Thor
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Post by Thor on Feb 3, 2010 18:40:32 GMT 1
The draw takes place on Sunday!
Who will draw who in the race to get to Poland and Ukraine?
Armenia and Azerbaijan and Russia and Georgia cannot be drawn together.
Pot One: Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England, Croatia, Portugal, France, Russia.
Pot Two: Greece, Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, Turkey, Denmark, Slovakia, Romania.
Pot Three: Israel, Bulgaria, Finland, Norway, Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Pot Four: Slovenia, Latvia, Hungary, Lithuania, Belarus, Belgium, Wales, Macedonia, Cyprus.
Pot Five: Montenegro, Albania, Estonia, Georgia, Moldova, Iceland, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein
Pot Six: Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Malta, Faroe Islands, Andorra, San Marino
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Thor
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Post by Thor on Feb 3, 2010 18:43:12 GMT 1
England's group of death...
England
Sweden
Scotland
Lithuania
Montenegro
Azerbaijan
and probably the easiest..
England
Slovakia
Austria
Cyprus
Liechtenstein
San Marino/no 6th team.
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Post by Robin on Feb 4, 2010 9:44:21 GMT 1
That group of death looks quite easy to me!  |
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Elmer
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Post by Elmer on Feb 4, 2010 12:22:35 GMT 1
I would see the hardest group as
England
Czech Republic
Israel
Wales
Montenegro
Azerbaijan
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Thor
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Post by Thor on Feb 4, 2010 13:05:43 GMT 1
That group of death looks quite easy to me! LOL to be fair it's always going to be easier when we're top seeds and there are 9 groups rather than the 7 last time. |
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Thor
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Post by Thor on Feb 4, 2010 13:07:31 GMT 1
I would see the hardest group as England Czech Republic Israel Wales Montenegro Azerbaijan Czech Republic were awful last time round and Israel definitely seem to be on the slide. |
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Elmer
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Post by Elmer on Feb 4, 2010 14:00:19 GMT 1
Czech Republic will come back and Israel is more to do with the location. Can't be pleasant to have to play an away match over there midweek and then fly all the way back !! Home they'll be a breeze !!
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Thor
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Post by Thor on Feb 4, 2010 18:19:00 GMT 1
Czech Republic will come back and Israel is more to do with the location. Can't be pleasant to have to play an away match over there midweek and then fly all the way back !! Home they'll be a breeze !! I agree but surely Hampden Park is always the scarier destination  |
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Post by Panda on Feb 4, 2010 21:19:35 GMT 1
England's group of death... England Sweden Scotland Lithuania Montenegro Azerbaijan and probably the easiest.. England Slovakia Austria Cyprus Liechtenstein San Marino/no 6th team. I know Sweden are our bogey team but on current form, I'd rather face them than Serbia. I'd take Scotland over Ireland as well. I would say: Group of Death: England Serbia Ireland Slovenia Montenegro Azerbaijan Easiest group: England Switzerland Austria Cyprus Kazakhstan San Marino |
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Post by Panda on Feb 7, 2010 12:46:42 GMT 1
GROUP A Germany  Turkey  Austria  Belgium  Kazakhstan  Azerbaijan GROUP B Russia  Slovakia  Ireland  Macedonia  Armenia  Andorra GROUP C Italy  Serbia  Northern Ireland  Slovenia  Estonia  Faroe Islands GROUP D France  Romania  Bosnia-Herzegovina  Belarus  Albania  Luxembourg GROUP E Netherlands  Sweden  Finland  Hungary  Moldova  San Marino GROUP F Croatia  Greece  Israel  Latvia  Georgia  Malta GROUP G England  Switzerland  Bulgaria  Wales  Montenegro GROUP H Portugal  Denmark  Norway  Cyprus  Iceland GROUP I Spain  Czech Republic  Scotland  Lithuania  Liechtenstein
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Post by suedehead on Feb 7, 2010 13:02:16 GMT 1
That's a decent draw for England. As the teams came out I was dreading group A. Three countries who have seen better days and might see them again (against England for instance) and two very long away trips. As it is, we've got one of the five-team groups and no really long trips.
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Post by Panda on Feb 7, 2010 13:02:29 GMT 1
OK draw for England. No really easy games but you'd still expect them to win the group. Wales have half a chance in that group as well.
Nightmare for Northern Ireland. They're not going anywhere. Scotland need to hope the Czech Republic are still crap. Good draw for Ireland.
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Post by rubcale on Feb 7, 2010 13:29:31 GMT 1
I don't think England will have it that easy. Switzerland can give them problems and it is highly likely that Wales will play well above themselves when the two meet.
Omn the face of it it looks tough for NI but if they're focused they can beat anyone at Windsor Park and Italy can at times be caught cold.
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Thor
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Post by Thor on Feb 7, 2010 13:38:18 GMT 1
Northern Ireland will be lucky to finish about fourth with that draw.
England *should* coast through that group.
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Thor
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Post by Thor on Feb 7, 2010 13:47:04 GMT 1
Wales have half a chance in that group as well. Montenegro have half a chance too |
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Post by Panda on Feb 7, 2010 16:01:20 GMT 1
Omn the face of it it looks tough for NI but if they're focused they can beat anyone at Windsor Park and Italy can at times be caught cold. They can beat anyone at Windsor Park. Away from Windsor Park is the problem. They're probably going to have to win in Italy or Serbia just to finish in the top 2, and that's assuming they pick up maximum points against Estonia and the Faroes... |
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Post by Panda on Feb 7, 2010 16:05:45 GMT 1
Wales have half a chance in that group as well. Montenegro have half a chance too Indeed! You wouldn't rule anyone out. It's a shame the Euros aren't expanding to 24 teams until 2016. |
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Post by suedehead on Feb 7, 2010 16:13:32 GMT 1
It's a shame the Euros aren't expanding to 24 teams until 2016. 24 is a stupid number of teams to have in a tournament. There is no satisfactory way to reduce the numbers to a power of two for the knock-out stage. If they go with the method used in the World Cup that will mean the first 32 matches will see just eight teams eliminated. |
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Post by Panda on Feb 7, 2010 17:13:04 GMT 1
It's a shame the Euros aren't expanding to 24 teams until 2016. 24 is a stupid number of teams to have in a tournament. There is no satisfactory way to reduce the numbers to a power of two for the knock-out stage. If they go with the method used in the World Cup that will mean the first 32 matches will see just eight teams eliminated. If they increased it to 32 teams then there'd only be 21 teams failing to qualify. 20 is possible if they went with 4 groups of 5... |
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Thor
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Post by Thor on Feb 7, 2010 18:06:45 GMT 1
I wouldn't like 4 groups of 5 because it would give some countries an advantage in that they could qualify before the last round is played and get a bit more rest... I'm happy with changing to 24 teams though  |
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