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Post by fiveattheback on Nov 14, 2021 21:41:42 GMT
Ah bollocks
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Post by CrackityJones on Nov 14, 2021 21:44:16 GMT
Nightmare. Mitrovic is a bastard.
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Post by allezlesrouges on Nov 14, 2021 21:44:19 GMT
To be fair, Serbia looked the better team and Portugal looked poor against Ireland. Not saying I want to play them, but Serbia might have actually been a worse team to play. Portugal seem to have gone stale under their manager who plays quite negative football
Still hope we avoid them but Serbia/Portugal not much difference in quality as that final result has shown
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Post by dai on Nov 14, 2021 21:44:32 GMT
How can we avoid drawing Portugal? Does winning Tuesday help?
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Post by fiveattheback on Nov 14, 2021 21:45:21 GMT
How can we avoid drawing Portugal? Does winning Tuesday help? By being one of the six best second placed sides |
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Post by conwy10 on Nov 14, 2021 21:50:47 GMT
From what I saw I'd probably prefer Portugal to Serbia. No doubt if we draw them we'll get peak Ronaldo back for one game only.
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Post by allezlesrouges on Nov 14, 2021 22:06:20 GMT
How can we avoid drawing Portugal? Does winning Tuesday help? Yes win Tuesday and we avoid them |
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Post by iot on Nov 14, 2021 22:09:45 GMT
Portugal is a much tougher draw than Serbia. They're just the type of team we struggle against- very good technically, but also sit deep and are organised. Serbia would be massive favourites, byt at least they would come at us a lot more and there would be space to counter
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Post by jimexotic on Nov 14, 2021 22:32:14 GMT
Portugal were top dogs in their group, an easier group than ours, they messed up. We can beat them if we get drawn against them, they're fading as a power.
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Post by allezlesrouges on Nov 14, 2021 22:55:01 GMT
So my reading of the current situation is that these are the possible results that put us out of the home seeding...
We lose and...
1) Czechs beat Estonia and get a goal difference swing of +3
2) Czechs fail to do that, but Scotland better our result in their game against Denmark
3) Scotland fail to better our result, but Turkey beat Montenegro
4) Turkey fail to beat Montenegro, but Finland beat France with a goal swing of +4
We draw and...
1) Scotland either have a higher scoring draw than us, or beat Denmark
2) Scotland fail to do this, but Turkey beat Montenegro by 4 goals
3) Turkey win but by less than 4 goals AND Norway beat Netherlands by 3 or more
Draw actually looks like it's better than we thought yesterday, as the possibilities of the draw scenarios happening is quite small. Still a win is the only guarantee for us
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Post by manulike on Nov 14, 2021 23:10:43 GMT
So my reading of the current situation is that these are the possible results that put us out of the home seeding... We lose and... 1) Czechs beat Estonia and get a goal difference swing of +3 2) Czechs fail to do that, but Scotland better our result in their game against Denmark 3) Scotland fail to better our result, but Turkey beat Montenegro 4) Turkey fail to beat Montenegro, but Finland beat France with a goal swing of +4 We draw and... 1) Scotland either have a higher scoring draw than us, or beat Denmark 2) Scotland fail to do this, but Turkey beat Montenegro by 4 goals 3) Turkey win but by less than 4 goals AND Norway beat Netherlands by 3 or moreDraw actually looks like it's better than we thought yesterday, as the possibilities of the draw scenarios happening is quite small. Still a win is the only guarantee for us Never thought that these words would pass my lips - but come on you Orange ;-) |
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Post by saturn9 on Nov 14, 2021 23:18:16 GMT
Portugal were top dogs in their group, an easier group than ours, they messed up. We can beat them if we get drawn against them, they're fading as a power. Wouldn't say they are fading. Their game against the Belgians at the recent Euros was fantastic. And with a bit of Luck, should have gone into Et. |
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Post by allezlesrouges on Nov 14, 2021 23:24:42 GMT
Mitrovic has 44 goals in 69 games for Serbia! Wow! That's some record considering he's never consistently been a top flight player
Edit* When he scored the equaliser against us in Belgrade that was his 8th international goal. He's scored 36 in 41 games for Serbia since then!!
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Post by jimexotic on Nov 14, 2021 23:34:33 GMT
Portugal were top dogs in their group, an easier group than ours, they messed up. We can beat them if we get drawn against them, they're fading as a power. Wouldn't say they are fading. Their game against the Belgians at the recent Euros was fantastic. And with a bit of Luck, should have gone into Et. Yeah maybe fading was the wrong term but I think they're on the slide, just like Man Utd at the moment they seem like Ronaldo and The Other Guys as opposed to a decent functioning team. |
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Post by jimexotic on Nov 14, 2021 23:37:00 GMT
I think the qualifying system is a bit harsh, to have to go through two rounds of play offs if you finish second is pretty tough going.
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Post by allezlesrouges on Nov 14, 2021 23:43:03 GMT
I think the qualifying system is a bit harsh, to have to go through two rounds of play offs if you finish second is pretty tough going. I agree, preferred a home and away playoff system. Seems better all round to me |
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Post by pclaude on Nov 15, 2021 0:02:12 GMT
So my reading of the current situation is that these are the possible results that put us out of the home seeding... We lose and... 1) Czechs beat Estonia and get a goal difference swing of +3 2) Czechs fail to do that, but Scotland better our result in their game against Denmark 3) Scotland fail to better our result, but Turkey beat Montenegro 4) Turkey fail to beat Montenegro, but Finland beat France with a goal swing of +4 We draw and... 1) Scotland either have a higher scoring draw than us, or beat Denmark 2) Scotland fail to do this, but Turkey beat Montenegro by 4 goals 3) Turkey win but by less than 4 goals AND Norway beat Netherlands by 3 or more Draw actually looks like it's better than we thought yesterday, as the possibilities of the draw scenarios happening is quite small. Still a win is the only guarantee for us If it's a one goal game for both, same score, we win on head to head I think. so them 1-0, us 0-1 we are second. we'd be equal on goals scored. |
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Post by jimexotic on Nov 15, 2021 0:03:52 GMT
I think the qualifying system is a bit harsh, to have to go through two rounds of play offs if you finish second is pretty tough going. I agree, preferred a home and away playoff system. Seems better all round to me Definitely and I hate to punch down but most of the second placed teams are better than everyone, barring Brazil and Argentina, that will be at the next World Cup. I know it's the tournament for everyone around the World but the gulf in quality always shows, the African sides have all plateaued or are getting worse, Brazil and Argentina were poor in the last World Cup and aren't really showing signs of improvement, I'd back us to give either a tough game. There just seems to be an awful lot of rubbish at each World Cup. That said I do love the odd mad moment one of the weaker sides can spring, I just think Europe could probably have 15 teams rather than 13. |
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Post by pclaude on Nov 15, 2021 0:04:50 GMT
I think the qualifying system is a bit harsh, to have to go through two rounds of play offs if you finish second is pretty tough going. Id argue it's better than just having best 6 runners up from 10 into a play off. That is even more random as depends on group quality. Next time it will be two legs I guess, as there will be 3 more european teams. So 6 playoff places instead of 3 for the finals. |
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Post by cadno on Nov 15, 2021 6:20:57 GMT
Hang on, there's a semi final and a final, so even if we get a favourable semi final and win that, we'll still most likely have to play someone like Portugal or Switzerland in the final no?
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Post by yanto on Nov 15, 2021 7:45:10 GMT
Hang on, there's a semi final and a final, so even if we get a favourable semi final and win that, we'll still most likely have to play someone like Portugal or Switzerland in the final no? Yes I think so... |
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Post by cadno on Nov 15, 2021 8:53:23 GMT
Hang on, there's a semi final and a final, so even if we get a favourable semi final and win that, we'll still most likely have to play someone like Portugal or Switzerland in the final no? Yes I think so... Right! Tough ask fair play |
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Post by welshowl on Nov 15, 2021 9:11:04 GMT
Serbia winning 2-1. Portugal heading for the playoffs. Great! Who else but Mitrovic, weโll 100% draw Portugal somehow too. Swear heโs got it in for the Welsh Hats off to Serbia for doing it again. Cymru were top seeds in our qualifying group for the 2018 World Cup but cautious approach / agonising equalisers cost us, and Serbia (third seeds) won the group. That time around Romania and the Netherlands were also top seeds who eventually wouldn't qualify.
Will the Netherlands blow that advantage again? Let's hope they beat Norway to secure it, but that Turkey also drop points vs Montenegro. Also North Macedonia were fourth seeds this time so well done them on reaching the playoffs.
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Post by jimexotic on Nov 15, 2021 9:33:14 GMT
Right! Tough ask fair play The more I think about it the tougher it is! I don't know if any of the South American sides would qualify if they had to be entered into the European qualifying whereas I'm confident that at least two of the second placed sides would get through South American qualifying. |
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Post by dai on Nov 15, 2021 9:42:34 GMT
Thing is with Portugal, yes they are a good team, but they looked pretty average against Ireland. They beat Ireland home 2-1, but only with two last minute goals, and didn't deserve it really. Then they drew in Ireland last week and didn't look THAT threatening. Not trying to play them down at all, but it could be worse.
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Post by saturn9 on Nov 15, 2021 9:56:40 GMT
Chuffed for the Serbs, baffled why they never get to qf or sf of tournaments, with the talent they have at their disposal.
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Post by scoop76 on Nov 15, 2021 10:07:15 GMT
Thing is with Portugal, yes they are a good team, but they looked pretty average against Ireland. They beat Ireland home 2-1, but only with two last minute goals, and didn't deserve it really. Then they drew in Ireland last week and didn't look THAT threatening. Not trying to play them down at all, but it could be worse. Not the force they were, but we'd still need to keep Ronaldo quiet for 95 minutes or so. |
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Post by notpropaganda on Nov 15, 2021 10:10:45 GMT
The only worry with Portugal is getting ridden by the ref and Ronaldo doing Ronaldo things. Other than that, Serbia were miles ahead of them as an outfit from the games against us, we were absolutely hammered by Serbia in Dublin and fluked our way to a draw, whereas on the balance of play you could argue we should've had at least 4 points off Portugal over the two games.
Obviously you want to avoid Portugal just because of the quality they have across the board but I don't think it's an unwinnable game for Wales if that draw happens. They are quite pedestrian at times, and there are plenty mistakes in the keeper and defence in my opinion.
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Post by cymro on Nov 15, 2021 10:14:10 GMT
Feel like we've been here before with Portugal... failed to impress for most of Euro 2016 (drew all 3 of their group games) and we were relatively happy to draw them in the semis. They then went on to win the whole thing. Obviously that was a long time ago now but I would never be happy to draw them when you look at who else we could get.
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Post by iot on Nov 15, 2021 10:58:30 GMT
If you actually look at their squad, Portugal have a better team now than as far as I can remember. It's better than the one in 2016 and better than the one in 2004 too. They have one of the best centre backs in the world in Reuben Dias, one of the best right backs in Jao Cancelo. They have really good deep-lying midfield options in the likes of Ruben Neves, Carvalho, Danilo, and world class attacking midfield / forward players in ronaldo, bruno fernandes, bernado silva, and other excellent payers in jao felix and jota. They have reams of quality, technically gifted players. It's certainly not clicking at the moment, but make no mistake that they are still a top side. They also have a very conservative coach and tactical set up, which means they're really difficult to break down. Let's not forget how much we struggle against those types of sides. If we drew them away, I would put our chances of beating them at less than 10%. It would be the worst possible draw.
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