Official Football Thread

If they should not have awarded the win, then what should they have got? A loss? A draw? A rematch? In any case, I don't think a loss (o points) would have been appropriate. Thus, any (chance for) points is more logical and more reasonable, thus they deserved this qualification.
 
Night Prowler said:
A rematch.
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Exactly. Preferably on neutral ground or at least behind closed doors.

And it's not as if the Albianian players were completely innocent in this entire affair. The Serbian player who pulled down that flag was attacked by several Albanian players (not that this justified what happened afterwards, but there weren't really any good guys there).
 
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Greece manages to beat Hungary to grab their only victory in the qualifications; they still finished last because Faroe Islands won 2 games :lol:
 
Just a flat out garbage performance by them. And they had lucked out on the draw, too, they drew Romania from the 2nd pot and Hungary from the 3rd pot. Some 3rd and 4th placed teams in other groups (Turkey, Netherlands, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Ukraine, Ireland, Sweden, Croatia) could top it.
 
Absolutely horrendous campaign. The entire squad should be forced to retire from international football after that shower of shite :D

So far, we have Denmark (group I) and Hungary (group F) confirmed as group no 3s. In the other groups, who will finish 3rd and who will go directly to the Euros?

Group A: Turkey only need a draw against Iceland to secure 3rd. Only a failure of epic proportions will give Netherlands the chance to seize 3rd.

Group B: Very open. Bosnia, Israel and Cyprus (!) can all catch 3rd. Israel have a tough game away to Belgium. Cyprus play at home to Bosnia. My bet is Israel to lose, Cyprus and Bosnia to draw, Bosnia to finish 3rd.

Group C: Slovakia will beat Luxembourg, bar a massive cock-up. Thus Ukraine will most likely finish 3rd.

Group D: With Poland beating Ireland, it doesn't matter what happens in Germany vs Georgia. Ireland will be 3rd.

Group E: With Slovenia facing San Marino in the last round, I think Slovenia to finish 3rd is the safest remaining bet in the qualifiers :D

Group G: Russia play at home to Montenegro and also have Sweden beaten on head to head. Thus they must lose and Sweden must win in order for Sweden to overtake them. Not happening, Sweden will be 3rd.

Group H: Norway go to Rome, Croatia go to Valletta. I dare to say one away ground here is a tiny bit tougher than the other. I don't expect us to be the first team in 16 years to beat Italy in Rome, and I definitely not expect Malta to take points from Croatia. We will be 3rd.

So, as it stands and with no big surprises on the last two match-days of this qualifying campaign, the group no 3s will be Turkey, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Ukraine, Ireland, Slovenia, Hungary, Sweden, Norway, Denmark.

Out of all these I'd prefer Norway to face Ireland. Cheerful fans who will make for a loud, but friendly atmosphere, and a decent chance of winning. But I don't see it happening, think both Norway and Ireland will be in the bottom half of the seeding for the play-off.
 
Slovenia and Hungary look like the best available opponents for Turkey. Bosnia & Herzegovina and Ukraine are the sides that I'd rather avoid. Maybe Ireland too, their style of play might be troubling for Turkey even though they're no match on paper.
 
Dr. Eddies Wingman said:
No, but winning a game might improve the rating (UEFA national team coefficient), which in turn might influence on seedings in the playoffs (or the tournament itself). But that's minor motivation compared to that of playing for a direct qualification.
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Then I still have other additional hopes (where life is, there's hope):
Several Iceland internationals have something with the Netherlands. Some of them have played in the Dutch league. How strange is it these days to win a group, and wanting to help friends from another country?

This is interesting as well:

24-9-1980 WK-kwalificatie Turkije-IJsland 1-3
9-9-1981 WK-kwalificatie IJsland-Turkije 2-0
12-10-1988 WK-kwalificatie Turkije-IJsland 1-1
20-9-1989 WK-kwalificatie IJsland-Turkije 2-1
17-7-1991 Vriendschappelijk IJsland-Turkije 5-1
12-10-1994 EK-kwalificatie Turkije-IJsland 5-0
11-10-1995 EK-kwalificatie IJsland-Turkije 0-0
9-9-2014 EK-kwalificatie IJsland-Turkije 3-0

Turkey lost five out of eight times and only won once! But then again, just a draw is enough (still a relatively rare event, I don't think Flash was born when that last happened).
 
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My point is, players need something to motivate them in order to do their absolute best. Iceland must play at their best level to stand a chance in Turkey. Right now, Turkey have a lot to play for and Iceland only have a hypothetical advantage to play for. A possible improvement of a rating that may or may not influence on the Euro draws? Try using that in the dressing room at half time when you're 1-0 down. For Iceland, qualifying for the Euros is big. Of course, these two last games are an anticlimax, as we saw with the draw against Latvia.

But as you say, where there's life, there's hope.
 
Damn that's low if you have to pay Armenia out of all teams to lose on purpose against you in your crucial match. They're an awful team save for Mkhitaryan.
 
Well, if it's true Denmark might go through. We needed Armenia to at least draw against Albania to qualify directly.

We don't deserve it though since we've been horrible - and it would be a lousy way to qualify anyways :p
 
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