The draw for 2014 World Cup Qualifying is on Saturday. Discuss here. Ireland in pot 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_FIFA_World_Cup_qualification_(UEFA)
Never mind, just read the standing on FIFA's site. If it were up to me, I'd prefer Croatia and Norway as group opponents.
At a quick glance, the worst possible would look something like this: Spain Serbia/Sweden Ireland Poland Finland Wales/Iceland. The best possible: Greece/Norway Slovakia Ireland Albania/Georgia Faroe Islands San Marino. And an average group: Portugal Slovenia Ireland Lithuania Latvia Iceland.
Germany Sweden Ireland Austria Faroe Islands Kazakhstan Very very tough, I think. The Germans will undoubtedly to enough to win the group, and Sweden are clinical. Could have been worse, but we are up against it.
Watched their match vs Germany in Vienna a couple months ago and they were robbed. Better than the Germans for 89 minutes, only to get sucker-punched at the end.
Not a disaster of a group. Germany will obviously be favourites to win and Sweden and Austria are decent sides but it would not be impossible to take something from Germany home and away so even winning the group is not impossible and if you want to qualify for a World Cup you need to be better than the likes of Sweden and Austria. Ireland have their best team for a number of years now - most of their players are in decent PL sides, and in the starting XI, there are youngsters coming through like McCarthy who are really rated and they are now phasing out some of the old stalwarts like Kilbane who are no longer good enough.
To a large extent, the away games to Sweden and Austria are key here. 6 points and Ireland might even win the group, but 2nd is more likely. As it will be with 4 points. 2 points leaves Ireland in decent shape but needing help. 1 point or 0 points will be a very tough road. And all this supposes that Ireland will take maximum points except for maybe the Germans at home. This just might be the toughest group in UEFA.
yeah in your dream,ireland team better beat the swedes and austrian first then start talking about beating a GERMAN,you are better play for second and do not say anything cocky or we will kick you out of world cup and let the swedes or austrian take your ticket to BRASIL....
yeah i watched too and who won?who's care about how you play?the resulted is important so ask the ARGENTIN or your cousin ENGLISH then start talking cocky and over confident or you will get punish....we will beat you in dublin so you need to focus on sweden and austria than sit there talking about beating GERMANY.
Kerr resigning as Faroes manager. Though truth be told, Ireland shouldn't be worried about Kerr and the Faroes anyway if they've notions of going to Brazil. Aren't Norn Iron looking for a manager?
Fixtures are below. I was happy enough with this, until I saw that Sweden host Germany on the final day. This is dangerous - because if the Germans have won the group by then (likely), they might rest key players or simply not give 100%. Just like how Sweden beat Holland on the last day of Euro 2012 qualifying to qualify as the best runner up. 06/06/2012 Faroe Islands - Austria 07/09/2012 Germany - Faroe Islands 07/09/2012 Kazakhstan - Ireland 11/09/2012 Austria - Germany 11/09/2012 Sweden - Kazakhstan 12/10/2012 Ireland - Germany 12/10/2012 Kazakhstan - Austria 12/10/2012 Faroe Islands - Sweden 16/10/2012 Germany - Sweden 16/10/2012 Faroe Islands - Ireland 16/10/2012 Austria - Kazakhstan 22/03/2013 Sweden - Ireland 22/03/2013 Kazakhstan - Germany 26/03/2013 Germany - Kazakhstan 26/03/2013 Ireland - Austria 11/06/2013 Sweden - Faroe Islands 06/07/2013 Austria - Sweden 06/07/2013 Ireland - Faroe Islands 06/09/2013 Ireland - Sweden 06/09/2013 Germany - Austria 06/09/2013 Kazakhstan - Faroe Islands 10/09/2013 Kazakhstan - Sweden 10/09/2013 Faroe Islands - Germany 10/09/2013 Austria - Ireland 11/10/2013 Germany - Ireland 11/10/2013 Sweden - Austria 11/10/2013 Faroe Islands - Kazakhstan 15/10/2013 Sweden - Germany 15/10/2013 Ireland - Kazakhstan 15/10/2013 Austria - Faroe Islands