Scotland v Ukraine

[Donathan]

1 hour ago, Les Cabbage said:

Regardless of what others say this is without doubt the best solution for the fans.

People have booked to go to Ireland and Armenia already.

Also, the 3 day turnaround argument is a non-started because even if we play it on the 14th it’s still a 3 day turnaround with Wales/Austria having the same situation.

If the final is played on the 14th then both teams are on a 3 day turnaround since a UNL game which cannot go over 90 minutes, and for which they’d likely be willing to run out the B team and take a defeat to be fresh for the playoff final. Fair scenario all round.

 

Play it on the 7th and you have one team (Scotland/Ukraine) having to play away from home on three days rest having played a SF (possibly 120 mins plus penalties) three days earlier, meanwhile the home team (Wales/Austria) would have played a UNL game that they probably just run the B team out for.

 

I’m sure the fans would tolerate having to move some flights around if it meant we actually have a realistic chance to qualify. 

Edited March 8, 2022 by Donathan

[No_Problemo]

1 hour ago, Les Cabbage said:

Regardless of what others say this is without doubt the best solution for the fans.

People have booked to go to Ireland and Armenia already.

Also, the 3 day turnaround argument is a non-started because even if we play it on the 14th it’s still a 3 day turnaround with Wales/Austria having the same situation.

 

13 minutes ago, Donathan said:

If the final is played on the 14th then both teams are on a 3 day turnaround since a UNL game which cannot go over 90 minutes, and for which they’d likely be willing to run out the B team and take a defeat to be fresh for the playoff final. Fair scenario all round.

 

Play it on the 7th and you have one team (Scotland/Ukraine) having to play away from home on three days rest having played a SF (possibly 120 mins plus penalties) three days earlier, meanwhile the home team (Wales/Austria) would have played a UNL game that they probably just run the B team out for.

 

I’m sure the fans would tolerate having to move some flights around if it meant we actually have a realistic chance to qualify. 

Aye, as a fan I would much rather we had the best possible chance of qualifying for our first World Cup in decades. That is what it’s all about, after all!

[KirkieRR]

Still provisional anyway. There's no guarantee Ukraine will be able to fulfil fixtures even in June - their country may have largely ceased to exist by then. Grim, but likely.

[Smokerson]

No chance of Ukraine playing a football match in June.

[Donathan]

So if we get to June and the situation is ongoing, do Ukraine:

 

 

A) Withdraw from the competition and award us a bye

B) Cobble together a squad of players who don’t play in Ukraine

C) Ask for a second postponement

 

Brucie bonus question. If they do ask for a second postponement what do UEFA say? 

[Les Cabbage]

43 minutes ago, Donathan said:

If the final is played on the 14th then both teams are on a 3 day turnaround since a UNL game which cannot go over 90 minutes, and for which they’d likely be willing to run out the B team and take a defeat to be fresh for the playoff final. Fair scenario all round.

 

Play it on the 7th and you have one team (Scotland/Ukraine) having to play away from home on three days rest having played a SF (possibly 120 mins plus penalties) three days earlier, meanwhile the home team (Wales/Austria) would have played a UNL game that they probably just run the B team out for.

 

I’m sure the fans would tolerate having to move some flights around if it meant we actually have a realistic chance to qualify. 

I’m sorry but that’s nonsense.

Remember the last time we didn’t take nations league games seriously?

We ended up losing what would have automatically given us a play off and if it hadn’t been for Lyndon Dykes’ gorgeous head then we wouldn’t be in this play off that’s coming up.

Theres absolutely no chance I’m swapping hundreds of pounds that are non-refundable for the players getting an extra rest, especially given Wales/Austria will have the exact same conditions as we will.

[Lex]

Who knows what will happen. One of the most unlikely outcomes is this game going ahead in June, however.
There’s no easy answer here. Can’t imagine anyone in Ukraine (Including the players) is giving this game a second thought at the moment.

[Donathan]

2 minutes ago, Les Cabbage said:

I’m sorry but that’s nonsense.

Remember the last time we didn’t take nations league games seriously?

We ended up losing what would have automatically given us a play off and if it hadn’t been for Lyndon Dykes’ gorgeous head then we wouldn’t be in this play off that’s coming up.

Theres absolutely no chance I’m swapping hundreds of pounds that are non-refundable for the players getting an extra rest, especially given Wales/Austria will have the exact same conditions as we will.

The nations league is absolutely to be taken seriously, and in fact my medium/longer term goal for Scotland is to make the knockout stages of Euro 2024, the first part of which is qualifying for it.
 

Winning our UNL group is imperative for two reasons:

 

1) It guarantees us a playoff for the Euros should the main qualifying not go to plan

2) It guarantees us a top 2 seeding for the main qualifying to increase the chances of it going to plan.

 

It would also book us a top 2 seeding for the next World Cup qualifying as a Brucie bonus.

 

Having said that, if there are three possibly four games in ten days (Playoff SF, UNL x2 and possible playoff final), you can bet your bottom dollar that the UNL games would have weakened sides because no one can play that much football and you’re not risking a knackered team for the main event.

 

Our UNL group is Ukraine who have everything going on, Ireland who are gash and Armenia who are no great shakes either so I think even if we play a couple of games with a 50-50 mix of first XI players and bench players we can still get a few points from those games and win the group. 

[Hibee_Hibernian]

18 minutes ago, Donathan said:

So if we get to June and the situation is ongoing, do Ukraine:

 

 

A) Withdraw from the competition and award us a bye

B) Cobble together a squad of players who don’t play in Ukraine

C) Ask for a second postponement

 

Brucie bonus question. If they do ask for a second postponement what do UEFA say? 

If UEFA juggle multiple Nations League Groups around already in June, there wouldn’t be a hope of Ukraine getting a time for the game to be played later in the year if they ask again. IMO it should be quite clearly stated when this is all officially announced that these new dates are final and if Ukraine are still unable to play then we progress to the final. 

[craigkillie]

I’m sorry but that’s nonsense.
Remember the last time we didn’t take nations league games seriously?
We ended up losing what would have automatically given us a play off and if it hadn’t been for Lyndon Dykes’ gorgeous head then we wouldn’t be in this play off that’s coming up.
Theres absolutely no chance I’m swapping hundreds of pounds that are non-refundable for the players getting an extra rest, especially given Wales/Austria will have the exact same conditions as we will.

We definitely did take those Nations League games seriously, we were the better team in the Slovakia one and at least matched Israel, despite these being away matches against two sides of roughly the same level as us.

We also finished 7 points ahead of Israel and Austria in our qualifying group, so in reality we were comfortable in qualifying for the play-offs.

[forameus]

I guess UEFA don't want to seem like the bad guys, but there's been little talk about "so what about June?" with regards to whether Ukraine will be able to field a team then.  I guess they hope that it's all good and they don't have to make a decision, and didn't really want to say "ok, we'll postpone now, but if you're still fucked in June you're oot".  

Still though, seems like the most likely outcome unfortunately.  I can't imagine everything will just be sorted by then, so I guess for the game to go ahead you're hoping that Ukraine want to send a plane full of footballers out the country in the middle of a war just to play a match at Hampden.  Can't imagine there'd be much appetite for that for a number of reasons for any party.  

 

[Les Cabbage]

1 hour ago, craigkillie said:

We definitely did take those Nations League games seriously, we were the better team in the Slovakia one and at least matched Israel, despite these being away matches against two sides of roughly the same level as us.

We also finished 7 points ahead of Israel and Austria in our qualifying group, so in reality we were comfortable in qualifying for the play-offs.

I get your point but I would probably slightly disagree.

In the Slovakia game, the first half, yeah we started off pretty quickly and McBurnie should have scored about 3 and they scored against the run of play but we did have a dramatically weakened team, while I appreciate a lot of our first teamers had played 120 minutes a few days before, the second half pretty much fizzled out into nothing really.

The Israel one was a typical bland performance over there though, I don’t remember us really worrying them at all.

I know Griffiths missed a couple of chances in both games late on but I remember never really feeling like we were going to get anything from either as the clock ran down.

Anyhow, a moot point, fingers crossed the away games are kept as is.

[Clown Job]

 

 

The Scottish FA notes the decision of the FIFA Organising Committee to postpone the FIFA World Cup Play-Off semi-final against Ukraine, originally scheduled to take place on 24 March, until June. 

Given the current situation in Ukraine we support the decision to uphold the request to postpone the match and reiterate our message of solidarity to our friends and colleagues within the Ukrainian Association of Football. 

We now await confirmation from UEFA on the amended fixture schedule, including any displaced UEFA Nations League fixtures, and will comment further at that time.

In the meantime, we are in discussions to organise a replacement fixture on 24 March and will update supporters – especially those who have purchased tickets for the play-off semi-final and Nations League package – as soon as we have more information. 

Tickets purchased for the original March 24 fixture date against Ukraine at Hampden Park will remain valid for the rescheduled June date, which has yet to be confirmed by UEFA.

We can also confirm that, with the play-off semi-final between Wales v Austria going ahead in March, a friendly match away from home to the losing side will take place on 29 March.

Ian Maxwell, Scottish FA Chief Executive: “In light of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, it is the correct decision by FIFA to postpone our play-off, as requested by the Ukrainian Association of Football. 

“The importance and significance of football is greatly diminished in a time of war and our thoughts are with those Ukrainian civilians affected by the conflict.”

 

[lubo_blaha]

Scottish FA have confirmed the game has been postponed until June (date TBC).

They’re looking to confirm a friendly for the 24th March instead.

Interestingly, Wales vs Austria is going ahead as planned and we will playing a friendly against the loser of that tie on 29th March, meaning that those who booked up won’t have lost out completely.

[craigkillie]

The Austria/Wales friendly will be good for folk that have already booked travel to those places - at least they'll have a game to go to.

[Donathan]

Unsurprising that we are playing the loser of that game. Have to assume the winner will play the loser of Sweden v Czech Republic 

[Ayr23]

Good that we'll know who we might face in June.

[Frank Grimes]

We’re off to Cardiff or Vienna on the 29th after all 

[qos_75]

I would have thought they would have shifted the Wales - Austria game to June as well. That would have ensured each of the winning teams had the same recovery time before the final. 

[lubo_blaha]

I would have thought they would have shifted the Wales - Austria game to June as well. That would have ensured each of the winning teams had the same recovery time before the final. 

Wales or Austria will have the same recovery time as their opponents, albeit they’ll just have played a Nations League game and not a semi final. Makes sense to play it in March to avoid disrupting even more fixtures.