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| Euro 2008 Qualifying | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 22 2007, 08:27 AM (1,996 Views) | |
| Yogi | Oct 10 2007, 06:56 PM Post #91 |
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Some coaches help their team achieve success, others have their teams win in spite of the coach's contributions. I think Domenech is one of the latter. I'd add Spain's Luis Aragones into this category too. Their national teams have enough talent that they can win in spite of their coach's sometimes bizarre ways of handling things. Word was during World Cup 2006 many of France's major tactical decisions weren't made so much by Domenech but rather by a cabal of leading players: Zidane, Henry, Thuram, Gallas, etc. But Domenech still selects the players and his leaving out Trezeguet is just foolish, specially in playing small teams this week who will primarily be sitting back and defending thereby denying the space players like Henry and Anelka need but which a natural poacher like Trezeguet can thrive upon. |
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| Merengue | Oct 11 2007, 11:37 AM Post #92 |
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We've gotten spoiled by Simon's comprehensive previews before these European qualifying matches! Here though is a far less detailed review from Reuters of the qualifying situation: Weekend Preview of Euro 2008 Qualifying Denmark hosting Spain, Ireland-Germany and Romania-Netherlands look like the three best matches of the weekend as they are the games between direct rivals for one of the qualifying spots. Scotland-Ukraine may be added to the list too but Ukraine's qualifying hopes are hanging by a thread now. |
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| Manzanares | Oct 13 2007, 08:07 AM Post #93 |
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How about Scotland? A big win for them today 3-1 at home over Ukraine. They keep up the pressure on France and Italy with that victory. Their style of play is difficult to play against but beating World Cup quarterfinalists Ukraine is a very good accomplishment. |
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| Merengue | Oct 13 2007, 03:13 PM Post #94 |
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Saturday's results: Slovakia 7-0 San Marino England 3-0 Estonia Scotland 3-1 Ukraine Faroe Islands 0-6 France Hungary 2-0 Malta Denmark 1-3 Spain Armenia 0-0 Serbia Croatia 1-0 Israel Romania 1-0 Netherlands Slovenia 0-0 Albania Poland 3-1 Kazakhstan Belgium 0-0 Finland Italy 2-0 Georgia Moldova 1-1 Turkey Azerbaijan 0-2 Portugal Greece 3-2 Bosnia Iceland 2-4 Latvia Belarus 0-1 Luxembourg Liechtenstein 0-3 Sweden Cyprus 3-1 Wales Ireland 0-0 Germany As Manzanares said Scotland got themselves a vital win, knocked Ukraine out of the running and put the pressure on both Italy and France who both won easily. Thierry Henry got one of France's goals in their easy win and tied Michel Platini as France's all time scoring leader. Young forward Karim Benzema scored 2 goals as France didn't miss Trezeguet against the part timers from Faroes Islands. Croatia are almost in now after their narrow win over Israel, another goal by their naturalized Brasilian Eduardo. England's comfortable win over Estonia helps them before next Wednesday's big matchup in Moscow which will determine which nation advances with Croatia to the finals. Germany played a scorelesss tie at Ireland but it was enough for them to officially become the first team to qualify. Greece are almost in now after their win over Bosnia but Turkey's tie at Moldova complicates things for them a bit. I talk more about Spain's win in the Spain forum but Spain finally put their skilled central midfielders on the field together and combined with inspired play from Raul Tamudo again beat Denmark and once more eliminated the Danes from an international tournament. Sweden with a 3-0 win today have a game in hand on Spain and play Northern Ireland this week, a tie there and they and Spain both qualify. Poland came from behind against Kazakhstan to win 3-1 with all 3 goals from Ebi Smolarek. Portugal won 2-0 at Azerbaijan while Serbia played a scoreless tie at Armenia and Finland did the same against Belgium. These results clear the way for Poland and greatly help Portugal to join them in making it to next year's finals. Romania got a late goal to beat Holland 1-0 a win which puts them in the driver's seat in that group but still means the Dutch are likely to join them. It's good to see Romania coming back now after their dip in play following the retirement of the "Hagi generation" of players- Hagi, Dumitrescu, Belodedici, Petrescu, etc. |
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| TCK | Oct 14 2007, 10:13 AM Post #95 |
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I reckon the 20 Minute power shortage during Poland vs Kazakhstan helped Poland power back from being 1-0 down. Poor old San Marino...they just can't get a break, neither can Faroe Islands. Talking of San Marino, they gave us quite a fright in the 1994 World Cup Qualifiers. Nice to see Romania back to their best as you said, I loved it when the players of the 1998 World Cup Team dyed their hair yellow. I think Mark Poom was unlucky to concede Estonias goals, and that he played well to save a few of our chances. |
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| Manzanares | Oct 14 2007, 04:52 PM Post #96 |
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I didn't see England's game but saw the goals, one goes through the keepers legs, another was a deflection and the third an own goal. Bad luck for Estonia or just evidence of England pushing the game and inevitably getting chances to score? |
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| enganche | Oct 14 2007, 07:48 PM Post #97 |
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Good win for Romania over Holland but I read it was the Dutch who had more of the play but couldn't score. Romania's defender Gania is becoming a specialist in scoring for both club and country now. I am not sure if this a return to the glory of the Gheorghe Hagi led teams but with Chivu and Mutu there are two very good players there. No surprise Germany are the first team to officially qualify. They've been the most impressive team on the continent since the World Cup ended. |
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| Pepe | Oct 15 2007, 06:43 AM Post #98 |
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No real surprises over the weekend except perhaps Serbia's tie in Armenia which seriously puts in doubt their classification for Euro 2008. Romania's home win over Holland isn't that much of a shock to em as Romania ahve,a s discussed here, improved in the past few years and Holland remains an enigmatic team. You never know which team will show up for them. Portugal's win was important to get them back on track and combined with Serbia's tie and Finland's draw Portugal are setting themselves up well to qualify. Not surprising as despite a few draws recently, Portugal remain one of Europe's top teams. And without much discussion about them, defending chamions Greece are moving closer to qualifying too. |
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| Simon | Oct 15 2007, 01:56 PM Post #99 |
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Bit more of the latter really. Estonia were pretty poor and in all honesty England won without breaking sweat. As you say, the manner of the goals was unfortunate for Estonia, but really it was a question of how the goals would come rather than if. The second half was really anti-climactic as the game was already won, though it'll obviously be a very different story on Wednesday. Saturday was a great day for sport though, due to England's magnificent victory over France in Paris in the Rugby World Cup semi-final. So unusually it is Rugby dominating the sporting agenda here even when there's a vital football match this week. After the near-calamity of the group phase, this renaissance of the Rugby side must be one of the most amazing comebacks in modern sport, and yet there are parallels with the football in that there is still one big test to overcome after all the hard work. The Rugby team still have to play South Africa in Saturday's final. Meanwhile the footballers have won their last 5 qualifiers all by 3-0, so the very fact that we're still sweating on qualification just goes to show the damage done by the early dropped points. And yet we've still only conceded 2 goals in the whole of qualifying, giving us Europe's best defensive record. That should help us in Moscow where a point will qualify us. Nice summary from everyone of the qualification standings, thanks. From a neutral perspective, I would say the Scotland-Italy-France battle remains the most fascinating. It would be nice to see the Scots qualify, even if I know they'll all be big Russia fans on Wednesday and big South Africa fans on Saturday! |
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| Merengue | Oct 15 2007, 11:03 PM Post #100 |
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Here is Reuters' preview of the midweek qualifying matches in Europe: Midweek Euro 2008 Qualifying Matches With the right set of results, Greece, Croatia, England, Sweden, Czech Republic and Romania can all assure their qualification on Wednesday. A couple of games really gab your attention. England's trip to Russia is practically a playoff final. If England win I believe they'll qualify but a Russia win clears the way, but won't assure, their own ticket to Euro 2008. England is coming off a 3-0 win over Russia last month but from everything said here the game was a lot closer than that final score would indicate. Turkey vs Greece is a match with a lot of bad blood but Greece, with a win in Istanbul, could clinch their classification and serious compromise the Turks. A Turkish win though gives them a good advantage over 3rd place Norway. For Greece, the question is when, not if, they'll make it. Czech Republic travel to Germany needing a win to classify and maybe the Germans will take it easy considering they've already made it through. Nah, I don't see Germany letting up especially against the Czechs. Still it is just a question of time for when the Czechs will join Germany in Austria & Switzerland next summer. Sweden can make it by beating Northern Ireland and do Spain a big favor too but that group, which was so close for so long, is almost defined now with Sweden and Spain going through. Then that leaves the best group for last. France host Lithuania and should win to put the pressure on Scotland and idle Italy. Scotland, as discussed here, have a potentially tricky game at Georgia which they must win in order to maintain the group lead. Should be an interesting day of games. |
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| Manzanares | Oct 16 2007, 10:40 AM Post #101 |
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Finland's draw last weekend puts them in a tough situation as Portugal won and now they are tied on points for 2nd place behind Poland but Portugal have played one less match than Finland which they'll make up tomorrow playing at Kazakhstan. A Portuguese win there and they'll be three points up on Finland which likely will require Finland to beat Portugal in Portugal next month if they are to qualify. And Serbia are really in a tough spot now after their tie on Saturday. No tears from me for Javier Clemente's team! Russia-England does look like a fascinating game. Even with Terry and Ashley Cole out of the game, England know how to defend and it won't be easy for Russia who are obligated to win. I think England has the team to get a draw in that game or even sneak a win with a counter attack. |
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| valenciano | Oct 16 2007, 03:22 PM Post #102 |
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Come on Sweden! Yes I'm going to be a Sweden fan this week. A victory for them all but ensures Spain will be joining them in Euro 2008. I agree with manzanares that Portugal benefited from the weekend results and they now look in good position in their group and a win tomorrow in Kazakhstan will be a huge step towards the finals. I'm just surprised that Poland haven't yet automatically clinched their spot since they've been leading this group from practically the beginning. Maybe with the Czech Republic aging and Ukraine not qualifying, Poland is ready to take over as eastern Europe's top team? |
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| Manzanares | Oct 17 2007, 09:44 AM Post #103 |
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Portugal did their job with a 2-1 win in Kazakhstan which eases their qualifying hopes so long as they don't lose at home to Finland. Serbia are winning big in Azerbaijan now but that likely won't matter now. And Russia came from behind to beat England 2-1 in Moscow. A win which means England will need help to qualify, namely that Israel beat Russia next month in Tel Aviv and Engalnd must then defeat Croatia. |
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| TCK | Oct 17 2007, 09:47 AM Post #104 |
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Liverpool FC till I die
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I am absolutely depressed now... hostile atmosphere in Moscow as ever and a hostile result. I'm glad I wasn't born when we failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup. I can't quite see the whole of England cheering on Scotland...please no.... |
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| Simon | Oct 17 2007, 10:44 AM Post #105 |
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What a sting for England in Moscow. It really looks like we won't be at Euro 2008 now. It's hard to get your head around it, as this is a set of players that is surely too good to be sitting at home next summer. When the dust settles, we really need to think into why this has happened. It's not really anything that has happened today either. Rooney scored a great goal and although the game was nervy we had some good chances to put the game beyond the Russians, most notably Gerrard's golden opportunity at the back post which he scuffed wide with the goal at his mercy. None too happy with the penalty decision which broke the game open, the offence (such as it was) was very clearly outside the box. But there it is, I think you can budget for a 2-1 loss in Moscow. It's the earlier results that gave us no margin for error. You could say we were quite unfortunate to have two other strong and consistent teams in with us. I look at Portugal, for example, who have been pretty dreadful and have failed to win 6 of their qualifiers and yet will surely make it out of their group. But that's the luck of the draw. Our three big away qualifiers were Croatia, Russia and Israel and we didn't win any of them. Ultimately that has cost us dearly. |
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