings but it's about a month since the last ones were out.
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Thor
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Post by Thor on Nov 22, 2007 12:35:57 GMT 1
They're out tomorrow aren't they? Probably. I don't pay a great deal of attention to the FIFA rankings but it's about a month since the last ones were out. It is tomorrow, they moved them back to allow the last qualifying round to be used. England are 51 points ahead of Romania going into the final update. Does anyone know how to work out what will have changed as a result of Romania's and England's matches?
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Post by Panda on Nov 22, 2007 12:43:22 GMT 1
No. FIFA's formula is a closely guarded secret but if Scotland were going to overtake us if they'd won, surely Romania will.
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Post by Panda on Nov 22, 2007 12:44:59 GMT 1
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Thor
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Post by Thor on Nov 22, 2007 12:48:01 GMT 1
No. FIFA's formula is a closely guarded secret but if Scotland were going to overtake us if they'd won, surely Romania will. No because it takes into account strength of opponent. You get far more points for beating Italy ranked 3rd than Albania ranked 70th. This also works with losing to lesser teams - Belarus were down 24 places for losing to Luxembourg this month but could well bounce right back up for beating Holland.
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