FAI...New Manager is Heimir Hallgrimsson

[weareros]

Great performance by Ireland women to beat Finland and secure a playoff for World Cup. Played some nice footie too.

[Hound]

Great performance by Ireland women to beat Finland and secure a playoff for World Cup. Played some nice footie too.

The playoff system is the most convuluted I've ever seen. Every game knockout, but you might need to win only 1 to qualify or you might need to win 4 (or 2 or 3) !!

Certainly something to look forward to, no matter what.

[Itchy]

Calum Robinson gone to Cardiff but i dont see any move for Jason Knight which is a pity.

[An Watcher]

Massive game for the women v Slovakia coming up.  Win that and into a play off game.  Anyone know if this is one or two legs? After that, even if they are the lowest ranked of the 3 qualifiers they should make it through

[Hound]

All playoffs are one leg. ET and penalties if required. Not clear whether the matches for R1 and R2 will be played at neutral venues or whether some teams will get home advantage.

Playoff teams ranked 4 to 9 (based on 8 matches against the rest of the top 5 in the group) are drawn together in 3 matches in R1. Losers are out.

The winners of R1 then join teams ranked 1 to 3 in R2. The three losers of R2 are out.
Two of the winners of R2 (the two highest ranked based on the 8 matches mentioned above, plus 90 minutes of R2) qualify for the World Cup.
The lowest ranked winner of R2 has to play a 10 team qualifying event in New Zealand (along with similar playoff teams from around the world) with 3 teams qualifying. All games knockout, and likely that the European team will just need to win one game.

Ireland are currently ranked 4th but will move up to 3rd if they beat the Slovaks (draw not enough). So the Slovakia game is very important, as a win would move us straight into R2 and might also result in a better draw in R2.

[seafoid]

GRMA, Hound

[seafoid]

Mna 1-0 up at HT

[weareros]

Hopefully we don't hear "oh, danger here" from George in last 15 mins.

[seafoid]

Great win and into round 2

[GAABoardMod5]

First off...The World Cup will take place in Australia and New Zealand from 20 July 2023 to 20 August 2023 (winter time locally).

Here is the state of affairs regarding Ireland's qualifying road, numbers after each team is current FIFA World Ranking to help get a feel for the level of competition (Northern Ireland rank 50th, in case you are wondering, and England are 4th):

UEFA playoffs Rd 1: Three games between these six: Austria (20), Belgium (19), Scotland (23), Portugal (27), Wales (30), Bosnia and Herzegovina (63). Single game, on 6 Oct 2022.

The winners of Rd 1 games advance to Rd 2 where the three will play Switzerland (21), Iceland (14) or Ireland (26). Single game on 11 Oct 2022.

When the winners of Rd 2 are known, the top 2 (based on overall qualifying points) will go directly to the World Cup and the third team will enter the inter-confederation playoff.  Currently, Switzerland are on 19 points, Iceland on 18 and Ireland have 17.

So Ireland are ranked number 3 of the Rd 2 teams.  To qualify as one of the Top 2 in Rd 2, Ireland must win their Rd 2 and either Switzerland or Iceland must lose their Rd 2 game.  If Ireland finish third after Rd 2 they will join the inter-confederation playoff, which consists of 10 teams vying for three places in the World Cup and will be held in New Zealand in late Feb 2023.  Nine of the 10 are known, with just the UEFA candidate not known.

Chinese Taipei (38), Thailand (41), Cameroon (59), Senegal (84), Haiti (56), Panama (57), Paraguay (51), Chile (39) and Papua New Guinea (49) are the nine. There will be 3 Groups, and each Group winner will go to the World Cup.

If Ireland are in the inter-confederation playoff, they will be a number 1 seed in Group A, Chinese Taipei will be top seed in Group B and Chile and Thailand will be seeded in Group C.

In order to balance the Groups, New Zealand and one other nation will be in Groups A and B.  Game 1 of the Groups will be 1 v 4 in Groups A and B as friendlies. Teams 2 and 3 will play and the winner will play the top seed to go to the World Cup.  In Group C the two seeded teams will face the unseeded teams in semi-finals, with the winners playing for a place at the World Cup.  There will be further friendlies between the semi-final losers in Group C and the semi-final loser in A and B in order that all nations will have two games at the event.



All clear now?

[An Watcher]

Great analysis Mod.  Actually thought round 2 winners progressing was based on world rankings as opposed to points gained in the group but good to know.  One last thing, where are the round 2 fixtures being played? Could these be home or away or even neutral?

[Hound]

Currently, Switzerland are on 19 points, Iceland on 18 and Ireland have 17.
So Ireland are ranked number 3 of the Rd 2 teams.  To qualify as one of the Top 2 in Rd 2, Ireland must win their Rd 2 and either Switzerland or Iceland must lose their Rd 2 game.

(pedantic) Point of Order!

I understand that if Iceland win R2 after ET or penalties they would get one additional point to move to 19. If Ireland won R2 in normal time, we'd have 20 and move through automatically, sending Iceland into the intercontinental playoffs.

[GAABoardMod5]

Clarification on arriving at the three qualifiers after Rd 2 of the October playoffs:

Draw procedure Rd 1: The six teams will be placed in one bowl, with no seeding. They will be drawn into three ties (ties 1 to 3) and the first team drawn in each tie will be at home. The ties will be played on 6 October. 

Draw procedure Rd 2: The six teams (the three teams entering in this round and the three round 1 winners) will be placed in one bowl, with no seeding (the three winners of round 1 of the play-offs will be indicated as 'winner round 1 tie 1' to 'winner round 1 tie 3').  They will be drawn into three ties (ties 1 to 3) and the first team drawn in each tie will be at home. The ties will be played on 11 October.

How the playoff winner ranking is decided:

To determine the ranking of the play-off winners, the results of the round 2 play-offs (three points are awarded for a win, one for a draw, and none for a defeat; result after extra time is counted but not any penalty shoot-out) are added to the results of the group stage matches used to determine the ranking of the group runners-up.

The two play-off winners with the highest ranking, based on results in the qualifying group stage below, plus round 2 play-offs will qualify for the finals.  The third highest will go to the inter-continental playoff event in February.  Ranking will be based on 10points 2) scoring difference 3) goals scored 4) away goals scored 5) higher number of wins 6) higher number of away wins 7) lower disciplinary points based on cards received by player and team officials where red card = 3, yellow = 1, a player sent off on two yellow card in the same match is 3 points 8 ) highest UEFA ranking.

Current table:

Switzerland 19 points, +19 GD, 23 scored
Iceland 18 points, +22 GD, 25 scored
Ireland 17 points, +22 GD, 26 scored

Austria 16 points, +28 GD, 24 scored
Belgium 16 points, +23 GD, 30 scored
Scotland 16 points, +9 GD, 22 scored
Portugal 16 points, +9 GD, 18 scored
Wales 14 points, +8 GD, 13 scored
Bosnia & Herzegovina 11 points, -8 GD, 9 scored





Hound to verify...Rd 1 is knockout and Rd 2 games are considered part of the league table.  It might look better after the draw on Friday.

 

[An Watcher]

Need a bit of luck to get a home draw.  All you can ask for at thus stage

[Baile Brigín 2]

Interesting game in Tallaght. Both sides will feel they shuld have won. A very entertaining 0-0.