San Marino vs England

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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,740
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    Fudd wrote: »
    Half decent??? Qualifying pots five and six were full of teams who could have probably gone through a qualifying stage without much argument.

    Then use them to make the argument rather than San Marino. There's a clear gulf between San Marino/Andorra and even a side like Liechtenstein (the next worst in the rankings). The first two essentially never compete, whereas all the other sides have had at least some sort of result in recent years.

    If we want to argue for a pre-qualifying tournament then fair enough, but you can't base it on San Marino being rubbish as they're an exception. You have to relate it to Wales, Northern Ireland and the other sides who would play in it based on recent rankings.
  • Cissy FairfaxCissy Fairfax Posts: 11,784
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    bunk_medal wrote: »
    Then use them to make the argument rather than San Marino. There's a clear gulf between San Marino/Andorra and even a side like Liechtenstein (the next worst in the rankings). The first two essentially never compete, whereas all the other sides have had at least some sort of result in recent years.

    If we want to argue for a pre-qualifying tournament then fair enough, but you can't base it on San Marino being rubbish as they're an exception. You have to relate it to Wales, Northern Ireland and the other sides who would play in it based on recent rankings.

    But that happens everywhere else bar Europe. I may be wrong but am pretty sure in 2002 Senegal beat France and had a brilliant WC, in 2006 or maybe 2010 their ranking was low enough for them to have to pre qualify to get to the Cameroon, Ghana stage and they failed to.

    Same with Costa Rica, beat Scotland, terrific WC, makings of a decent side but failed to get to the Concacaf final groups in a later year.

    To have a quality last stage of group games, some reasonably decent sides will go out. The entire world does it bar Europe.
  • Steveaustin316Steveaustin316 Posts: 15,779
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    Although England usually beat the minnows convincingly, we don't usually give them a real pasting (8 goals or more) like some other teams have done so in the past.

    Would be nice to see us do it tonight.

    Thank you England.:D
  • jeffiner1892jeffiner1892 Posts: 14,224
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    Perhaps San Marino should play Scotland to give them an even match. :D

    :D

    All joking aside though, they came extremely close to embarrassing Ireland a few years back. Likewise Andorra.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 2,740
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    But that happens everywhere else bar Europe. I may be wrong but am pretty sure in 2002 Senegal beat France and had a brilliant WC, in 2006 or maybe 2010 their ranking was low enough for them to have to pre qualify to get to the Cameroon, Ghana stage and they failed to.

    Same with Costa Rica, beat Scotland, terrific WC, makings of a decent side but failed to get to the Concacaf final groups in a later year.

    To have a quality last stage of group games, some reasonably decent sides will go out. The entire world does it bar Europe.

    The rest of the world does it because they have to - Africa has 13 sides ranked lower than Liechtenstein are in the FIFA rankings. It would be unworkable to use any other system, particularly when they also have a travel issue that doesn't apply to Europe and they're only playing for five spots.

    You're also presenting the case as if there are no real negatives - i.e. if these teams get knocked out in pre-qualifying then who cares, that's just part of the game. However it could have a serious negative effect on funding/interest in countries to deny them any competitive fixtures for a year or two. Indeed it's quite possible you could have countries playing effectively two competitive games in almost four years (if we used the two legged playoff format that Africa uses). That might not make much difference to San Marino, but it certainly makes a difference in places like Wales.

    You don't create that situation unless there's a seriously good reason to do so - and "the rest of the world does it" isn't a good enough reason in my book.
  • grimtales1grimtales1 Posts: 46,688
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    Do all the 2nd placed teams go through to a play off? I'm thinking thats where we might end up. We may be 2 points off Montenegro but miles ahead of 3rd with a vastly superior GD.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,872
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    grimtales1 wrote: »
    Do all the 2nd placed teams go through to a play off? I'm thinking thats where we might end up. We may be 2 points off Montenegro but miles ahead of 3rd with a vastly superior GD.

    8 of the 9 2nd placed teams do yes. The one with the lowest points doesn't.
  • grimtales1grimtales1 Posts: 46,688
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    Thanks for that :)
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