Comments on: FIFA Looking After the Big Boys (and Themselves) by Seeding European World Cup Playoffs

By: TomTom

TomTom — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:25:50 +0000

A place we did not get. Ireland are out to some bad decisions by a ref and a linesman despite as Brendan saying getting through qualification unbeaten and been drawn against France.

FIFA are corrupt and I think everyone knows that. They are denying Ireland their request for a replay due to a blatant handball, stating that it is in their rules that a referees decision is final. But in 2006 they got Uzbekistan and Bahrain to reply in the world cup qualifiers after the ref messed up a penalty call.

By: Brendan

Brendan — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:53:57 +0000

Jamie you are missing the point. These teams already benefited from the seeding system in the groups whereas the lower seeded teams had to battle against higher seeded teams to prevail (finish 2nd). Now the teams whos performances belied their ranking are punished whilst those who did poorly are rewarded by being able to play lower ranked teams?! In what way is that fair it really baffles me.

If we want the best teams at the World Cup then why do New Zealand and Bahrain who are both totally gash get to play for a spot? Why can Argentina lose 6 (SIX) times in qualifying and still get an automatic place?

As it turns out Ireland went through their group unbeaten with the World champions, were drawn against the runners up in the world cup in the playoffs and still had to battle against the officials for a place.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:09:21 +0000

I understand why some would perceive this to be unfair, but it actually does make a lot of sense for Fifa to seed these teams. It’d be a little ridiculous if Portugal got drawn to play France and Bosnia drawn to play Slovenia, ensuring that one significantly inferior team would go to the World Cup ahead of another.

By: Shane

Shane — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:02:04 +0000

Lol, we won’t go down without a fight anyway.

Yea Bosnia will prove a tough opponent. Although i’m pretty sure Portugal can see them off.

Hopefully Ireland an Portugal fans can party in South Africa.

Best of luck.

By: Pedro

Pedro — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:11:47 +0000

OK. Enough of HOL talking, dude… You’ve made your point. :-)

Now go and kick FRA’s ass for the Republic (Republic beats La République), cos if WE draw in Lx (short for Lisbon for us tugas), it’s gonna be party time in Bosnia… Specially cos if it remains a draw after 90 mins, it’s extra time + penalties THERE… Who says PT was favoured with this playoff seedings of Hell…? ;-)

Força PT!
ps – Trapattoni was Benfica’s coach some time ago. I think 04/05, not sure. They didn’t win much but they hardly lost and took the chamionship at the end, beating FC Porto… He’s an old fox. Just like Bosnia’s coach…

By: Shane

Shane — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:26:02 +0000

Hi Pedro,

Thanks for your support. We are even more determined to beat France now since their coach called us “BRITISH”!! I hope Portugal get through too, I like the fans and I like the way they play.

Portugal won the group for WC in 2002. So Holland had to beat Ireland in Dublin to secure a second place spot and hence playoff. Ireland beat them 1-0 in Dublin which meant Holland would miss out on a playoff place to Ireland. The Ireland-Holland game was for a playoff place. Thats what I mean about Ireland stopping Holland going to the 2002 WC.

By: Pedro

Pedro — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:42:19 +0000

Hello Shane. I also hope you beat FRA. I really do. I also hope we (PT) beat Bosnia, which I do think is the surpise pack of the lot, and gets the plane ticket to South Africa…

BTW, it wasn’t Ireland who stopped HOL from going in 2002. They were fighting with us (PT) for a spot and we beat them in HOL and drew in PT.

One can argue that if we were going to play that miserably against the USA and Corea (which was the host and was completelly taken by the hand to the semis or quarters, whatever), we might as well have stayed home…

By: Shane

Shane — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:07:39 +0000

As an Irish supporter I am obviously very angry over this whole affair. We were seeded 3rd in our group behind Bulgaria and the World Champions Italy, yet we still managed to finish unbeaten and secure a playoff place. Little did we know Fifa were going to put another major obstacle in our path. The big teams have already benefited from the advantage of seeding (in groups), if they failed to take advantage of that its their own fault!

Fifa say it ensures the “best” teams get to the world cup?? The world Cups not just about the “best” teams,if it was would just be Europe and South America! Why don’t Fifa just scrap qualifiers totally and automatically put the big teams into the World Cup according to Fifa rankings?? That’ll sort out their “problem” of small teams over-performing at the expense of the “Big” nations.

I hope Ireland pull France in the draw. We prevented Holland going to the WC in 2002, we can do the same with this “lazy” French team. Its a long shot I know, but we won’t go down without a fight. Platini no doubt played a major part in the seeding fiasco so I’d love to see his face if France are beaten.

By: Bawambi

Bawambi — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:00:29 +0000

@ Algrachid
Sorry, the math doesnt work out like you posted. Lets say a 2-0 result.
Algeria would be on 9-4 GD 5 Egypt would be 9-4 GD 5 also Algeria won by 2 goals in the first encounter thereby tying up all other categories. Since that last paragraph is vague at best Sepp Fatter might have a new way to stick his corrupt hand into the pot yet again.

By: Algrachid

Algrachid — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 12:34:13 +0000

Algeria scored 9 and conceded 2. Goal Difference = 7
Egypt scored 7 and conceded 4. Goal difference = 3
Going by the first step, Egypt will need to score at least 4-0