Official Football Thread

RTC said:
Estonia and Moldova aren't exactly Belgium or Italy, so it's not that huge a surprise that they won.
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Oh but it is. This is San Marino's third draw in their entire history. They won 1 game, drew 3 and lost 119. And Liechtenstein is the only side ever to lose to San Marino.
 
Again though, it's Estonia. The draw against Turkey in 1994 was impressive, and the draw against Latvia was bigger also.

Iceland beating Holland however is a massive surprise.
 
I really don't understand the underestimation, RTC. San Marino has a team full of amateurs who have regular jobs when national team fixtures aren't around. Estonia has a team full of professionals. And they aren't exactly chopped liver, they're ranked 88th in FIFA World Rankings. Definitely not that bad of a team. They almost beat Netherlands in the last qualifiers. (Dutchmen landed a draw with a 90+4' goal) And they made the Playoff stage in Euro 2012 qualifiers.

RTC said:
Iceland beating Holland however is a massive surprise.
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Not if you consider the fact that Iceland were fantastic in the World Cup 2014 qualifiers and beat Turkey 3-0 before they faced Netherlands.
 
Today Norway face Azerbaijian, who started with narrow defeats against Bulgaria and Italia before collapsing against Croatia. Hope it's the latter version we face today, not the former, because our attacking against Estonia in the mid-week friendly was lacklustre.

I also don't get how someone can see San Marino's draw against Estonia as not sensational. San Marino belong to those teams who are expected to lose big to everyone. Estonia belong to that group of teams who can, with some luck, qualify for the new 24-team Euros.

I see San Marino's draw against Turkey in 93 is mentioned, but remember that Turkey were shit during that campaign. They won only 3 out of 10 games, the last one against Norway after Norway had already qualified.
 
The Flash said:
I really don't understand the underestimation, RTC. San Marino has a team full of amateurs who have regular jobs when national team fixtures aren't around. Estonia has a team full of professionals. And they aren't exactly chopped liver, they're ranked 88th in FIFA World Rankings. Definitely not that bad of a team. They almost beat Netherlands in the last qualifiers. (Dutchmen landed a draw with a 90+4' goal) And they made the Playoff stage in Euro 2012 qualifiers.
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Iryo.

Not if you consider the fact that Iceland were fantastic in the World Cup 2014 qualifiers and beat Turkey 3-0 before they faced Netherlands.
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Holland are the third best team in the world though.
 
It is often difficult playing countries that are only defending like handball teams. It could become a thriller if a first goal would arrive late, or worse: if the Latvians score early from a free kick or corner or something.

Too many blunders have already been made in the Dutch defense but also big chances were missed (e.g. vs Mexico last Wednesday). It's hard to blame all that on the coach, but I guess it would indeed be smart for him (and the team) to leave if it -again- will go wrong today.
 
If we can nab a draw today, I'd be over the moon. Belgium are the only severe threat in the group at the moment, with Bosnia being highly overrated. Israel could be a pest though.
 
NEDERLAND: Cillessen,v.d.Wiel,Bruma,
De Vrij,Willems,Afellay,Blind,Sneijder,
Robben,Huntelaar,v.Persie

Good attacking and midfield, on paper that is. Not a good looking defense.
 
A short trip down memory lane:

Ole Gunnar Solskjær's greatest goal for Norway was against tonight's opponents Azerbaijan. The year was 1996, the game was a qualifier for the 1998 World Cup. Enjoy:

 
Azerbaijan 0 Norway 1.

You don't get points for style in football, and after this encounter we should be happy about that. After taking the lead after 25 min, we didn't seem interested in pursuing more goals. We just seemed to be happy with preventing Azerbaijan from scoring. We achieved that, but I sit here with the feeling that this was a missed opportunity to win big. Azerbaijan weren't that good.

@Forostar - happy? Silly question, I know :D
 
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