Schurrle is apparently out of tonight's game with the flu.

I don't want to put the mockers on Wales but that's two impressive results and a decent level of commitment from players who (with exceptions :-)) are not world class but who want to play for their country.

Qualification would be great for Wales.

 

Agreed, some of them looked like they could barely walk after the game. Even against a team as crap interesting as Cyprus, playing with 10 men for 45 minutes must be really tough.

 

James Chester (plays for Hull and is about as Welsh as David Cameron) was outstanding.

^ Agreed.

Bale is shaming Giggs through his hard work for Wales. For all his club achievements, Giggs was never 100% committed to his country. I hope I'm not being too harsh on Giggs. Mind you, he's a cheating bar steward so no harm done...

If Bale retired tomorrow he will have done more for Welsh football than Giggs ever did.

 

My issue with the Welsh team over the years has been how it's usually a case of 4 or 5 Welsh lads and a load of English guys with Welsh great grandmas. The way I see it now, is if their willing to work as hard as they did last night, then they can be from Mars for all I care.

That's a good point (re. the 'English' Welsh players). They are lads who know, I think, that they have a chance with Wales to play international football. They seem to value that chance whereas some English internationals seem not to get it.

Anyway, here's to Wales doing well in the remainder of the qualifying games.

Why didn't the F.A. give Capello the backing they are  giving Roy? They constantly support Roy no matter what, after the world cup he had the same win percentage as Mcclaren.

 

Fabio was even getting criticized by the ITV panel for not having great English, Roy on the other hand hasn't done a decent thing with England. I don't even think I've ever watched a game where we played good football under him. I kind of lost my passion for England before the recent Euros, pretty much when Roy took over.

 

I can't wait until the day he goes I really can't.

Ole ole ole ole

Northern Ireland you wee dancer :) Never in our history have we won our first 3 games in the euro qualifiers.

Edited October 14, 201411 yr by Zola

Euro 2016 group A: England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland. Now that would be mental. 

Oh, and a big 'well done' to the f**ktards at UEFA that didn't think keeping Serbia and Albania apart in the draw would be a good idea.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/oct/14/serbia-albania-euro-2016-flag-halted

Edited October 14, 201411 yr by Adam

^ In what sense can any criticism be levelled at UEFA for this? Are you of the view that the existing criteria that UEFA uses to determine the pots (which is solely linked to football national team coefficients) should also include a historical enmity/self determination coeeficient as well?!? I'm sorry but that would be ludicrous & cause a whole host of problems. Given Europe's penchant for war throughout its history together with all these fashionable, largely conceited and ill-thought out modern day self determination movements, it would make any European competition difficult if not impossible to implement. It was hardly UEFA's fault that they were drawn in the same group. Unfortunate to be sure but it happened & there will be future draws where the same will occur again. Now I'm not a fan of UEFA but they did ensure that the two home ties were to be played w/o attendance of any away fans. What else could they have done to prevent this? Nothing. So what was your point exactly?

Unbelievably scenes during the Serbia Albania match! My favourite bit is where the guy runs on to the pitch and throws a chair at one of the players

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nhf201D4OQ 

^ In what sense can any criticism be levelled at UEFA for this? Are you of the view that the existing criteria that UEFA uses to determine the pots (which is solely linked to football national team coefficients) should also include a historical enmity/self determination coeeficient as well?!? I'm sorry but that would be ludicrous & cause a whole host of problems. Given Europe's penchant for war throughout its history together with all these fashionable, largely conceited and ill-thought out modern day self determination movements, it would make any European competition difficult if not impossible to implement. It was hardly UEFA's fault that they were drawn in the same group. Unfortunate to be sure but it happened & there will be future draws where the same will occur again. Now I'm not a fan of UEFA but they did ensure that the two home ties were to be played w/o attendance of any away fans. What else could they have done to prevent this? Nothing. So what was your point exactly?

 

Haha if we implemented this idea there would probably only be about four possible fixtures left...

Guus Hiddink is under fire in his new position as Netherlands manager, after losing 2 out of 3 qualification matches (plus a friendly I believe).

If fans would behave themselves, then maybe we wouldn't have these problems. A lot of them (if not all of them) are adults, so they should know not to make fools of themselves in public. That's what really makes me mad-they should know better.

 

It's only a game, it's nothing to start a riot and hurt others over.  You're supposed to have fun, not worry that a riot is going to break out because someone decides that they want to be funny and pull a stupid stunt like that.

Jeez, it might get to the point that the next Serbia-Albania match might have to be played behind closed doors, for the safety of the players.

Edited October 23, 201411 yr by soldiergirl84

We are awful. We are so bad that the 1990's look like a Golden Age of English Football. The lack of PLAYING Englishmen in the PL is one reason but the lethargy and slowness of our players in games is hard to comprehend.

In fairness to Arsenal, it's a good thing that Wenger has a relatively high proportion of Englishmen in his side.

Lastly, I think we need a shock like not qualifying for this or the WC to wake people up.

 

Have to agree with you. Watching these latest round of fixtures in the Champions League really hammered home the fact that young English players aren't given many opportunities on the big stage (in recent years!!!).

 

But It does seem that it is starting to change though, as Arsenal and Liverpool both have a decent amount of young English players who get regular minutes and Solanke got a run out against Maribor. But take a look at Anderlecht, Olympiacos, Sporting or Malmo. These are clubs that develop their talent well and their national teams benefit by how many young home-grown players they progress through the ranks. I'm not an England fan at all but nor do I want the overseas talent to be dwindled in the Premier League. I'm a native English speaker and Chelsea supporter, so I am biased to support the EPL, but the foreign stars are why the league is so fun to watch.

 

Basically, I accept that it is a tough job for the FA and I do not envy those in charge!

Edited October 23, 201411 yr by Butterhampton FC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29753007

 

Serbia awarded Albania walkover after violence at Euro qualifier

Serbia have been awarded a 3-0 walkover against Albania after their Euro 2016 qualifier in Belgrade was abandoned, Uefa has confirmed.

But they have also had three points deducted after the game on 14 October was disrupted when a drone flew over the stadium with a political message.

Crowd disturbance and a brawl between players followed at the Partizan stadium.

Serbia must also play two home qualifying games behind closed doors.

Both the Serbian and Albanian FAs have been fined 100,000 euros.

More to follow.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29753007

 

Serbia awarded Albania walkover after violence at Euro qualifier

Serbia have been awarded a 3-0 walkover against Albania after their Euro 2016 qualifier in Belgrade was abandoned, Uefa has confirmed.

But they have also had three points deducted after the game on 14 October was disrupted when a drone flew over the stadium with a political message.

Crowd disturbance and a brawl between players followed at the Partizan stadium.

Serbia must also play two home qualifying games behind closed doors.

Both the Serbian and Albanian FAs have been fined 100,000 euros.

 

What could the Serbian FA have done to stop the drone coming over the stadium? Install anti-aircraft missiles around it just in case?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29753007

 

Serbia awarded Albania walkover after violence at Euro qualifier

Serbia have been awarded a 3-0 walkover against Albania after their Euro 2016 qualifier in Belgrade was abandoned, Uefa has confirmed.

But they have also had three points deducted after the game on 14 October was disrupted when a drone flew over the stadium with a political message.

Crowd disturbance and a brawl between players followed at the Partizan stadium.

Serbia must also play two home qualifying games behind closed doors.

Both the Serbian and Albanian FAs have been fined 100,000 euros.

More to follow.

 

So they were awarded a win but not the three points? Strange this UEFA is.

So they were awarded a win but not the three points? Strange this UEFA is.

 

The Serbian fans were also acting like fools as well, according to other fans that were also at the match.  Rocks were pelted at the Albanian team's bus, Serbian fans were singing and chanting derogatory things about Albanians, and were saying that Albanians should be killed. Also, things were being thrown at one of the Albanian players whilst he was trying to execute a corner kick. The drone was just the straw that broke the camel's back. 

Haha if we implemented this idea there would probably only be about four possible fixtures left...

 

There are actually a few that currently cannot play in the same group because of conflicts currently going on between each other.  For example, there is a land dispute going on between Armenia and Azerbaijan, so it's probably not such a good idea for them to be in the same group.  Same with Russia and Ukraine (which is why in Champions/Europa League there is great care taken that no Russian teams are pitted against Ukrainian teams, and vice versa). There are at least one or two others that I'm not going to get into right now.

The Serbian fans were also acting like fools as well, according to other fans that were also at the match.  Rocks were pelted at the Albanian team's bus, Serbian fans were singing and chanting derogatory things about Albanians, and were saying that Albanians should be killed. Also, things were being thrown at one of the Albanian players whilst he was trying to execute a corner kick. The drone was just the straw that broke the camel's back. 

 

My point was more that Albania and Serbia should probably have never been allowed to be in the same group to begin with, let alone playing games against each other in their own countries. And then UEFA gave Serbia the win but not any points for it. UEFA are just a shambles right now but thankfully they are nowhere near as corrupt or silly as FIFA.

My point was more that Albania and Serbia should probably have never been allowed to be in the same group to begin with, let alone playing games against each other in their own countries. And then UEFA gave Serbia the win but not any points for it. UEFA are just a shambles right now but thankfully they are nowhere near as corrupt or silly as FIFA.

 

There's no active conflict going on between them, so UEFA's hands are tied. There is one between Russia and Ukraine, for example, so they have be kept in separate groups.

When the draw for the Euro Championship was made earlier this year. Gibraltar was put in the same group as Spain. Gibraltar was moved to a different group because of the poltical tension between the two countries. I know there are differences between Spain and Britain over ownership of Gibraltar but they pale into insignificance against other disputes in Europe.  So it would appear that UEFA can change some draws and not others. As others have said already, we could end up with no or few fixtures at all due to current and past disputes.