FAI...June 2024 Friendlies v Hungary and Portugal

[weareros]

Leading Albania 2-1 after 27 mins. Both Irish goals by Katie.

[weareros]

Well 5-1 that ended with a hat-trick for Katie McCabe. Albanians were limited apart from a great early goal.

[From the Bunker]

Evan Ferguson: 'Because I'm Irish'

[jcpen]

Some crowd in the Aviva today great to see.
Decent enough game.

[seafoid]

The playoffs section here shows how awful the BIG's current Nations League ranking is in group B after just 2 wins against Gibraltar.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2024_qualifying

[Ed Ricketts]

The playoffs section here shows how awful the BIG's current Nations League ranking is in group B after just 2 wins against Gibraltar.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2024_qualifying

Recent form has had no impact on the Nations League ranking. That was decided last summer.

It's the points dropped in 2022 against Ukraine and Armenia, rather than those recently dropped against Greece, that will see Ireland miss out on a playoff spot.

[seafoid]

The playoffs section here shows how awful the BIG's current Nations League ranking is in group B after just 2 wins against Gibraltar.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2024_qualifying

Recent form has had no impact on the Nations League ranking. That was decided last summer.

It's the points dropped in 2022 against Ukraine and Armenia, rather than those recently dropped against Greece, that will see Ireland miss out on a playoff spot.

Part of it is based on now. Countries that did well move higher up the rankings

[Hound]

The playoffs section here shows how awful the BIG's current Nations League ranking is in group B after just 2 wins against Gibraltar.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_Euro_2024_qualifying

Recent form has had no impact on the Nations League ranking. That was decided last summer.

It's the points dropped in 2022 against Ukraine and Armenia, rather than those recently dropped against Greece, that will see Ireland miss out on a playoff spot.

Yep, exactly right. The current groups decide who qualifies automatically, but it's the Nations League results that decides which remaining teams make the playoffs. If Greece had lost every single game in this qualifying campaign, they'd still be in the playoffs because they did well in their Nations League group. I hadn't realized how important those games were at the time, especially given the difficulty of the qualifying group.

We need to move up two places to get into the playoffs. So I think we need Israel to pass out Romania and Poland to qualify ahead of Albania in their group. At the moment we are behind Israel and Poland in the playoff rankings, but we would be ahead of Romania and Albania if they failed to qualify automatically.

[Itchy]

I've 4 tickets (2 adult and 2 kids) to the premium section for the New Zealand game. Cant make it. Free to a good home, first come first served. Send me a PM if interested.

[seafoid]

Our nations league ranking is 26. 24 teams qualify including teams from Group C. We are on a very shaky scraw.

[seafoid]

Officially over

https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2023/1116/1416961-slovakia-book-euros-spot-and-end-irish-playoff-hopes/

[Itchy]

Ireland U21s suffer from same problem as seniors, no midfield players worth talking about. Passing the ball aimlessly around at the back and then hoofing it up the channels.

[Captain Obvious]

Lucky it's just 1-0 down at half time against a Netherlands side that will likely struggle in the knock out stages of the European championship next summer if they reach it.

[From the Bunker]

Jez, the Irish lads look to be just caught in the headlights.

[Hound]

Ireland U21s suffer from same problem as seniors, no midfield players worth talking about. Passing the ball aimlessly around at the back and then hoofing it up the channels.

No doubt some truth and learnings in that but I thought the 21s were a bit unlucky. Brilliant second goal to go 2-1 up, missed a few chances to go 3-1 up that would have killed the game, then an individual error to concede a ridiculous penalty and a sucker punch a minute or so later to go 3-2 down. A draw was the least they deserved, but don't always get what you deserve.