Germany and Netherlands slip up
Despite being at the wrong end of some of the biggest upsets in this round of international qualifiers Germany and Netherlands are still tipped (by the bookies) to top their respective qualifying groups with ease and so should comfortably qualify for Euro 2016.
Moldova's draw with Russia was 9/1, you could have had 8/1 for Slovakia to beat Spain. Ireland, Poland, N. Ireland, Iceland and Liechtenstein pulled off the greatest upsets in this round of Euro Qualifiers.
For Ireland the draw against Germany was incredible but its only 1 point. The games against Scotland and Poland will be so much more important as a win or lose in these games could cause a 6 point swing for or against.
So far England, Belgium and Italy are showing the most consistency of the group favourites. Indeed England are the qualification experts - they haven't lost a qualifying match for the World Cup or Euro since 10 Oct 2009.
Although Spain and Netherlands will probably safely qualify for the Euro 2016, they could quickly fall out of the top seeds for qualification for the next World Cup. This would also be bad news for the likes of Ireland. Ireland are still struggling in Pot 4 territory (Gibraltar game earned no ranking points, and a draw doesn't earn you a lot of points, even if it is against the top ranked team and World Champions).
It could be quite conceivable at this rate that Ireland could find themselves in a group with two of the likes of Germany, Netherlands, England, Spain from Pots 1 and 2. As well as that we could have a team like Russia or Sweden from Pot 3. Of course this is the worst case scenario.
With this in mind the friendlies against USA and England will take on added significance as will the rest of the qualification matches.
Below are my estimated provisional ranking positions for UEFA countries. Official rankings to be released next on 23 Oct 2014. Rankings used to determine World Cup 2018 qualification Pots is likely to be July 2015.
Moldova's draw with Russia was 9/1, you could have had 8/1 for Slovakia to beat Spain. Ireland, Poland, N. Ireland, Iceland and Liechtenstein pulled off the greatest upsets in this round of Euro Qualifiers.
So far England, Belgium and Italy are showing the most consistency of the group favourites. Indeed England are the qualification experts - they haven't lost a qualifying match for the World Cup or Euro since 10 Oct 2009.
Although Spain and Netherlands will probably safely qualify for the Euro 2016, they could quickly fall out of the top seeds for qualification for the next World Cup. This would also be bad news for the likes of Ireland. Ireland are still struggling in Pot 4 territory (Gibraltar game earned no ranking points, and a draw doesn't earn you a lot of points, even if it is against the top ranked team and World Champions).
It could be quite conceivable at this rate that Ireland could find themselves in a group with two of the likes of Germany, Netherlands, England, Spain from Pots 1 and 2. As well as that we could have a team like Russia or Sweden from Pot 3. Of course this is the worst case scenario.
With this in mind the friendlies against USA and England will take on added significance as will the rest of the qualification matches.
Below are my estimated provisional ranking positions for UEFA countries. Official rankings to be released next on 23 Oct 2014. Rankings used to determine World Cup 2018 qualification Pots is likely to be July 2015.
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