Pete Raven 276 Posted November 25, 2007 Croatia again! Also, N Korea v S Korea could be interesting...Group 1 Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Albania, Malta Group 2 Greece, Israel, Switzerland, Moldova, Latvia, Luxembourg Group 3 Czech Republic, Poland, NORTHERN IRELAND, Slovakia, Slovenia, San Marino Group 4 Germany, Russia, Finland, WALES, Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein Group 5 Spain, Turkey, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Armenia, Estonia Group 6 Croatia, ENGLAND, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Andorra Group 7 France, Romania, Serbia, Lithuania, Austria, Faroe Islands Group 8 Italy, Bulgaria, Republic of Ireland, Cyprus, Georgia, Montenegro Group 9 Holland, SCOTLAND, Norway, FYR Macedonia, Iceland Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Buncey 1 Posted November 25, 2007 Those are bad draws for all our home nations. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Huddy 0 Posted November 25, 2007 Interesting drawDespite the recent Euro results i think Croatia was one of the best draws we could have got from pot 1, with maybe the exception of Greece. A chance for revenge. Ukraine is potentially tricky, but Scotland finished ahead of them for a reason, i''f have prefereed the likes of Finland, Belgiam, Norway from that pot. We seemed to have avoided any banana skins in the other pots with Belarus (Hleb only), Kazhakstan (Borat?!!) and Andorra weak!Pot 1, 7 and 8 were probably well missed, the pot 2 sides probably not relishing being in those groups.Pot 2 looks the easiest. How do Izrael go from finsihing 4th in our group to becoming 2nd seeds and then get drawn in such a weak group. Greece, Switzerland and 3 minnows!N Ireland and worthy can be reasonably happy, Germany asside there are no real strong sides, Poland are certainly beatable, San Marino are attrocious and despite being cometative enoughthe slovaks and slovenians should be beatable.Scotland should fancy their chances of a top 2 finish, no real minnows but Norway, Iceland and Macedonia shouldnt trouble them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kick it off 1,948 Posted November 25, 2007 [quote user="HUDDY "]Interesting drawDespite the recent Euro results i think Croatia was one of the best draws we could have got from pot 1, with maybe the exception of Greece. A chance for revenge. Ukraine is potentially tricky, but Scotland finished ahead of them for a reason, i''f have prefereed the likes of Finland, Belgiam, Norway from that pot. We seemed to have avoided any banana skins in the other pots with Belarus (Hleb only), Kazhakstan (Borat?!!) and Andorra weak!Pot 1, 7 and 8 were probably well missed, the pot 2 sides probably not relishing being in those groups.Pot 2 looks the easiest. How do Izrael go from finsihing 4th in our group to becoming 2nd seeds and then get drawn in such a weak group. Greece, Switzerland and 3 minnows!N Ireland and worthy can be reasonably happy, Germany asside there are no real strong sides, Poland are certainly beatable, San Marino are attrocious and despite being cometative enoughthe slovaks and slovenians should be beatable.Scotland should fancy their chances of a top 2 finish, no real minnows but Norway, Iceland and Macedonia shouldnt trouble them.[/quote]They''ll be even happier having actually got Czech Republic and not Germany then!!! San Marino, Slovenia and Slovakia are all weak, but complacency must not be an issue against these teams as they are not so weak they can''t exact an upset. From a Polish stance, it is a good group, NI are very much beatable, the ones we should be worried about are the Czechs, bit of a local derby going on there. Should be an interesting campaign. Maybe you can exact some revenge on the Croatians!! You appear to have a relatively easy group - Kazakhstan were in our group for Euro quali''s and are truly shocking away from home but it is a difficult place to visit - we stuggled and beat them 1-0 away and i''m fairly sure Portugal did the same. At home we were 1-0 down with 60 on the clock, but came back to beat them 3-1. Ukraine are weak at the moment and whilst i wouldnt have fancied drawing them 3 or 4 years ago, they are in decline at the moment with Shevchenko losing form and growing older. Belarus are a fairly poor side but are a potential banana skin as they are no mugs and have secured some good results in recent years.Anyway, Good luck for the campaign and i look forward a potential Poland Englad tie in SA!!!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Branston Pickle 3,635 Posted November 25, 2007 Definitely agree, Huddy - out of the top seeds, Croatia and Greece had to be the ones you''d want: ok Croatia beat us last week but the fact is that no one gave them much of a chance to, and it was only with most of the England players having played like complete arses that they did - on the night we would probably have been beaten by a much lesser side; if England''s players can''t get themselves fired up for that rematch then they might as well give up the game. I''m actually as bothered by Ukraine and Belarus, who would have to go down as some of the much better countries out of their seeding groups, each with the potential to be a banana skin. Group 2 just shows the farce of the seeding system, but such is life. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mister Chops 7 Posted November 25, 2007 [quote user="Web Team - Pete"]N Korea v S Korea could be interesting...[/quote]Especially if D''Urso gets the referee''s job. I''m going outside to start digging a bunker, just in case. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BlyBlyBabes 0 Posted November 25, 2007 If we''re good enough we''ll get through. Simple. I mean it''s not as if we can go out and sign people like City............although there is that case of the Brazilian-born Croatian to consider. Nah!Personally I''m looking to the British Virgin Islands vs Bahamas for an early upset. Two games and you''re out at their level. It''s a hard world out there.OTBC Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cheerio 0 Posted November 25, 2007 [quote user="HUDDY "] with maybe the exception of Greece.[/quote]You kidding? Seen Greece lately? I''ll take Croatia thanks...... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sam 0 Posted November 26, 2007 another bit of luck for engalnd mind you the last bit of luck we had we didnt capitalise onlook at the group we could have had:Germany/Italy/France/, ENGLAND, Denmark/Switzerland, Hungary/Belarus, etcwe are lucky that we didn''t get one of the really top teams like scotland, wales and rep of ireland didnot a bad draw for northern ireland, could have been a lot worse, could have been better thoughi think its the winners of group go straight to world cup and runners up play off for 4 more spots. if we have to do home and awat then we should pick up:Andorra - 6 pointsKazakstahn - 6 pointsBelarus - 6 pointsUkraine - 4 pointsCroatia - 3/4/6 points this would give us a total of 25/26/27 points, that ought to be enough to win group but you never know!! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Buncey 1 Posted November 26, 2007 Scotland are gonna struggle to qualify. They are bascially gonna have to beat everyone in their group. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
