Euro 2024 - Qualification Thread

[accies1874]

5 hours ago, oneteaminglasgow said:

Jan Oblak, presumably 

Yes correct 

[Dunning1874]

Iran's first against Wales last year was one of the biggest celebrations of a goal not involving Morton or Scotland I've ever had. Tore through the house like Tardelli.

[Boo Khaki]

For me, part of it is the condescending "but we always support you" shite we get from the media and fans of the other UK nations. 

Like we need our hair ruffled and the contentment of knowing that a load of folk who otherwise couldn't give a f**k about Scotland, or are happy to make xenophobic quips and trot out ridiculous stereotypes of Scots when it's any circumstance aside from football, are cheering for "plucky wee Scotland".

I couldn't give a single shiny shite about the other UK nations teams, but I actively want them to fail as quickly and comprehensively as possible so the media that mistakenly believes I simply must care purely because I live in the UK gets their "disaster for the UK teams" pish out of the way and I can enjoy the remaining football in peace.

Sick of wall to wall "what Gareth Bale ate for breakfast"/"John Stones is wearing blue underpants" pish getting passed off as "team news" at major tournaments, so the sooner it's over the better. I have no idea why the media presumes everyone in the UK feels they live in some sort of brotherhood of nations, because I certainly don't, and the others are just as much foreign to me as any other random nation. "But it's close by, and we have a lot in common culturally", well aye, Norway is also close by, and we have a fair bit in common culturally and historically with Scandis, but I couldn't care less if Haaland is banging them in or they fail to qualify entirely, because I don't get subjected to endless Norway pish by my own indigenous terrestrial broadcaster at major tournaments, and I don't feel any particular "brotherhood" with Norwegians either.

Edited November 24, 2023 by Boo Khaki

[accies1874]

7 hours ago, Boo Khaki said:

For me, part of it is the condescending "but we always support you" shite we get from the media and fans of the other UK nations. 

Like we need our hair ruffled and the contentment of knowing that a load of folk who otherwise couldn't give a f**k about Scotland, or are happy to make xenophobic quips and trot out ridiculous stereotypes of Scots when it's any circumstance aside from football, are cheering for "plucky wee Scotland".

I couldn't give a single shiny shite about the other UK nations teams, but I actively want them to fail as quickly and comprehensively as possible so the media that mistakenly believes I simply must care purely because I live in the UK gets their "disaster for the UK teams" pish out of the way and I can enjoy the remaining football in peace.

Sick of wall to wall "what Gareth Bale ate for breakfast"/"John Stones is wearing blue underpants" pish getting passed off as "team news" at major tournaments, so the sooner it's over the better. I have no idea why the media presumes everyone in the UK feels they live in some sort of brotherhood of nations, because I certainly don't, and the others are just as much foreign to me as any other random nation. "But it's close by, and we have a lot in common culturally", well aye, Norway is also close by, and we have a fair bit in common culturally and historically with Scandis, but I couldn't care less if Haaland is banging them in or they fail to qualify entirely, because I don't get subjected to endless Norway pish by my own indigenous terrestrial broadcaster at major tournaments, and I don't feel any particular "brotherhood" with Norwegians either.

This makes a lot more sense than "omg does anyone else think Wales are soooo lucky?!"

[The Golden God]

Wales share a cricket team with England but they aren’t actually part of the name and that’s enough for me to hate them for life. 

[jimbaxters]

38 minutes ago, accies1874 said:

This makes a lot more sense than "omg does anyone else think Wales are soooo lucky?!"

But they are. IIRC they had two home draws in the play offs for WC 2022.

[VictorOnopko]

40 minutes ago, accies1874 said:

This makes a lot more sense than "omg does anyone else think Wales are soooo lucky?!"

They were extremely lucky to take 6 points off us in the qualifiers in 2012-13 (?); two dodgy penalties and an incorrectly disallowed goal to put us 2 up.  Funnily enough this is never mentioned when they go on about us stopping them from reaching the 78 World Cup - a sore point which came up quite a lot in the media coverage before Qatar.  What they neglect to mention is that they needed a win, and the Jordan handball happened midway through the second half at 0-0, and we won 2-0.  In a crucial match the proud Welsh chose to play in, er, England, to make more money. 

They were very lucky to have a global footballing superstar (who loved a dive) for a decade, and he almost single-handedly got them to several finals. It's a shame they were such utter dugshite when they finally made it to the World Cup.

F*ck off Wales.

[accies1874]

42 minutes ago, jimbaxters said:

But they are. IIRC they had two home draws in the play offs for WC 2022.

They got one home draw; the first leg was played at home because they earned a seeded spot (same as us). 

22 minutes ago, VictorOnopko said:

They were extremely lucky to take 6 points off us in the qualifiers in 2012-13 (?); two dodgy penalties and an incorrectly disallowed goal to put us 2 up.  Funnily enough this is never mentioned when they go on about us stopping them from reaching the 78 World Cup - a sore point which came up quite a lot in the media coverage before Qatar.  

I don't think them being lucky to beat us in 2012 to ultimately finish 5th in the group is an example of The Luck of the Welsh.

Quote

They were very lucky to have a global footballing superstar (who loved a dive) for a decade, and he almost single-handedly got them to several finals. It's a shame they were such utter dugshite when they finally made it to the World Cup.

F*ck off Wales.

Again, plenty of other countries have had a player as good as or better than Bale yet they've at the very least performed equally to Wales. 

I just think this is all a case of confirmation bias. When Wales succeed folk on here think that they're some uniquely lucky team spanning seven or eight years, but when they don't (like their abysmal performances in the World Cup) I suppose their luck just didn't fancy turning up?

[VictorOnopko]

13 minutes ago, accies1874 said:

They got one home draw; the first leg was played at home because they earned a seeded spot (same as us). 

I don't think them being lucky to beat us in 2012 to ultimately finish 5th in the group is an example of The Luck of the Welsh.

Again, plenty of other countries have had a player as good as or better than Bale yet they've at the very least performed equally to Wales. 

I just think this is all a case of confirmation bias. When Wales succeed folk on here think that they're some uniquely lucky team spanning seven or eight years, but when they don't (like their abysmal performances in the World Cup) I suppose their luck just didn't fancy turning up?

Being drawn to play both their playoff finals (assuming they get to the next one) at home is quite lucky - away to Poland would be a much harder task. They were lucky to beat Ukraine who played them off the park last time. Being a tiny (non-)country yet producing one of the world's most valuable and deadly players was extraordinarily lucky, and he happened to be really annoying with it. Their luck finally ran out in the WC when Bale's legs had gone.

I didn't say they were "uniquely lucky", and I'm not claiming to be making scrupulously researched scientific statements here. We all have teams we can't stand, and the Welsh football team are mine, so of course I will magnify their perceived spawniness. The end.

[eez-eh]

I’m not ashamed to admit that a large part of my dislike of the Welsh football team over the last decade has been a raging jealously at their relative success.

[Boo Khaki]

4 hours ago, accies1874 said:

This makes a lot more sense than "omg does anyone else think Wales are soooo lucky?!"

Well, I said "in part" because it is for the reasons I outlined in that post, and the fact they are spawny b*****ds 

See also similar gripes about Ireland being a hammer-throwing anti-football disgrace.

Then there is the element that follows England around causing trouble and grief for the locals wherever they go. They disgraced their own final ffs.

Plenty of reasons to dislike the various "home" nations (because for footballing purposes Ireland gets treated no differently to the actual Home nations), but they're really just fluff on top of my main gripe.

[Jaggy McJagface]

37 minutes ago, eez-eh said:

I’m not ashamed to admit that a large part of my dislike of the Welsh football team over the last decade has been a raging jealously at their relative success.

For me, it’s also the fact (for both them and Ireland) that they don’t really have much footballing pedigree at all compared to us.

Football is unquestionably our main sport whereas rugby/GAA/hurling are bigger for them respectively. We also have a much more vibrant footballing culture in general with bigger and better clubs and a domestic scene that puts theirs to shame. The Welsh national team have to play in the Cardiff city stadium because they can’t get close to selling out the principality.

It’s an absolute travesty that Wales and Ireland have been more successful than us for most of this century, and I’m glad we’re finally restoring some of the natural order.

[Pie Of The Month]

I just don't like their stupid bucket hats tbqh.

[BFTD]

22 hours ago, accies1874 said:

The Wales stuff in this neck of the woods is quite strange. Obviously I don't like them as they're one of our closest rivals, but all the "jammy b*****ds" chat is similar to the stuff last year when folk were trying to convince themselves that the Republic of Ireland were some dirty, hammer-throwing mob when in reality they were on an even keel with us across the two games. It's like people are trying to convince themselves of reasons to dislike a team rather than just simply disliking them. 

I suppose Wales got lucky in that they had one of the best British players in a generation (that's no luckier than Norway or Slovenia who have been horseshit despite having their own world class player), but they've also done a lot of work over the years to build squads that perform beyond what you might think they're capable of on paper. There's not been much variance from Coleman to Giggs to Page, so unless there have been eight years of luck as opposed to that just being nature of international football, my take is that you're all just talking shite. 

I don't really give a shit about Ireland or Wales; I do find it a bit odd that some folk do, considering that the only grudge we could really have against them is that their national sides have been generally better than ours for decades despite fewer resources. I hold that against the SFA, personally.

Wales in particular were (at best) mediocre and usually utter dugshite for about seventy years, so I must admit to feeling happy for them and their recent period in the sun. Imagine being a Welsh pensioner seeing the national side finish fourth at a tournament; most people wouldn't begrudge, say, Luxembourg such an happy achievement, so I don't see why Wales should be any different.

Then again, I don't think I've ever known any Welsh people, so maybe we have a lot of posters who are surrounded by the Welsh, and they're every bit as insufferable as England fans and their media. No idea.

[2426255]

I like Wales generally. Don't like them doing well at football when we aren't. I'd guess there will be a majority Welsh and Irish that will be wanting us to not do well. Sibling rivalry and all that. 

The englsush? probably a minority.

[craigkillie]

6 hours ago, jimbaxters said:

But they are. IIRC they had two home draws in the play offs for WC 2022.

A home draw in the semi-final isn't lucky, that was earned by performance in qualifying (as ours was), but being drawn at home in two play-off finals in a row is definitely lucky.

[welshbairn]

UEFA love labyrinthine qualification rules.

Why winless Iceland are in Euro 2024 play-offs and 10-point Norway are not

[BFTD]

47 minutes ago, welshbairn said:

UEFA love labyrinthine qualification rules.

Why winless Iceland are in Euro 2024 play-offs and 10-point Norway are not

I know we'd be absolutely seething about this if it affected us, but it's been most amusing to see journalists suddenly caring about whether their favourite EPL striker Norway will be at the Euros.

The Icelanders could just as easily say that they were undefeated in their group, while Norway were not; Iceland's group looks a fair bit easier than Norway's, but you'd think English journalists might understand that's just what happens with qualification draws. The crack about Estonia is legacy seethe that the diddies still have a potential route to the finals, which has been a feature of the Nations League since the start and still makes some people livid...but then, they're usually livid about having to play these nations in qualifying at all, so f**k 'em.

[Miguel Sanchez]

On 24/11/2023 at 12:18, eez-eh said:

I’m not ashamed to admit that a large part of my dislike of the Welsh football team over the last decade has been a raging jealously at their relative success.

This

On 24/11/2023 at 13:17, Pie Of The Month said:

I just don't like their stupid bucket hats tbqh.

This

And Gareth Bale for me, Clive.

[NorthernLights]

Tsemppiä, Suomi!