Got us (as in Wales) relegated to Pot 6 in the draw for World Cup 2014 it would seem! 2014 World Cup: Wales face relegation into bottom pot So whilst the chances of Wales qualifying for a major tournament again was always a long way off, this is another nail in that coffin, which surely now is made up of more nails than wood! Wales seem destined to slip into Pot 6, swapping places with the Faroe Islands, who accordingly are ahead of us in the rankings by 0.7 points. What has Romania got to do with this you might ask? Well if you read the BBC article to the end, the chap who is credited with spotting this first, is "...a 30-year-old Romanian computer programmer, Eduard Ranghiuc, who runs a football ranking website." Oh well, as has been echoed in my previous article on Club-vs.-Country, many of us have long since sided with Club in that debate, so perhaps this won't matter that much to many? I probably am resigned even myself to the prospect of Wales metaphorically lumping their bags about in the queue for the budget carriers, whilst we look across with envy to the Executive Lounge wondering how the champaign is this morning... But hang on a minute, it was only a few campaigns back that I was in Finland basking in the late summer sun, enjoying an away win! Even at the Millennium Stadium as Italy were sent home empty-handed...! Admittedly it was only to see such promise diminish as the qualifiers continued, the hope re-ignited whilst I froze my bits off in Moscow, then an overly-defensive mindset for the home-leg allowing the Russians to progress to Portugal at our expense, but still, we had some optimism and the team provided that hope with their performances! So yes, whilst one of the best chances we've had in my lifetime ultimately fell short (I'm not going to start on the Joe Jordan hand-ball incident!), this truly will be a kick in the teeth and leave any up & coming Welsh talent with the prospect of coming down from the hills and facing a massive mountain to climb! (Maybe Hugh Grant will be brought in for the sequel?) Perhaps the progress of us and Swansea as clubs, with any benefits that comes in terms of academy players being schooled in the game to a much higher level, will have a knock-on effect in the National Team, but it will have to be a bulldozer now that we employ to breakthrough the glass ceilings in European football.
We never seem to have a fully fit first team squad over the years, we are better then the rankings show.
Well, it's bloody stupid isn't it? All we need to do is play more meaningless friendlies to try and get a few ranking points. It's obvious that with notable exceptions, we have one of the better national teams in the world (all things being relative!) The *way* in which world rankings are figured out makes us look worse than we really are.
Brian Kerr made me laugh pushing for the decimal point system to be taken into consideration. He clearly doesn't understand the concept of the alphabet
Where in Romania and on what purpose out of interest...? I've been a few times and driven round most of the country!
Ghost She is doing 3 weeks voluntary work in an orphange near Cluj - heart rending stuff she tells me. But on the plus side, her degree confirmation came through today so bubbly on ice for when she returns.
BFB - Awesome news re the degree!!! You must be well chuffed!!! As for the admirable work she's doing, hopefully that will become less and less necessary in years to come as they recover more from the grip of their former dictator and standards improve. With the money pouring in from people working abroad initially and within their economy itself more and more, this will surely bring wider benefits... Cluj seems like a nice City as well, so perhaps she'll get to enjoy that whilst out there? It's got a historic European feel to it as I remember, but I only spent the morning there before flying to Italy, so need to hang around a bit longer next time...
Cheers Ghost She is finding it tough - seeing some things she has never come across before as the culture and attitudes are quite different there. She is taking the opportunity to get out and about and best of all, hasn't run out of money YET!!!!!! She wants to go on a trip into deepest Transylvania - that will take a big bite out of her cash. I'll get me coat.
Transylvania is awesome...some great places to see and Romania in general has some amazing mountains!!! You may have seen the Top Gear program where they drove around the country and finished on the Transfagarasan Highway - which I drove on the first time I visited and had to drive down from the top of the mountain in a snow blizzard!
Transylvania and I thought I was taking a chance going to swansea Seriously, Mate you must be chuffed
Yes, saw that and the "race track" under the Presidential Palace. No doubt about "where the money went" under Ceausescu.
No question about the money...although they do have a lot of hydro-electricity infrastructure where he needed to have as much self-sufficient energy as possible as he was not in the Moscow fold, but rather he was tolerated instead of a real ally...
Dont see what all the nonsense is about tbh... look at the groups Teams P W D L F A +/- Pts 1 Republic of Ireland 6 4 1 1 11 6 5 13 2 Russia 6 4 1 1 9 4 5 13 3 Slovakia 6 4 1 1 6 4 2 13 4 Armenia 6 2 2 2 10 7 3 8 5 FYROM 6 1 1 4 5 8 -3 4 6 Andorra 6 0 0 6 1 13 -12 0 2 beatable teams if we were pot 6! Group C Teams P W D L F A +/- Pts 1 Italy 6 5 1 0 14 1 13 16 2 Slovenia 7 3 2 2 9 4 5 11 3 Serbia 6 2 2 2 8 9 -1 8 4 Estonia 7 2 1 4 7 11 -4 7 5 Northern Ireland 5 1 3 1 3 3 0 6 6 Faroe Islands 7 1 1 5 5 18 -13 4 2 possibly 3 beatable teams in this one... Teams P W D L F A +/- Pts 1 France 6 4 1 1 9 2 7 13 2 Belarus 7 3 3 1 6 2 4 12 3 Bosnia and Herzegovina 6 3 1 2 8 7 1 10 4 Romania 6 2 2 2 8 6 2 8 5 Albania 6 2 2 2 4 6 -2 8 6 Luxembourg 7 0 1 6 1 13 -12 1 well... 1 or 2 here Teams P W D L F A +/- Pts 1 Netherlands 6 6 0 0 21 5 16 18 2 Sweden 6 5 0 1 20 6 14 15 3 Hungary 7 4 0 3 18 13 5 12 4 Finland 6 2 0 4 11 11 0 6 5 Moldova 6 2 0 4 7 9 -2 6 6 San Marino 7 0 0 7 0 33 -33 0 at least 2 here! possibly 4 with some lucky and good play! Teams P W D L F A +/- Pts 1 Greece 6 4 2 0 8 3 5 14 2 Croatia 6 4 1 1 10 3 7 13 3 Israel 7 4 1 2 10 7 3 13 4 Georgia 7 2 3 2 5 5 0 9 5 Latvia 6 1 1 4 5 9 -4 4 6 Malta 6 0 0 6 2 13 -11 0 2 or 3 beatable again so... its not all bad isit!
Do you really see us coming 2nd in any of those groups...then remember that we replace the current 6th place team in each group, and we don't stand a chance of coming 2nd with the addition of a stronger team from pot 5...
