Discuss your teams fortunes and misfortunes.

Ireland got off to a good start with a 2-1 win "away" to Georgia. Looking at our team I'm not too confident but somehow we have Trappatoni managing us so it could be ok after our last two jokes of managers.


I feel pretty bad about making Georgia play us in Germany, while Russia had invaded we put in a request to not play there, which is fair enough but the war is over and Georgia had to play us on neutral ground, which is pretty unfair and I'm sure they hate us. I'm not happy about it, our football association board are a pack of corrupt dicks.

We have Italy in our group and somehow we have to be afraid of Cyprus, Italy only beat them 2-1 and they put 6 goals past us last year

Well LJ, Macedonia ruined our chances of qualifiying when I was 15, an Irish tv station flew me over and filmed my experience so if it helps I despise the bastards.

Also how many times do England get Andorra in their group?

the US won another game while still managing to look completely uninspiring. There is ZERO offensive creativity on this team....until the US can churn out a legit goal scorer they will never be a real soccer threat.

also, I have NO idea what the US coach is thinking leaving Altidore and Adu off the roster. I guess we are banking on a whole heap of 1-nil wins.

i agree and disagree, clint dempsey attacked like i havent seen him since midseason last year with fulham, he actually went at defenders with the ball! and beas looks like he is getting back to fitness, which is so key for them. i really think that any time tim howard is in goal that they are a threat, cuz i think you can argue he is top 3 right now in the world. i think not bringing altidore and adu wasnt a terrible decision, but if they win wednesday vs t and t and dont bring all the youngins in for the next three qualifiers and leave some guys that are struggling at the club level (johnson, beasley, dempsey, bradley) then i think we have a problem. im optimistic though, ugly wins are better then pretty ties.

I watched the Scotland game yesterday. What a shocker, they players didn't even turn up! My early suspicions that Burley was not the right man look to be sadly coming true. If we don't beat Iceland on Wednesday I think we are pretty much out of it.

Blah, I was wasted watching the game so don't really remember much of it. I didn't hold much hope for going there and coming back with 3 points. Macedonia are a decent side, as England and Holland have both found out so its not a surprise. What was dissapointing was the way we lost, there was no invention and we barely created a chance. Stonewall penalty though.

If we don't beat Iceland on Wednesday then I don't hold out much hope for us.

Oh great... The media can now build us up into World beaters! We'll be favourites to win the WC! What joy...


I'm bracing myself for the predictable come down, already.



Croatia 1 - 4 England

Mexico will crush Canada today.

And yes, I will put my money where my mouth is.

Sight both my teams have had such a bad weak so far. Canada and Colombia just getting shitted on, both coaches need to get fired asap. Maybe Canada can pull off a miracle in Mexico tonite... sighhhhballls.

Ireland grinded out a 0-0 result against Montenegro. Looked more dangerous, but since we were away and pretty much terrible, I'll take it. We had a clear handball penalty but what will you do

The US actually looked dangerous on offense against T & T (music factory).

Dempsey seems to be getting better and better and he has a good chemistry in the midfield with Donovan and Beasley. Getting Edu out of the lineup was good.

However, putting Ching up front was a disaster. He cant keep possession, he cant finish easy chances and he is not dangerous shooting from outside 12 yards. I have NO idea what Coach Bradley is playing at with him in the line-up. If he is in there for important games, I am going to REALLY shake my fists at the tv screen. Adu, Altidore, Eddie Johnson, whoever. Anyone but Brian "useless" Ching.

Iceland 1 - Scotland 2

YES!
YES!
and
YES!

The race for 2nd place is ON

us on a field that gets mowed once in a while = decent possession
please bob bradley, bring in the youngins for the next couple games.

Chris Iwelumo you absolute beauty! Scoring on his debut making him an instant Scottish hero! prick

wooop! Ireland might actually beat Cyprus, 1 - 0 after 35 mins, hooooooold

Hmmm... could my interest in international football be returning?

England seemingly applying themselves like professionals, and commiting to the national team 100%.

Capello is clearly the best manager we've had for a very long time, and, most refreshing of all was hearing Ferdinand deem the pre-Capello era as a circus and criticise the WAG culture and celebrity nonsense. So good to hear that.

Grinding out results! Trappatoni in the Juventus days 2-1, 1-0, 0-0. My favourite part was the 0-0 against Montenegro and the headline " Trappatoni delighted at draw"

Yea true, it's funny how far our expectations dropped at the end of the stan era.

Yea, I'm enjoying it more. Would have not been happy with this 3 years ago, now its good stuff

gg US although in a meaningless game more or less.

Robbie Keane equalises in the last few minutes against Italy. We could have nicked it too if he didnt shin that ball.

I reckon the sending off was a yellow card and the ref just overreacted from all the blood everywhere

After the embarrassment against Holland on Saturday, Scotland got a win against Iceland. I was there and it wasn't much to shout about but we are still in with a chance of a play off place.

COME ON SCOTLAND!!!! Jeez...

Scotland won again yesterday, we might, just might, get in the playoffs. Just got the small matter of beating the Netherlands on Wednesday night!

BRAZIL QUALIFIED!!WOOOT!

USA did not look great against El Salvador but they got the W. The ref should be banned from ever calling another match. What an incompetent piece of shit.

Argentina and Portugal are in very real danger of missing the World Cup. How weird would it be to have no Messi or Ronaldo at the WC?

i'd say portugal have zero chance of qualification now. argentina will qualify, fifa will fix it so their golden boy messi gets in whatever way they can.

I think there is a great chance we will see a playoff between Mexico and Argentina for the last spot into the World Cup. How intense is that going to be?

Also, Argentina needs to fire Maradona asap. I know he is a legend there but the guy sucks at coaching. That team is way too strong to struggle like this. Did Portugal lose again? If they did, I agree they are done.

Portugal drew.


I don't think you can write Portugal out of it, not by a long way. They've still got to play Hungary, twice... I think it's a slightly misleading group with the way the fixtures have worked out. If you actually look at games still to play, I can see Portugal getting into the playoffs. If they win their last 3 games, I think they'll definitely get there. Sweden still have to travel to Denmark too.


Argentina will be there. They're 4th right now... not sure why you think they'll have to qualify via the playoffs? Their remaining games are decent, I don't see the problem.

I was saying if Portugal lost they were done. A draw and yeah they could do it. They will have to beat Hungary both times though.

I thought Argentina was currently in 5th? I could be mistaken. 5th place team from South America plays the CONCACAF 4th place team in a two game playoff.

Lol, just checked out CONCACAF. Apparently, Mexico destroyed Costa Rica on the road last night. No one from our group ever beats Costa Rica on the road. Maybe that playoff will be some weak matchup between Costa Rica or Honduras and Ecuador.

I'm hoping that Portugal manage to balls up their final games (say draw twice with Hungary). Only because it will strengthen Scotlands bid for a playoff spot

It is going to be a tough game for Argentina to go into Paraguay and get a result, the main thing they have going for them is that Paraguay is pretty much in but playing away in SA is never an easy task and Colombia or Ecuador could over take them. With that said I'm pretty sure they still get in but its gonna be close, and even if they go to the playoff any team that comes out of NA is going to be a big underdog, and in its probably going to be Honduras or Costa Rica in the playoff, Mexico and US have too much depth and Concacaf is too corupt to risk losing those 2 teams going to the WC.

I'm really hoping Colombia make it into the WC they have a huge game away to Uruguay that very well could give them a really good chance at getting 4th or 5th.

Altidore can be that guy.

Davies is looking pretty legit too. With another year Altidore and Davies could be a pretty good pairing, by 2014 these 2 guys could be the real deal.

agreed. especially if davies continues his mercurial rise through club soccer. stanky leg strikers are dangerouuuussss. regardless, mexico's recovery is something im really not sure about. like, they did not look great against the us, but who goes to costa rica and wins? i dont know if CR just sucked or what. Honduras is starting to look like the real deal, which makes the US game wednesday another must win. also, concacaf refs are a joke. how altidores goal was called back was so terrible, i didnt even know what to say. still dont.

Mexico did'nt just win they slaughtered Costa Rica at home, which does'nt happen very often. Honduras has the whole country behind them and they have a really dangerous offence, at home they are'nt gonna give up many points but on the road they are vulnerable, if Suazo is on his game he probably has the most quality of anyone in the region though.

when the announcers need 10 minutes just to determine what was called, you know someone screwed up. just a disgrace. I know we don't want the ugly Americans to succeed in soccer but let's try and make it less blatant, shall we? Thank you.

Altidore might be that guy. I am still waiting to see him score from outside the 18 or by blowing by someone. His shielding skills and finishing in the box are top notch though.

yeah, honduras is dirty. when they click watch out. i just am amazed by the costa rica result, really interested to see how they do in their next game.


yeah he is a beast. im not sure if he is an outside the box kinda guy, but when he did up the italian defender in the confed cup to draw a pk, i was in awe.

Was this in doubt?

I think he is an inside the 18 player, he is just so physically dominating over every defender that shooting from outside isn't something he needs to do really. He is a perfect target for crosses and does a great job of shielding defenders and turning for shots. I think he will get better one on one over the next few years and end up becoming quite the force for American soccer.

And yea, his goal that got called back was so fucking ridiculous. That was an embarrassingly bad call.

hahaha...

Not really, especially considering the fact that S. America is by far the easiest continent to be in to qualify for the WC.

However, a 3-1 win against Argentina playing over there makes the qualification a bit more special.



Someone also mentioned that the 5th placed country in S. America will play a CONCACAF team in a playoff for a spot in the WC. I´m pretty sure they´ll play against the Oceania winner...



BTW, Brazil is the only country to have played every single World Cup tournament!

nope, 5th place in south america plays fourth place in concacaf for a spot, and the two third place finishers, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia squared off saturday and later today for a chance to play new zealand from oceania for a spot.

should be some good games today. comeeee on us, lets make my life slightly less stressful next month.

Well thats Scotland's dreams over after getting beat by the Dutch tonight. It wasn't a bad performance but we really need a striker who can score goals if McFadden isn't fit. (Kenny Miller missed a sitter tonight!)

A narrow win for the US. Good enough. They are on the doorstep now. It would be great if Costa Rica could lose on the road to El Salvador...

oh hello. i called this one actually, said that they would not win in es, but a loss, that is just magnificent.

one win away.

Ireland are pretty much playing for 2nd place. 3rd gets nothing in our groups.
Italy are 4 points clear from us.
Bulgaria 5 points behind us.
Irelands games: Italy at home. Montengro at home. Bulgaria: Cyprus away. Georgia at home.

If we lose and draw and Bulgaria win both we are out. Bulgaria have a nice team this year. Please to not be throwing this away.
I have faith in Trappatoni. Our team is pretty shit, hes done an amazing job.

a draw against italy would be so huge

I was worried, they looked pretty flat early in that game.

Scotland will be haunted by their inability to beat Norway. GODDAMMIT!

You mean this..........?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59sG34Nx-DY

(if anyone has not seen it take a look at the worst miss ever)

Gawd...