villaajax Posted September 7, 2014 Share Posted September 7, 2014 Gibraltar got done 0-7 at home to Poland. Enter the euro qualifiers they said, it'll be fun they said... They are just happy to be there at the moment. They only have two professional footballers in their team, the rest are all amateurs. And they still smashed Gibraltar. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted September 7, 2014 Author Share Posted September 7, 2014 Albania win a game! They've been improving for a few years ago, weren't far off the play offs in the last WC group and drew with Portugal in that campaign. Bit unlucky a few potential players will be playing for Swiss tomorrow night. Hard luck Scots, deserved a point imo. Now the big problem is can they go to somewhere like Georgia and win as that sort of game traditionally trips them up. It's one of the reasons ROI usually get play offs as they consistantly go to the 4th and 5th seeds and win those away games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Gibraltar got done 0-7 at home to Poland. Enter the euro qualifiers they said, it'll be fun they said... I'm not trying to be a dick, I'm really not. I've been to Gibraltar once, it seemed like a nice enough place (cool monkeys!). I'm sure the people are lovely. I'm even prepared to be uncharacteristically patriotic about their sovereignty. What I cannot understand, however, is why on earth firstly, they have chosen to join Euro Qualifying, and secondly, why UEFA let them do so. One thing European qualifying does not suffer from is a lack of thrashable minnows! Gibraltar are clearly going to join Andorra, San Marino, Liechtenstein and to a lesser extent, Faroe Islands, Moldova etc as being nothing more than a series of traffic cones for professional players to dribble round. The fact that these countries between them can scarcely muster a single point in their qualifying campaigns, and usually end with goal differences of about -50, is in itself an eloquent argument for a two-tier qualifying campaign. Whoever won the minnow pool could join the main qualifying, and the small countries would play each other where, lord have mercy, they will actually win games every now and then. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted September 8, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted September 8, 2014 I agree. It's nice for them to be at the table. But like I've said dozens of times, who benefits from these games where minnows get absolutely tanked. I know for Gibraltar at the moment it's great for them to have a team and they'll enjoy the occasion. But once that novelty wears off, who's getting any sort of benefit from average teams going to Gibraltar and winning by a cricket score? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 i can accept the UEFA logic behind it, however there is no evidence that these teams are getting any better, san marino are as bad now as they were 20-30 years ago the only benefit can be financial, in which case why cant UEFA subsidise them in their own pre-qualification group? UEFA probably wont want to spend the cash, also im guessing that each FA has a vote somewhere down the line, Gibraltar will get to cast a vote at the next UEFA elections and FIFA elections, as well as cast a vote at every decision, and when they do they'll remember that platini got them instated worked for Stalin.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted September 8, 2014 VT Supporter Share Posted September 8, 2014 Exactly, the gulf is too big to improve. If they were constantly playing teams that were a bit better than them, then they'd improve. But nobody is going to be improved form being bent over every couple of months. I'd give them their own group, or even their own tournament, and put the winner(s) into the proper qualifying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Milfner Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Wasn't there always one group that only had 5 teams in it whereas all the other groups had 6? Maybe that was one of the reasons too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Yeah some teams need their own pre-qualifying group. Most other regions don't just have 1 round of qualifying and some of their lesser nations have improved as a result. One thing I would rid, but will never happen, is seeding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BG_Villa_Fan Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 (edited) Yeah some teams need their own pre-qualifying group. Most other regions don't just have 1 round of qualifying and some of their lesser nations have improved as a result. One thing I would rid, but will never happen, is seeding. True! Having 6 pots is bollocks. I could understand having 2 pots - one for group leaders and the other for everyone else, but 6 pots is taking the piss of something that's called a draw and is supposed to have a certain amount of luck/chance associated with it. Would also help the lesser teams that people discussed in the previous posts. The way they're going soon there'd be no use of having a draw - teams would just automatically go to some group depending on their uefa ranking. Edited September 8, 2014 by BG_Villa_Fan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 same again though, these lesser teams need the likes of germany / england / spain / italy in their group in order to make the cash san marino would take 2 9-0 results vs england over a group that saw them play moldova, greece, lithuania, montenegro etc and have a couple of unlucky competitive 1-0 defeats its all geared so that in theory all the big teams qualify and UEFA can maximise the profits of the euros, but at the same time the whipping boys dont mind because they get the big money from the game vs the top seed thats what is so wrong about it, these shit little countries want the games vs the teams that will thrash them, and if / when it comes down to the vote they will almost certainly vote for it too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 same again though, these lesser teams need the likes of germany / england / spain / italy in their group in order to make the cash san marino would take 2 9-0 results vs england over a group that saw them play moldova, greece, lithuania, montenegro etc and have a couple of unlucky competitive 1-0 defeats its all geared so that in theory all the big teams qualify and UEFA can maximise the profits of the euros, but at the same time the whipping boys dont mind because they get the big money from the game vs the top seed thats what is so wrong about it, these shit little countries want the games vs the teams that will thrash them, and if / when it comes down to the vote they will almost certainly vote for it too Well, to be honest, in my world, they wouldn't have a choice in the matter. As to the concept of some of these countries 'getting better', that's very very hopeful. Gibraltar has a population a little over half the size of Stourbridge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Czechlad Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 I am really quite nervous for Czech. We looked terrible against a very young USA team. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurtsimonw Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 (edited) I only now cared enough to look into it, but a team finishing 3rd, in a group of 6, will qualify automatically for Euro 2016!? Edited September 8, 2014 by kurtsimonw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 Well, to be honest, in my world, they wouldn't have a choice in the matter. Neither would I, but like I said in my other point, if your election campaign to become head of UEFA was based around say the 12 shittest teams having to play pre qualifiers then something tells me none of the fa's from those 12 nations would vote for you... I don't see it happening personally Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaajax Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 I am really quite nervous for Czech. We looked terrible against a very young USA team. I hope you're right Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted September 8, 2014 Author Share Posted September 8, 2014 I am really quite nervous for Czech. We looked terrible against a very young USA team. You sacked Bilek then, thought he was the problem? Or here's a controversial opinion but maybe just maybe the players aren't quite as good as 10 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 munir making his spain debut, think thats his barca, spain U21 and spain debut in the space of 10 days! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa4europe Posted September 8, 2014 Share Posted September 8, 2014 john terry on sky's euros coverage, hopefully thats not a career path being carved out for him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Czechlad Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 I am really quite nervous for Czech. We looked terrible against a very young USA team. You sacked Bilek then, thought he was the problem? Or here's a controversial opinion but maybe just maybe the players aren't quite as good as 10 years ago. That's not controversial at all. That is just pointing out the obvious. No one thinks that we are anywhere near as good as we once were right now. Rosicky is older, Cech isn't even a starter for club, our best striker is Kozak, and our young talent just isn't doing enough. Injuries also have hurt us a lot at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted September 9, 2014 Share Posted September 9, 2014 Austria vs Sweden was a decent game last night. tight group with 4 similar teams in terms of ability which will go right to the wire Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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