[Colbert]

What with all the fuss and excitement surrounding the play offs, and with many nations having no competitive football on the horizon, I felt it was a matter of urgency to begin discussions on a tournament that is only 931 days away. The pots for the qualifying draws were announced this week so I figured in the heat of the moment people might want some revenge matches against teams they think were robbed and those that have karma coming to bite them on the arse.

I also figured it would be fun if this thread is still alive in 2012 whether the predictions made now stand true in a couple of years.

Here are the seedings for the qualifying draw which takes place on February 7th 2010:

Pot One: Spain, Germany, Holland, Italy, England, Croatia, Portugal, France, Russia.

Pot Two: Greece, Czech Republic, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, Turkey, Denmark, Slovakia, Romania.

Pot Three: Israel, Bulgaria, Finland, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Pot Four: Slovenia, Latvia, Hungary, Lithuania, Belarus, Belgium, Wales, FYR Macedonia, Cyprus.

Pot Five: Montenegro, Albania, Estonia, Georgia, Moldova, Iceland, Armenia,Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein.

Pot Six: Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Malta, Faroe Islands, Andorra, San Marino

There will be six groups of six teams and three groups of five.

So:

Who would you love to face in your group?
What would be your group of death?
Who will make up your side if your nation appears at the Euros?

Let the games begin

[Drink And Drive]

I(Scotland) would love to face: Croatia, Romania, Cyprus, Liechtenstein and Andorra

Group of death: Croatia, Turkey, Republic of Ireland, Slovenia, Iceland, Azerbaijan

We don't even have a manager yet.

[Student2806]

A bit early isn't it...
There isn't even an Official World Cup 2010 thread yet.

[Colbert]

(Original post by Student2806)
A bit early isn't it...
There isn't even an Official World Cup 2010 thread yet.

You can never be too early for these things!

Besides 2012 may be England's year

[AdHock]

It's interesting that Ireland are in pot 3 since their defeat to France in Dublin was their first of the entire WC qualifying campaign. I mean, I get that they aren't the most successful team historically but surely that record provides a case for being in pot 2?

[pete.mcfc]

For Ireland my dream group would be:
England (or France)
Romania
N. Ireland
Wales
Armenia
Luxemburg

[Colbert]

Am bored so here is the XI that will take to the field for England in 2012:

Hart
Johnson Terry Lescott Cashley
Walcott Barry Rodwell Milner
Rooney C.Cole

Was hoping it would be more exciting than that but at this moment we have a lot of players in their mid-20s who would be good for another tournament or so.

[TheRealDarthVader]

I firmly believe that the Faroes will win.

[Colbert]

This ambitiously premature thread will not go away, I just won't allow it. The draw for qualifying is NOW, anyone watching?

[cfc1992]

Who would you love to face in your group? Andorra.
What would be your group of death? Andorra
Who will make up your side if your nation appears at the Euros? Capello will.

[Ataloss]

England and Wales in the same group.

To be honest not too bad a draw for England all in all.

Northern Ireland completely ****** over!

[Colbert]

England have qualified

[R-KAM]

We're screwed

[Jeppaloth]

What a piss easy group, I doubt I'll watch any of the qualifiers.

[Stalin]

Scotland to finish ahead of the Czech Republic and we'll qualify(albeit 14 years late).

When the Scots, go up, to lift the Euro cup, we'll be there, we'll be there!

[Dalimyr]

(Original post by Stalin)
Scotland to finish ahead of the Czech Republic and we'll qualify(albeit 14 years late).

When the Scots, go up, to lift the Euro cup, we'll be there, we'll be there!

You need to stop playing Football Manager Much as I'd love it, I can't see Scotland winning the European Championships within my lifetime

[Stalin]

(Original post by Dalimyr)
You need to stop playing Football Manager Much as I'd love it, I can't see Scotland winning the European Championships within my lifetime

To be honest, I don't either - but we better ******* qualify!

[Colonel.]

Scotland are ******. Hopefully see you at the World Cup 2014.

[Dalimyr]

(Original post by Colonel Brusnahan)
Scotland are ******. Hopefully see you at the World Cup 2014.

Well, Liechtenstein should be easy (since we're not managed by Berti Vogts any more ), and Lithuania are beatable. Czech Republic could also be beatable, since they no longer have the dominant Baros/Koller pairing up front, but we need some luck there and we need all the help we can get against Spain (a couple of 1-0 wins like those against France a few years ago would be nice )

[Recall]

(Original post by Dalimyr)
Well, Liechtenstein should be easy (since we're not managed by Berti Vogts any more )

Not sure about that - Berti or no Berti this is traditionally the type of game you can rely on Scotland to mess up, especially the away fixture.

Despite that, I'm looking forward to seeing what a Levein Scotland side can do and fingers crossed we'll qualify.