11/05/24
January 27, 2006
The qualifying draw for Euro 2008: was made earlier today in Montreaux.
England has been getting easy groups for years, what the hell is going on? This "group of death" thing is overrated. Two years from now on is a long time. Many solid European players will be out of the picture by then. I have a bold prediction, Spain and the Czech Republic in the finals.
posted by Mr C at 09:05 AM on January 27, 2006
Poland and Spain in the finals...
posted by StarFucker at 09:25 AM on January 27, 2006
Who knew there were 56 countries in Europe!?
posted by JJ at 09:36 AM on January 27, 2006
England - under Sven-Goran Eriksson's successor - will face Croatia, Russia, Israel, Estonia, Macedonia and Andorra in Group E. WTF? Is UEFA trying to make it easy for England's new manager?
posted by Texan_lost_in_NY at 09:49 AM on January 27, 2006
Spain in the finals? I wish! Unfortunately what will happen, as happens every two years (world cup, euro cup), is that they will get placed into an easy group (done) and then struggle against supposedly inferior teams to get into the knockout stage, depending on some other team to lose their last match by like 3 goals to do so. Once they get into the second round they will choke and get eliminated by the first quality side they play. LIKE THEY ALWAYS DO! To my never-ending chagrin.
posted by sic at 11:03 AM on January 27, 2006
a brand spanking new trophy will be on offer. It will look even better with Holland stamped on the back as champs.
posted by tselson at 12:44 PM on January 27, 2006
Who knew there were 56 countries in Europe There used to be 55. Kazakhstan left (or were pushed) out of Asia since the last Euro and WC qualifying. Obviously no-one in FIFA passed their high school geography. I'll go with Armenia and Georgia, for instance on cultural and political, as well as geographic grounds, but Azerbaijan? Israel?
posted by owlhouse at 02:47 PM on January 27, 2006
The thing with the group of death is that somebody's gotta come out of there so you can't realy say all of those teams got a tough draw cuz sum1's gonna win. Nice draw for England. Israel will beat them tho. No JK not really. I don't even know y they're in Europe anyway.
posted by autzenrocker123 at 05:47 PM on January 27, 2006
Israel will beat them tho. No JK not really. I don't even know y they're in Europe anyway Back in the 70s and 80s, Australia ended up in some great 'pariah' groupings for WC qualification, just to avoid political problems. We frequently played in groups consisting of Israel, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the old Rhodesia. I'm sure FIFA suits prayed at night for the dodgy ones to get beaten before the next round. And you cross the cultural boundary of Europe driving on the main road from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. /ducks for cover
posted by owlhouse at 09:43 PM on January 27, 2006
England has been getting easy groups for years, what the hell is going on? It's called seeding and is the result of years of achieving qualification for the vast majority of tournaments and performing well enough in all kinds of international games to keep the ranking high. Of course these kind of things tend to be self-perpetuating: When you've achieved a decent world/European ranking you necessarily end up facing weaker 2nd, 3rd, 4th seeds etc in any group you're drawn in and hence have more chance of progressing and maintaining your ranking. Long may it continue. I'd like to wish the other home nations luck in qualification, but it's looking kinda ominous for all of them.
posted by squealy at 07:10 AM on January 28, 2006
Israel's in Europe because the Arab nations won't be in the same confederation. Seriously, why anyone would think otherwise confuses me. There are a lot of younger European players who could make 2008/10/12 pretty darn interesting if they keep progressing. Rooney, Ronaldo, Fabregas, the young Spanish winger at Real Betis.
posted by billsaysthis at 03:32 PM on January 30, 2006
England, under a new manager have been given a fairly easy group, with only Russia and Croatia posing potential problems. Scotland, on the other hand, have found themselves in "the group of death" along with France, Italy and the Ukraine. In Group C you have the major grudge match between reigning champions Greece and their local rivals Turkey, while Group D pits neigbours Germany and the Czech Republic in with Ireland and Wales. Qualifying begins on September 2nd, while the tournament begins in Austria and Switzerland on June 7th 2008. For the first time since the inaugural tournament in 1960 a brand spanking new trophy will be on offer.