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    #26
    Mighty Wales

    So if we see off the mighty Israel and Germany fluff their lines we could go second this week.

    What a load of bollocks.

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      #27
      Mighty Wales

      Belgium would have to lose to Cyprus too. Third is more attainable.

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        #28
        Mighty Wales

        Rankings, schmankings.

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          #29
          Mighty Wales

          HORN wrote: So if we see off the mighty Israel and Germany fluff their lines we could go second this week.

          What a load of bollocks.
          It's like a parallel universe.

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            #30
            Mighty Wales

            It has to be said that, while Wales FIFA ranking is ridiculous, no-one has been complaining about England being in the top 10 for an eternity while doing the square root of fuck all.

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              #31
              Mighty Wales

              Losing in the last 16, which seems to be England's average, means you're in the top 16 though. Plus they usually ace their groups. (Except the last time they had a slightly tougher group and didn't go to Euro 2008.)

              So 8th or 9th probably isn't too far off.

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                #32
                Mighty Wales

                Oh, bloody England's 'warm balls' groups shouldn't count. It is usually a pub team from Mansfield, some country that has just got around to seceding from Yugoslavia, Norniron (or their exotic European equivalent), us, someone who used to be good and them.

                I think you are right, somewhere from 10-15 is about right. Before Sweden went really shit, they were only ever a slightly better Sweden anyway.

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                  #33
                  Mighty Wales

                  I guess I'm hopelessly old fashioned and ripe for scorn for wanting England to do well; and if England can't win a tournament for Wales or Scotland or Ireland or Northern Ireland to win it?

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                    #34
                    Mighty Wales

                    Not ripe for scorn exactly but....

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                      #35
                      Mighty Wales

                      It has to be said that, while Wales FIFA ranking is ridiculous, no-one has been complaining about England being in the top 10 for an eternity while doing the square root of fuck all.
                      If anything, though, that's a flaw in the system, isn't it? England tend to win friendlies and qualifiers - this is where the coefficient kicks in. Not that hard to work out, really.

                      And 'warm balls'? Nobody likes England - why would they do that?

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                        #36
                        Mighty Wales

                        I'm pleased for Wales and Northern Ireland who have at least given their supporters something to cheer for the first time in decades, but I'll stick to my firm opposition to the enlargement of the tournament in the first place.

                        There were some horrid, standard-depressing teams like the Republic of Ireland at the last one; adding in another 50% of filler is going to make it even more of a non-event than the World Cup has become.

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                          #37
                          Mighty Wales

                          There just aren't 24 national teams in Europe worth watching. There are maybe 10 or 11 at best.

                          They've really destroyed one of the best sporting events in existence, and what's worse is that they're never ever going to change it back. More games = more money, even if they're shite games.

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                            #38
                            Mighty Wales

                            dalliance wrote: I'm pleased for Wales and Northern Ireland who have at least given their supporters something to cheer for the first time in decades, but I'll stick to my firm opposition to the enlargement of the tournament in the first place.
                            Wales and NI aren't currently necessarily in line to benefit from that expansion though, given they top their groups.

                            .

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                              #39
                              Mighty Wales

                              I'm not especially a fan of the expanded tournament, either - but not for the reasons given above. (I mean, I'd stick my neck out and suggest that followers of the lower-ranked nations might be happy to see their teams participate.)

                              In any case, one of the main players in previous tournaments - the Netherlands - isn't even going to qualify, which betrays the lie within all the 'elitism' guff.

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                                #40
                                Mighty Wales

                                I'm not sure anyone considered they'd finish fourth in a one horse race.

                                It used to be an 8 team tournament until relatively recently. I remember Scotland's win in a dead match in 1992 had Andy Roxburgh excitedly claiming it meant Scotland were the 5th best team in Europe. We might not be 5th best in this group.

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                                  #41
                                  Mighty Wales

                                  Green Calx wrote: There just aren't 24 national teams in Europe worth watching. There are maybe 10 or 11 at best.

                                  They've really destroyed one of the best sporting events in existence, and what's worse is that they're never ever going to change it back. More games = more money, even if they're shite games.
                                  But by the time you get down to the quarter finals you've either got the teams worth watching left in, or you've enjoyed some 'shocks' along the way?

                                  Comment


                                    #42
                                    Mighty Wales

                                    And that the Dutch could still plausibly finish third and make the tournament via the back door is the ultimate indicator why the tournament is totally broken.

                                    Wales and NI aren't currently necessarily in line to benefit from that expansion though, given they top their groups.
                                    I didn't specifically say they were, I was just making a general point about the tournament as a whole.

                                    That said, I don't think either will do much to enhance the tournament when they are there, just as Scotland would have dragged down the standard too. I very much get the novelty of just being there is all the fans of these nations are concerned with this time however.

                                    .

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                                      #43
                                      Mighty Wales

                                      Leon Tricker wrote:
                                      Originally posted by Green Calx
                                      There just aren't 24 national teams in Europe worth watching. There are maybe 10 or 11 at best.

                                      They've really destroyed one of the best sporting events in existence, and what's worse is that they're never ever going to change it back. More games = more money, even if they're shite games.
                                      But by the time you get down to the quarter finals you've either got the teams worth watching left in, or you've enjoyed some 'shocks' along the way?
                                      Perhaps, perhaps not, but either way you shouldn't have to only switch on with one week of a tournament left in order to see some good games.

                                      I think that there will end up being a lot of closely-contested matches in Euro 2016, because a lot of the teams who look set to qualify appear evenly-matched, but that the standard of play in most of those games won't be great.

                                      Comment


                                        #44
                                        Mighty Wales

                                        Jah Womble wrote:
                                        It has to be said that, while Wales FIFA ranking is ridiculous, no-one has been complaining about England being in the top 10 for an eternity while doing the square root of fuck all.
                                        If anything, though, that's a flaw in the system, isn't it? England tend to win friendlies and qualifiers - this is where the coefficient kicks in. Not that hard to work out, really.
                                        That's my point, both the examples of Wales and England's FIFA rankings show the ridiculousness of the situation. It is just that people are complaining about more because Wales have suddenly gone above England.

                                        And 'warm balls'? Nobody likes England - why would they do that?
                                        No, of course not, they just always get easy qualifiers.

                                        Comment


                                          #45
                                          Mighty Wales

                                          dalliance wrote:

                                          Wales and NI aren't currently necessarily in line to benefit from that expansion though, given they top their groups.
                                          I didn't specifically say they were, I was just making a general point about the tournament as a whole.

                                          That said, I don't think either will do much to enhance the tournament when they are there, just as Scotland would have dragged down the standard too. I very much get the novelty of just being there is all the fans of these nations are concerned with this time however.

                                          .
                                          Your original comment can't really be read any other way :

                                          "I'm pleased for Wales and Northern Ireland...but I'll stick to my firm opposition to the enlargement of the tournament in the first place."

                                          Why elide the two points otherwise?

                                          Thanks for the pat on the head about just being there though.

                                          Comment


                                            #46
                                            Mighty Wales

                                            Bored of Education wrote:

                                            That's my point, both the examples of Wales and England's FIFA rankings show the ridiculousness of the situation. It is just that people are complaining about more because Wales have suddenly gone above England.
                                            I'm sure you like to think that's the only reason, but it's far more reaching than that. Not only are they positioned above England right now, but also above teams such as Spain, Italy and France.
                                            A team that has spent the last few decades somewhere between 50 and 100 in the rankings has risen into the top ten thanks to a decent set of results in the past twelve months where they have proved to be a bit better than Bosnia, Cyprus and Israel. Let's not forget that they started this campaign scraping past Andorra with the deciding goal coming in the last ten minutes.
                                            Based on that ranking they were then propelled into pot 1 in the draw for the next World Cup, at the expense of teams such as Italy and France, despite the fact that the last time they qualified for a World Cup was 60 years previous to this one.
                                            I reckon most of UEFA's members have a good reason to think that the rankings have reached a new level of ridiculousness.

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                                              #47
                                              Mighty Wales

                                              Will Wales ever be back at the Millennium now that they are hitting the big time?

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                                                #48
                                                Mighty Wales

                                                arthur924 wrote: Will Wales ever be back at the Millennium now that they are hitting the big time?
                                                That might be a counterproductive move - apart from a few memorable performances under Mark Hughes (beating Italy and Germany, drawing with Argentina), we've tended to freeze when we've played there.

                                                Mind you, I could see the mooted "Battle of Britain" being played there.

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                                                  #49
                                                  Mighty Wales

                                                  Sean of the Shed wrote:
                                                  I'm sure you like to think that's the only reason, but it's far more reaching than that. Not only are they positioned above England right now, but also above teams such as Spain, Italy and France.
                                                  A team that has spent the last few decades somewhere between 50 and 100 in the rankings has risen into the top ten thanks to a decent set of results in the past twelve months where they have proved to be a bit better than Bosnia, Cyprus and Israel. Let's not forget that they started this campaign scraping past Andorra with the deciding goal coming in the last ten minutes.
                                                  Based on that ranking they were then propelled into pot 1 in the draw for the next World Cup, at the expense of teams such as Italy and France, despite the fact that the last time they qualified for a World Cup was 60 years previous to this one.
                                                  It is ridiculous that Wales are seeded first. FIFA rankings have a lot of flaws that need to be looked at.

                                                  However, FIFA rankings place a lot of importance on the past 12 months, and whilst Wales have remained unbeaten France have lost to Albania and Belgium. It's based on results rather than having a striker who plays for Reading in your side. It also takes no account of how good your kit is, which is something I think needs to be changed.

                                                  FIFA rankings are an odd beast, they're sometimes used (like for WC qualification groups) but then UEFA are using a different metric for the group stages of Euro 2016 - where Wales will be fourth seed. Also very strange that FIFA use their own system for the men's game but then ELO (which is a much less erratic and more robust system) for the women's game.

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                                                    #50
                                                    Mighty Wales

                                                    arthur924 wrote: Will Wales ever be back at the Millennium now that they are hitting the big time?
                                                    For the group stages for the World Cup, I suspect not. There's not a "big name" team in the group (i.e. Germany, Spain, England) to draw a big crowd.

                                                    However, if Wales do qualify, then it's surely a decent venue to play a pre-tournament friendly or two if they feel they could sell it out against decent opposition (Argentina have been mentioned).

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