Jump to content
talkfootball365
  • Welcome to talkfootball365!

    The better place to talk football.

World Cup 2018 Qualifiers - Play-offs


Recommended Posts

2 hours ago, Dan said:

I do have to say I have absolutely no idea how Italy can be pot 2 and Romania be pot 1. That's unfathomable.

But that isn't to say anyone, whether it's Italy, Spain, France, Argentina etc... should effectively be put into a situation where they can't not qualify.

It's all a bit too much like that nonsense I was reading last year from that American UEFA executive (?!?!?!) saying that Manchester United should be in the Champions League because of how big they are - if they can't come above us, Spurs, Arsenal etc... then that's their problem. No-one should have reserved spaces. I think once you start handing out guaranteed places to teams you're totally undermining the competition - killing off the others and making any achievement less impressive knowing that part of the way there, there was no way you could fail.

But like I said, Italy have a two legged play-off with Sweden. That's a good gauge to see if they're worthy of being in the World Cup. If they can't beat Sweden then they really can't be that big a loss.

I never said guarentee anyone anything mate...  I don't watch football so as it's the same as that WWE nonsense.  I don't like scripted sport!

I'm saying Italy should've been a seed as should've Spain for the World Cup qualification groups.  Look at the groups @Cannabis posted that were an utter joke.  I don't believe the draws and all of this haven't got exactly what I just started to post about in my response to you which is a SCRIPT!

What I'm saying is that there's a lot of bullshit going around and there's more to come.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 603
  • Created
  • Last Reply
On 11/11/2017 at 1:00 PM, Blue said:

I bet you if Bolivia haven't missed that sitter, you would have shown up and said "BoLiViA dReW PeRu LaUgHiNg EmOjI" or same with Ecuador, Argentina bla bla bla.

I think you'll find that you're the melt. Not me. 

Its simple, I undestimated New Zealand and I began to realize that we've not looked as good as we did in November-June. We've not been quite the same since. Still, we're the only side in South America to not lose a game in 2017. Such a fucking average side we are, finishing above Chile and shit. Nearly knocking out Argentina.

Good on you for avoiding my question too. You know you've not seen a second of us and that's why you don't rate us. Not heard any of our players so that automatically makes us shit. Fucking spastic.

Stop making shit up you cuntmuppet! Nearly knocked us out?, you're only in competition for a place in the WC because you were benefited by FIFA's decision to take points from Bolivia for their inclusion of a player that wasn't still validated. Not to mention you only didn't get battered when you came here because your keeper had the night of his life.

On 11/11/2017 at 1:12 PM, Blue said:

If you respected me more, I think you wouldn't do that.

Most people expected us to stroll past NZ. Its clear they have improved, but its still frustrating to have drawn them. They are still an inferior side to us. I just hope we click come wednesday. 

Is there even someone who does?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Teso dos Bichos said:

😂😂 Be nice hijo mio!!the only reason why FIFA made that decision is because Chile brought it to their attention! regardless of who wins out of NZ vs Peru, they will be lucky to score or even get a point out in the WC against the elite teams. 

I know hijo mio, but it's ultimately the reason for which they're still in competition, even if it was Chile's fault.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Berserker said:

I know hijo mio, but it's ultimately they reason for which they're still in competition, even if it was Chile's fault.

Dude... Chile got benefitted from it too, and there was a big difference.

We took advantage of the decision, they didn't. Simple as.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Subscriber

Ireland have got to be about the worst team to watch in the world. The absolute extreme version of awful but quite effective football. They're quite good defensively but my god they are dreadful on the ball.

128 passes last night. I'm not one to read too much into passing stats, but just let it sink in that that's 4 passes every 3 minutes. That's horrendous.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Dan said:

Ireland have got to be about the worst team to watch in the world. The absolute extreme version of awful but quite effective football. They're quite good defensively but my god they are dreadful on the ball.

128 passes last night. I'm not one to read too much into passing stats, but just let it sink in that that's 4 passes every 3 minutes. That's horrendous.

It saddens me because of how much he achieved at Celtic, but I absolutely fucking hate Martin O'Neill now. 

And it's annoying that a lot of British pundits defend him by drawing attention to the lack of technical ability in his team, because

1. They're not that bad. Clark, Arter, Long, Hendrick, Christie and Brady would all be quite comfortable playing normal football. 

2. O'Neill is obsessed with physique and picks lineups to be purposefully non-technical. Hence Ireland didn't play their only real playmaker when they supposedly wanted an away goal.

If you want realistic criticism of how O'Neill and the Irish FA generally approach football, a lot of the time you'll get it best from Irish fans themselves. 

Even if you look at Irish youth sides it's horrendous: I saw highlights of a Scotland-Ireland u16 match and the Irish boys all looked more like 20 than 15. Clearly picked just for being big and fast early-developers. They went on to win that tournament. 

I get that Irish people can't help but support their national team, but the ones who are seriously into football - and aren't just being patriotic, but otherwise care more about Rugby or GA - often can't stand the way things are. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Subscriber
11 minutes ago, Inverted said:

It saddens me because of how much he achieved at Celtic, but I absolutely fucking hate Martin O'Neill now. 

And it's annoying that a lot of British pundits defend him by drawing attention to the lack of technical ability in his team, because

1. They're not that bad. Clark, Arter, Long, Hendrick, Christie and Brady would all be quite comfortable playing normal football. 

2. O'Neill is obsessed with physique and picks lineups to be purposefully non-technical. Hence Ireland didn't play their only real playmaker when they supposedly wanted an away goal.

If you want realistic criticism of how O'Neill and the Irish FA generally approach football, a lot of the time you'll get it best from Irish fans themselves. 

Even if you look at Irish youth sides it's horrendous: I saw highlights of a Scotland-Ireland u16 match and the Irish boys all looked more like 20 than 15. Clearly picked just for being big and fast early-developers. They went on to win that tournament. 

I get that Irish people can't help but support their national team, but the ones who are seriously into football - and aren't just being patriotic, but otherwise care more about Rugby or GA - often can't stand the way things are. 

xD can definitely relate on the first point. Considered a legend here.

I have a bit of an eye on Ireland because my mate at work follows them home and away, he was there last night and it'll be interesting hearing what he thinks of it (although chances are I'll see him after the 2nd leg so it'll be forgotten) but I thought considering away goals counted they were awful last night. I say they were good defensively but Denmark really ought to stuck one of those chances away.

I think in truth all the home nations play pretty shocking football. Northern Ireland I can understand a little bit more, resources wise they're no more than a Latvia or a Cyprus so for them to get into Euro 2016, through their group and then 2nd in a qualifying group above Czech Republic is remarkable, but they're still pretty poor to watch. Wales aren't a good side to watch. Scotland aren't. England aren't.

But Ireland I think are probably the worst of the five. They're the Wimbledon of international football.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The main thrust of the media coverage in Ireland seems to be that the result is more in Ireland's hands, which I slightly disagree with. In 2-legged knockout football I've always felt that a 0-0 away is at best a neutral result, if not advantageous for the home team.

If anything the Danes can be more aggressive now which might suit their creative players better, rather than just controlling the match without taking any real risks.

Ireland will probably just stay the same and once again hope that the Danes aren't clinical. 

The Danish media as far as I've seen (Berlingske and Jyllands Posten) have been fuming over Ireland's style but overall aren't too fussed about the result. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm completely sick of going on Facebook or twitter and seeing critiques about the game vs New Zealand. It's embarrassing, completely that we drew with them. However we completely dominated the game and showed how superior we are overall. If we get knocked out on Wednesday, criticize then and only then.

knowing the people here, we will win and they will begin with mega hype. I've said it before, were a top side on form but we haven't seen that form since June. We've been OK at best since september.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Stan said:

so you're not on top form?

Nope. We haven't played well at all. Against Bolivia we got away with them missing a sitter last minute, we got lucky to put a decent performance against an Ecuador with horrendous end product, couldn't make it past the half way line against Argentina and couldn't break down Colombia. Same story against New Zealand. I miss it when teams couldn't handle our tiki taka play and we just battered our opposition in chances and actually out scored them. We were a joy to watch and it actually gave confidence. Now we are so frustrating to watch. If it wasn't for our great defense, I would be saying that we've been poor.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Administrator

apparently Switzerland have their celebratory t-shirts ready should they beat Northern Ireland tonight. I mean, they probably will qualify but how awkward if they don't :/ 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One thing that buggers me about the competition is: it's the called the World Cup. It should have teams from every continent. It's nonsense that the team qualifying in first place, from Oceania, should play the 5th of the Conmebol. They should have one spot, at least, secured at the main tournament, like every confederation have. Highly unfair for that confederation.

As for Italy, I think it would be a good thing for them, to miss the World Cup. They need a serious wake up call. They haven't had a top squad since 2008. The last two world cups results have been embarrassing, to say the least. They need to make changes, if they want to return to the top.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, ASF said:

One thing that buggers me about the competition is: it's the called the World Cup. It should have teams from every continent. It's nonsense that the team qualifying in first place, from Oceania, should play the 5th of the Conmebol. They should have one spot, at least, secured at the main tournament, like every confederation have. Highly unfair for that confederation.

As for Italy, I think it would be a good thing for them, to miss the World Cup. They need a serious wake up call. They haven't had a top squad since 2008. The last two world cups results have been embarrassing, to say the least. They need to make changes, if they want to return to the top.

Good to see someone else thinks like me. It's called the World Cup for a good reason. Every time I see someone say South America get 7 spots, I think why?

Sure we have about 8 teams who are in the 32 best in the world but that's not the only point of the tournament.

That said, I can understand OFC not getting a direct spot. It's a bit unfair but given the history in quality of the continent, it makes sense because most countries are small, and have a similar culture. If Australia was still in OFC, i think that should warrant a direct spot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Inverted said:

1. They're not that bad. Clark, Arter, Long, Hendrick, Christie and Brady would all be quite comfortable playing normal football. 

xD

Oh my days!

What's "normal football" when it's at home?

I get the UK fans gong for the home nations and all that, but supporting this riff-raff and this ridiculous excuse for football...  Let me rephrase...  Making excuses for this because it's a home nation and then calling yourself a football fan is a fucking joke!

Eire need to be eliminated and the moment they started to attempt to play that football they could've been expelled from the qualifiers so as to open the way for teams wanting to express themselves playing the sport for what it's there for which is football fans.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • The topic was unpinned

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.


Sign up or subscribe to remove this ad.


×
×
  • Create New...