ah the classic excuse of poor footballing counries, population. the dutch have about 15 million,portugal has only 10 simmilar to belgium and there consistently world class teams, its not a viable excuse with the footballing history that the scots have, theyve never been a force on the world stage there simply a weak football nation

How is this thread so old without an update...?

Ireland 2-1 Georgia

Phew! Your views, folks?

By the way, Georgia were robbed with that penalty...

I totally forgot about the games today!

Good stuff from Belgium, played Slovenia in a friendly and won 2-0, a double from Daniel Van Buyten

Hoping Spain beat England...

Very true, but do we care?! Absolutely not, we're in a very strong position now

Australia 0-0 Japan.

All we have to do is get the 3 points from Uzbekistan in Sydney and we are going to South Africa!!!

GO SOCCEROOS!!!!

Australia very lucky to get through with a draw, very lucky, we have to thank Mark, for saving us from losing is the last 3 games, by far the best player for australia!

I Was all yea we are going to destroy georgia,no sweat........You could say when they scored i wanted to bully myself...

Fairplay to the lads though they got stuck in and got it back..Obviously with a little help!!

I honestly think we have a chance to get to south africa

England showing they can't finish last night.

In their defence the referee was whistle happy, the lines man had a dodgy eye and Spain, I thought, were playing in a rather cynical manner at times - but I suppose that's just football!

Great finish from Villa, but should of never have been in a scoring opportunity. Was that really the best team England could muster!?



(Role on Saturday)

i know we werent great last night and i know the ref handed us the game but i dont care!!!!!!

if we beat bulgaria we may as well book our tickets to south africa!!!

hahaha on england by the way!

I care! We were shocking. We have no creativity in midfield. WHY won't Trap select Andy Reid? Ok, he wants to play 2players in a holding role, but at least have him on the bench so we can change our tactics when we go 1-0 down at home to mediocre football nations. He is leaving him out to prove some sort of weird point to us that he is in control. Glenn Whelan? C'mon Trap he's not a good player, he can't get a game for Stoke ffs. Hurry back Steven Reid, that's if crazy Trap will have you back considering you share your surname with his nemesis.

You care that Georgia were robbed because of our penalty?! That's a little bit worrying coming from an Irishman

Anyway, one thing we can't do, in my opinion, is berate the Trap, regardless of his team selection. This is our best start EVER to a world cup qualifying campaign, and we have a better chance than in 2002 of qualifying...if we don't qualify, or at least make the playoffs, then we are entitled to criticise. Remember Steven Reid and Stephen Ireland's last game together? 5-2 trouncing in CYPRUS...we are far from a world class team, Trappatoni knows that, and if this means picking Whelan and Andrews to consolidate in the centre of the park, then so be it. Any win in this group is a bonus, so just be happy that we are in such a strong position!

I didn't mean i felt sorry for the Georgians, but that I was worried about the standard of the performance.
Fair enough, we're in a great position, and i'm never one to knock my national team unnecessarily. I don't agree that Trap should be treated as the great infallible saviour of Irish soccer however. I have my doubts about his commitment. He rarely attends Premiership games involving our players for example. He picked Gibson without ever seeing him play (which, in fairness, would be difficult considering he was Utd's 9th choice midfielder at the time). I can't wait for the Bulgaria and Italy games, and I hope as much as anyone that we can pick up at least 4pts. All I'm saying is that we are asking for trouble if we keep riding our luck with understrength selections and poor performances, accepting them on the basis of the pedigree of the manager.
Now, to catch my breath...

I still don't think our performances have been that poor, nobody can deny the fact that we fully deserve the 10 points we have at this stage, and in some regards we are unlucky not to have 12. I certainly don't question Trap's committment, nor do I question his enthusiasm - having been to both the home games, and sat right above him, it is heart-warmingly reassuring to see his exuberant antics on the touchline when something goes right or wrong. Like I said, if he can bring an average side to the world cup again, nobody can knock his decision-making. If he doesn't, well we'll just have to accept we're not good enough

Well I don't think we should have to accept that, especially if he fails to get there by leaving out some of his best players. You make the point that we need consolidation in the middle of the park. What happens when we're faced with a situation like that against Georgia and we have no options on the bench? It was a lucky win, that cannot surely be denied. I would have been shattered if we failed to beat them. It was too close a call for me. There really is no reason to leave a good pro and creative talent like Andy Reid out of the squad ENTIRELY and select players like Gibson, Liam Miller, and Kevin Foley over him. I would say something if Reid had complained or given him a reason to drop him like Joey O'Brien did, but he has done nothing but state his total commitment to his country. It defies logic.

apart from South Africa, are there any countries that have secured a spot in world cup yet??

what date is the first match for the WC; its next year now lol

To answer your first question, no.

To answer your other question,

11/06/2010

Northern Ireland 3-2 Poland

"Brazil - it's just like watching Brazil"

.... well maybe not but it does go to show what you can do with limited talent, passion, pride and organisation



Not a world cup match but a good win for England - the striker injuries could be a blessing in disguise if Rooney and Gerrard get a chance together up front (shame about the new shirts though )


go Northern Ireland and England!!!

Poor result for the Republic, a draw and very poor performance against an extremely average Bulgarian side missing their two best players. If we miss out on automatic qualification by a point or two, we'll know where it happened!

Surprised Scotland only lost 3 goals. Think we will struggle against Iceland as well.

AUSTRALIA 2-0 UZBEKISTAN!!!

All we need is Bahrain v Qatar to be a DRAW and SOCEROOS QUALIFY FOR SOUTH AFRICA!!!!

that game starts in a few hours....we could be there in...5 hours from now!!!

wouldnt be great if AUSTRALIA could be the first team to qualify (not counting South Africa's auto qualification)?