WC 2006 draw

That is indeed the question. It doesn't make much sense, it just made the draw possibilities a bit more obvious once the first six pots were completed.
 
Well, however they were drawn, it will be interesting to see some of the "local" rivarly matchups.

Group 2 : Turkey-Greece :eek:
Ukraine-Georgia-Kazhakstan

Group 3 : Latvia-Estonia
Luxemborg-Liechtenstein :lol:

Group 6 : England-Wales-N.Ireland go hooligans go

Group 7 : Serb-Montenegro v. Bosnia-Herz :mad: :eek:


Of course, as an American, I feel sorry for our poor brothers to the north. Home-Away v. Belze (shouldn't be too rough) but then dumped into a group with Honduras, Guatemala and Costa Rica !!! 4 decent teams, only 2 can advance.
If the FIFA rankings are to be believed :rolleyes: that means this group is actually tougher than some of the Euro groups.
 
Originally posted by Alone

England, Italy and Germany were everytime at final turnament. They are by far the best Foot.Nat.Team no matter what are opinion of some people on this site or alse (you may like 'em or not but that another question). So they are very quality and very "stable" in that quality (hope I choose the right word) so I don't see this three, in this case two, team not qualify for this tournament which mean in those group will be very hard to go further than in the others.

:hmm: Italy only failed to qualify in 58 and Germany qualified everytime they entered the tournament (in 30 they didn't play and in 50 they were still in a mess cause of WWII), but England? cough, WC 94, cough; cough, seventies, cough. Not to mention the Euro... Belgium has had a better record than England in last 25 years.

Anyway, regarding the groups with seven teams, I'm quite happy that we were drawn into one, cause that means more official matches and even if they are against Liechtenstein and Luxemburg, it is still a good oportunity to improve the team... I hope...
 
well...Belgium did not manage to qualify for a lot of euro's....the only reason they were there in 2000 is because they were qualified automatically.

The world cup is a different story though. They do a better job on those. :)
 
Bye Bye WC2006.
Israel sucks.
The only WC we'll ever get to never smells too good.
 
Originally posted by MCdread


:hmm: Italy only failed to qualify in 58 and Germany qualified everytime they entered the tournament (in 30 they didn't play and in 50 they were still in a mess cause of WWII), but England? cough, WC 94, cough; cough, seventies, cough. Not to mention the Euro... Belgium has had a better record than England in last 25 years.

...

I got your point about England, but I still standing on my words. The only change is almost always not always and they are with Italy "must" in future WCs before than Spain, France, Chehs etc. I can easely see Belgium and Serbia&M. before Spain in Germany. I cannot see Wales and N.Ireland insted of England. I don't say that Spain is not goin, to qualify but I can easely imagine as possibile and oposite for England.

PS I don't see the reason for France and Spain to be protected becouse of theres clubs (in this draw) (if that is the reason, if I understand correct) I think much more national team player from Chehs or Holland or Portugal etc. are involved in very hard competition than some of those nation. Example: How many Spanish national team player are in Barselona or Real and how many from others country. Well it's all not important at all, those are just some of my thoughts about this issue. Tho some says it's most immportant unessential thing in the world (football).
 
Damn, we have to play 5th best S.American side.. More bull crap!! After already robbing us of a spot.

I'd like to see Oceania combined in Asia, if they aren't going to treat us as a real zone.... Cos after playing the llikes of Tahiti, Fiji, NZ to come up against a side from S.America which has played 18 tough internationals is total b.s ... we need gaming experience and cohersion...

Those clubs better let our lads come out and play - but no doubt they won't... No wonder Soccer is so FUBAR in this country
 
Originally posted by willemvanoranje
well, at least Israel isn't like Andorra

At least Andorra is next to Georgia and Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan surely wins any award of the most non European country playing in the Euro qualifiers. Now I wonder if this is something to do with making sure that the European qualifying groups have the most teams so that in the future they can justify having the most WC qualifying places.
 
Kazakhstan is a member of UEFA because:

UEFA Congress: Kazakhstan joins UEFA
Thursday, 25 April 2002
Kazakhstan has been admitted as UEFA's 52nd member association. The former Soviet republic joined the European confederation at the XXVI Ordinary UEFA Congress in Stockholm.

Executive Committee's recommendation
Delegates from Europe's national football associations approved a recommendation by UEFA's Executive Committee to bring Kazakhstan into the European football family.

Status report
The Executive Committee announced its support for Kazakhstan's request for entry into the European football union last December, after studying a status report produced by UEFA officials who visited Kazakhstan. The Football Association of the Republic of Kazakhstan withdrew from the Asian Football Confederation in June last year

Central Asia
Kazakhstan is situated in central Asia and is the second largest of the former Soviet republics, covering 2,724,900sq km. It borders five countries - China, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Russia - and has a population of 14 million.

Glad to be back
Association president Rakhat Aliyev told uefa.com: "I am very happy. Ten months ago, UEFA President Lennart Johansson said in the media that Kazakhstan would be welcome in UEFA. We were in UEFA previously as a part of the USSR, and are glad to be back."

Better future
"Practically speaking, it means more contacts with Europe and more investment projects," he added. "It will also lead to a better future for players and especially young people in the country. It will lead to a higher professional level."

Eliminated from World Cup
Kazakhstan were eliminated in the first round of the Asian confederation's qualifiers for the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals. They missed out narrowly, on goal difference, having finished unbeaten and with an identical record to group winners Iraq, who went on to contest play-offs against the Republic of Ireland.

Change in domestic game
The domestic game in Kazakhstan is undergoing various changes, with the switch from one 17-team professional league to two divisions of 12 sides, called the Premier League and First League. Zhenis Astana, a team based in the Kazakh capital of Astana, were the country's 2001 champions.

Now, where is Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan?
 
Interesting article, I assume that this also means that they will be trying to qualify for Euro 2008 but it still doesn't truely explain the motivation of UEFA as simply being formerly a part of the USSR isn't the best reason to let them join as like Hakon says, is this going to open the door for more countries to join UEFA.
 
are we heading towards a multi-federation football world, where the UEFA becomes a counter-part of the FIFA and hosts its own world cups?
 
Originally posted by willemvanoranje
are we heading towards a multi-federation football world, where the UEFA becomes a counter-part of the FIFA and hosts its own world cups?

They do already! It's called the European Championship :p

Seriously, I doubt that very much. Kazakhstan wanted to join in because they thought it would improve their skills playing against better nations. (might have something to do with the AFC not being too well organised as well, because they actually went out of AFC first before applying to join UEFA). If that does happen, however, I will most definitely stop following football and become a full-time cricket fan ;)
 
Never underestimate Blatter's arrogance when it comes to dealing with UEFA.


Originally posted by Tsargrad
Damn, we have to play 5th best S.American side.. More bull crap!! After already robbing us of a spot.

I'd like to see Oceania combined in Asia, if they aren't going to treat us as a real zone.... Cos after playing the llikes of Tahiti, Fiji, NZ to come up against a side from S.America which has played 18 tough internationals is total b.s ... we need gaming experience and cohersion...

Those clubs better let our lads come out and play - but no doubt they won't... No wonder Soccer is so FUBAR in this country

Yeah, the Aussies were bent over again. I agree, it makes more sense to group them with Asia, historically, geograpically.... I guess Canada/Honduras has more pull :crazyeye:

Where do most Australians play ? Will they have a lot of Euro friendlies ? A home-away against NZ is no prep at all for Peru.
 
Originally posted by Zamphyr
Where do most Australians play ? Will they have a lot of Euro friendlies ? A home-away against NZ is no prep at all for Peru.

Perú? Are you kidding...perú is playing terribly. The 5th spot might get it Venezuela who's playing very well in these qualifications.
 
Originally posted by Inter32


Perú? Are you kidding...perú is playing terribly. The 5th spot might get it Venezuela who's playing very well in these qualifications.

Impressive. Don't Venezuela usually finish last in the qualifications?
 
Originally posted by Inter32


Last qualifications they ended up 6th. winning the last 4-5 games, beating teams like Colombia, Uruguay..

In the last game Vzla. beat Colombia 1 - 0 in Colombia.

Looks like they're up and coming...was talking about a bit further back though (dug this out of a website):

'98 - 9th place out of 9 with 3 points (3 draws)
'94 - 5th place out of 5 with 2 points (a win in a meaningless match against Ecuador)
'90 - 3rd place out of 3 with no points
'86 - 4th place out of 4 with 1 point
'82 - 3rd place out of 3 with 2 points (a 1-0 home win over Bolivia)
'78 - 3rd place out of 3 with 1 point
'74 - withdrew
'70 - 4th place out of 4 with 1 point
'66 - 3rd place out of 3 with no points
'58 - withdrew

I call that usually finishing last...even Norway have better statistics than that I think.
 
well..yeah they always came up last :lol:...but things are changing ;)
 
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