So time to open a topic to our loved Huuhkajat and its extremely difficult Euro qualifying campaign. So our group:
Netherlands
Sweden
Finland
Hungary
Moldova
San Marino
The group could have been lot worse, but I honestly think this group is also going to be very tough. No need to write anything about Netherlands, but our arch enemy Sweden, I just cant think we can beat them. Its also going to be difficult with Hungary, they have been improving past couple of years. Moldova? All i know from Moldovian football is that Sheriff Tiraspol is a good team. San Marino? We should trash them, but in away its not going to be easy.
I simply cant see us going through, hopefully we stay in Pot 3 and Baxter gets some young players break in to the team.
I'm sorry to say this, but I think both Holland and Sweden will finish 1st and 2nd. And either you or Hungary will finish 3rd. BUT anything can happen, so who knows, you might make it.
I think its going to be a three way race for 2nd place. Sweden is good but not as good as they used to be... they have a solid defense, and are physically all pretty big players. And they also have a very talented front line with Ibra, Berg, & Toivonen... but having said that, they do have their weaknesses, and they aren't as good as they used to be. Denmark beat them twice last qualifiers, and HUN really made them fight for their 2 wins, the 2nd win they had to get extremely lucky to pull out the win. I do see them as favourites for 2nd place, but the gap is not that large.
HUN is my team, so I obviously think they have a chance at grabbing 2nd place. We got a new, Hungarian coach, a new federation with a whole new approach and attitude toward HUN football, and some new players from our sucessful U21 team (we came third in the U20 WC, the best out of all the European teams). I think everyone is positive and the players believe they can qualify... our team has solid players like Gera from Fulham who helped them reach the Europa League finals last year, Dzsudzsak who is a star at PSV, Rudolf who scored some really nice goals in the CL and earned himself a signing for Genoa, Juhasz who is a really solid defender, and even Koman who is a bright young prospect who plays for Sampdoria. If we incorporate all of our youth players once the U21 EC qualifying games are over (Nemeth - Olympiakos, Gulacsi - Liverpool, Vass - Brescia) then our team will be extremely solid.
Well, we have this younger generation break in going on as the older star players are retiring from NT (Jääskeläinen, Hyypiä, Litmanen). We have also pretty good new generation coming up, but Its not their time yet.