Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Northern Ireland go top: Stan to get reprieve?
Yep, heard the cheering from down below, now it’s all quiet because it’s all over... (till the pubs get out)… They just expect Healy to score and he does... Meanwhile, with a 1-0 against Slovakia, maybe some of the blatantly pernicious salami slicing of Stan will stop…
Mick Fealty @ 09:51 PM
amazing stuff, well done all the team and laurie.
my stomach was doing summersaults from the moment we scored until the final whistle. starting to settle down a bit now :)Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 08:34 AM“my stomach was doing summersaults from the moment we scored until the final whistle. starting to settle down a bit now :) “
Mine too.
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 08:34 AMAs an ex-pat, the wee red button on my freeview box magically brought me to Windsor and boy was I delighted with the outcome...great to see the joyous sea of green and white plus cross-community commentary and punditry...the hardliners of both persuasions must really hate it...tee hee!!
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 08:56 AMi think we can nab 8 points
Lechenstein Home - at best 3 Points realistically 3 points
Denmark Home - at best 3 Points realistically 3 points
Iceland Away- at best 3 Points realistically 1 point
Sweden Away - at best 1 Point realistically 0 points
Spain Away- at best 1 Points realistically 0 points
Latvia Away - at best 3 Points realistically 1 point
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 09:42 AMFantastic - simply fantastic.
Every player in a green shirt last night gave it everything they had in the tank.
So proud of every one of them.
Good times never seemed so good.
Onwards and upwards.
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 09:53 AMWe are ranked 47 by fifa and Sweden is 15. Do we get points for this?
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 10:25 AMThe rankings are rubbish ignore them.
What really counts is the seedings.
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 10:28 AMExcept James that the seedings are often based on the rankings…
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 10:51 AMI know we have a Slugger Ă©migrĂ© in Riga… I take it your fellow countrymen are feeling pretty wab-like after losing to mighty Liechtenstein.
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 11:39 AMPS - Mr. “Altintop” who scored both Turkey’s goals against Norway last night has a surname that means “Golden Ball”.
I just thought you might want to know that.
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 11:40 AMI suggest to examine the rankings v seedings.
Only some corrolation between the two.
Seedings determine the group you go into for qualification draws etc..
The methods/calculations used for ranking positions are always being chopped & changed by FIFA, thus the big improvements in some countries positions last year.The rankings don’t take into account the standard of competition i.e Europe compared to Afica,Asia..etc Thus some poor teams in an inflated position in the rankings system.
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 11:43 AMI left Saturday’s match (can only get to away matches now;)) with a vague sense of disappointment about the performance; N.Ireland winning 4-1, going second in the group and I was feeling a bit deflated- how times have changed!!
Looking at the second half of the tournament, on paper, we’ve a hard job to qualify, but on paper we shouldn’t have beaten England, Spain, Latvia Sweden, drawn with Denmark- I’ll put nothing past this team in terms of what it can achieve and with young players like Kyle, Evans (and his bro is also a very good prospect) maturing all the time we’re looking at a brighter future than any of us could have imagined a couple of years ago.
Once again, very proud of my country.
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 11:48 AMwhere’s those journalists that harrassed Lawrie now???
EATING THEIR WORDS!!
Stephen Beacom is a disgrace and he should be ashamed. The begrudin comments in todays Telegraph are so hypocritical!! BASTARD
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 11:56 AMLads,
If we cant beat Iceland away there’s something wrong, we should beat Latvia away as well, they got beaten by Lechenstein for goodness sake, realistically Sweden & Spain would expect to beat us at home, although Spain had it tough against Iceland last night.
We’ll beat the Stein at Windsor, Denmark at home will be tough.
Its still there to play for although I wont be booking the trip to Austria/Switzerland yet.
I was in Portugal for the last Euro’s, I wasnt old enough to go to Spain or Mexico so it would be nice to attend a major international tournament with an local interest.
Here’s hoping!Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 11:59 AMI’m proud of both the team and the supporters today. In fact I’m just proud to be Northern Irish and in particular a Northern Ireland football fan. The whole of Europe is sitting up and taking notice of our wee team.
Nothing is impossible. With the hunger and desire these players are showing we can qualify. Latvia and Iceland are both in and around the start September which is our charmed time of the year. Liechtenstein should be 3 points and against Denmark who knows. Spain and Sweden away are obviously tough games but who would bet that we can’t hold them? We’ve been battling out 0-0s away against the odds even when were at our lowest ebb.
I BELIEVE!
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 12:30 PMi still feel sick after that.
everyone around me was in complete disbelief when the final whistle blew.
you could almost brush off the spain and england wins as flukes… but now to show the sort of consistency that has people talking about us actually qualifying...well its terrifying, to be honest.
we need to be realistic, denmark is going to be a hard match and playing sweden and spain away is going to be very tough for the team as well.
if you look at the fixtures we are only over half way there…
as i said, i feel a bit sick.
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 12:56 PM‘Ussuns’ - well done!
‘Themmuns’ - well done!
Indigenous congratulations.Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 01:20 PMI was down at Croker last night along with many thousands of fellow northerners and perhaps its worth pointing out that the Republic are also top of their group - level on points with Germany and the Czech Republic. Both Northern Ireland and the Republic are effectively in the same boat having played more games than their rivals but both still retaining an outside chance of qualification.
Both the Republic and Northern Ireland are currently quoted at the exact same price (14/1) by Skybet to win their respective groups.
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 01:53 PMmacswiney - the difference being that Northern Ireland are beating top quality opposition regularly now, whilst the Republic look awful against poor teams. I was at Windsor last night so didn’t see the game at Croker, but Saturday against Wales was simply horrible to watch.
Howvever I hope the Republic can improve. Who knows maybe a miracle could happen and Ireland North and South could both qualify...without England!
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 02:03 PMWhat is Healy doing at Leeds? I don’t understand why a Premiership team hasn’t come in for him yet.
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 02:17 PMDodrade - ‘What is Healy doing at Leeds? I don’t understand why a Premiership team hasn’t come in for him yet.’
Absolutely fuck all, that is why a premiership team has not come for him yet.
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 02:30 PMIts unfair to ask why Healy is not doing well at Leeds when one takes into account that they generally play him out of position and he is also frequently a sub.
I think the two pivotal games in this group are Latvia and Iceland away and I’m not convinced we’ll get maximum points.
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 02:42 PMToken,
If they both qualify I hope this does’nt happen;
As I wrote above I was at the last Euro’s in Portugal. On the opening night of the tournament 2 friends & I were walking into the Spain v Russia match in Faro, we all had green Norn Iron shirts on, in the distance I seen 3 white shirts coming, as they got closer I realised that they were Republic away shirts, and shouted “ alright lads what about ye” they, as a group, suddenly seemed to focus on their toes, walked on past, completely blanking us! They were about 5 feet away & wouldnt even acknowledge our existance, we just walked on & all I could think to say was “ its nice to be nice lads”.
Mind you if all we did was completely ignore each other it wouldnt be as bad as some things which could happen!Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 02:42 PMTangential I know but why do England managers always talk about character, guts and the camp? The latest imcumbent has even been rattling on about “lads growing up tonight”. It’s highly likely, isn’t it that that footballers who play for the likes of Ferguson, Mourinho, Wenger etc. are going to experience an epiphany on a camping holiday with the former boss of Middlesbrough?
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 02:45 PMToken Dissent,
The Republic played at least twice as well last night then they did on Saturday. Duff was simply scintillating and Staunton has at least succeeded in making the defence rock-solid after the debacle of last year. We have now won 4 games in a row in our group and 2nd place is there to be taken. The ageing Czech team are the target. Thery were hammered at home on Saturday by an under-strength Germany and last night they only narrowly defeated Cyprus 1-0 at home. (and were lucky to do so by all accounts).
As for Northern Ireland their achilles heel is their away form. They will have to win at least once in either Spain or Sweden to qualify and that may be a bridge too far. The other concern would be Healy. He is just one booking away from a suspension and he has scored 9 of their 10 goals in qualifying. If he gets injured or suspended then its hard to see anyone else who will score for them…
Posted by on Mar 29, 2007 @ 02:46 PM
