Pot, kettle and black spring to mind as Italy are saying that if Spain and Croatia draw 2-2 it will be a fix as whatever Italy do against Ireland they will go out. The 2-2 draw is 4/1.
4 to 1 is well short than it should be so its not even worth putting money on it. Id watch the game just to hope to see a farce. I once watched an NHL game where the players were stood dead still for over a minute at a time and it was all over the news.
If it's really that short then the bookies are just covering their backs. The Spanish are too proud to play out a 2-2 and 2-2 is a difficult score to fix in any case.
I agree - goaless draws are just a case of not attacking but why would a team with a lead surrender it, irrespective of circumstances?
Exactly, can you see the spanish letting 2 goals in? The reason why it happened last time is because it was 2 equal teams not expected to get through. However if it does end up at 2-2, Croatia will not attack at all and it will be interesting to see if Spain are drawn forward at all. Id bet on a 0-0 being fixed if it was needed.
In the group stage of the UEFA Euro 2004 tournament, the two teams met each other for the first competitive game since the UEFA Euro 1992 group stage, and the first rivalry game since April 2000. Prior to the game on June 22, 2004, the group C standings were as shown in the table to the right. Simultaneously with the game, Italy faced Bulgaria. With a win, Italy would advance from the group stage, unless Denmark and Sweden drew their game, causing all three teams to end with five points. The tiebreaker would then be the match results between the tied teams, and with Sweden playing 1â1 and Denmark 0â0 with Italy, a Denmark-Sweden draw of 2â2 or higher would leave Italy with one goal from the tied matches, and send both Sweden and Denmark through to the quarter finals, regardless of the Italian side's efforts. After a 28th-minute-opener by Jon Dahl Tomasson, Henrik Larsson equalised on a penalty shortly after the break. Tomasson brought Denmark one up again in the 66th minute, but just minutes before the final whistle Mattias Jonson equalised for Sweden to make up the final score of 2â2.[1] The Italian side, meanwhile, had beaten Bulgaria by 2â1 on a goal in the fourth minute of stoppage time, which would have otherwise sent them through. This caused an uproar within the Italian team, with goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and Italian football federation president Franco Carraro both accusing the Danish and Swedish team of match fixing.[2] However then-Italian manager Giovanni Trapattoni said that he nor the federation would protest against the result. UEFA did not investigate the case.[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denmark–Sweden_football_rivalry
Its an idiotic rule anyway. Italy could finish with the same points, better G/D, better goals scored and undefeated against the two yet still go out. Farce.
Couldn't care less about Italy but the system that was in place was perfect yet the suits decided they had to fu*k with something or they might be seen as not doing anything and lose their cushy jobs.
I think its a good system, I dont want teams going through because they smacked an extra goal in against no hopers. Obviously the qualifiers are a better example of this, you could beat a team twice but theyd go through because they got an extra goal against San Marino.
Well call a Doctor cos I think I'm suffering from shock. The "Goal Keepers don't bounce enough" Enlightened One thinks its a good idea. There's always one
I think goal difference is always the fairest judge. Every team has the same opportunity to put 10 past San Marino and, when it gets to the tournament, every team is decent so it seems odd to discount the games against Ireland from the equation. Even Ireland and Greece are in the top 30 or so in the world.
18 and 15. You're right Wats. G/D, Goals Scored, Discipline is the fairest. BTW, did you watch RTE yesterday or stick with Lineker?
But results against teams makes it more exciting, Id like the PL to introduce it. I wonder if youd feel the same if our 2 results against Bolton and Fulham meant we went down over another team who we beat twice. It also makes it harder to match fix as a no hoper could effective determine who goes through by losing heavily.
Surely both Spain and Croatia will go for it seeing as finishing top of the group is worth an easier opponent in the q/finals.
Even if our Goal Difference was worse than theirs? If Flyer's goal on this Forum is to get under my skin hes succeeding big time.
I think you have to have some faith in footballers' integrity. As long as the rules are known at the start of the season then I'm not too fussed either way but you could argue that if goal difference becomes irrelevant then teams who it could affect will sit back on leads and not press for more goals. Going on the head to head between two teams in a four team league makes less sense to me than doing so in a 20 team league, as they do in Spain, and it creates situations like this one. I guess there are pros and cons to both but I think Ireland getting stuffed by more by Spain than Croatia should be relevant.
