[Football] England vs Bulgaria

[Sussex Nomad]

May go some way to explaining it.... 2010-2018 in qualifying.

Montenegro x 2
Switzerland x 2
Wales
Bulgaria
Ukraine
Poland
Moldova
San Marino x 2
Slovenia x 2
Estonia
Lithuania x 2
Slovakia
Scotland
Malta

Some of the big nations must be wondering who is sleeping with who

You'd have expected a Group of Death by now.

Mate, you can only beat what is put in front of you.

 

[B-right-on]

England have it soooo easy in that group.

Stark contrast to the level of intensity in Germany v Holland...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAK6N_z_nQ4

Never a pen for the Germans. Ridiculous decision by the ref.

Davey came on after 58 mins and then the Dutch scored 4 goals.

 

[Wozza]

If you want a dodgy pen decision from the weekend, I present...

https://youtu.be/UB2KKzgP3eI?t=193

(Skip to 3:15)

 

[blue-shifted]

May go some way to explaining it.... 2010-2018 in qualifying.

Montenegro x 2
Switzerland x 2
Wales
Bulgaria
Ukraine
Poland
Moldova
San Marino x 2
Slovenia x 2
Estonia
Lithuania x 2
Slovakia
Scotland
Malta

Some of the big nations must be wondering who is sleeping with who

You'd have expected a Group of Death by now.

There's some serious minnows there mate. Especially second from bottom, jeez

 

[Springal]

If he had come through our ranks he wouldn't be worth more than £5 million.

We'd have loaned him out for 50% wages and future fee of £2M or something

 

[Sussex Nomad]

If you want a dodgy pen decision from the weekend, I present...

https://youtu.be/UB2KKzgP3eI?t=193

(Skip to 3:15)

Absolute joke.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

May go some way to explaining it.... 2010-2018 in qualifying.

Montenegro x 2
Switzerland x 2
Wales
Bulgaria
Ukraine
Poland
Moldova
San Marino x 2
Slovenia x 2
Estonia
Lithuania x 2
Slovakia
Scotland
Malta

Some of the big nations must be wondering who is sleeping with who

You'd have expected a Group of Death by now.

But that's the nature of seeding, isn't it? The reason England generally face weaker qualifying opponents is because they tend to win all their qualifiers, and reach the finals, and so become top seeds. Then they're even less likely to face strong opponents, and so the cycle perpetuates.

The only time that really changes is where you've had a traditionally strong nation who've had a bad run and have dropped down the rankings by failing to qualify one year, resulting in them becoming second seeds rather than in the first pool. That's why there is a group with both Germany and the Netherlands in this time round.

Conversely, Scotland habitually bemoan the fact they always seem to get drawn against good teams, convincing themselves they're terribly unlucky as a result. This is not, of course, very bad luck at all, but the result of being a very bad football team for a good couple of decades now.

 

[hart's shirt]

Scotland 5th in their group. Out of 6.

At least THPP's enjoying himself...

 

[Eeyore]

But that's the nature of seeding, isn't it? The reason England generally face weaker qualifying opponents is because they tend to win all their qualifiers, and reach the finals, and so become top seeds. Then they're even less likely to face strong opponents, and so the cycle perpetuates.

The only time that really changes is where you've had a traditionally strong nation who've had a bad run and have dropped down the rankings by failing to qualify one year, resulting in them becoming second seeds rather than in the first pool. That's why there is a group with both Germany and the Netherlands in this time round.

Conversely, Scotland habitually bemoan the fact they always seem to get drawn against good teams, convincing themselves they're terribly unlucky as a result. This is not, of course, very bad luck at all, but the result of being a very bad football team for a good couple of decades now.

Oh, yes. But Spain, Italy and France seem to end up bundled with each other on occasions. England have also avoided Netherlands, Portugal, Croatia. You can only beat those in front, true, but I think England have dodged the bullet for a while now.