Euro Qualifiers - Matchday 7 & 8

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Hernandez - BFA said:
Bale is 9th in the World Fifa Rankings :lol:

Quiet game from him on the whole today, but came up trumps when we needed him once again. Fantastic header. Defence is a rock. 2 goals conceded in the whole campaign. Williams is fantastic for us, Hennessey is unbelievably calm as well. Just collects crosses from the air with ease.

One more win.
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Roll on sunday, I foresee work with a massive hangover on Monday :lol: :lol:
 
What I find interesting about these qualifiers is that they show how much smaller teams have improved compared to 10-15 years ago. The likes of Albania, Iceland, Northern Ireland and Wales are all within a good chance of making it into competitions and there are no easy games for anyone. Even the likes of Malta, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are causing trouble to the usual big guns.
 
Sarni said:
What I find interesting about these qualifiers is that they show how much smaller teams have improved compared to 10-15 years ago. The likes of Albania, Iceland, Northern Ireland and Wales are all within a good chance of making it into competitions and there are no easy games for anyone. Even the likes of Malta, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are causing trouble to the usual big guns.
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I've been surprised with Kazakhstan. Looking at the table they don't look like much but they lead for a long time against Netherlands and the Czechs, just couldn't hold on. Barely lost to Turkey at home close to the end. It's a step up for them. Hard to keep a lead or a clean sheet when the opposition of Turkey, Netherlands and Czech Republic are going for it.

It's weird though, Iceland should really have an even better lead. Czech's got a victory against Netherlands in the 91st minute and a draw against Latvia in the the 90th. Beat us at home with a lucky own goal. Netherlands beat Kazakhstan at home in the final minutes and got a draw against Turkey in the 92nd. Turkey seem to have a problem scoring. A bit like Portugal but without a Ronaldo.
 
Snow said:
I've been surprised with Kazakhstan. Looking at the table they don't look like much but they lead for a long time against Netherlands and the Czechs, just couldn't hold on. Barely lost to Turkey at home close to the end. It's a step up for them. Hard to keep a lead or a clean sheet when the opposition of Turkey, Netherlands and Czech Republic are going for it.

It's weird though, Iceland should really have an even better lead. Czech's got a victory against Netherlands in the 91st minute and a draw against Latvia in the the 90th. Beat us at home with a lucky own goal. Netherlands beat Kazakhstan at home in the final minutes and got a draw against Turkey in the 92nd. Turkey seem to have a problem scoring. A bit like Portugal but without a Ronaldo.
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They are definitely progressing. Their team has made it into the CL group stage and their teams were usually no pushovers in Europa either. Another interesting fact is that Azerbaijan, Albania and Kazakhstan still have teams left in Europe, actually Azerbaijan have two, when it would have been unthinkable even 6-8 years ago when they'd have lost all their games by 5-0s scorelines. Football in Europe is getting really even.

You've all but made it into Euro 2016 though. Only need to beat Kazakhstan at home and you're through.
 
Norweigan coach said Croatia can throw points anywhere.
Well lads if you had no motivation (but you should have had) he certainly motivated you now for Sunday.
 
Mali_Zeus said:
So @Samid, big game on Sunday. :)
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I'll be there. We have our fate in our own hands after results yesterday, win all three games and qualify for the Euros. Unfortunately we don't have the firepower in attack to beat both you guys and Italy. Our best available CF is the top scorer in the league with 20 goals in 22 games but for the national team he has played 21 games and never scored. Our only threat is set pieces and hoping one of the CB's get at the end of the cross. Also our best player Stefan Johansen was a doubt for yesterday but played and was subbed off with a knock.

You shouldn't worry about qualification. Assuming you beat Bulgaria and Malta then we would have to win all our three games to overtake you. I think we will grab 3-4 points, win against Malta and maybe draw one of the other if we are on top of our game.

Mali_Zeus said:
Norweigan coach said Croatia can throw points anywhere.
Well lads if you had no motivation (but you should have had) he certainly motivated you now for Sunday.
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The guy should look at his own team and his crap record for the national team. Had he been at any other top 70 ranked side with his set of results he would've been sacked ages ago.
 
Samid said:
I'll be there. We have our fate in our own hands after results yesterday, win all three games and qualify for the Euros. Unfortunately we don't have the firepower in attack to beat both you guys and Italy. Our best available CF is the top scorer in the league with 20 goals in 22 games but for the national team he has played 21 games and never scored. Our only threat is set pieces and hoping one of the CB's get at the end of the cross. Also our best player Stefan Johansen was a doubt for yesterday but played and was subbed off with a knock.

You shouldn't worry about qualification. Assuming you beat Bulgaria and Malta then we would have to win all our three games to overtake you. I think we will grab 3-4 points, win against Malta and maybe draw one of the other if we are on top of our game.



The guy should look at his own team and his crap record for the national team. Had he been at any other top 70 ranked side with his set of results he would've been sacked ages ago.
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Well you are 2 points behind but effectively one point cause Uefa still hasn't deducted that one point we got as a punishment for swastika. So if we loose on Sunday it could be a squeaky bum time. I think we will do better than yesterday cause Norway will attack and open up space, not play bunker like Azers. Our defense has looked solid at least but Ćorluka is passed it a bit and Vida can make a mistake or 2. Also our coach is having some silly ideas with the formation and the team. Finally we have a good winger together with Perišić, young Pjaca, but Kovač didn't play 4-2-3-1 but some kind of 4-4-2 romb with Modrić on the right and Perišić on the left side of midfield and Pjaca in attack. All in all it was a mess.

Your last game is vs Italy and as you said even if we loose we still have a good chance of qualifying.
Sad thing is, it's all a bit of mess in and around the team. There's talk Kovač will get the sack if we loose in Oslo which is madness.
Nevetheless some of his decisions are strange to say the least and he's a bit arrogant.
 
Scotland should win this about 4-0.
 
AltiUn said:
Scotland should win this about 4-0.
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If we win it, I think we'll only win 1-0 or 2-0. Struggle to see us running away with it.

Not been too bad a start from us so far, though. We're playing fairly well in possession and look like the more likely of the two sides to get a goal. Need more end product though, or they could snatch a goal and surprise us.
 
Embarrassing. Awful selection and absolutely no way I can see us scoring 2. No creativity in the team.
 
Mali_Zeus said:
Well you are 2 points behind but effectively one point cause Uefa still hasn't deducted that one point we got as a punishment for swastika. So if we loose on Sunday it could be a squeaky bum time. I think we will do better than yesterday cause Norway will attack and open up space, not play bunker like Azers. Our defense has looked solid at least but Ćorluka is passed it a bit and Vida can make a mistake or 2. Also our coach is having some silly ideas with the formation and the team. Finally we have a good winger together with Perišić, young Pjaca, but Kovač didn't play 4-2-3-1 but some kind of 4-4-2 romb with Modrić on the right and Perišić on the left side of midfield and Pjaca in attack. All in all it was a mess.

Your last game is vs Italy and as you said even if we loose we still have a good chance of qualifying.
Sad thing is, it's all a bit of mess in and around the team. There's talk Kovač will get the sack if we loose in Oslo which is madness.
Nevetheless some of his decisions are strange to say the least and he's a bit arrogant.
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I'm not so sure about that. We had a defensive approach yesterday playing with hard-working wide players and resting Ødegaard. Think we'll do something similar on Sunday especially with the 5-1 loss in mind. That game ended up being a massacre because of the naivety of the coach, he really thought our rookies could compete with your world class players in the midfield. Sit back, play the long ball and focus on set pieces should be the aim for this game, that's about the only way we can get a result on Sunday.

So Kovac is under the cosh purely because of his decision making? Doesn't make sense to sack him a couple of games before the end, why risk those games with a fresh face and new tactics. I guess people wanted him gone after the disappointment in Brazil?
 
The trio behind the striker are normally our better players but they're off the pace so far today. Them and Robertson have been too hesitant.
 
Hector, Rudy, Bellarabi. What is this? 2004. :(
 
Scenes when Scotland are the only home nation not to qualify for the Euro's. Although having said that, rather Scotland than Republic of Ireland.
 
Balu said:
Is the official line-up already out? Not surprised if Bellarabi starts instead of Reus. Hector and Rudy though?
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No Rudy, Can...

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Balu said:
Is the official line-up already out? Not surprised if Bellarabi starts instead of Reus. Hector and Rudy though?
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Wow, I never realised Emre Can was German, assumed he was Tukish

How many caps does he have?
 
Randall Flagg said:
How many caps does he have?
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0

It's his debut today.

He's German and of Turkish descent. 3rd generation Turkish immigrant like Özil, Gündogan, Sahin, Calhanoglu, Toprak, etc. who were all born, grew up, and learned to play football in Germany. Some choose to play for Germany, some for Turkey.
 
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Can in German main national team? He was pretty underwhelming in the U21 euros. Surely there´s better than him?
 
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