World Cup Draw

[PaulTheSoave]

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

I guess only numbers one qualify and a couple of best numbers 2. Group 1 is tough and already saw some comments on 606 England having an easy draw. Start of the elimination with that kind of arrogance. Holland is in with a chance but Scotland have come up good recently. So we wont underestimate them I hope, and hope of course our Guus will give Germany a hick up

[Alex0paul]

Group 9 is possibly the toughest group as realistically only one of them will get through as it would be improbbable that the team in 2nd place would score more points than a 2nd placed team from the other 8 groups.

In all honesty we do have a kind group as we avoided all of the big guns but there is a potential bananaskin match with Ukraine. Group 2 is the weakest though.

[PaulTheSoave]

Well, Israel is one of the most underestimated teams. They beat France before when they were world champions and also beat Russia recently at home, giving England a lifeline.

Group 9 is possibly the toughest group as realistically only one of them will get through as it would be improbbable that the team in 2nd place would score more points than a 2nd placed team from the other 8 groups.

In all honesty we do have a kind group as we avoided all of the big guns but there is a potential bananaskin match with Ukraine. Group 2 is the weakest though.

[Ekphantos]

Headline in Austria:

France and Faröer:
Difficult group for Austrian team



I don't really follow football that much, according to the newspapers, Faröer ist one of Austria's most feared opponents

Nobody expects Austria to come through anyway, they should have given their place to somebody a BIT higher up the rankings...

[Wim]

This is not an easy draw for England. No reason to believe they will qualify directly this time. So they are not favorite and will have to play better to end even at the second place. Belgium, like we are playing now Spain and Turkey (and probably all the others as well in that group) must be glad with us. Holland favorite of course in their group.
I presume the matches are starting after Euro 2008 ?

[cueman]

Not easy but they should qualify as expectation won't be so high. I think the players determination not to miss out will make sure England get through.

[Wity]

Accrington Stanleys under 16's could qualify from that group, as long as they aint got a muppet named McJoke in charge.

[dantuck_7]

Group 9 is possibly the toughest group as realistically only one of them will get through as it would be improbbable that the team in 2nd place would score more points than a 2nd placed team from the other 8 groups.

In all honesty we do have a kind group as we avoided all of the big guns but there is a potential bananaskin match with Ukraine. Group 2 is the weakest though.

Did you all notice that the Scotland / Holland group has only 5 teams. How has this come about? Surely this isn't a level playing field. There must be another team that could have had this 6th place.

[Alex0paul]

Did you all notice that the Scotland / Holland group has only 5 teams. How has this come about? Surely this isn't a level playing field. There must be another team that could have had this 6th place.

There were only 53 countries that entered although the next qualifying for the Euro 2012's 'countries' like Monaco and Gibraltar could be entering the qualifying. Scotland's chances aren't as bad as I first thought as the 2nd placed teams in groups 1-8 results against the team in 6th place don't count, if that makes sense?

[Nina]

... Group 2 is the weakest though.

I tend to agree. None of the teams is traditionally World Cup winners.
However I'm a bit surprised that nobody seems to be taking the standing European champions seriously. I know Greece was the surprise winner in 2004, and has never qualified for the World Cup before, still this team is good - at least as long as we still have the same coach.
Greece is top of its group at the Euro 2008 qualifiers, and in fact the only team with over 30 points (31 to be exact, which is more than Poland who has played 14 matches instead of 12). Not too bad, are we?

[ADR147]

This is not an easy draw for England. No reason to believe they will qualify directly this time. So they are not favorite and will have to play better to end even at the second place. Belgium, like we are playing now Spain and Turkey (and probably all the others as well in that group) must be glad with us. Holland favorite of course in their group.
I presume the matches are starting after Euro 2008 ?

by betting odds england are most definately the favourites in their group, however there are no easy groups anymore and dispite the odd easy game a lot of the bigger teams are going to be in for a few shocks, i would not bet any money on holland beating scotland just now either! that is a very tough group.

[Wim]

by betting odds england are most definately the favourites in their group, however there are no easy groups anymore and dispite the odd easy game a lot of the bigger teams are going to be in for a few shocks, i would not bet any money on holland beating scotland just now either! that is a very tough group.

Referring to their last Euro 2008 campagne I still don't see England being favourite.
Of course they were there in nearly every World Championship so it would feel strange if they didn't qualify. A lot of very good players, like Gerard, but he hasn't the creativity of Zidane...the kind of player who can make the difference when needed. Indeed Holland will have tough matches, but I like their football.

[imy147]

we want revenge!! croatia again! should be 2 cracking games! Decent group id say, avoided some of the big european teams. Im sure the boys will not want to miss a world cup, especially after this failure..

Cant wait to see BORATTTTT at the kazakhastan matches

[Alex0paul]

Cant wait to see BORATTTTT at the kazakhastan matches

Lets just hope we deliever against Kazakhstan to avoid all those Borat pun headlines.