Padraig Posted October 19, 2009 Share Posted October 19, 2009 Ireland will play shit like they always do and draw twice, I think we're capable of that, and maybe we might even get a fluky win. Otherwise away goals is the way forward.:lol: Hard to argue with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renasko Posted October 20, 2009 Author Share Posted October 20, 2009 Come on, positivity lads. This is the French national team we're talking about. Wee buns. :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Iceman of the North Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 My prediction is that both Ireland and France will fail to qualify. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fireball07 Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 My prediction is that both Ireland and France will fail to qualify.And Norway will spring from nowhere to rob our spot? :stunned: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Iceman of the North Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Cyprus is more likely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Altherion Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 And Norway will spring from nowhere to rob our spot? :stunned:Yes. Both teams will play so horribly that after the two 0-0 ties, FIFA will have no choice but to step in and award the spot to Norway. :)More seriously, does anyone know what happens if a pair of matches ends with ties of equal numbers of goals scored or victories at home with the same score (e.g. 1-1, 1-1 or 2-1, 1-2)? Given that there are 4 distinct contests, it seems such an outcome is fairly likely in at least one of them. Do they have a final winner-takes-all match? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fireball07 Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Yes. Both teams will play so horribly that after the two 0-0 ties, FIFA will have no choice but to step in and award the spot to Norway. :)More seriously, does anyone know what happens if a pair of matches ends with ties of equal numbers of goals scored or victories at home with the same score (e.g. 1-1, 1-1 or 2-1, 1-2)? Given that there are 4 distinct contests, it seems such an outcome is fairly likely in at least one of them. Do they have a final winner-takes-all match?What? I don't quite understand you. But if you're saying what I think...it goes to penalties if it's level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Iceman of the North Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 If nothing is decided after 90 minutes in the second match, there's two times 15 minutes, if no goals are scored there's a penalty shoot out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The WaterDancer Knight Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 The good news if France doesn't qualify is that will be Domenech's end. I wonder how many Frenches are secretly hoping for that outcome... :devil: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Mongoose Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 The good news if France doesn't qualify is that will be Domenech's end. I wonder how many Frenches are secretly hoping for that outcome... :devil:I'm amazed he's lasted this long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calibandar Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 And Gourcuff is unbelievable...he is pure class, but hopefully he won't play.He is, and he probably won't Domenech has benched him more than once. It's the same with his desire to bench Benzema frequently. Surely France will win against Ireland. But Ireland did do quite well against Italy, they might not be that bad and make it tough for Francais. But the abundance of quality on the side of the French should kill it convincingly.Portugal might have a tougher match against Bosnia.Russia to win. Greece vs Ukraine, I don't care who wins here but you'd thinkl it would be close.Scratch that, I want Ukraine to win, because Greece was such a horrendous EC Champion. Anti-football. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuroishi Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 He is, and he probably won't Domenech has benched him more than once. It's the same with his desire to bench Benzema frequently.Uh ? Domenech launched Gourcuff and he has always made him play when he was available (he didn't play the last two games because of an injury).As for Benzema, he has underachieved much with the national side. Add his recent declaration of "not being really motivated when he comes in" to that and it's no wonder that he wouldn't be trusted, especially with Gignac showing willingness and efficiency. And yet he made him play in the last two games.Domenech led France to a World Cup finals after two failed competitions (2002 & 2004, the game against England notwithstanding), and he has gained much credit for that. And the players support him (except the ones he doesn't call, of course...). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fireball07 Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 He is, and he probably won't Domenech has benched him more than once. It's the same with his desire to bench Benzema frequently. Surely France will win against Ireland. But Ireland did do quite well against Italy, they might not be that bad and make it tough for Francais. But the abundance of quality on the side of the French should kill it convincingly.We are not that bad. Well, we are, but we are lucky, and the quality of opposition hasn't affected us yet. We play exactly the same all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padraig Posted October 21, 2009 Share Posted October 21, 2009 Domenech led France to a World Cup finals after two failed competitions (2002 & 2004, the game against England notwithstanding), and he has gained much credit for that. And the players support him (except the ones he doesn't call, of course...).Players nearly always publicly support their manager. Otherwise they will be dropped. So any such declarations mean nothing.Besides, the success in 2006 justified keeping him on for Euro 2008. But the failure there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kuroishi Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 Players nearly always publicly support their manager. Otherwise they will be dropped. So any such declarations mean nothing.Besides, the success in 2006 justified keeping him on for Euro 2008. But the failure there?Yeah for sure, but he's been defended by players like Henry, Ribery and Vieira even after Euro 2008, and I don't think that these players could be dropped by anyone (well... Vieira is, now, but at the time we still believed that he would recover eventually). He was the coach of many of them in french youth teams, and I think that they have a healthy relationship.Nowadays he is mainly criticized by former 1998/2000 players, who tend to forget that they also were the ones responsible for 2002 and 2004...As for 2008, I know that I am one of the few who will say that, but I really think that it was a close call (much more than in 2002/2004 where the teams were trainwrecks). The game against Romania was shit, but in my opinion the games versus Netherlands (yeah, even with that score) and Italy were lost on bad luck more than anything else.But I would have understood if he had been sacked after the Euro. Now he hasn't been and he has rebuilt a team which plays with the strength of the players we have, and I'm glad for that. Now if our scorers were just a little bit more efficient, we could be a very interesting team again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renasko Posted October 22, 2009 Author Share Posted October 22, 2009 Ribery will miss the two play-off matches, apparently. :D France missing their best player will certainly help our chances of progressing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padraig Posted October 22, 2009 Share Posted October 22, 2009 Yeah for sure, but he's been defended by players like Henry, Ribery and Vieira even after Euro 2008, and I don't think that these players could be dropped by anyone (well... Vieira is, now, but at the time we still believed that he would recover eventually). He was the coach of many of them in french youth teams, and I think that they have a healthy relationship.I can't say for sure. Its weird though. Why have they again struggled to qualify if the players respect him? Something seems off.The game against Romania was shit, but in my opinion the games versus Netherlands (yeah, even with that score) and Italy were lost on bad luck more than anything else.You have a point. They lost Ribery in the Italy game. And then Abidal got sent off for a crazy tackle. While the Dutch were simply on fire.Football can balance things out like that. They played woeful in thee WC (except for the 2nd half of their 3rd game) until they reached the knock out stages. And IIRC, the winner against Spain came from a free kick that shouldn't have been allowed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Iceman of the North Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 Have they decided what to do if that happens? The rules you linked say "g) drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee.", but that doesn't seem very fair or very interesting. Is coming down to the equivalent of a coin toss or are they going to play some more?A bit of an update. If Egypt win the match by two goals, a play-off match between Egypt and Algeria for the final spot will be played in Sudan. Apparently Egypt favoured Sudan, while Algeria favoured Tunisia. Earlier this week a draw at the FIFA HQ took place resulting in a Sudan venue.An eventual play-off will take place next Wednesday (the 18th). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fireball07 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 The nerves are kicking in bad now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Iceman of the North Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 The nerves are kicking in bad now.There's nothing to be nervous about. I'm sure you'll fail miserably (unless France does as well). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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