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Sir Landon Of Donovan

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Trips to Germany, Sweden, Austria and Kazakhstan for Ireland in the 2014 WC qualifiers. Qualifying from Europe is harder now than it ever was in the past doe to the influx of these new countries. Apart from the usual 5 or 6 top nations which are expected to qualify, it is an outstanding achievement for anyone else nowadays as the 2nd placed teams have the lottery of a play-off to negotiate.
 

The Equaliser said:
Trips to Germany, Sweden, Austria and Kazakhstan for Ireland in the 2014 WC qualifiers. Qualifying from Europe is harder now than it ever was in the past doe to the influx of these new countries. Apart from the usual 5 or 6 top nations which are expected to qualify, it is an outstanding achievement for anyone else nowadays as the 2nd placed teams have the lottery of a play-off to negotiate.
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Don't disagree. Turkey didn't make it in. And they are a decent team.
 
I would agree that top to bottom Europe is the strongest region on the face of the earth, but that is why it has the most WC slots by far. 53 teams vying for 13 slots in UEFA versus 35 teams trying for 3 1/2 berths for CONCACAF (the 1/2 is competed versus South America - in 2010 Costa Rica lost out to Uruguay)

1-out-of-4 teams make it in Europe, less than 1-in-10 make it in CONCACAF, so in terms of difficulty, it is obviously a much harder road to make it out of CONCACAF.

The quality of UEFA teams 14-20 versus teams 4-10 that don't make it in CONCACAF, overall the European teams would beat them on neutral fields, but kay20 has pointed out that trips to these mostly Central American countries are downright hostile. You guys could argue 'urine bombs' versus laser pointers, but there is no way you can compare Ireland playing in say Bosnia or Slovenia versus them playing in El Salvador or Honduras, it's much more of a home field advantage for the CONCACAF teams, a lot more hostile for the opposition.
 

SoCalMike said:
I would agree that top to bottom Europe is the strongest region on the face of the earth, but that is why it has the most WC slots by far. 53 teams vying for 13 slots in UEFA versus 35 teams trying for 3 1/2 berths for CONCACAF (the 1/2 is competed versus South America - in 2010 Costa Rica lost out to Uruguay)

1-out-of-4 teams make it in Europe, less than 1-in-10 make it in CONCACAF, so in terms of difficulty, it is obviously a much harder road to make it out of CONCACAF.

The quality of UEFA teams 14-20 versus teams 4-10 that don't make it in CONCACAF, overall the European teams would beat them on neutral fields, but kay20 has pointed out that trips to these mostly Central American countries are downright hostile. You guys could argue 'urine bombs' versus laser pointers, but there is no way you can compare Ireland playing in say Bosnia or Slovenia versus them playing in El Salvador or Honduras, it's much more of a home field advantage for the CONCACAF teams, a lot more hostile for the opposition.
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Statistically it wound seem that it is, but it we are not comparing like with like here. Looking at the set-up, it's hard to see how anyone other than USA, Mexico and A.N. Other will be the qualifiers. You could argue that it would be as difficult for El Salvador, say, to qualify as it would be for someone like Ireland when you look at the opposition and seedings. But not USA v Ireland. USA will have a much better chance of qualifying. In the European groups there 5 or 6 certs. For example, in the upcoming qualifiers Germany are the no.1 seeds in Ireland's group and are nailed on to qualify. They've never failed before. So before a ball is kicked Ireland are in a 4 team battle for 2nd spot (I'm excluding the Faroes obviously), which only guarantees a play-off spot against another 2nd place team.

Interesting debate though.
 
The Equaliser said:
Statistically it wound seem that it is, but it we are not comparing like with like here. Looking at the set-up, it's hard to see how anyone other than USA, Mexico and A.N. Other will be the qualifiers. You could argue that it would be as difficult for El Salvador, say, to qualify as it would be for someone like Ireland when you look at the opposition and seedings. But not USA v Ireland. USA will have a much better chance of qualifying. In the European groups there 5 or 6 certs. For example, in the upcoming qualifiers Germany are the no.1 seeds in Ireland's group and are nailed on to qualify. They've never failed before. So before a ball is kicked Ireland are in a 4 team battle for 2nd spot (I'm excluding the Faroes obviously), which only guarantees a play-off spot against another 2nd place team.

Interesting debate though.
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I'm glad you pointed it out, I didn't explain it well. Yes, 1-in-4 make it in UEFA vs 1-in-10 in CONCACAF, but there is a much higher average quality level in Europe, that is without a doubt. Most of the low CONCACAF teams sink to the bottom and are eliminated in the first round, most the stronger sides never see them as they are given first-round byes. Yes, there are the Moldova's, Lichtenstein's, Faroe Islands, San Marino's, Azerbaijan's, Armenia's, etc... in UEFA, but there are a huge number of Caribbean Islands too that frankly are probably no better than a mediocre 3rd division club team to be honest.

It's the games played in the bigger Central American countries that get pretty crazy, those are not easy places to play at - exceedingly hostile environments. I could see the fringe teams in UEFA, the Ireland's, the Ukraine's, the Russia's having trouble winning those games for sure, just like the bigger CONCACAF teams have trouble. Countries like Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala are pretty good teams to begin with, usually have a lot of speed, and are bolstered by the miserable conditions they make opposing teams face. So it's no cakewalk getting through CONCACAF and with only 3-guaranteed slots the fourth qualifying round becomes very heated and competitive.
 

No but to be fair there is a reason that the USMNT is widely regarding as one of the most fit in the world and that's because having to play qualifiers in heat and humidity that the irish rarely if ever have to deal with. Believe me, that would take a toll more than anything else. Why do you think the u.s. loves to play concacaf winter qualifiers against these clubs in places like columbus. Reverse reason of course.

EFC NY said:
This Ireland/USA conversation is silly. Right now, USA is basically a lock to qualify for any WC. Ireland is 50/50 more or less. If you put Ireland in CONCACAF, and USA in UEFA, than Ireland becomes a lock, and the USA becomes 50/50. End of story.

Yes, road matches in CONCACAF are a pain in the ass, but do you really think guys like Richard Dunne give a **** about a bumpy pitch or some screaming Central Americans.
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Absolutely laughing at some of the responses in here.

It tells me that:

1) There's an overinflated sense of the quality of Ireland (and Europe to a lesser extent) but even more importantly,

2) That many on here have NEVER seen a match held in Azteca, Costa Rica, or Honduras.

Someone earlier made a comment that Richard Dunne doesn't care about a bumpy pitch or screaming Central Americans and to that I say that I'd agree with that. Neither does Rafael Marquez, Bocanegra, etc... and they'll tell you how hard it is to get a result in those countries.

It IS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than away to Andorra, Lichtenstein, etc... There is no comparison.

Next time I see someone berate CONCACAF, it's automatic that they probably haven't seen many if any matches. Fortunately, and thanks for FSC, I've seen plenty of UEFA qualifiers.
 
Make sure to watch LD take a corner towards the end where he is pelted with everything.


[video=youtube;JMIZz1HR3_c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMIZz1HR3_c[/video]
 

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