Euro 2016 Qualifying

[Achiles74]

Groups are being drawn today

Here is the FULL Euro 2016 draw

Here is the full draw

A: Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Iceland, Latvia, Turkey, Czech Republic

B: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Andorra, Cyprus, Wales, Israel, Belgium

C: Spain, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Belarus, Slovakia, Ukraine

D: Germany, Gibraltar, Georgia, Scotland, Poland, Republic of Ireland

E: England, San Marino, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia, Switzerland

F: Greece, Faroe Islands, Northern Ireland, Finland, Romania, Hungary

G: Russia, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Montenegro, Austria, Sweden

H: Italy, Malta, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Norway, Croatia

I: Portugal, Albania, Armenia, Serbia, Denmark

Feel free to discuss

[Achiles74]

At last a easy group for us

Bosnia-Herzegovina, Andorra, Cyprus, Wales

We can beat any of those teams drawn so far on our day.

[Achiles74]

and Israel

I can see us qualifying for Euro 2016 now

[Achiles74]

Groups drawn out so far

•Group A: Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Iceland, Latvia, Turkey
•Group B: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Andorra, Cyprus, Wales, Israel
•Group C: Spain, Luxembourg, FYR Macedonia, Belarus, Slovakia
•Group D: Germany, Gibraltar, Georgia, Scotland, Poland
•Group E: England, San Marino, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia
•Group F: Greece, Faroe Islands, Northern Ireland, Finland, Romania
•Group G: Russia, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Montenegro, Austria
•Group H: Italy, Malta, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Norway
•Group I: Portugal, Albania, Armenia, Serbia


Very easy group for Wales
England has a decent group as well.

[Achiles74]

I spoke too soon we now have Belgium

[barry]

England has a decent group as well.

there's a surprise

[Hank_Moody]

Belgium & Bosnia will be way too strong for Wales IMO.

They'll be battling with Israel for 3rd.

[Achiles74]

Here is the full draw

A: Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Iceland, Latvia, Turkey, Czech Republic

B: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Andorra, Cyprus, Wales, Israel, Belgium

C: Spain, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Belarus, Slovakia, Ukraine

D: Germany, Gibraltar, Georgia, Scotland, Poland, Republic of Ireland

E: England, San Marino, Lithuania, Estonia, Slovenia, Switzerland

F: Greece, Faroe Islands, Northern Ireland, Finland, Romania, Hungary

G: Russia, Liechtenstein, Moldova, Montenegro, Austria, Sweden

H: Italy, Malta, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Norway, Croatia

I: Portugal, Albania, Armenia, Serbia, Denmark

[Red Eye]

Another mouth-watering set of fixtures for England. I can hardly contain my excitement.

And how bad would England have to be to not qualify? Is it top three who go through?

Edit - ok top two automatic 3rd plays off.

[forestfan]

2 plus a play-off I think. It's pretty pointless for the major teams now, with virtually no chance of failure.

[Red Eye]

2 plus a play-off I think. It's pretty pointless for the major teams now, with virtually no chance of failure.

Yep cue even stronger calls for a pre-qualifying surely. They do it in the CL and even that feels bloated at the group stage.

[tommymooney]

I'm sorry, I still can't see Wales/Scotland or N Ireland making it. Hope I'm wrong.

[Achiles74]

England should walk that group.

I reckon we have a good chance of getting 2nd place behind Belgium in our group.

Poor Scotland and Republic of Ireland getting Germany and Poland - Guess they both have to wait until the 2018 WC now.

Northern ireland have what looks a decent group(shame they don't have any decent players at the moment)

[tommymooney]

There is zero point watching any England qualifier - wake me up when it's over.

Germany v Gibraltar is going to be a cricket score.

I can't see any 'major' nation under any threat at all. You might lose, say, a Denmark or a Turkey in the play-offs.

[Achiles74]

Wales will make it.

Can anyone name a world class player from Bosnia?

Dzeko hardly pays for Man City and Begovic is at Stoke.

When you consider the players that we can call up.

Bale, Ramsey and Allen - all excellent players

We have very good youngsters coming through Emyr Huws at Man City, and Harry Wilson at Liverpool (youngest capped Welsh full cap).

Good Prem players in Neil Taylor, Ashley Williams, Ben Davies, James Collins, Joe Ledley, Jack Collison.

Adam Matthews at Celtic.

The one thing we are lacking is an top class striker.
Maybe Tom Lawrence from Man Utd could be that player.

Either way I think Wales have a slighter better team than Bosnia.

[Red Eye]

Germany v Gibraltar is going to be a cricket score.

Yes that game is a scary prospect. Hopefully it will highlight the utter stupidity of having these teams in it who almost never win a game.

Forget who it was but someone made a good point about San Marino recently - them having a team is not about elite level sport, its about their players and FA officials having a nice day out at Wembley etc. Farcical as a contest so I genuinely hope Germany get double figures against Gibraltar.

[tommymooney]

Dzeko is a 1 in 2 man at international level.

[forestfan]

I expect Gibraltar will be packed with lower league British players with a loose connection to the place. They probably won't be at San Marino levels of craptitude.

[Hank_Moody]

Either way I think Wales have a slighter better team than Bosnia.

You would, wouldn't you

Last time you played them (at home too) http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19277392" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Current world rankings - Bosnia-Hercegovina 17th, Wales 51st.

[forestfan]

Is this the same Bosnia who have qualified for the World Cup? Wales finished, what, 4th in their group?

[stitchy]

And Liverpool are better than Brazil, Sterling is better than Messi, blah blah blah...

[Achiles74]

Is this the same Bosnia who have qualified for the World Cup? Wales finished, what, 4th in their group?

It is but this is a different Welsh team, we have the most expensive world player.
We have the one player responsible for enabling Arsenal be in the title race this year (Ramsey).
His early form in the season got Arsenal where they are now.

We have some excellent youngsters coming through.

I wouldnt be surprised if Harry Wilson made his senior debut this season

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... p-win.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm sure Bluenosey can tell everyone how good Huws is playing for Birmingham City.

All in all very positive feeling about Wales making it to Euro 2016

[murf]

Germany v Gibraltar is going to be a cricket score.

Aren't Gibraltar the only unbeaten team in the world?

(Played 1 Drawn 1 - unless I've missed the excitement of their second ever game)

[Achiles74]

Germany v Gibraltar is going to be a cricket score.

Aren't Gibraltar the only unbeaten team in the world?

(Played 1 Drawn 1 - unless I've missed the excitement of their second ever game)

Could Gibraltar be a bit cheeky and get some Spanish players to play for them?
Perhaps that was why the Spanish warship was entering British waters around Gibraltar, warning them off Michu

[Red Eye]

Aren't Gibraltar the only unbeaten team in the world?

Seems they may be having drawn 0-0 with Slovakia in a supposedly 'backs to the wall' performance.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24961656

I guess it remains to be seen how bad they actually are but surely they shouldn't be on the same pitch as Germany as the result is a foregone conclusion. No-one wants to see what are effectively amateur teams fielding players of the most tenuous eligibility and 'defending' for 90 minutes.

The rationale for including them seems to be 'but how are they supposed to get better' etc. etc. But what about England? How are England supposed to get better? Given the opposition and ease of qualifying under the new structure, seems like they basically have a series of friendlies with no top-class opposition in sight. That can't be good for the team nor for the public's interest in International football.

[forestfan]

People talk about the likes of Turkey, who went from minnows we used to beat 8-0 to a team capable of making an impact at major tournaments within a couple of decades. But these nano-nations with populations the size of an average British town are never going to improve, just through the basic question of numbers. Maybe a population criteria is needed for automatic entry to the main draw at least - I know the likes of Iceland and Montenegro have been competitive with well under 1m populations but you have to draw the line somewhere.

[Achiles74]

People talk about the likes of Turkey, who went from minnows we used to beat 8-0 to a team capable of making an impact at major tournaments within a couple of decades. But these nano-nations with populations the size of an average British town are never going to improve, just through the basic question of numbers. Maybe a population criteria is needed for automatic entry to the main draw at least - I know the likes of Iceland and Montenegro have been competitive with well under 1m populations but you have to draw the line somewhere.

If we are talking population then England has a population of 53million compared to Spain's population of 47million, again compare those 2 countries to Holland 17million.

In terms of population then ability on the football pitch does not correlate.

And the population of Wales is approx 3million.

[forestfan]

People talk about the likes of Turkey, who went from minnows we used to beat 8-0 to a team capable of making an impact at major tournaments within a couple of decades. But these nano-nations with populations the size of an average British town are never going to improve, just through the basic question of numbers. Maybe a population criteria is needed for automatic entry to the main draw at least - I know the likes of Iceland and Montenegro have been competitive with well under 1m populations but you have to draw the line somewhere.

If we are talking population then England has a population of 53million compared to Spain's population of 47million, again compare those 2 countries to Holland 17million.

In terms of population then ability on the football pitch does not correlate.

And the population of Wales is approx 3million.

Yeah, but San Marino with what, 30,000 - absolutely no chance they can ever be competitive.

[Red Eye]

Don't think you can single out countries on anything other than results/seeding but that should be enough. There is that theory of learning where it is most effective in the 'zone of proximal development' (i.e. when something is a bit challenging but not so much you can't possibly do it).

Neither Germany nor Gibraltar will get anything out of such a fixture. Teams need to be pitched against opponents where they are challenged but also have some possibility of succeeding in some way. So Gibraltar, Andorra etc. need to playing each other more often along with teams slightly better than them, so make them pre-qualify. If they get through, fair enough, then they get their day out against Spain, Germany etc.

[Achiles74]

People talk about the likes of Turkey, who went from minnows we used to beat 8-0 to a team capable of making an impact at major tournaments within a couple of decades. But these nano-nations with populations the size of an average British town are never going to improve, just through the basic question of numbers. Maybe a population criteria is needed for automatic entry to the main draw at least - I know the likes of Iceland and Montenegro have been competitive with well under 1m populations but you have to draw the line somewhere.

If we are talking population then England has a population of 53million compared to Spain's population of 47million, again compare those 2 countries to Holland 17million.

In terms of population then ability on the football pitch does not correlate.

And the population of Wales is approx 3million.

Yeah, but San Marino with what, 30,000 - absolutely no chance they can ever be competitive.

It depends if they have a culture which is highly tuned towards sports and fitness.

They don't.

But any tiny country where the inhabitants are all well rounded in terms of sports would do better than Britain, where we are not a very sports orientated country (in terms of education for our youngsters).

It seems we prefer to plonk children down in front of a TV or Playstation than encouraging them to play sports.

Our Tennis players are useless.
We have so few decent players for any national team in terms of football.