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World Cup 2006 (Fixtures and standings)

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2.2K views 33 replies 4 participants last post by  Fobal klub  
F
#1 ·
Pot A: France, Portugal, Sweden, Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, England, Turkey

Pot B: Holland, Croatia, Belgium, Denmark, Russia, Republic of Ireland, Slovenia, Poland

Pot C: Bulgaria, Romania, Scotland, Serbia-Montenegro, Switzerland, Greece, Slovakia, Austria

Pot D: Ukraine, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Israel, Bosnia, Latvia , Wales

Pot E: Hungary, Georgia, Belarus, Cyprus, Estonia , Northern Ireland, Lithuania , Macedonia

Pot F: Albania, Armenia, Moldavia, Azerbaijan, Faroe Islands, Malta, San Marino, Liechtenstein

Pot G: Andorra, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan
 
#2 ·
I really hope that Estonia gets drawed into interesting group this time as these games are my only chance to see top class football live at the stadium.Our Euro 2004 qualifiers group was dissapointingly plain and boring.

I would like to see this group:

Italy
Holland
Scotland
Finland
Estonia
Faroe Islands
 
R
#3 ·
My wish is that it`d be nice to see Latvia in the same group with Estonia or Lithuania. I bet these games would be interesting, and as often said we could call them "Baltic derby" :D Games between Baltic states are always principle and exciting. For Latvia also i would wish whatever group but except NL, France, Italy or Spain - others are welcomed
 
R
#4 ·
Andy Christ said:
I really hope that Estonia gets drawed into interesting group this time as these games are my only chance to see top class football live at the stadium.Our Euro 2004 qualifiers group was dissapointingly plain and boring.

I would like to see this group:

Italy
Holland
Scotland
Finland
Estonia
Faroe Islands
Click to expand...
Why do you wish Faroe Islands in same group? Basically i think they will offer more boring football than you`ve seen. It`s enough for me to see Latvia playing against San Marino for example, it`s football to one side with no real offense from opponent.
 
#5 ·
redbox said:
My wish is that it`d be nice to see Latvia in the same group with Estonia or Lithuania. I bet these games would be interesting, and as often said we could call them "Baltic derby" :D Games between Baltic states are always principle and exciting.
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Yes, that would be interesting.:) And for some reason I have a feeling that Estonia and Lativia WILL end up in same group.
 
#8 ·
redbox said:
Why do you wish Faroe Islands in same group? Basically i think they will offer more boring football than you`ve seen. It`s enough for me to see Latvia playing against San Marino for example, it`s football to one side with no real offense from opponent.
Click to expand...
Estonia often plays friendlies against teams like Armenia, Moldavia and Azerbaijan:sleepy: It would be boring to face same teams in WC qualifiers too.Albania would be worst possible opponent from this pot, they recently beated us in a friendly.Faroe Islands, Malta, Liechenstein and San Marino would all be easy opponents and would almost guarantee 6 pts from two games for us.
 
#14 ·
redbox said:
I noticed some strange thing in this draw. Almost biggest % of the teams in the same group are closes neighbours. Makes me think about the draw itself. Was it live?
Click to expand...
Maybe it was a massive conspiracy by UEFA to cut the travelling costs of the teams? Plane tickets are expensive nowadays:D

Anyway, good draw.Not very difficult and at the same time interesting group.Games against Latvia and Russia will be fierce derbies, also match against Portugal should be able to get a full house to Lilleküla stadium.
 
#15 ·
Portugal is most difficult opponent in this group.But on a good day, when Estonia puts up a great defensive performance and has luck on its side, a draw is possible.
Russia has many talented players, but they have a problem to make them effectively perform as a team.Estonia won Russia 2-1
in a friendly in 2002.This is still regarded as the most important win in our football history.But when we would win them in a official match, it would be even greater.Obviously Russia is the team every Estonian would like to see beaten and our players will be extra-charged to win this match.I wouldn't be surprised when Estonia wins Russia at home.
Latvia and Slovakia are both a bit stronger teams than Estonia, but difference in quality is not very big and both are beatable opponents.
Liechtenstein & Luxembourg - against them Estonia should get 12 pts from four matches.

In summary, fourth place and 18 points from twelve games would be minimum expected achievement.Third place in the group is possible if everything goes really well.Getting second place requires excellent performances plus loads of luck.
 
R
#16 ·
More or less but teams in this group are nearly equal. Evident is only Portugal advantage if they`ll save the same rooster as now after Euro2004. Latvia has all the chances to qualify for WC2006 in case if we won`t loose players from present squad. Our coach already said that he`s not satisfied of playing with Russia - cause in that case games will always have political temper, what is not good. With all other teams we can fight, and as well we can fight for the win. Can only be solidar with our coach who delivered that no matter what but our destination point of this tournament is one - Germany in 2006.
 
R
#17 ·
Andy Christ said:
Portugal is most difficult opponent in this group.But on a good day, when Estonia puts up a great defensive performance and has luck on its side, a draw is possible.
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Talking about defense i`ve noticed interesting congruence which Estonia should change if you wanna qualify for WorldCup2006. In all of preliminary round games Estonia scored goals only to Andora NT. To win you must attack, defense can help to keep out self goals clean, but attack can help to win. I hope your coach will start dealing this problem.
 
R
#18 ·
Some statistic - with all of teams from our group after re-newing independence Latvia has played already.

With Portugal we`ve played twice. in 1994 we lost with 1:3 and in 1995 lost with 2:3

With Russia we played once, and lost 1:3

With Estonia we`ve played 14 times - 11 wins and 3 draws

With Lichtenstein played twice - both times won with 1:0

With Slovakia we played once and lost 1:3

With Luxembourg we played once and won 3:0
 
#19 ·
redbox said:
Talking about defense i`ve noticed interesting congruence which Estonia should change if you wanna qualify for WorldCup2006. In all of preliminary round games Estonia scored goals only to Andora NT. To win you must attack, defense can help to keep out self goals clean, but attack can help to win. I hope your coach will start dealing this problem.
Click to expand...
Well, improving Estonia's attacking game was the main reason why Dutch coach Arno Pijpers was appointed as our manager.At first he tried to make our game more open and technical instead of defensive and direct-passing Scandinavian style used by previous foreign manager, Icelandic Teitur Thordarsson.But soon it became clear that Estonia doesn't have enough quality to play in a style used in Holland.In two last games of last WC qualifying tournament Estonia faced Holland and Portugal away and lost both games 5-0, clearly lacking discipline and organisation in defence.Pijpers took his lesson and from there on Estonian game is again built on strong defensive basis; there's often 10 players defending and only one striker up front against stronger teams.And in EURO qualifiers Estonia performed rather good: draws against Croatia and Bulgaria and two wins against Andorra; overall goal difference 4-6, no defensive collapses resulting in big losses.But the fact that no goals were scored by us in these 6 games against stronger opponents (Belgium, Croatia, Bulgaria) is obviously dissapointing (it's worth mentioning though that Estonia had couple of chances in almost all of these games and it's a real shame that all of these were wasted).Anyway, it's obvious that against teams like Portugal and Russia strong defensive display is a must as difference in player quality is huge, but against all other teams in the group Estonia can allow more open and attacking mentality.
 
R
#20 · (Edited)
Hard to say how easy it`ll be to reorientate from defensive style to open game. For Latvia it took quite a long time to make the game we show now, it was a lot of practice and training, and with this game we`ve made success. And the reason why i don`t accept foreign coaches - they`re not able to be so well informed as native ones. Aleksandrs Starkovs is coach here, he knows situation in our football, he knows many players, and it`s key why we succeed in this euro tournament. Former we had some british and georgian experts. They were good as professionals - but bad in player selecting and knowing them personally, which is part of game.
 
#21 ·
Estonian football has improved a lot thanks to foreign coaches Thordarsson(1996-99) and Pijpers(2001-... ).They're not only managers of NT and FC Flora ( these two jobs are always connected) but also bringers of general knowledge and experience to Estonian football, which was almost dead during Soviet era and because of that lacks quality native coaches.
 
#24 ·
Schedule of group 3 was agreed in Moscow yesterday:

18 Aug 2004 Liechtenstein v Estonia, Slovakia v Luxembourg

4 Sep 2004 Russia v Slovakia, Latvia v Portugal, Estonia v Luxembourg

8 Sep 2004 Portugal v Estonia, Luxembourg v Latvia, Slovakia v Liechtenstein

9 Oct 2004 Liechtenstein v Portugal, Slovakia v Latvia, Luxembourg v Russia

13 Oct 2004 Portugal v Russia, Luxembourg v Liechtenstein, Latvia v Estonia

17 Nov 2004 Luxembourg v Portugal, Liechtenstein v Latvia, Russia v Estonia

26 Mar 2005 Liechtenstein v Russia, Estonia v Slovakia

30 Mar 2005 Slovakia v Portugal, Estonia v Russia, Latvia v Luxembourg

4 Jun 2005 Russia v Latvia, Portugal v Slovakia, Estonia v Liechtenstein

8 Jun 2005 Estonia v Portugal, Latvia v Liechtenstein, Luxembourg v Slovakia

3 Sep 2005 Russia v Liechtenstein, Portugal v Luxembourg, Estonia v Latvia

7 Sep 2005 Russia v Portugal, Latvia v Slovakia, Liechtenstein v Luxembourg

8 Oct 2005 Portugal v Liechtenstein, Slovakia v Estonia, Russia v Luxembourg

12 Oct 2005 Slovakia v Russia, Portugal v Latvia, Luxembourg v Estonia
 
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