World Cup Qualification Group D Thread

 

You can't list off everything that went in our favour and write it off as luck. We have had some awful luck ourselves over the years but that is part of the game.

 

If Wales qualify ahead of us this campaign, nobody will be on here defending MON and saying how 'unlucky' he is that Wales managed to get out of Cardiff with a draw against Georgia but if we finish ahead of Wales, this place will be full of clowns saying MON is lucky because Wales failed to beat Georgia at home.

+1

Nobody is that lucky. We've been making our own luck. Equally we've had about as much bad luck - not getting i dont even know how many penalties at the Euros and one against Georgia, getting a shocking pen given against us in Belgrade, Maloney's goal in Dublin coming off O'Shea's arse. We're hardly the luckiest team ever to play the game and you can't pin everything we've done or even a large portion of it on luck. If it coming off the bar for the Georgians was 'lucky' there are even more strokes of bad luck we've had by the same token - Hendrick v Sweden, McClean in the same Georgia game. If they're lucky escapes for us then looking at it fairly they're unlucky against us. We're no more lucky than any other team.

and third didn't 'become good enough to get a playoff' the night after we played Bosnia. We knew exactly what we had to get in order to qualify and we did it. Bosnia also aren't a terrible side and the general consensus on here was they were the team to avoid apart from Ukraine. They also comfortably beat Euros semi-finalists Wales at home shortly before they played us so they can't be that bad

Lets look at some facts: Last four games of Georgia: 

Spain v Georgia 0:1

Georgia v Austria 1:2

Ireland v Georgia 1:0

Wales v Georgia 1:1

In these last four matches Georgia made some progress. And in each of these games there was more positive than negative. 

In the last three matches ball possession (against Wales 50/50) and attempts on goal were better than that of opponents. And everywhere everyone noticed that Georgia played better football than opponents and could have won (or at least take a point).

What is realistic now for Georgia? 

Georgia must do their best and be fourth. They really can do this according to the game they showed, according to the progress they made in these matches. And clearly it wasn't just one game. And it means manager had done some work and players had worked on themselves before and after the games.

As it was said Georgia has two games at home. One in November against Moldova, then in March against Serbia, then in June again against Moldova away, and when again home. After these successful performances, if Georgia manages to beat Moldova at home, and if the manager continues to work with boys at this pace or at least will not slow down, then against Serbia (which was/is considered weaker than Wales, Ireland, or Austria) stadium will be full, Georgia will have wholehearted support of the crowd, and at home it is a real possibility to beat them (from this point of view). And then again match against Moldova (which is considered the weakest but may offer some surprises) which also is real possibility. So Georgia has ahead of them three "easiest" matches (at least as it seems now and as it seemed at the beginning of the qualifiers). So, behind three toughest matches in which Georgia showed quite a performance and "grow themselves and grow confidence" with a new manager and new playing style (which is more possession, more goal attempts, using more technical skills etc. of which Georgian football has history and footballers - ability ) and ahead are these three matches and plus match against Ireland at home. And lets don't talk now about overall assessment of this three games (because in sum its just really a big dream) but once again ask what is possible, yes or no. Can Georgia beat Moldova at home after these performances (which were accomplished not by chance) - Yes, Georgia can do this. Can Georgia beat Serbia at home? Yes they can do this. And again in Moldova? - Yes they can. And so, now against Ireland. Georgia almost won the game in Dublin. At least they could make a draw. Two years ago Ireland managed two take a win from Georgia, but it was last minute goal and they hardly deserved that. And that time Georgia was "another team", other manager, other playing style, and in September it can be absolutely different game. If what i was talking in terms of "dreaming" was somehow reasonable, then against Ireland Georgia will be motivated and confident. And I dare say I am talking now about four wins (3 home games and one away with Moldova)(And two of which against Moldova and two against not "big favourites" of the group) Because still Wales and Austria are favourites at least to me. (Because Austria hasn't yet played against Moldova. Because Wales didn't have Ramsey and Allen, because Wales and Austria (big teams) played draw against each other.)

These four matches in sum could be a dreaming, but one in one if Georgia approach each of these games correctly they have ability and motivation to do this. So, for Georgia not only third place may be a possibility(because fourth is real possibility according to these facts), but even second too. But for now, this is not important. Some contours of the future has outlined. That is, what kind of football is best fit to us and what can make result after some training, experience etc. And what is important, Georgia plays beautiful football. 

C'mon boys. You just do what you are doing and result will come! In fact, we already see it! midit bichebo! 

We've gotten a real opportunity here - especially considering we were fourth seeds, and could have drawn a group that would have had us close to eliminated before a ball was kicked. There is very little between the 4 of us and we've managed to stick our noses in front of the top 2 seeds in the early going.

Armenia euro 2012...thats all I'm saying and Georgia are a better side than that Armenian side.

Serbia - 10

Ireland - 8(Possibly 10)

Austria - 5(possibly 4)

Wales - 5

Georgia - 4

Moldova - 0.

If we win we can derail Austria's campaign leaving 1 less team to worry about which should be the other big reason why we should go out for 3 points.