They've just done the European Qualifying draw for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa - and England have got Croatia again! Our group: Croatia England Ukraine Belarus Kazakhstan Andorra Only the Winner goes through, however 2nd place should be good enough for a play-off place.
Group 1 Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Albania, Malta Group 2 Greece, Israel, Switzerland, Moldova, Latvia, Luxembourg Group 3 Czech Republic, Poland, NORTHERN IRELAND, Slovakia, Slovenia, San Marino Group 4 Germany, Russia, Finland, WALES, Azerbaijan, Liechtenstein Group 5 Spain, Turkey, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Armenia, Estonia Group 6 Croatia, ENGLAND, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Andorra Group 7 France, Romania, Serbia, Lithuania, Austria, Faroe Islands Group 8 Italy, Bulgaria, Republic of Ireland, Cyprus, Georgia, Montenegro Group 9 Holland, SCOTLAND, Norway, FYR Macedonia, Iceland Two hard teams in our group, Ukraine and Croatia, hopefully the new manager will have the team fired up to get revenge on Croatia. Scots have a good group, only Holland look strong in that group, and the Scots should beat the others if they play like they did in the Euro qualifiers. Both Irish teams have good groups, and would expect Wales to at least win a few games. We might have a few Home Nations at the World Cup then
Group 5 Spain, Turkey, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Armenia, Estonia /me hopes we'll qualify (Turkey)
Yeah, on your current form you've got a good chance; the Dutch aren't the power they were. (Now watch them go and win Euro 2008!) Who do you support domestically in Scotland? You get 1000 Street Cred points if you DON'T say Celtic or Rangers!
England will get dumped out of the World Cup. No more easy rides thanks to ranking points! I really enjoyed the Croatia game until England equalised the score, then it was edge of the seat stuff until Croatia scored again.
Everybody says that "Wales have a hard group", but recent results against the sides within the group says otherwise:- Germany: Drew 0-0 away against them, lost 2-0 at home (2007) Russia: Drew 0-0 away against them, lost 1-0 at home, but they had an illegal player (2003) Finland: Beat 2-0 away, beat 1-0 home (2003) Azerbaijan: Beat 4-0 home and away (2005) Liechtenstien: Not sure, but we must beat them, even if we struggle against teams like San Marino So I'm quietly confident we can take 2nd place, then who knows, maybe get England in the playoffs
I do feel Scotland do stand a good chance! hehehe... hope they qualify. As for England, I rest my case. They have another 3 years to get things sorted out.
Actually one of the Asian groups looks quite good: North Korea AND South Korea! Two interesting matches coming up there!
lol well... I'm from a family who supports Rangers. Personally I don't really follow football much, only when it's the country team playing. My flatmate supports Aberdeen, I watch some of the matches with him, they have been doing better than usual over the past season I have to say.
Honestly, I was shocked to see us in the same group as England (watched the draw live on our national TV). It will be very difficult to pass through this group and I am sure it is the toughest one. Ukraine also didn't manage to get through Euro qualifications and it will be really hard to play against them both for us and England. We've once thrown out Ukraine (I remember Boksic scoring in Ukraine) and England and both will be extra motivated... I am very afraid of these games... Noone mentioning Belarus? IMO, they are better than Macedonia and Macedonia was the team who took points from Webmbley, and the only team to beat us...
Turkey should be second here (Belgium is the only problem, I don't think that Bosnia will take any points from you if you needed it ). Also I remember Bosnia playing very well against Spain so I think that Turkey also has good chances to be even first here...
Group 9 Holland, SCOTLAND, Norway, FYR Macedonia, Iceland I was born in Macedonia so hell I'm cheering for them.Don't underestimate them. Btw why do people call it FYR(Former Yugoslavian Republic) Macedonia and not just Macedonia? -.-
Well doh ! They do it because that is how it is officially called. And it is officialy called this way because greeks insist on this so that there is no confusion and mix up with greek macedonia. People around the world provably don't even know what is all about and since they only saw FYRM they call it that way.....