World Cup Qualification Group D Thread

grannyrule wrote: Gary Mackay and the one-nil loss to Georgia the last campaign, can Scotland do us another favour tomorrow night?

Strazdas wrote: elroy45 wrote: Oh Slovenia please don't lose tomorrow, nerves are gonna be bad enough on Monday without needing two results to go our way I reckon they'll get a result tomorrow. They've yet to even concede a goal at home in this group and have been a consistently good side at home for a few years.

Edited by TonyNotJack - 07 Oct 2017 at 11:08pm

Slovenia are set in League 3 at least. They don't have a plausible route to League 2 (it would rely on mad results) but they are basically set in League 3 and can't drop to League 4.


Edited by SuperDave84 - 07 Oct 2017 at 11:12pm

Scotland are on a roll. Id fancy them tomorrow unfortunately.

RKeane wrote: Personally think teams like Cyprus and Greece should be kept apart in qualifying, oldest trick in the book it looked like tonight, let them score first it will not look as bad

Yep, just like the two Irish sides should be kept apart, as they'll always do each other favours.

And the Scots and English.

Or those well known Celtic cousins Wales and ROI.

Of course, I didn't actually see the Cyprus/Greece game, but for the Greeks (ranked 47th) to beat Cyprus (ranked 70th) by a single goal, when they had everything to play for and the Cypriots nothing bar some local pride, well it's hardly the most unlikely result, is it?

RKeane wrote: Personally think teams like Cyprus and Greece should be kept apart in qualifying, oldest trick in the book it looked like tonight, let them score first it will not look as bad

Yep, just like the two Irish sides should be kept apart, as they'll always do each other favours. You know, like 1993, when we scored first to make it "look good". At least, that's what the Danes thought.

And the Scots and English.

Or those well known Celtic cousins Wales and ROI.

Oh and England gifting NI a 0-0 draw in 1985 when they (England) had nothing to play for, or not feeling in the  least bit humiliated at losing 1-0 in 2005, since they guessed we'd like a bit of a lift.

Or the 2-2 draw in Cardiff between Wales and NI when the teams had three players sent off - all for show.

Of course, I didn't actually see the Cyprus/Greece game, but for the Greeks (ranked 47th) to beat Cyprus (ranked 70th) by a single goal, when they had everything to play for and the Cypriots nothing bar some local pride, well it's hardly the most unlikely result, is it?

The fact that scotland have eveeything to play for while realistically Slovenia have little MIGHT work in our favour.  Scotland will be tense and uptight and may not be able to relax enough to play to their potential.  omeimes the team with nothing to play for are relaxed and have no fear as they have nothing to lose and can just free it up and play to their full potential.

This is hypothetical.  We will see.

Territorial wrote: Strazdas wrote: Pubes wrote: elroy45 wrote: Pubes wrote: Englands late goal against Slovenia seems massive now as it put them out. A draw and they would be playing for the playoffs like Scotland, therefore more chance of a draw. I was cheering Scotland on the other night but it's funny I'll be cheering Slovenia tomorrow Don't agree. I think a draw there would've been good as it would've given Slovenia a more realistic chance at second. But even with that draw and a win over Scots they would only have 18 points whereas we must finish with 19. Thats what I mean. The English goal massive in a bad way for the reasons you state. And the fact Slovenia have nothing to play for giving Scotland the edge Depends what you mean by 'nothing to play for'. They're still going to try and finish with a win given how high up the table they are. It's not as if they are languishing on 6 points or something. Also they may feel they owe Scotland something having lost the first one 1-0 with a very late Scottish goal. Slovenia will struggle to get up for this game imo, since they'll feel pig-sick at losing a late goal on Thursday, meaning that even if they were to beat Scotland, they're still unlikely to finish 2nd, since Slovakia only need to beat Malta at home to finish ahead of them. Plus Scotland are on a bit of a roll, with everything to play for. And if a last minute own goal winner v Slovakia doesn't make them feel it's their time, nothing will. Tbh, ROI's best bet is for Croatia to draw in Ukraine - except that Croatia have just sacked their manager after failing to beat Finland at home a couple of days ago.

Strazdas wrote: I still think that a team who are on 14 points in their group and unbeaten at home without even conceding are not going to going to mentally throw in the towel and say "Oh, it doesn't matter if we lose now". I would have thought they would be good enough for a draw at least tomorrow.

You might be right.

But "throwing in the towel" (unlikely) is not the same as "struggling to get fully up for it" (likely, imo).

So that if/when news of Slovakia drubbing Malta comes through, and esp if Scotland should score first, I could see them increasingly just going through the motions, as they think about getting back to their clubs uninjured.

But we'll see.


Edited by Territorial - 08 Oct 2017 at 1:32am