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Post by Panda on Feb 23, 2014 14:00:53 GMT 1
Amazed by BBC reporting Scotland's group as being one of the toughest...
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Post by Mart!n on Feb 23, 2014 14:07:13 GMT 1
Easy win for Belgium in group B. a bit of a toughie for England in Group E, I think Switzerland, Estonia and Slovenia, could do well out of that group.
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Post by Panda on Feb 23, 2014 14:09:07 GMT 1
Armenia are a very good team aswel. Glad we avoided them, maybe should be in pot 3 looking at their results over the last few year against some decent opponents How the pots would've looked if they'd been based on the world rankings: POT 1 Spain, Germany, Portugal, Switzerland (+1), Italy, Netherlands, Belgium (+1), Greece, England POT 2 Croatia, Bosnia (-1), Ukraine, Denmark, Russia (-1), Sweden, Slovenia (+1), Serbia (+1), Armenia (+2) POT 3 Czech Republic (-1), Romania, Scotland (+1), Turkey, Austria, Hungary (-1), Iceland (+2), Wales (+1), Montenegro (+1) POT 4 Slovakia (-1), Albania (+1), Israel (-1), Norway (-1), Finland, Ireland (-2), Poland (-1), Bulgaria, Belarus POT 5 Macedonia, Northern Ireland, Estonia (-1), Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Georgia, Moldova, Latvia (-1), Luxembourg (+1) POT 6 Cyprus (-1), Kazakhstan, Malta, Liechtenstein, Faroe Islands, Andorra, San Marino, Gibraltar
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Feb 23, 2014 14:12:13 GMT 1
Very kind draw for wales so far. If they get Hungary or someone in the next pot they could qualify! Tbh I thought they could qualify anyway with the extra teams that will be in the 2016 finals, especially with the likes of Bale and Ramsey. They also have young-ish players who will continue to improve, Robson-Kanu, Gunter, Neil Taylor just thinking of some of the players i'm interested in.
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Post by Shireblogger on Feb 23, 2014 16:39:30 GMT 1
Great draw for England. Should coast through. I'll be watching the Ireland/Scotland group closely this time around, as it should produce a lot of very competitive games. Wales in with a shout too, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility that 3 home nations could qualify.
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Post by suedehead on Feb 23, 2014 16:44:05 GMT 1
Great draw for England. Should coast through. I'll be watching the Ireland/Scotland group closely this time around, as it should produce a lot of very competitive games. Wales in with a shout too, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility that 3 home nations could qualify. You're not giving Gibraltar much hope then? They have never lost a European qualifier.
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Post by Shireblogger on Feb 23, 2014 16:50:30 GMT 1
Great draw for England. Should coast through. I'll be watching the Ireland/Scotland group closely this time around, as it should produce a lot of very competitive games. Wales in with a shout too, so it's not beyond the realms of possibility that 3 home nations could qualify. You're not giving Gibraltar much hope then? They have never lost a European qualifier. I predict them having a 100% record by the end of qualifying. (100% losses that it).
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Feb 23, 2014 18:29:44 GMT 1
England have lost just once in a competitive game (Switzerland 1981) against their Euro 2016 qualification opponents (W12 D3).
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Post by Panda on Feb 24, 2014 16:03:18 GMT 1
ENGLAND FIXTURES Mon 08/09/14 - Switzerland (A) Thu 09/10/14 - San Marino (H) Sun 12/10/14 - Estonia (A) Sat 15/11/14 - Slovenia (H) Fri 27/03/15 - Lithuania (H) Sun 14/06/15 - Slovenia (A) Sat 05/09/15 - San Marino (A) Tue 08/09/15 - Switzerland (H) Fri 09/10/15 - Estonia (H) Mon 12/10/15 - Lithuania (A)
SCOTLAND FIXTURES Sun 07/09/14 - Germany (A) Sat 11/10/14 - Georgia (H) Tue 14/10/14 - Poland (A) Fri 14/11/14 - Ireland (H) Sun 29/03/15 - Gibraltar (H) Sat 13/06/15 - Ireland (A) Fri 04/09/15 - Georgia (A) Mon 07/09/15 - Germany (H) Thu 08/10/15 - Poland (H) Sun 11/10/15 - Gibraltar (A)
WALES FIXTURES Tue 09/09/14 - Andorra (A) Fri 10/10/14 - Bosnia (H) Mon 13/10/14 - Cyprus (H) Sun 16/11/14 - Belgium (A) Sat 28/03/15 - Israel (A) Fri 12/06/15 - Belgium (H) Thu 03/09/15 - Cyprus (A) Sun 06/09/15 - Israel (H) Sat 10/10/15 - Bosnia (A) Tue 13/10/15 - Andorra (H)
NORTHERN IRELAND FIXTURES Sun 07/09/14 - Hungary (A) Sat 11/10/14 - Faroe Islands (H) Tue 14/10/14 - Greece (A) Fri 14/11/14 - Romania (A) Sun 29/03/15 - Finland (H) Sat 13/06/15 - Romania (H) Fri 04/09/15 - Faroe Islands (A) Mon 07/09/15 - Hungary (H) Thu 08/10/15 - Greece (H) Sun 11/10/15 - Finland (A)
GIBRALTAR FIXTURES Sun 07/09/14 - Poland (H) Sat 11/10/14 - Ireland (A) Tue 14/10/14 - Georgia (H) Fri 14/11/14 - Germany (A) Sun 29/03/15 - Scotland (A) Sat 13/06/15 - Germany (H) Fri 04/09/15 - Ireland (H) Mon 07/09/15 - Poland (A) Thu 08/10/15 - Georgia (A) Sun 11/10/15 - Scotland (H)
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Post by suedehead on Feb 24, 2014 16:55:25 GMT 1
So the fixture that should be England's most difficult (away to Switzerland) is scheduled for a time when they often struggle to get a decent result. OTOH, Roy Hodgson was reported to be unhappy at the idea of Thursday matches (particularly if there is a Premier League game on the Monday) but the only Thursday game is the easiest fixture.
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frag
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Post by frag on Feb 24, 2014 18:16:11 GMT 1
UEFA seem to have ditched the usual process where team representatives agree the fixtures between themselves...
I haven't checked all the groups out, but Group D (with Scotland, Ireland and Gibraltar) is always on a different day to England, which Sky must be pleased about. Poland's first home match is against Germany on Saturday 11 October - I'm tempted to go to that one...
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frag
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Post by frag on Feb 24, 2014 18:18:30 GMT 1
You can peruse the entire fixture list, handily sorted by date, here.
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frag
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Post by frag on Feb 24, 2014 18:25:19 GMT 1
So the fixture that should be England's most difficult (away to Switzerland) is scheduled for a time when they often struggle to get a decent result. OTOH, Roy Hodgson was reported to be unhappy at the idea of Thursday matches (particularly if there is a Premier League game on the Monday) but the only Thursday game is the easiest fixture. I expect games won't be allowed on the Monday - they weren't allowed before a Friday international, IIRC. Maybe we'll even have a Premier League-free Sunday before the Thursday internationals?
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Post by Panda on Feb 24, 2014 18:26:50 GMT 1
UEFA seem to have ditched the usual process where team representatives agree the fixtures between themselves... The match days will follow a new "week of football" format with six consecutive match days from Thursday to Tuesday and fixtures will be decided by computer, rather than through agreements by the national FAs.
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frag
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Post by frag on Feb 24, 2014 18:33:47 GMT 1
UEFA seem to have ditched the usual process where team representatives agree the fixtures between themselves... The match days will follow a new "week of football" format with six consecutive match days from Thursday to Tuesday and fixtures will be decided by computer, rather than through agreements by the national FAs. Evidently, I missed that point
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Post by suedehead on Feb 24, 2014 18:46:02 GMT 1
UEFA seem to have ditched the usual process where team representatives agree the fixtures between themselves... I haven't checked all the groups out, but Group D (with Scotland, Ireland and Gibraltar) is always on a different day to England, which Sky must be pleased about. Poland's first home match is against Germany on Saturday 11 October - I'm tempted to go to that one... I think it's fair to assume that is not a coincidence.
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Feb 26, 2014 17:09:27 GMT 1
As a couple of journalists have said, under the new format we should never have to worry about not qualifying for the Euros again, so I wasn't fussed about who England got. Good to see there are 3 Friday night or Saturday games. Hopefully cheaper tickets too as that group won't inspire many and they may struggle to fill Wembley.
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Post by suedehead on Feb 26, 2014 17:11:46 GMT 1
As a couple of journalists have said, under the new format we should never have to worry about not qualifying for the Euros again, so I wasn't fussed about who England got. Good to see there are 3 Friday night or Saturday games. Hopefully cheaper tickets too as that group won't inspire many and they may struggle to fill Wembley. There has been talk of the FA having to reduce prices. I suppose the other alternative would be to have various packages for people who buy tickets for more than one game.
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rewardman
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Post by rewardman on Feb 26, 2014 19:35:06 GMT 1
England should stroll through their group.
Scotland, on the other hand, could drop points to every team in their group with the exception of Gibralter (hopefully)!
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Post by o on Feb 26, 2014 19:48:12 GMT 1
So which Portuguese ground are Gibraltar playing at? Was intrigued if it was the one near Faro airport that is hardly used after the Euros?
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