anyone?

For Scotland I think we were quite lucky as Holland are maybe not the force of a few years back. The tricky one could be Norway away although we have a reasonably good record. I optimistically take Scotland to top their group or at the very least get through in the play-off.

For England - I'm curious to what England fans think - really unlucky to get the Ukraine, probably the strongest team in pot 3. I would imagine though that England will get to the play-offs.

I don't know enough about the other teams to comment.

Turkey-Armenia should be a fun match

Thats what I was thinking. How will they get visas as there is no diplomatic links between the countries?

[quote user="Oz Kanka" post="104769"]Turkey-Armenia should be a fun match[/quote]

Knowing how the atmosphere is going to be, I was very upset that these two nations were drawn in the same group. Sadly, there will be the atmosphere of nationalism/racism/hatred in both of the venues before and during the 2 matches.....and of course, there will be lots of booing of the other nation's national anthem, especially in Turkey. The Turkish fans, in general, have a very poor reputation for showing respect to the other nations' national anthems, especially those of some particular nations, as was the case at the last Turkey-Greece match here in Istanbul. Now, I am waiting for Arikan to once again say that my comments are rubbish (usually, that's all he does when arguing with me...he knows very well that I am not lying or exaggerating).

Sickening.....this whole nationalism thing is sickening for me but bringing it into sports is real bad.

Cheers,

Cem

Cem,

I would agree with you in general on nationalism and its dangers, however, you seem to talk about it coming into sports recently. Is it not the case that it has always been a part of sports, or football anyway? I don't think this is new.

Cemile, I have demonstrated, time and again with proof, how you were exaggerating and/or lying. Also, you are extremely cynical for a man defined by his unabashed liberalism.

How about the fun of North Korea versus South Korea as well.

[quote user="Oz Kanka" post="104769"]Turkey-Armenia should be a fun match[/quote]
or how about North Korea vs. South Korea? ... should be interesting as well.

say, i saw you got Iraq in the group again should we be counting on revenge by the aussies?

you just have to laugh at the Sheilaroos, moving to Asia because they wanted a more secure passage to the World Cup, only to be the third best team in their group.

FD

True. What's the bet that we get knocked out and New Zealand get in. Perhaps we should have moved to Nth America instead.

I do believe that we (Scotland) knocked you out once in a play off. Bad luck Oz.

Yep, you join an illustrious group including Iran, Israel and Argentina.

My only consolation is that the last time we played England we won 3-1 away from home. One cool banner held aloft by an Aussie fan before the match

"If you lose tonight you suck at everything"

(remember this was before England's Rugby World Cup and Ashes victory)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/footbal ... 751635.stm

[quote user="Arikan" post="104781"]Cemile, I have demonstrated, time and again with proof, how you were exaggerating and/or lying. Also, you are extremely cynical for a man defined by his unabashed liberalism.[/quote]

Bull.... ! Excuse my French, folks.

Where is the proof you wrote about, I wonder ?!

And....please tell me in what way I have acted cynical. I doubt I have contradicted my principles.

Except maybe for the odd occasion or two, you have never put any counter-argument to what I put as an argument.

Now, tell me....don't you at least agree that the booing of the Swiss and Greek national anthems at the last Tur-Swi and Tur-Gre matches were shameful ?! And...don't you agree that nationalism should be kept away from sports as much as possible ?!

I feel very strongly about all this.....because I don't want my country's stadiums to be known as areas for hostile, nationalist fanatics to vent their hatred at the visiting teams.

Seggiest...I didn't mean to imply that nationalism has come into sports recently...I know that it has always been in there, especially here in Turkey.....but sadly, recently, it has been playing an ever-
increasing role.

Cheers,

Cem

Oh joy - a nice little discussion about football yet again goes to politics! Boring!

Relax, dear EnglishMike. All I wrote was regarding my fierce objection to the involvement of politics/nationalism in football....and I also wrote about my disappointment and anger regarding how certain people behave at stadiums. What I wrote wasn't pure political stuff.

Back to the on-the-field stuff of football......I also think that Australia were drawn in a group of death in an Asian qualifying group....Australia, China, Iraq and Qatar. Of course, it is nothing like a European group of death.....but by Asian standards, it will be quite a competitive group.

I think England will qualify for the finals as the top team from their group. Croatia and Ukraine willl compete for the second place in the group. In Turkey's group, I see Spain easily winning the group. I feel that Turkey and Bosnia have about chance to come second in the group.

Cheers,

Cem