Sometimes yes. While watching the UEFA Champions League I'll be watching one game on tv while following along on uefa.com's MatchCenter and often the goal will pop up seconds before I see it on tv.
They didn't use the FIFA ranking. It's actually quite hard to find a ranking, where France wouldn't have ended in pot 4. They just were horrible the last years.
Rankings were based on how teams did result wise during the entire Euro 2008, World Cup 2010 and Euro 2012(qualifying) campaigns. No one can really complain . My thoughts on the draw: We have two Groups of Death one for the teams involved: Group B one for the fans: Group A
True. There is nothing wrong with the seeding formula. Just because you have a population base of over 60 million shouldn't grant you a #1 seed through all eternity. They aren't as good as teams like Greece and Russia right now, and other teams should be happy to draw them. Simple as that.
oh my bad - someone had said rankings, but it's their coefficient ranking. Still seemed strange allocation to me.
The groups are pretty unbalanced FIFA ranking wise. Average ranking positions: A 31.25, B 5.75, C 9.75, D 23.25
Damn! I knew it was uneven but not THAT much. Then again - Portugal #7, WTF? WC 2006 must still count for a lot in the FIFA rankings.
I would consider the median rank, because one outlier can totally distort the mean in a sample of 4. Median rank for Group B is 5.
According to FIFA, All 4 of Group "B" teams are among the top 8 UEFA nations. 3 of Group "B" teams were highest ranked nation in their pot, Holland was second. So only {Spain, Germany, Portugal, Denmark} could've been more deadly.
Use ELO rankings instead of FIFA (average): A: 25.75 B: 7.25 C: 10 D: 15.25 I guess one good thing is that the team that advance out of Group A get to play Group B. Kind of evens things out a bit.
Horrible, horrible draw from a danish perspective. If we get two points, that'll be the most - and sad truth is that we are much stronger than in WC 2010. But it is simply the worst possible draw - only Spain instead of Holland would have been worse.
Group A OMG! that's a lucky lottery ticket. Every single team that I wanted as Sweden's dream opponent was in that group and then it was the weakest team from Sweden's own pot, Greece. Sweden got a pretty good group. Unlucky to get a pot 4 team that should be 1 or 2 (France) but otherwise it was good. I was crossing all fingers and toes to avoid Germany as a pot 2 team. A good draw for Sweden. Group B, lol that's tough. Only France is missing to make it even more interesting.
it's a pity for the us dutch fans that we're playing in charkiv instead of gdansk. gdansk was as far as basel from holland and it would be an orange invasion. dutch are not like the English that they travel everywhere. about the group; I can't remember we've had an easy group, at least not the last decade. It's the Euro's so it is not rare to have 3 world class teams in one group: 2012 holland, germany, portugal, denmark 2008 holland, italy, france, romania 2004 holland, germany, czech r (world class at that time), latvia 2000 holland, france, czech r, denmark I'm not afraid of germany, eventhough we lost to them last month. More frightened about portugal, they are our 'angstgegner'.
Group A- Analysis: I have to say Poland have the biggest chance for 1st place, due to home support and opening game vs Greece (possibly weakest team in Group A, whom Poland usually win against). I will favor Czech Rep for 2nd or 1st place. They will have no pressure, because there aren't any expectations on them. They have a young team, based on some good talent (2007 World Cup U-20 2nd Place.... generation). They are re-building for 2014, but should progress to the next round. Russia could finish third place here. They are in regress now (their best players are stepping off the stage, ex: Arshavin). They have an uncertain coach in Dick Advocat... Also, they will have a big problem playing Poland in Warsaw, for lots of reasons (example massive motivation from the home team/crowd). Poland will be especially fired up, if they manage to beat Greece in the opening game. Which is likely. Greece. I don't see them getting out of this weak group. Someone has to finish bottom, and it could be them..... but they might also advance from here, they are similar level to Czech, Poland and Russia. So, it will be interesting. My picks: 1. Poland 2. Czech Rep 3. Russia 4. Greece Q-F----- Poland vs Germany (well, that's a no brainer, but it will be a massive game nonetheless)
How many of those first 3 didn't we make it out of it In the eighties Dutch football experienced a dark period. In 1982, 1984 and 1986 we couldn't qualify. However after reorganizing we did in 1988, became champions and since then we have I think the strongest group advancing record in Europe on end tournaments. 1988 advanced 1990 advanced 1992 advanced 1994 advanced 1996 advanced 1998 advanced 2000 advanced 2002 not qualified 2004 advanced 2006 advanced 2008 advanced 2010 advanced Germany has the strongest group advancing record after that but didn't advanced in 2000 and 2004. If you look at it as all individual campaigns and cross off let's say campaign 2000 of Germany with campaign 2002 of Holland (though reaching an end tournament is better than not qualifying), Netherlands have over that period the best record in Europe.
leszek-antonio poland and home support? well keep the tone down as you see poland is very close for thousands of greeks to come and the 300 SPARTIANS
Those are the 2 teams to avoid (Spain following shortly behind). Holland and Germany steamroll through the qualifiers. My prayers didn't help much. Sweden got Holland in the EC QF for 2012 and Germany for the WC QF for 2014. For now I am just glad we avoided Holland and Germany in the group.
No match.... sorry. The fans also cannot compete. We may not have a very strong team, but the fan support is among the best in the world.
Poland do have good support and I must say that it was nice to see one of the teams get such an easy group when they are hosting the whole spectacle. Being on their own turf, Poland should be able to advance.
I agree. If Poland got Ukraine's group (with England, France and Sweden) things would look differently.....but Russia and Greece are at a similar level to Poland, so the home support should give Poland the edge....
That's true. PSV this week played against Legia and even when they where 3-0 down the supporters made as much noise if not more than when it was 0-0. What I didn't like was that half of the 80 PSV fans that traveled to Poland were not allowed to enter the stadium because they had alcohol in their blood. Which brings me to the following question: What the hell did the other half of the 80 supporters drink the whole day? Also Poles are not allowed to enter a stadium with a higher permillage?
Poland have an excellent chance to qualify... Its just a shame that Germany and Holland who qualified so well then get such a tough group. The seedings system of having two countries getting 1st seeding for hosting is unfair..... Might as well just draw then out of a hat without seedings!
I don't care. We want to win the tournament, so we have to beat any team anyway. You just don't deserve to go through when you can't beat your opposition; no matter if other teams might have had an easier route.