Austria at Euro 2008

[uni_don]

The Euro 2008 hosts who are worse than Haiti

Austria are in such a bad state that some supporters think they should withdraw from their own tournament.

 

It's not looking too good for Austria just now. Every team that gets through will be wanting to get drawn in the same group as them!

[glasgow sheep]

seems like the draw will throw up some interesting groups as at the moment the top seeds are: Austria, Switzerland, Greece and Germany.....so basically everyone will be hoping to avoid Germany and the Germans will be raging that they will likely face a side that should really have been seeded 1st.

Can see why they have done it like this, and certainly it is only fair that the holders are top seeds, but the Hosts will surely have an advantage anyway without getting an (potentially) easier draw by being in the top seeds

[vanderark14]

there shouldnt be seedings in any football tournament at both international and club level.

 

throw everyone in the same pot and see what happens

[BobbyBiscuit]

there shouldnt be seedings in any football tournament at both international and club level.

 

throw everyone in the same pot and see what happens

 

 

So you wouldn't have bothered if the World Cup Final was Italy v Trinidad & Tobago?

[vanderark14]

So you wouldn't have bothered if the World Cup Final was Italy v Trinidad & Tobago?

 

 

no why the hell would i?

[BobbyBiscuit]

no why the hell would i?

 

Because a group containing Brazil, Argentina, Italy and Germany would be a bit sh*t for the World Cup as a whole and also World Football. How can you have a system that would effectively mean that a team like Trinidad & Tobago or Scotland would be the best in the World? It would not be a true reflection of how good any of the teams are. If T&T or Scotland are to win the world cup, then they should have to beat the best. That's the whole idea of these competitions, no?

[paulkaneatemyhamster]

So you wouldn't have bothered if the World Cup Final was Italy v Trinidad & Tobago?

 

 

not at all, if the likes of France, Brazil Germany couldn't beat T&T they they don't deserve to get to the final.

 

However in regards current situation I suspect UEFA AND Addidas aren't to pleased that France or Italy may not qualify for the EURO's, there's a awful lot of money to be lost if a big nation fails to make it.

[vanderark14]

Because a group containing Brazil, Argentina, Italy and Germany would be a bit sh*t for the World Cup as a whole and also World Football. How can you have a system that would effectively mean that a team like Trinidad & Tobago or Scotland would be the best in the World? It would not be a true reflection of how good any of the teams are. If T&T or Scotland are to win the world cup, then they should have to beat the best. That's the whole idea of these competitions, no?

 

i see where you are coming from but the way its set up at the moment (especially the champions league) gives the top teams a better advantage IMO.

 

and i think a Group with Brazil Argentina Italy and Germany would be magic and great entertaiment right from the off.

[BobbyBiscuit]

not at all, if the likes of France, Brazil Germany couldn't beat T&T they they don't deserve to get to the final.

 

However in regards current situation I suspect UEFA AND Addidas aren't to pleased that France or Italy may not qualify for the EURO's, there's a awful lot of money to be lost if a big nation fails to make it.

 

you miss my point. If there are no seedings, T&T (again, just an example) may go through the tournament without facing any "big" nations. All the big nations may have to face each other, meaning that they aren't ever playing the lesser teams. A true reflection of the status of the teams? Absolutely not.

[BobbyBiscuit]

i see where you are coming from but the way its set up at the moment (especially the champions league) gives the top teams a better advantage IMO.

 

and i think a Group with Brazil Argentina Italy and Germany would be magic and great entertaiment right from the off.

 

Right from the off, yes. But then two of them could be out after two matches. That isn't good for the game. Everyone likes a "romance" in these competitions, but I'd prefer to see the top players all throughout the tournaments.

[vanderark14]

you miss my point. If there are no seedings, T&T (again, just an example) may go through the tournament without facing any "big" nations. All the big nations may have to face each other, meaning that they aren't ever playing the lesser teams. A true reflection of the status of the teams? Absolutely not.

 

 

and this is why it would be fairer without seedings. everyone has the same chance. luck of the draw.

 

in the end if a team is good enough they will win it no matter who they face.

[paulkaneatemyhamster]

you miss my point. If there are no seedings, T&T (again, just an example) may go through the tournament without facing any "big" nations. All the big nations may have to face each other, meaning that they aren't ever playing the lesser teams. A true reflection of the status of the teams? Absolutely not.

 

 

but that's just the luck of the draw, rather than the heavily weighted in favour of big sides draw we have now, which is unfair,.

 

Gretna got to Cup final few years ago without playing a SPL side till the final, that's just the luck of the draw. A seeded draw is grossly in favour of bigger teams

[K-9]

Because a group containing Brazil, Argentina, Italy and Germany would be a bit sh*t for the World Cup as a whole and also World Football.

For Trinidad & Tobago to reach the final they would have to play at least 1 of the 4 "giants" or the teams who knocked these "giants" out. To get to world cup final they would have to qualify from group, win last 16 game, win quarter final and win semi final and would deserve to be there.

[BobbyBiscuit]

and this is why it would be fairer without seedings. everyone has the same chance. luck of the draw.

 

in the end if a team is good enough they will win it no matter who they face.

 

By the same token, if a team is ever to improve, then it will have to face and beat the bigger sides at some point.

 

I can understand where you are coming from, but, I wouldn't like to see that happen to be honest. If a team is going to get a better draw then it has to improve itself, very much in the way Scotland are doing at the moment.

[vanderark14]

By the same token, if a team is ever to improve, then it will have to face and beat the bigger sides at some point.

 

I can understand where you are coming from, but, I wouldn't like to see that happen to be honest. If a team is going to get a better draw then it has to improve itself, very much in the way Scotland are doing at the moment.

 

i doubt very much that a lower team would get all the way to the final without facing a decent team at 1 point or another.

[glasgow sheep]

you miss my point. If there are no seedings, T&T (again, just an example) may go through the tournament without facing any "big" nations. All the big nations may have to face each other, meaning that they aren't ever playing the lesser teams. A true reflection of the status of the teams? Absolutely not.

by that logic celtic and rangers should be kept apart in the cup every year until the final while the likes of gretna, dunfermline, livi and indeed aberdeen of the recent past would have sod all chance of getting to the final as they would always be seeded so that the better sides progressed in order to give a "true reflection of the status of the teams"

[BobbyBiscuit]

by that logic celtic and rangers should be kept apart in the cup every year until the final while the likes of gretna, dunfermline, livi and indeed aberdeen of the recent past would have sod all chance of getting to the final as they would always be seeded so that the better sides progressed in order to give a "true reflection of the status of the teams"

 

Yeah, cos I forgot that the domestic cups are played in the same format as the World Cup and European Championships...

[Sonoftherock]

not at all, if the likes of France, Brazil Germany couldn't beat T&T they they don't deserve to get to the final.

 

However in regards current situation I suspect UEFA AND Addidas aren't to pleased that France or Italy may not qualify for the EURO's, there's a awful lot of money to be lost if a big nation fails to make it.

 

I was thinking this myself. Diadora will be pishing themselves if we make it, they'll have agreed a kit deal on the understanding there wasn't a cat in hells chance of us progressing to any major tournament!

[10MenWent2Mow]

Yeah, cos I forgot that the domestic cups are played in the same format as the World Cup and European Championships...

 

i dont think that GS actually said that the cups were like that was merely insinuating that your logic suggested that.

 

I keep hear people banging on about teams having to pre-qualify for the EURO and WC qualifiers, teams like Faroes, San Marino, Andorra, Luxembourg etc but then where would you draw the line for this?

 

For example, 10 years ago you would have put Latvia under that diddy team umbrella but they qualified for the finals of Euro 2004. Why should these teams be denied the opportunity to test themselves against the best, at the end of the day all that the "big teams" have to do is turn up and beat them.

 

I hate the idea of seeding anything once you get into the proper stages of a competition, for qualifying, maybe ok, but once you have proved that you are good enough to make the last 32 of the World Cup, the last 16 of the European Championships or the last 32 of the Champions league then just throw everyone in together.

 

Even with the seeding system if a diddy team wins then everyone complains. The amount of people that said Greece didn't deserve to win Euro 2004 was ridiculous! Those folk are the kind of folk that would rather just see France/Italy/Germany/Holland contest the semi's and final every year and I think that we would all soon get bored of that.