Worldwide Soccer Thread I

[Az]

I think the Swiss are in for somewhat of a long shot. Israel has games against the Swiss, French, Ireland, and two games against the Faroe islands. assuming 6 pts from the faroe Islands, Israel needs to have 4 pts from the 3 games against Switzerland and France and Ireland.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

how do you figure? that leaves them with 15 pts and in 3rd place at best? and remmeber goal differential, where switzerland has the edge.

[Az]

Israel is currently at 9pts. If it gets 6 pts from the Faroe islands ( and the chances of that not happening are lower than the chances Switzerland won't take all 9pts from 3 games against cyprus, and the faroes ) It will stand at 15pts. Then, if we get 4 pts from the 3 games, we get 19 pts as well.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

hahahha, yeah youre right i have no idea what i was thinking but if we're both tied at 19, then goal differential would go to the swiss, because they are up 4 goals on israel, and it will only grow larger as they play faroe/cyprus three times as opposed to two for israel.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

at this point anyone could win, but of course france is still the favorite (they cant keep on playing as poorly as they are, can they?) and ireland a close second (but the swiss always come to ball against them, see euro 2004 qualifying)

[Az]

yeah, but we play faroes twice, while you play them only once, thus, we still have the better potential.

Anyway, we both have to get 4pts from facing each other, Ireland, and France, which is kind of a long shot.

I predict that Ireland and france will come out as the leaders.

[Locutus]

I think the Swiss are in for somewhat of a long shot. Israel has games against the Swiss, French, Ireland, and two games against the Faroe islands. assuming 6 pts from the faroe Islands, Israel needs to have 4 pts from the 3 games against Switzerland and France and Ireland.

The SWISS are in for a long shot? I think Israel is the underdog in that group... I'm pretty sure the French will find a way to qualify (if necessary through play-offs) and the Irish and Swiss appear to be a fair match for each other. Israel has only won its matches against Cyprus so far, and not in a very convincing way. Considering how they only managed to draw in their home games against Ireland and Switzerland, I don't see Israel ending ahead of BOTH of those teams in the ranking...

Edit: seems I missed a few posts while cooking dinner...

[Lawrence of Arabia]

you guys play france tomorrow right? but youre going to lose because the israeli hero Abbas Souan, who received his second yellow card 4 minutes into his substitution against Ireland. if you lose (france always seems to win away, but not at home) then you need 4 pts from Ireland and Switzerland. possible, but you would need to tie and win in any combination, and then score lots of goals, and not lose to france by too much.

yeah, its gonna be tighter then i thought.

[Az]

Ugh, not having Abbas Souan isn't affecting our chances much, with all due respect.

[Az]

the U-21 team continues to whoop euro ass: 3-2 over France.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Put me on the Joe Cole bandwagon as well. He's been doing pretty well lately for Chelsea, even with Robben coming back, he's been playing good enough that Mourinho had to find a spot for him. Always had the promise, now it is starting to be realized.

[Lawrence of Arabia]

Ugh, not having Abbas Souan isn't affecting our chances much, with all due respect.

he saved you from being eliminated from the oppertunity of at least getting 2nd in the group. he can do it again.

[Imran Siddiqui]

football365.com is reporting that Robben could be out for a month after his ankle injury playing for Holland. The guy seems to be pretty injury prone, doesn't he?

[Lawrence of Arabia]

as long as france, germany, italy, and brazil do not win the world cup, the worldcup will be a good one.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Most likely one of them will, judging from recent WC history. Then again, judging from recent football history in general, we may be in for a surprise.

I'd like to see Holland win it for once.