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Post by welshiron on Mar 23, 2021 15:10:10 GMT
Would add Ramsey to that list
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Post by allezlesrouges on Mar 23, 2021 15:51:39 GMT
He really does. He's done it all with Wales, a World Cup would be the perfect to top off what's been the greatest Welsh international career we've ever seen. I can see us coming 2nd in the group, getting a tough playoff & that being his make or break swansong for World Cup glory. He will either earn himself a statue in Cardiff or simply go down as our greatest ever player - not a bad set of options! |
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Post by allezlesrouges on Mar 24, 2021 17:50:57 GMT
Turkey 2-0 up at HT against the Netherlands
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Post by CrackityJones on Mar 24, 2021 18:01:45 GMT
Turkey 2-0 up against Netherlands at half time in Group G. Bodes well for the Euros.
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Post by walesgolfmadrid on Mar 24, 2021 18:12:57 GMT
3-0 now, crazy start to the World Cup cycle.
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Post by allezlesrouges on Mar 24, 2021 18:13:54 GMT
Turkey 2-0 up against Netherlands at half time in Group G. Bodes well for the Euros. Also could do with the top teams sweeping the groups. Any giants who slip into the playoffs isn't good news for us |
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Post by CrackityJones on Mar 24, 2021 20:35:55 GMT
Czechia 4-1 up against Estonia
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Post by playslikeiniesta on Mar 24, 2021 20:44:34 GMT
Estonia not up to much but Czech Rep look VERY good. We will do well if we can get 4 points out of our two games against them!
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Post by allezlesrouges on Mar 24, 2021 21:44:29 GMT
Estonia not up to much but Czech Rep look VERY good. We will do well if we can get 4 points out of our two games against them! At least they have a chance of nicking a result against Belgium if they look good. If we can manage two wins against them, a draw against Belgium and we could be in with a shout going into the last game |
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Post by manulike on Mar 24, 2021 22:10:13 GMT
Israel will be playing their game tomorrow v Denmark in Tel Aviv in front of 5,000 fans.
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Post by dai on Mar 25, 2021 18:40:55 GMT
Seriously, how the fuck have England got Andorra as well as San Marino in their group?
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Post by jbt95 on Mar 25, 2021 18:56:23 GMT
Turkey 2-0 up against Netherlands at half time in Group G. Bodes well for the Euros. Also could do with the top teams sweeping the groups. Any giants who slip into the playoffs isn't good news for us Are the Dutch 'a giant' these days? They've not qualified for 2 of the past 3 tournaments. Personally, think Turkey will win that group and Norway could take second off the Netherlands. There will be some quality sides in the play-offs. A lot better than what were in the Euro play-offs. There's some tough groups, France/Ukraine/Finland/Bosnia - anybody could come first or second there. That's why its important we take 12/12 against Belarus and Estonia, and we must beat the Czechs next Tuesday. If we do finish 2nd, we really need a top six place out of the 10 to get that home semi against a 'lesser' team*. * - issue is these French, Denmark and Dutch, possibly even the England, groups are likely to be lower points tallies as they will take points off one another (like in our Euro qualifying group), so there could be strong teams finishing 7-10th. |
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Post by jbt95 on Mar 25, 2021 18:56:50 GMT
Seriously, how the fuck have England got Andorra as well as San Marino in their group? Cause they are in a six team group. |
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Post by allezlesrouges on Mar 25, 2021 21:05:46 GMT
Hungary 2-0 up against Poland
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Post by CrackityJones on Mar 25, 2021 21:41:50 GMT
Finished 3-3 brilliant game. There have been some good ties so far with a few excellent goals scored, Wilson's being the pick of the bunch of course.
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Post by squatter1 on Mar 26, 2021 10:56:50 GMT
I’m sure this has been spelled out elsewhere so apols, but for my sake could someone remind of the situation here...
The way the radio pundits on Weds were talking about the Czech game was thats is a must win for us. But isn’t almost the opposite true - ie it hardly matters whether we win or lose (sadly)? Isn’t it the fact that assuming Belgium win this group, there is zero jeopardy for us because we already have a playoff place?
So can someone confidently confirm our situation - are the following true:
1 If we finish second in our group, we get a playoff
2 if we finish 3rd, 4th or last in our group we also get a playoff (thanks to nations league results)
Did someone say elsewhere that we would get better seeding in the playoffs in case 1? Still, the idea of fighting through eight tough international qualifying fixtures with the goal of slightly improving your seeding for the playoffs slightly diminishes the drama, let alone player motivation?
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Post by cadno on Mar 26, 2021 11:14:14 GMT
I’m sure this has been spelled out elsewhere so apols, but for my sake could someone remind of the situation here... The way the radio pundits on Weds were talking about the Czech game was thats is a must win for us. But isn’t almost the opposite true - ie it hardly matters whether we win or lose (sadly)? Isn’t it the fact that assuming Belgium win this group, there is zero jeopardy for us because we already have a playoff place? So can someone confidently confirm our situation - are the following true: 1 If we finish second in our group, we get a playoff 2 if we finish 3rd, 4th or last in our group we also get a playoff (thanks to nations league results) Did someone say elsewhere that we would get better seeding in the playoffs in case 1? Still, the idea of fighting through eight tough international qualifying fixtures with the goal of slightly improving your seeding for the playoffs slightly diminishes the drama, let alone player motivation? I think that's spot on! Were we to qualify, who would travel to Qatar? I'm gutted it's there. |
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Post by insertname on Mar 26, 2021 11:21:43 GMT
I’m not sure why it’s being taken for granted that a play off spot is in the bag. If just one team that finished top of their nations league tier A group fails to finish in the top two of their qualifying group then they get the play off spot that is currently allocated to us right? Because there are two nations league play off spots and one has been taken by a team that finished better than us in tier B (Austria?) meaning we are the first in line to lose ours. Is that right?
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Post by eppingblue1 on Mar 26, 2021 11:58:39 GMT
I’m sure this has been spelled out elsewhere so apols, but for my sake could someone remind of the situation here... The way the radio pundits on Weds were talking about the Czech game was thats is a must win for us. But isn’t almost the opposite true - ie it hardly matters whether we win or lose (sadly)? Isn’t it the fact that assuming Belgium win this group, there is zero jeopardy for us because we already have a playoff place? So can someone confidently confirm our situation - are the following true: 1 If we finish second in our group, we get a playoff 2 if we finish 3rd, 4th or last in our group we also get a playoff (thanks to nations league results) Did someone say elsewhere that we would get better seeding in the playoffs in case 1? Still, the idea of fighting through eight tough international qualifying fixtures with the goal of slightly improving your seeding for the playoffs slightly diminishes the drama, let alone player motivation? If it finished with the tables as they are now then Spain who are 3rd and France who are 4th would take the nations league places. Of course there's only been one game and it will revert to the norm pretty quickly. Its just that qualifying through the world cup qualifiers should give you a better route. If it all went to the current FIFA rankings then we would be in the top seeded group of 3 alongside Switzerland and Poland. We would be playing the semi final at home to Russia. Czech Republic or Hungary. If we were to rely on a place through the nations league we would by current standings be away to Switzerland, Poland or Sweden. Of course a lot will change during the next few months with who qualifiers and ranking so this is all hypothetical but you get the idea. We are as good as guaranteed a play off place as I see it. It would take 2 of Portugal, Spain, Italy or France to finish 3rd in their respective groups for us not to get a play off place. That cant happen surely. |
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Post by eppingblue1 on Mar 26, 2021 12:02:04 GMT
I’m not sure why it’s being taken for granted that a play off spot is in the bag. If just one team that finished top of their nations league tier A group fails to finish in the top two of their qualifying group then they get the play off spot that is currently allocated to us right? Because there are two nations league play off spots and one has been taken by a team that finished better than us in tier B (Austria?) meaning we are the first in line to lose ours. Is that right? I thought we finished above Austria |
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Post by allezlesrouges on Mar 26, 2021 12:19:21 GMT
We finished above Austria. We are the number 1 League B team. Two League A nations would have to finish 3rd in their WC qual groups. Can't see it happening
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Post by squatter1 on Mar 26, 2021 12:42:50 GMT
So if we are almost guaranteed a playoff whatever, is there any difference to our finishing second or third? No difference in seeding?
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Post by CrackityJones on Mar 26, 2021 12:46:36 GMT
We will be seeded if we finish second, unseeded if not
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Post by insertname on Mar 26, 2021 13:00:59 GMT
Aaah okay. I was looking at Spain lying in third and thinking given our past record that we can’t take anything for granted but hearing that then yes it is highly unlikely for us to lose a play off spot.
Also, impressive that we are actually the top nations league B side, could have sworn we were occupying the “last” play off berth meaning we were out at the first sign of trouble.
That being said, we probably need a “seeded” play off spot. Could be some big teams on the other side of the fence that renders our play off a box ticking exercise so I’d be taking this group very seriously if I was in charge.
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Post by iot on Mar 26, 2021 13:01:03 GMT
We will be seeded if we finish second, unseeded if not We have a very good chance of being seeded if we finish second (6 of the 10 top 2nd place teams will be seeded). If we don't finish 2nd, we will certainly be unseeded. As eppingblue described above, the difference between seeded and unseeded will range from a home game (they're one-legged playoffs) against the likes of hungary or russia, and an away game to Switzerland or Poland i.e. from us being significant favourities to significant underdogs. So there is a lot riding on it |
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Post by squatter1 on Mar 26, 2021 13:15:53 GMT
Ok, so we are playing all these tough matches in the qualifying campaign essentially for the difference between playing Poland away, or Hungary at home.
I'm sorry, but realistically that is not exactly a massive incentive. It's hard to realistically sell that as 'a lot riding on it'.
Especially since a) we could finish second and not get seeded (therefore entire campaign a waste of time), or b) some of the unseeded teams will be stronger than the seeded sides, again presenting the possibility of essentially rendering qualifying 2nd pointless.
While I am obviously delighted we have a playoff already nailed, you've got to accept that the jeopardy and drama in the group has been completely eviscerated for us (unless of course we can push Belgium for first place, which is a pipe dream).
Whereas in all previous WC campaigns, missing out on 2nd place and a playoff has been a cause for agony and anguish, this time round it will just provoke a shrug of the shoulders and 'never mind, we've got a playoff anyway'. Hardly the stuff of great drama.
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Post by dai on Mar 26, 2021 13:17:28 GMT
Why can't we just concentrate on doing the best we can and aim for the highest we can? I'll be very disappointed if we finished anything less than 2nd tbh.
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Post by squatter1 on Mar 26, 2021 13:29:44 GMT
Why can't we just concentrate on doing the best we can and aim for the highest we can? I'll be very disappointed if we finished anything less than 2nd tbh. Yes of course. But my point is, which of the below is going to best describe your feelings on Tuesday if we lose to Czechs... a) Fuck! Shit! Nooooo - we are screwed now, qualification looking really tough, my week is ruined!!!! or b) oh never mind, we've got a playoff anyway. Not to worry. |
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Post by iot on Mar 26, 2021 13:38:06 GMT
Ok, so we are playing all these tough matches in the qualifying campaign essentially for the difference between playing Poland away, or Hungary at home. I'm sorry, but realistically that is not exactly a massive incentive. It's hard to realistically sell that as 'a lot riding on it'. Especially since a) we could finish second and not get seeded (therefore entire campaign a waste of time), or b) some of the unseeded teams will be stronger than the seeded sides, again presenting the possibility of essentially rendering qualifying 2nd pointless. While I am obviously delighted we have a playoff already nailed, you've got to accept that the jeopardy and drama in the group has been completely eviscerated for us (unless of course we can push Belgium for first place, which is a pipe dream). Whereas in all previous WC campaigns, missing out on 2nd place and a playoff has been a cause for agony and anguish, this time round it will just provoke a shrug of the shoulders and 'never mind, we've got a playoff anyway'. Hardly the stuff of great drama. Considering that we haven't qualified since 1958, and that playing Poland away would in my view give us about a 20-30% chance of getting through, whereas playing Hungary at home would give us a 70-80% chance, I certainly think there's a lot riding on it |
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Post by dai on Mar 26, 2021 13:42:07 GMT
Why can't we just concentrate on doing the best we can and aim for the highest we can? I'll be very disappointed if we finished anything less than 2nd tbh. Yes of course. But my point is, which of the below is going to best describe your feelings on Tuesday if we lose to Czechs... a) Fuck! Shit! Nooooo - we are screwed now, qualification looking really tough, my week is ruined!!!! or b) oh never mind, we've got a playoff anyway. Not to worry. Neither to be honest. I'd be more pissed off about not winning at home, which is the minimum we should be doing if we are serious about qualifying, and we cannot bank 100% on the playoff. |
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