Euro 2008 (Football/Soccer)

Post by **Irish Alan** » October 18, 2007, 12:39 pm

The footie is creeping into the rugby thread so I decided to ahem, kick one off here. England beaten by Russia and a dodgy ref, Scotland beaten, Wales win and Ireland gain a fantastic draw against those giants of world football... Cyprus...

BBC wrote:The battle for qualification from Group E is now out of England's hands. If Russia beat Israel and Andorra then both they and Croatia will take the two places on offer for the Euro 2008 finals.

Luckily Ireland do not qualify meaning we do not have to suffer the inigmony of being beaten by the Greeks, the Poles, the Romanians or they will be out celebrating on the streets... in Dublin...

Post by **poolshark** » October 18, 2007, 2:49 pm

watched the irish game last night, pure rubbish.

staunton was a good player but is not a good manager.
i hope he will get the boot after the welsh match next month.

as for mcClaren. if england dont qualify he will be out too.

Post by **The Farmer** » October 18, 2007, 10:26 pm

Alan,that' why you stay in Thailand?

Same gelemany.--Russians,Tchechs,Slowakis,etc.
Gelmany 0:3
Times they ar'a changing
The Farmer

Post by **Zidane** » October 19, 2007, 12:57 pm

England need a big favour from Israel against Russia now,otherwise its curtains!
Typical Scotland.....beat France twice,then lose to Georgia ! Have to beat Italy now.
Ireland well,the glorious era of Mick McCarthy seems a long way away !
Wales,a crushing victory against the mighty San Marino.
But N.Ireland did OK drawing away in Sweden....too late for them to qualify.
At least the Premierships back......real football !!

Zidane

Post by **Irish Alan** » October 20, 2007, 1:23 pm

The Farmer wrote:Alan,that' why you stay in Thailand?

One of the many reasons Farmer.

poolshark wrote:watched the irish game last night, pure rubbish.
staunton was a good player but is not a good manager.
i hope he will get the boot after the welsh match next month.

He didn't have any real managerial/coaching credentials to begin with. Don't know if the FAI just haven't got the money to bring in a real coach or are just too tight-fisted to spend it. Maybe a part-time coach would be a better option than just hiring any half-decent ex-player that they want to promote to a coaching role. Or worse, a totally crap ex-player. Phil Babb? Ahhhhhhhhhh...

Post by **steadyjohn** » October 20, 2007, 4:05 pm

The cheaper the manager's salary........................the bigger the bonus they give themselves each year

Post by **Irish Alan** » October 22, 2007, 12:37 pm

Here's hoping!

Staunton exit likely on Tuesday

Steve Staunton faces losing his Republic of Ireland job on Tuesday when the Football Association of Ireland holds an emergency board meeting.

Staunton's reign suffered a new low on Wednesday when his side drew 1-1 against Cyprus at Croke Park.

After the Euro 2008 qualifier, FAI chief John Delaney refused to give public backing to the Republic manager.

The FAI is refusing to comment but BBC Sport understands the meeting is set to take place on Tuesday.

In an RTE interview on Thursday, Delaney was repeatedly asked to back Staunton but the FAI chief executive refused to do so.

"This is the third or fourth crisis around the management," he said.

"We had it after Cyprus, we had it after San Marino, we had it after Prague so people are getting conditioned to this form of crisis but I think that it's important board members get time to reflect on recent performances."

Staunton vowed to stay on in the post after Wednesday's game but time now appears to be running out for the Dundalk man.

Ireland are third in the Group D table but Germany and the Czech Republic have already qualified for the finals in Austria and Switzerland next summer.

Story from BBC SPORT:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/sport2 ... 055135.stm

Post by **steadyjohn** » October 22, 2007, 8:10 pm

=D>

Should have happened after we lost away to the mighty Cyprus

Post by **Irish Alan** » November 18, 2007, 2:01 pm

Didn't see the goal but McLeish thinks Scotland wuz robbed... Free should have gone the other way!

Meanwhile back at the ranch Israel beat Russia 2-1 (Hana Lagila) meaning England only need a draw against Croatia on Wednesday...!

Post by **beer monkey** » November 18, 2007, 3:01 pm

Nothing like Enger-land scraping through..... or have i spoke too soon.

Post by **Zidane** » November 19, 2007, 5:07 pm

England are sooo lucky to be given this lifeline !
Victory or even a draw against Croatia is by no means certain.....no Terry,Ferdinand,Rooney or Owen.
Likely to be Crouch and Defoe as the two strikers.I think a lot is going to depend on the likes of Gerrard and Joe Cole getting forward.
Very sad for the Scots as they deserved to qualify after beating France twice.

Come on England,no more excuses,game starts at 3am over here ??

Zidane

Post by **BobHelm** » November 19, 2007, 5:26 pm

Yes Zidane, 8 o'clock kick off in UK. Don't know what channel is showing it though...

Post by **beer monkey** » November 22, 2007, 7:49 am

beer monkey wrote:Nothing like Enger-land scraping through..... or have i spoke too soon.

Post by **BKKSTAN** » November 22, 2007, 9:03 am

Croatia 3-2 over England.Russia wins,so England is out of the World Cup for the first time since 1994.

Post by **BobHelm** » November 22, 2007, 10:18 am

BKKSTAN wrote:so England is out of the World Cup

Not quite that bad yet Stan, just the European Cup - give us chance to make a hash of the World Cup Qualification, I think the qualification groups are drawn this weekend.

A real disgrace that England failed to qualify for the Europeans from a very easy group - especially compared to say Scotland.
I guess the manager was unlucky with injuries but if you have any 11 footballers on the pitch they should at least give their best, something the England 11 have failed to do all qualification....

Post by **Galee** » November 22, 2007, 12:06 pm

A blessing in disguise if you ask me.
If we had qualified it would have been another 4 matches of frustration with England just going backwards under the management of Maclaren.
He is clearly out of his depth at International level.
Get rid of Maclaren and apoint Jose Mourinho.
P.S. I thought Gerrard was rubbish aslo.

Post by **Galee** » November 22, 2007, 12:25 pm

Have just read that Maclaren has been axed.

Should never have been appointed in the first place.

Post by **Irish Alan** » November 22, 2007, 1:04 pm

Galee wrote:Have just read that Maclaren has been axed.
Should never have been appointed in the first place.

Nothing on the BBC website about his dismissal Gal... Says the FA are meeting at 8.30am GMT... Glad I'm not a betting man I thought it was a certainty that they would get through, especially at Wembley.

I wonder if this is why Mourinho was in no hurry back into club management. Maybe he seen the writing on the wall and is holding out for the England job!!!

Post by **Nick@AUA** » November 22, 2007, 2:34 pm

Galee wrote:Have just read that Maclaren has been axed.
Should never have been appointed in the first place.

I hope this is true.

Where did you hear it btw?

Post by **Irish Alan** » November 22, 2007, 2:46 pm

Nick@AUA wrote:
Galee wrote:Have just read that Maclaren has been axed. Should never have been appointed in the first place.
I hope this is true. Where did you hear it btw?

It is on The Sun's website: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sp ... 492787.ece

The FA meeting isn't till 8.30am GMT so I suppose tune into BBC world or check the BBC football website after 4pm Thai time... I'm sure the meeting will be quick.

Motion 1: Sack McLaren, all in favour? Motion carried unanimously!
Motion 2: Ring Jose Mourinho.
Any other business: Call a press conference but don't tell them about Mourinho so the bookies can make some money with some gob5hites betting on Martin O'Neill, Luiz Felipe Scolari and Sam Allardyce.