Euro 2008 qualifiers official thread

[Scrambler]

Well, we're on our way to the second largest tournament in the World. The qualifiers are always entertaining. Couple major upsets today. England only manages to draw with Macedonia, Scotland beats France, and my Swedes win their third in a row upsetting Spain 2-0! Anyone else following?

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/section?id=euro2008&cc=5901

[KTown]

Go Czechs, easy game expected result 7-0 over San Marino.

[troutman]

Cyprus beat my Irish 5-2! WTF?

We need a drink.

Watched Scotland vs. France on Saturday. Scotland had no business winning that game 1-0. France had all of the possession and all of the chances. Football is the cruelest sport this way; you can totally dominate the game and still lose. The way Scotland was playing, I didn't think they could beat Quebec, let alone France.

[Winsor_Pilates]

England loses 2-0 to Croatia. the second goal is a must see. Robinson will hear about it for a long time. Just ugly.

The saddest part is, that he made so many good saves before it, and was keeping England in the match.

Bad result for England, but they're still tied for the top of their group.

[troutman]

The pools are set-up so that there is virtually no chance the old elites won't qualify.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/tables?league=uefa.euroq&cc=5901

[KevanGuy]

Man that was an ugly game. I feel bad for Robinson. We all know to stop the ball first but that bump in the pitch couldnt have been in a worse place. Unreal really. I think even if he'd tried to stop it it still would have got past him.

As for the 3-5-2...well, nothin doin there. It would be nice to see some skill and finesse in and around the 18 yard box. Thier whole approach is just so ugly. And without any kind of quality balls in Crouch is pretty much useless out there...not that that is a huge shock or anything.

[doozwimp]

go iceland! (for real)

[Scrambler]

Cyprus beat my Irish 5-2! WTF?

We need a drink.

Watched Scotland vs. France on Saturday. Scotland had no business winning that game 1-0. France had all of the possession and all of the chances. Football is the cruelest sport this way; you can totally dominate the game and still lose. The way Scotland was playing, I didn't think they could beat Quebec, let alone France.

And should have beat the Czech's today too! Oh well, the draw will do them well.

[Scrambler]

go iceland! (for real)

Iceland played a great game today vs Sweden. Spectacular goal countered by two equally beautiful goals by Sweden. 4 in a row and top of the group for my boys!

No more qualifiers till November.

[Scrambler]

Good round of games yesterday. Noreal upsets besides Germany only managing a draw against Cyprus. Then again, that Mediterranean country did give Ireland a bit of a beating in October. Next round of games not until Feb/Mar 2007.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=uefa.euroq&cc=5901

[troutman]

Republic of Ireland striker Kevin Doyle admitted he had hoped for more goals in his side's 5-0 victory over San Marino at Lansdowne Road.


Steve Staunton's unwanted run of five matches without a victory finally came to an end with an expected triumph over a side with a reputation of being the worst in Europe.


Captain Robbie Keane took his record tally to 29 goals with the first hat-trick of his international career in the Euro 2008 qualifier.

This was the last football international to be played at the Dublin ground as work is due to start next year on a £260million, 50,000 all-seater venue to be erected in its place.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v194/troutman1966/FAI-FOOTBALL-BADGE1.gif

[Scrambler]

Well, the preliminaries have been idle for awhile now, but we've got 39 games coming up this Saturday and Wednesday. Key matches for tomorrow:

England vs Israel: can the 'leaderless' England squad survive the trip to Tel Aviv?

Ireland vs Wales: can the Eire make a move towards top of the 'Group of Death'?

Spain vs Denmark: the Spaniards are in big trouble if they lose this one at the Bernabeu

Portugal vs Belgium: the favorites Portugese are off to a slow start and could find themselves far behind in a tough Group A

[ricoFlame]

england and israel ended up scoreless. managerial change in the near future?

[Scrambler]

england and israel ended up scoreless. managerial change in the near future?

It would appear that will happen in the not so distant future. One of the Sunday morning papers in the UK have the title "Cure for insomnia" on the front page in reference to the quality of play in that match.

[ricoFlame]

It would appear that will happen in the not so distant future. One of the Sunday morning papers in the UK have the title "Cure for insomnia" on the front page in reference to the quality of play in that match.

They seem to have this crazy idea in england that they must have an english manager for the national team. Though eriksson had much success as the manager his entire tenure was speculation of his removal and heavy criticism looking for every excuse to allow for his firing, i'm amazed that he lasted as long as he did. English football seems to be at the state where they need to get the best manager in the world to help turn things around, not the best english manager. pride can be a real killer.

[sadora]

Does anyone know what injury the Czech goalkeeper had a little while ago? I watched some of the game and saw him wearing some head gear but I haven't heard anything anywhere.

[Scrambler]

Does anyone know what injury the Czech goalkeeper had a little while ago? I watched some of the game and saw him wearing some head gear but I haven't heard anything anywhere.

Can't say I know.

At any rate, another interesting round of games yesterday with a few upsets. Biggest IMO was N Ireland winning again to go top off Group F. Can't say I'm happy with that result, but kudos to the Londonderry Boys.

England continued their lowly performance in this campaign where it took until the second half to score against lowly Andorra. McClaren is on very thin ice now!

Full list of of Wednesdays results:
http://soccernet-akamai.espn.go.com/scoreboard?league=uefa.euroq&cc=5901

Next round of games to come in June.

[KevanGuy]

Does anyone know what injury the Czech goalkeeper had a little while ago? I watched some of the game and saw him wearing some head gear but I haven't heard anything anywhere.

He had his skull crushed in earlier in the season.

[troutman]

Video highlights here:

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/euro/qualifying/index.html

Why are the video highlights for the Republic of Ireland never available?

[SoCalFlamesFan]

Video highlights here:

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/euro/qualifying/index.html

Why are the video highlights for the Republic of Ireland never available?

Here is a torrent of the game...

http://www.torrentportal.com/details/1007991/ECQ.Ireland.vs.Slovakia.03.28.2007.SWE.WS.PDTV.Xvi D-ZLATAN.html

Hope that helps... Good to see those City boys Richard Dunne and Stephen Ireland playing so well ..

[KTown]

Does anyone know what injury the Czech goalkeeper had a little while ago? I watched some of the game and saw him wearing some head gear but I haven't heard anything anywhere.


I think he hit his head into a goalpost.

[KevanGuy]

I think he hit his head into a goalpost.

No, it was from a Reading player's knee.

[Scrambler]

Hurray, the qualifiers are back! It's all business now, many teams can either make or break their chances of making it to Switzerland/Austria next summer.

England won a big one over Israel (not an easy opponent for the Three Lions) 3-0.

Sweden has pretty much secured their spot after drawing with Denmark.

Iceland upsets Spain, drawing 1-1 in Reyjavik.

Scotland wins an important one over Lithuania 3-1 in Glasgow.

You can get all the scores and current standings by clicking here: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/section?id=euro2008&cc=5901

Next set of games coming this Wednesday.

[troutman]

Setanta TV has all the games on, but not live. Free preview on Shaw is about to end.

http://130.94.23.190/SSUSA_live_schedule.htm

Sept 13th (ET):

8:30am
Soccer
Euro 2008 Qualifiers Iceland v Northern Ireland
10:15am
Soccer
Euro 2008 Qualifiers Turkey v Hungary
12pm
Soccer
Euro 2008 Qualifers Slovakia v Wales
1:45pm
Soccer
Euro 2008 Qualifiers Portugal v Serbia
3:30pm
Soccer
Euro 2008 Qualifiers Finland v Poland
5:15pm
Soccer
Euro 2008 Qualifiers Czech Republic v Ireland

[SebC]

One Michael Owen,
There's only one Michael Owen.
One Michael Owen.
There's only one Michael Owen.

Englad wins 3-0 over Russia to move to second in Group E.

[cgy2london]

One Michael Owen,
There's only one Michael Owen.
One Michael Owen.
There's only one Michael Owen.

Englad wins 3-0 over Russia to move to second in Group E.

i watched that game last night on bbc and it was just garbage in the sense that england looked like they were playing against a mls team. good win thuogh if your a english supporter.

Ireland cost me 50 pounds last night!

[KTown]

i watched that game last night on bbc and it was just garbage in the sense that england looked like they were playing against a mls team. good win thuogh if your a english supporter.

Ireland cost me 50 pounds last night!

Thats because Czechs > Ireland. Not sure why you thought Ireland could be the Czechs in Prague.

[Locke]

I'm interested in hearing which one of the 'big' teams you guys think wont make it.

Unfortunately I havent had the chance to keep up with the Euro qualifiers but I'll brush up on it pretty quick.

Theres a good mix of enthusiasts on here, I like it.

Troutman, which Ireland are you cheering for?

I have to say, my Euro team is doing well, Germany has been impressive, I especially liked their 2-1 win over England at Wembley in a friendly earlier this summer.