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Andorra v. England Matchday Thread


CyderInACan

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Can’t really ask for much more than 5-0 win away on a hiding to nothing. Scary to think Andorra aren’t even the weakest team in the group. The qualifying process for WC and Euros needs a serious shake-up.

Not happy that horrible lot from north of the Kielder Forest fluked a stoppage time win. Hopefully the fact they made such heavy weather of Israel (again) means they will have their hearts broken in the playoffs.

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4 minutes ago, WessexPest said:

Can’t really ask for much more than 5-0 win away on a hiding to nothing. Scary to think Andorra aren’t even the weakest team in the group. The qualifying process for WC and Euros needs a serious shake-up.

Not happy that horrible lot from north of the Kielder Forest fluked a stoppage time win. Hopefully the fact they made such heavy weather of Israel (again) means they will have their hearts broken in the playoffs.

I agree something needs to change to stop these meaningless games and the smaller nations should be in their own qualifying groups.

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8 minutes ago, Shaun Taylor said:

I agree something needs to change to stop these meaningless games and the smaller nations should be in their own qualifying groups.

I recall not too long ago the qualifying groups were genuinely exciting - it was almost knockout football because even one defeat could have disastrous consequences for a nation’s qualification prospects. Obviously the number of Uefa nations increased dramatically following the collapse of the Eastern bloc and every nation has the right to attempt to qualify.

The Euro qualifiers are the worst - it’s almost an achievement not to qualify given how many strikes you can accumulate before you’re out. I know this year was a bit of an anomaly due to the multiple hosts, but ordinarily with 24 teams (it should never have been expanded to that many, but no point complaining about that now) there would be one host qualifying automatically so have a preliminary round to separate the wheat from the chaff and reduce 54 teams to 48 - maybe make the weakest nations per the coefficient compete in a preliminary group round, have the top two from each group advance to the qualifying tournament proper.

Then divide the remaining 48 into 12 groups of four - top two from each group qualify for the finals apart from the weakest  runners-up, who are eliminated. Six games apiece, no playoff nonsense and fewer interruptions of the club campaign for international breaks with games that are like watching paint dry.

 

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1 hour ago, Shaun Taylor said:

I agree something needs to change to stop these meaningless games and the smaller nations should be in their own qualifying groups.

Problem is if you put all the minnows into a qualifying group then it means one of them makes it into the World Cup, which would be seen as more farcical.

The alternative is them having a qualifying group to join everyone else in qualifying, but that would be unfair on them having to go through extra games just to reach qualifying. 

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3 minutes ago, JamesBCFC said:

Problem is if you put all the minnows into a qualifying group then it means one of them makes it into the World Cup, which would be seen as more farcical.

The alternative is them having a qualifying group to join everyone else in qualifying, but that would be unfair on them having to go through extra games just to reach qualifying. 

It might be unfair but that’s life - the no-hopers have to jump through extra hoops in the European club competitions so it’s not without precedent. 

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1 hour ago, WessexPest said:

It might be unfair but that’s life - the no-hopers have to jump through extra hoops in the European club competitions so it’s not without precedent. 

entirely different competition and scenario.
 

European club competitions are every year, with a spot in them determined by how the club did in their domestic competitions the year before. The coefficients which determine which point they enter is determined by that nations previous performances (as in the club from there as a whole), but they still had to earn their spot in the competition independently, and it is annual not quadrennial.

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15 hours ago, WessexPest said:

Can’t really ask for much more than 5-0 win away on a hiding to nothing. Scary to think Andorra aren’t even the weakest team in the group. The qualifying process for WC and Euros needs a serious shake-up.

Not happy that horrible lot from north of the Kielder Forest fluked a stoppage time win. Hopefully the fact they made such heavy weather of Israel (again) means they will have their hearts broken in the playoffs.

Yep, hopefully a tough draw, like Serbia for example.

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Strange that Scotland have played Israel 5 times in the last 13 months and that was the first time they have beaten them if you don't include on pens.

In the play offs I think if they met Switzerland or Sweden they would lose, as there are semi finals and a final stage their best bet is winning 2 close games against the likes of Poland, Serbia, Ukraine, Czech/Wales which is unlikely but not impossible. I would put their chances of qualifying for Qatar at around 10% but we will see.

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16 hours ago, Shaun Taylor said:

I agree something needs to change to stop these meaningless games and the smaller nations should be in their own qualifying groups.

I couldn't disagree more. As far as I'm concerned all seedings should cease and there should be a straight draw in all competitions run by FIFA and UEFA, including the terribly misnamed Champions League. All affiliated nations and clubs have paid their dues and deserve to be afforded respect. It won't happen of course because those that run FIFA and the confederations are much  more interested in lining their pockets than programmes to improve facilities and coaching in the smaller nations. 

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1 minute ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

I couldn't disagree more. As far as I'm concerned all seedings should cease and there should be a straight draw in all competitions run by FIFA and UEFA, including the terribly misnamed Champions League. All affiliated nations and clubs have paid their dues and deserve to be afforded respect. It won't happen of course because those that run FIFA and the confederations are much  more interested in lining their pockets than programmes to improve facilities and coaching in the smaller nations. 

That does make sense but as we all know money talks so it won't happen. As for the champions league how can it continue to be called that when you got 3 other teams plus the champions participating from England and similar in other countries. Maybe let the current champions join in at a later stage would help!

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2 minutes ago, Shaun Taylor said:

That does make sense but as we all know money talks so it won't happen. As for the champions league how can it continue to be called that when you got 3 other teams plus the champions participating from England and similar in other countries. Maybe let the current champions join in at a later stage would help!

Just restrict it to one team per national league, I. E. The Champions. Everyone else is in the other comp. 

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Trouble is, more is more as far as UEFA and FIFA are concerned. They can’t help tinkering with tournaments and adding more and more teams - the quality suffers and the qualifying process becomes more and more convoluted. It makes no sense to have more than two teams progressing from a group of four.

 

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58 minutes ago, The Gasbuster said:

Always good to see N.I. doing well, of course.

I draw the line at the taffs & jocks, though.

I don’t really mind one way or t’other with N Ire or Wales.

Scotland are the international equivalent of the Gash, though. I hope they lose every game they play.

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