[aldo_14]

Group A
Portugal
Poland
Serbia & Mont
Belgium
Finland
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Kazakhstan

Group B
France
Italy
Ukraine
SCOTLAND
Lithuania
Georgia
Faroe Islands

Group C
Greece
Turkey
Norway
Bosnia
Hungary
Moldova
Malta

Group D
Czech Republic
Germany
Slovakia
REP OF IRELAND
WALES
Cyprus
San Marino

Group E
ENGLAND
Croatia
Russia
Israel
Estonia
Macedonia
Andorra

Group F
Sweden
Spain
Denmark
Latvia
Iceland
NORTHERN IRELAND
Liechtenstein

Group G
Holland
Romania
Bulgaria
Slovenia
Albania
Belarus
Luxembourg

May I just say on the behalf of all Scots....eep.  You could not get a worse draw as a 4th seed, you really couldn't.

And England got a piss-easy draw, again (even taking into account their 1st seed status).  Which means in 3 years time I'll have to listen to Gary bloody Lineker babbling about 'will this be Englands tournament' for another 5 months before the relief of an embarrassing 2nd round exit on penalties.  (EDIT; these things are annoying when you live in another country and have to listen to them on what is supposed to be the national news/media, y'know?)

[kode]

the only problem for sweden could be denmark and spain, as I see it. denmarks hella good.

[karajorma]

You scots really do have the worst ****ing luck

[Ghostavo]

Erm... yay?

Disregard this comment if by an embarrassing turn of events, Portugal gets beaten out of the competition.

 

[BlackDove]

Well we Swedes better win this one then (WC thisyearum), 2008 will be a sour sour year.

[Wanderer]

Thought we (Finns) got relatively easy group I'm confident that we won't make it to the second round.. I'm expecting the team to win some early games against even the top countries in that group and then to lose (again) to Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan..

[Rand al Thor]

I'd have to agree with you aldo on all points. But you never know. England could be world cup winners if they just had a manager who wasn't a complete dimwit. There's plenty of good english managerial talent to choose from in the premiership if they actually go for substance instead of style.

Ireland (rep. of) have at least three better teams in our group. Looks like Staunton will have a much longer time to learn from Robson than he'd like.

[kode]

Well we Swedes better win this one then (WC thisyearum), 2008 will be a sour sour year.

I believe we'll get 1st or 2nd place in the qualification round. getting beat by the netherlands again would suck, tho.

[vyper]

France and Italy? **** me.

[Rictor]

Portugal and Belgium. Hmmm. I'm cautiouslly optimistic.

And yes, Scotland is in the football equivalent of a jail cell full of the biggest, toughest, more lonesome convicts. Don't drop the soap...er, ball.

[an0n]

While I'm normally pretty apathetic as to England's chances in any competition - what with the entire team being comprised of posers and Steven Gerard - it could be that we end up with a manager who doesn't require a 24hr carer, and actually win something for a change.

The problem with England isn't that they're particularly ****, it's that they're all overpaid, whiney little *****es (and Gerard) who'll scream and cry if they get the tiniest little knock because they're too attached to their modelling contracts and endorsement deals.

They all expect to be treated as the star of the team. They're selfish little ****s basically.

And Gerard.

[Windrunner]

what about gerard??

[vyper]

While I'm normally pretty apathetic as to England's chances in any competition - what with the entire team being comprised of posers and Steven Gerard - it could be that we end up with a manager who doesn't require a 24hr carer, and actually win something for a change.

The problem with England isn't that they're particularly ****, it's that they're all overpaid, whiney little *****es (and Gerard) who'll scream and cry if they get the tiniest little knock because they're too attached to their modelling contracts and endorsement deals.

They all expect to be treated as the star of the team. They're selfish little ****s basically.

And Gerard.

So basically just like Man United and Glasgow Rangers/Celtic?

[karajorma]

I'd have to agree with you aldo on all points. But you never know. England could be world cup winners if they just had a manager who wasn't a complete dimwit. There's plenty of good english managerial talent to choose from in the premiership if they actually go for substance instead of style.

Just hiring a manager who could pursuade them to stop playing the hopeless long ball forwards tactic they've been using for the last 10 years and actually pass the ****ing ball instead would double their chances.

Every time I see England play their tactic seems to be boot it as hard as they can towards the opponents side of the pitch and hope Rooney or Owen is fast enough to get to it. Then spend the next 2-3 minutes trying to get possession of the ball back so you can try again.

That might work against poor teams but when you play against someone like Brazil they'll cruicify you for it.

[an0n]

what about gerard??

Gerard FTW.

And now Fowler's back at Liverpool he'll probably start kicking ass again.

[Shade]

denmarks hella good

Yet we seem to have this horrible habit of throwing everything away in qualification, well before things start to get interesting. Of course, when we finally do make it in somehow (or play friendlies, as england found out), we usually leave a mark

Gonna be tough this time though. Spain has ever been our nemesis in these things, and Sweden always plays really well... especially against Denmark. Those 3 are definitely the favourites to take the group though, rest are really just filler even if you can't truely count on anything these days with all teams being able to cause trouble on a good day.

[aldo_14]

I'd have to agree with you aldo on all points. But you never know. England could be world cup winners if they just had a manager who wasn't a complete dimwit. There's plenty of good english managerial talent to choose from in the premiership if they actually go for substance instead of style.

Just hiring a manager who could pursuade them to stop playing the hopeless long ball forwards tactic they've been using for the last 10 years and actually pass the ****ing ball instead would double their chances.

Every time I see England play their tactic seems to be boot it as hard as they can towards the opponents side of the pitch and hope Rooney or Owen is fast enough to get to it. Then spend the next 2-3 minutes trying to get possession of the ball back so you can try again.

That might work against poor teams but when you play against someone like Brazil they'll cruicify you for it.

They'd kind of need half-decent wingers to do that, though.

[karajorma]

Thing is I have seen England play where they made passing the ball a priority over their current style of play. Every once in a while maybe they listen to someone else or their coaches words actually get through.

And strangely enough that is when I've seen them play at their best. I can't recall an occassion in the last 10 years when I've seen them play like that and lose. They just don't do it very often.

[kode]

denmarks hella good

Yet we seem to have this horrible habit of throwing everything away in qualification, well before things start to get interesting. Of course, when we finally do make it in somehow (or play friendlies, as england found out), we usually leave a mark

Gonna be tough this time though. Spain has ever been our nemesis in these things, and Sweden always plays really well... especially against Denmark. Those 3 are definitely the favourites to take the group though, rest are really just filler even if you can't truely count on anything these days with all teams being able to cause trouble on a good day.

yeah, I seem to recall something about latvia being a bit dangerous the last time around. I'm more of a hockey fan, though, so I pay more attention to that.

england needs to get their **** together by the world cup, tho. we'll meet them in the world cup on june 20, so...

[an0n]

I wouldn't worry.

Sven no longer gives a ****. They gave him £2.5mil and told him he was getting sacked after the World Cup. So it's pretty much quaranteed that we're going out in the group stages.