And by 'shocking' I'm going to take it that you're not talking about the number of surprising results, minnows winning, etc., but more a 'shocking' standard of football, as in no team looks like it could kick snow off a rope.
Gentleman, Good day to you all. Am I drunk? or am I really sitting here discussing how Armenia beat Slovakia 4-0?. Granted the ideal answer would be both but I haven't had a drink today. I just might now! In all seriousness though, this is shades of the Cyprus result from 2006.
Nice little subplot for all the Irish writers who were slagging MLS when Keano signed: the Armenian attack was led by LA-bred and ex-MLSer Yuri Movsisyan. Scored the first (and, as it turns out, winning) goal. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yura_Movsisyan Could end up being a significant goal in Ireland's drive for qualification. Of course, he could also ruin their chances on Oct 11.
The 0-0 draw looked suspicious to me as well. There were too many times when the Russians were through for a shot and chose to pass it poorly across the box. Ireland defended well but the Russians did'nt look honest.
Fair point except Dunne's clearance and Given's late save might put the lie to that; having said that, I didn't see the Armenia game, so my suspicions are based on nothing other than the scoreline (0-0 at the half) and previous form.
The second looks dodgy. I think it is the SLK No. 10 who gets stripped of the ball, makes a half-hearted attempt to win it back and then stops running. He could just be lazy. Also, the two defenders were very slow to react and gave the attacker plenty of time to pick his spot. The third looks a bit suspect. Again, slow or no reaction from the defenders. As for the fourth, well, the game was done and dusted by that point.