nek Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 by my calculations we will be up to 29th in world and 18th in europe when next lot of rankings come out (up ten places) this has more to do with some poor results (defeats to serbia and wales) dropping in significance than any massive boost from northern ireland win. assuming they go to 9 groups for world cup qualifiers again we would therefore be in pot 2 as it stands. a win vs ireland in june almost certainly keeps us there, a draw would be unlikely but possible (circa 25% chance), a loss would almost certainly have us in pot 3. no chance as far as i can see of dropping into pot 4 now. happy days! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jock strap Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Good news. Would be superb to be in pot 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Pot 2 would really help our chances given the difficulty in World Cup qualification. Mind you last time the Pot 3 team ran away with our group and we lost home and away to the Pot 6ers. Luck of the draw indeed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toepoke Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 (edited) Ooops doubler! I will add that the best way to get a real chance is to sneak into Pot1 and avoid a hard top seed, but that's out our reach for the foreseeable... Edited April 1, 2015 by Toepoke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donaldo87 Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Israel losing both games this week might help as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nek Posted April 1, 2015 Author Share Posted April 1, 2015 Israel losing both games this week might help as well yep it has, anything but the two looses would have had them above us still. bit of a pity that Gibraltar aren't Fifa members (and so result doesnt count towards ranking) as that would have been a boost for us as well (even tho they are low ranked/pish any competitive win is good news) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tartan blood Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Pot 2 would really help our chances given the difficulty in World Cup qualification. Mind you last time the Pot 3 team ran away with our group and we lost home and away to the Pot 6ers. Luck of the draw indeed...We really are cursed. We've moaned about England's easy groups for years but look at Northern Ireland's group. We'd be guaranteed a place at the euros if we had theirs.Even if we got in pot 1, I'm sure we'd end up with Holland and Belgium or something equally bad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wanderer Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 A lot of results over the last few days went our way Ukraine getting beat by Spain, Israel getting beat by Wales and Belgium, and Bosnia drawing with Austria last night will see up leapfrog them to about 30ish. I think Northern Ireland having a surprisingly big leap recently has helped us climb the rankings (they were expected to be lower than what everyone thought they were going to be, and felt we had shot ourselves in the foot for getting into pot 2). Fingers crossed for June now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bossman4 Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Is it the June rankings that will count as final then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bristolhibby Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 We really are cursed. We've moaned about England's easy groups for years but look at Northern Ireland's group. We'd be guaranteed a place at the euros if we had theirs. Even if we got in pot 1, I'm sure we'd end up with Holland and Belgium or something equally bad It really is luck of the draw, isnt it? Therefore we shouldnt really worry as was mentioned, we got papped out by 6 seeds last time and whipped by the 3 seeds, yet get an away win against the top seeds. For me, other teams taking points off the top seed is just as important as dropping your own points to weaker opposition. If we are going to lose to Germany twice, we needed them to do a Spain/Holland and have a perfect qualifying. As it is, we now really need to be beating Ireland and Poland. J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kumnio Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 I know they won it, and we are pretty damn unlikely to ever do it, but look at the massive boost that Greece got from Portugal 2004 (I think), great for their ranking and they had a fair bit of luck with qualifying groups for a decade. Theres some groups that look ridiculously easy, yet others that look so easy its shocking, well for us anyway. A wee bit of luck one day and we could be laughing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bristolhibby Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Was this not the tournament where many said if we dont qualify we may as well give up? 24 teams, all from Europe. As it stands it looks like Wales, NI and England all heading to France, with Scotland as usual giving our sphincters a good bit of exercise in puckering. It has to be luck of the draw, as I havent seen us play this well since 2007, and then we had the mother of all groups to get out of with only one qualifying and one playoff place. I mentioned NI to my old man at the weekend Romania NI Hungary Finland Faroes Greece From a qualifying and trip perspective, they have lucked out. Also, WTF has happened to Greece? Has their 2004 magic dust finally ran out? J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PASTA Mick Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Our group looked okay at the start but Poland and Ireland both look better than they did in the last campaign - much like us. Germany dropping points to our rivals, and Ireland's late goals have really made it more difficult. Still confident but we need to take more of our chances in games. Hopefully Fletcher will go on and get another 5+ in this campaign now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tartan blood Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Our group looked okay at the start but Poland and Ireland both look better than they did in the last campaign - much like us. Germany dropping points to our rivals, and Ireland's late goals have really made it more difficult. Still confident but we need to take more of our chances in games. Hopefully Fletcher will go on and get another 5+ in this campaign now. Exactly. We've created lots of chances. Definitely averaging a heck of a lot more than any Scotland team in the last 15 years. It's only poor finishing that has let us down.So far, it hasn't been too costly. Though we might have ended up with a point against Germany and 3 against Poland. If we can sort out our finishing I am pretty certain we'll qualify Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScotlandFanMuir Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Had a close look at the rankings there and it'd be great to land in Pot 2. Just saw that ROMANIA are on the verge of clinching a spot in Pot 1, WTF? We'd be laughing if we got them instead of the likes of Germany again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tartanpar Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Is it the June rankings that will count as final then? It should be the July rankings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tartanpar Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 by my calculations we will be up to 29th in world and 18th in europe when next lot of rankings come out (up ten places) this has more to do with some poor results (defeats to serbia and wales) dropping in significance than any massive boost from northern ireland win. assuming they go to 9 groups for world cup qualifiers again we would therefore be in pot 2 as it stands. a win vs ireland in june almost certainly keeps us there, a draw would be unlikely but possible (circa 25% chance), a loss would almost certainly have us in pot 3. no chance as far as i can see of dropping into pot 4 now. happy days! My calculations make us 30th but depending what FIFA decide for the Russia game maybe 31st. My calculations make us 18th in Europe though (which is the important part). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tartanpar Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 by my calculations we will be up to 29th in world and 18th in europe when next lot of rankings come out (up ten places) this has more to do with some poor results (defeats to serbia and wales) dropping in significance than any massive boost from northern ireland win. assuming they go to 9 groups for world cup qualifiers again we would therefore be in pot 2 as it stands. a win vs ireland in june almost certainly keeps us there, a draw would be unlikely but possible (circa 25% chance), a loss would almost certainly have us in pot 3. no chance as far as i can see of dropping into pot 4 now. happy days! Just checked again and you are right. I make it 29th too (but could be 30th depending on the Russian outcome). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stocky Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Will beating Quatar help in any way? I am sure losing to them will........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tartanpar Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Will beating Quatar help in any way? I am sure losing to them will........... It would be better to win rather than lose but playing a team so lowly ranking will reduce our average rather than increase it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zahana-oni Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Eh no....We are better off not playing qatar at all even if we win. As playing that game means our average will go down as they are lowly ranked esp given the result that comes off at the other end. Madness that we are playing that game. We can go nothing but down the rankings by playing that game. Hopefully it won't matter if we beat Ireland Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tartanpar Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 Eh no....We are better off not playing qatar at all even if we win. As playing that game means our average will go down as they are lowly ranked esp given the result that comes off at the other end. Madness that we are playing that game. We can go nothing but down the rankings by playing that game. Hopefully it won't matter if we beat Ireland Spot on. It would be better not to play the game from a rankings point of view. But if we do play it then it is better to win it rather than lose it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewelk Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 I'm always going to believe that the SFA prefer Scotland to be in a lower pot because they can sell more big games. Anyway, look at it another way. If Scotland had got N.Ireland's group back during the Levein days, we might still have Levein. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robroysboy Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 by my calculations we will be up to 29th in world and 18th in europe when next lot of rankings come out (up ten places) in pot 2 as it stands. a win vs ireland in june almost certainly keeps us there, happy days! lets go for it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jagtag Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 If Scotland had got N.Ireland's group back during the Levein days, we might still have Levein. Levein would have defended every game. He couldn't even set us up to beat Macedonia or Serbia at home And let's not forget a lucky escape against Liechtenstein. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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