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Groups E and F: The Final Countdown


jagfox

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Still plenty of issues to be resolved today and nothing can be taken for granted in the final round of group fixtures. The third place qualification has certainly kept things going to the last round of games in most cases.

Thoughts and predictions?

I fancy Italy to beat Southern Ireland but then again they will rotate the squad and would still win the group if beaten 10-0.

Belgium should beat Sweden too.

Can Austria and Portugal actually score some goals and join Hungary in the next round? I'm not entirely convinced and it would be good to see Iceland through, imo.

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Ideal scenario for Group F would be a single goal win for Portugal and the same for Iceland scoring no less goals than Portugal. This would result in Iceland winning the group with Portugal 2nd, meaning Portugal play England and Iceland play Belgium/Sweden/ ROI

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Think England would (or at least should) rather get Portugal anyway, as they're likely to come out more than Iceland, and possibly more than Hungary.  Which means Iceland are bound to come second, play a Ronaldo-baiting shitfest of a game and win it.

 

Can't see Italy getting beat tonight.  A draw possibly although even that's unlikely.  Sweden look pretty poor, so it's also unlikely that we'll see them challenge Belgium.  Italy and Belgium to stroll through, Ireland to finish 3rd on goal difference but come nowhere near getting through.

 

The Portugal group is interesting.  If they continue with the social experiment that is the unravelling of Ronaldo's mind, then they could struggle.  Surely, surely, Shirley he can't be that bad again, so can see them doing just enough.  Would really like to see Iceland go through too, but will be tough for them.

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With Italy now playing Spain regardless of what happens, they'll make wholesale changes for what is a meaningless game for them?

South Ireland still have a chance.

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Hungary are definitely through and won't gain much by winning the group in terms of opposition in the next round, so I don't think even Portugal could rangers it against their second string. I quite fancy Iceland to do the business against Austria, Ireland against an Italian team who probably haven't played much together and Buffon likely off sick, and Sweden to scrape a futile draw v Belgium.

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Hungary are definitely through and won't gain much by winning the group in terms of opposition in the next round, so I don't think even Portugal could rangers it against their second string. I quite fancy Iceland to do the business against Austria, Ireland against an Italian team who probably haven't played much together and Buffon likely off sick, and Sweden to scrape a futile draw v Belgium.

 

Group winner plays Belgium and the runner up plays England. I think Hungary will go all out to get a result, not necessarily because they'd rather avoid England but the bottom half of the draw looks really difficult

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Hungary are definitely through and won't gain much by winning the group in terms of opposition in the next round, so I don't think even Portugal could rangers it against their second string. I quite fancy Iceland to do the business against Austria, Ireland against an Italian team who probably haven't played much together and Buffon likely off sick, and Sweden to scrape a futile draw v Belgium.

If Hungary win they avoid all the big boys in the bottom half of the draw. Shirley that's motivation enough.

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Winning group F is a huge bonus and a massive incentive to the 3 of them. Means you avoid pretty much all the 'big' teams till the final.

Hungary in pole position at the moment, a point would do them providing Iceland don't beat Austria by more than 2 goals.

Portugal and Iceland in the same boat, they need to win and win by more than each other. If they both win by the same Iceland go top on goals scored.

Two draws and Hungary win the group and both Iceland and Portugal go through without winning a game.

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If Hungary win they avoid all the big boys in the bottom half of the draw. Shirley that's motivation enough.

 

If they win they will probably get Belgium, 2nd England and 3rd Croatia, not a whole lot of difference in my mind.

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Incase anyone missed it, second place in this group plays England in the last 16.

Could be any one of the four teams. First place will play second in group E, likely to be Belgium.

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If they win they will probably get Belgium, 2nd England and 3rd Croatia, not a whole lot of difference in my mind.

It's after that it gets a whole lot easier though.

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