Predict World Cup Play-Off Draw

C

csirl

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We all know the stories about draws for soccer tournaments. Lets see if we can guess what FIFA are thinking.

Portugal & France will be drawn against either Bosnia-H or Slovenia.

The second one has two possible outcomes, any views?

Scenario 1:
Irish fans travel in large numbers which will help fill the anticpated empty stadia in South Africa, probably in greater numbers than the other teams in the draw. As a lot of Russian oligarchs fund football, then FIFA might like them to be in the World Cup. So draw will be:

Ireland v Greece & Russia v Ukraine.

Scenario 2:

FIFA doesnt fancy a Russia v Ukraine tie - wants to avoid the politics between the two. So draw will be:

Ireland v Russia & Greece v Ukraine.
 
Russia v Ireland
Portugal v Bosnia
France v Slovenia
Greece v Ukraine

and there you have it..
 
RonanC said:
France v Ireland
Portugal v Bosnia
Russia v Slovenia
Greece v Ukraine
Click to expand...

Actual Draw:
Republic of ireland vs France
Portugal vs Bosnia
Greece vs Ukraine
Russia vs Slovenia

You should have had a bet on!
 
France is not too bad a draw but not playing away the first leg is going to hurt us i would have prefered to play away first leg then drag them back to croker on the wednesday and inflict some mid-week greens on them (thye could of course inflict some mid-week blues on us though)
 
There will be some atmosphere in Croke Park, a saturday night game under lights (assuming it will be an evening kick off?)
 
aristotle25 said:
There will be some atmosphere in Croke Park, a saturday night game under lights (assuming it will be an evening kick off?)
Click to expand...

And then it's Ireland v Australia the following day at 3pm. Great weekend of sport.
 
aristotle25 said:
Actual Draw:
Republic of ireland vs France
Portugal vs Bosnia
Greece vs Ukraine
Russia vs Slovenia

You should have had a bet on!
Click to expand...

Ronan, since you got it right, what is the rationale behind the draw?

Is it:

France see us as being an easy draw.
Portugal v Bosnia - obvious.
Greece v Ukraine - want former Euro Champs to add credibility.
Russia v Slovenia - Oligarchs
 
its kinda ideal that Russia and Ukraine stayed away from each other.......politcal football written all over it if that had happenend. the draw was based on seeding system csirl. the teams seeded were France, Russia, Portugal and Greece so they were all kept apart and would not play each other, then they get drawn against the weaker teams in the hope that they would progress and the weaker ones would fail to qualify. This in turn would generate more revenue for FIFA and SA through tv rights, and population interest. Also means that the 'bigger' teams get through and make the world cup more exciting. It was unfair on us.
 
Only Hope is the eccentricity of French Coach Domenech, An older Henry from last Dublin visit, but we cannot hold a lead so I suspect they will manage a goal in Croker which will be our undoing!
 
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