dinotheprehistoricgeordie Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Bosnia have qualified for their first major tournament Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
colinmk Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Anya is absolutely amazing for us, what a difference he has made. Looked like a headless chicken a year ago. Now one of our most important players, proper nice guy too. Yeah read some interviews, seems like a down to earth good lad. Has he been doing well in the championship? Love how he plays for Scotland, absolutely no fear to take on his man and top notch workrate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jollof rice and pea Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Whats with Montenegro letting in five against Moldava Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disco Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Not sure what is worse. Maxi Rodriguez captaining and scoring for Argentina or Uruguay conceding to this Argentine team? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponsaelius Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 Valdivia is a beautiful player to watch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponsaelius Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 Brilliant header by Sanchez. He's a different player for Chile. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mole_Toonfan Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 Brilliant header by Sanchez. He's a different player for Chile. Tbf he's been a lot better for Barca since the turn of the year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 Fair play to Lagerbäck for taking Iceland to the play offs, massive achievement that Used to think he was the most boring man in football, but I quite like him as a pundit (though he's still really boring to listen to), and clearly knows what he's doing when it comes to qualifying for tournaments. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trumpet Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 Maxi still has it in him. criminally underused in his last season with us. Happy for him to be back in the national side Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 Whats with Montenegro letting in five against Moldava Was looking through all the results and this was the one that stood out most. 5-2 ffs. Moldova only finished 2 points behind Poland. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Einsinn Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 Fair play to Lagerbäck for taking Iceland to the play offs, massive achievement that Used to think he was the most boring man in football, but I quite like him as a pundit (though he's still really boring to listen to), and clearly knows what he's doing when it comes to qualifying for tournaments. Not to take anything from lagerback but this is mainly down to the fact that we are starting to reap the rewards of the massive overhaul of our youth system/infrastructure which began in the early 2000's. we've build around 10 indoor full sized artificial grass pitches, 20 outside artificial pitches and some 130 smaller kickabout fields at schools since then. this has given our young kids almost 2 - 4 days a week of indoor training a week over the winter months instead of having to train outside in the cold on gravel or inside some horse stadiums like when i was younger :=) the youth coaches are almost all professional coaches and around 60% have uefa b coaching license instead of just some random parent of the kids taking over the coaching role as i understand is the norm in some countries with the young kids Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flip Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 It's not until you see that number of pitches that you understand how small Iceland really is Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nobody Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 And it's not until you've been there and had to travel all across the island because of some stupid volcano eruption to find an airport that's open that you realise how big Iceland is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheHoob Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 Those are exactly the kind of steps the FA should be taking, instead they seem desperate to focus the argument on foreigners in the PL. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AyeDubbleYoo Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 We badly needs loads more indoor facilities, the weather is appalling and maintaining outdoor pitches is difficult and/or not done. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 It's not until you see that number of pitches that you understand how small Iceland really is Finland and Sweden are like Russia when compared to Iceland. Proper jelly of this, hope they get through from the playoffs. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ponsaelius Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 It's not until you see that number of pitches that you understand how small Iceland really is Finland and Sweden are like Russia when compared to Iceland. Proper jelly of this, hope they get through from the playoffs. Start producing less car drivers and more Litmanen's then you letdowns. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trumpet Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 All Nordic nations are getting better in football except Norway. Iceland has progressed very well with overhaul of their infrastructure and most their top players are young and yet to hit their peak Denmark has a decent crop of young talent (Okore, Eriksen, Fischer, Cornelius, etc) to work with and hopefully they'll get their chance once Olsen is done Finland has impressed me lately as well. Mostly a hoofball team, but they finally are getting results against teams of their level and are on the up Sweden is the one that needs to be careful once Ibra goes. Norway though, is a mess. Appointing Drillo again gave them a boost and got them topping a Euro qualifying group with Denmark and Portugal in it initially, getting 9th in FIFA ranking to get a relatively easy WC qualifying group, but then it all went wrong. (I guess Drillo's Pulis football wasn't gonna work longterm), and there is no sign of long-term thinking in their federation. Have some decent young players (Nordveit, King, etc)...but I don't think they'll be much of a threat. Seeing next Euros are 24 teams, I expect Denmark, Sweden and Iceland to surely qualify. Outside chance for Finland as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 I'm quite optimistic about our chances to qualify to the next Euros. Mixu Paatelainen was a good appointment and he's now had two years to get his system familiar with the players without having any pressure to get results. 2016 was always the main target, especially after the horrible draw for these WC qualifiers. We played some canny stuff in Paris and but were missing two important CBs. While we don't have as many big names like Litmanen and Hyypiä as we used to, we have a decent young core who got important experience in these qualifiers. Roman Eremenko is the standout player and absolutely lovely player to watch. Teemu Pukki also needs to get minutes in Celtic to help our woeful scoring record. We have a real chance to get to the Euros if we can get a decent draw and the important players stay fit. Can't wait for the draw. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trumpet Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 I'm quite optimistic about our chances to qualify to the next Euros. Mixu Paatelainen was a good appointment and he's now had two years to get his system familiar with the players without having any pressure to get results. 2016 was always the main target, especially after the horrible draw for these WC qualifiers. We played some canny stuff in Paris and but were missing two important CBs. While we don't have as many big names like Litmanen and Hyypiä as we used to, we have a decent young core who got important experience in these qualifiers. Roman Eremenko is the standout player and absolutely lovely player to watch. Teemu Pukki also needs to get minutes in Celtic to help our woeful scoring record. We have a real chance to get to the Euros if we can get a decent draw and the important players stay fit. Can't wait for the draw. Yea. I was looking at potential seedings (Which are all based on previous performances in qualifiers and main campaign...not like FIFA rankings) and Finland are likely to be in pot 4. A group of Greece, Hungary, Norway, Finland, Moldova, San Marino will do nicely. Or it could end up being Germany, Belgium, Austria, Finland, Iceland, Cyprus. Unbelievable what a difference the draw could make. Poor Iceland will still be in pot 5 for that draw, even if they qualify for WC. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flip Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 Nordic nations are getting worse ffs. From being a given in competitions to having problems qualifying. Denmark won the Euros in 92 reached quarterfinals of the World Cup in 98, Sweden finished 2nd in 58 and 3rd in 94 World Cup. Sweden reached last 64 in 02', 06' and didn't even go to the World Cup in 2010. Norway went from 98 World Cup to nada. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deuce Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 It's pretty futile to look at their trajectory over a 60-year period though. In recent history, they've tended to be rather poor and are experiencing a small upswing in achievement. It's like saying the U.S. has been on an 80-year downturn because they reached 3rd place at the 1930 World Cup. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trumpet Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 Nordic nations are getting worse ffs. From being a given in competitions to having problems qualifying. Denmark won the Euros in 92 reached quarterfinals of the World Cup in 98, Sweden finished 2nd in 58 and 3rd in 94 World Cup. Sweden reached last 64 in 02', 06' and didn't even go to the World Cup in 2010. Norway went from 98 World Cup to nada. Compared to the 90s for sure....but likes of Iceland and Finland weren't even talked about in mid-2000s, and now there is a lifeline. I say before when Denmark/Sweden faced another Nordic team, you automatically knew the result. It was a bit like England facing Wales. Now it's a lot more even. Both result of Finland/Iceland getting better, and Norway getting worse. If you look at major tournaments since 98 (I think 15 years span is long enough) WC 98- Norway, Denmark Euro 2000- Denmark, Sweden, Norway WC 2002- Sweden, Denmark Euro 2004- Sweden, Denmark WC 06- Sweden Euro 08- Sweden WC 10- Denmark Euro 12- Sweden, Denmark WC 14- Potentially Iceland/Sweden Denmark and Sweden have dominated the last decade (Sweden mostly thanks to one of the best strikers of this generation, and Denmark due to consistency of their management)...but I predict it'll be a lot even for the upcoming decade. Denmark will remain strong, and I wouldn't be surprised if Sweden go the way Norway went after Euro 2000 with Ibra's retirement. One of my Swedish mates was saying how football competes with Hockey to attract young talents, and it's now going to the latter more. Being a big fan of social democracy, and having seen and [lived] in all Nordic nations (Iceland aside), I fucking love them and hope they become competitive. That may explain my positive spin on things. Nordic football has been on a decline for a decade, but I think the improvement of Finland/Iceland will be a much needed kick in the ass for Sweden/Norway and hopefully the entire region will wake up and be competitive. Fingers crossed both Sweden and Iceland make it to Brazil. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pata Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 Hockey and floorball are taking away a lot of talent in both Finland and Sweden. Wish they banned competitive floorball, absolutely pointless sport which is taking away real talent from football and hockey both. Just play Sweden vs Finland once a year with amateurs and see who's the best that year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted October 16, 2013 Share Posted October 16, 2013 Holy shit, floorball is really the name. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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