Final round of matches:
Russia - 21 pts - @ Azerbaijan, draw 1-1, 22pts
Bosnia - 19 pts - v Spain, lost 2-5, 19pts
France - 18 pts - v Austria, won 3-1, 21pts
Ukraine - 18 pts - @ Andorra, won 6-0, 21pts
Greece - 17pts - v Luxembourg, won 2-1, 20pts
Slovenia - 17 pts - @ San Marino, won 3-0, 20pts
Ireland - 17 pts - v Montenegro, draw 0-0, 18pts
Croatia - 17 pts - @ Kazakhstan, won 2-1, 20pts
Finland - 17 pts - @ Germany, draw 1-1, 18pts
Portugal - 16 pts - v malta, won 4-0, 19pts
so the 8 playoffs team are:
Russia (22), France (21), Ukraine(21), Greece(20), Slovenia(20), Bosnia (19), Portugal(19), Ireland (18)
and the 9 automatic qualifications are:
Denmark, Switzerland, Slovakia, Germany, Spain, England, Serbia, Italy and Netherlands.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Sunday, October 11, 2009
UEFA world cup qualifier - 14 Oct 2009
Group 2 qualifier
Switzerland v Israel and Greece v Luxembourg
Group 3
San Marino v Slovenia and Poland v Slovakia
On group 2 matches, Switzerland on 20 pts with +10 goal difference and Greece on 17 pts with +9 goal difference. This is the final round for the round robin, Switzerland needs a draw to guarantee qualification while Greece needs a win to have a chance of qualifying.
On group 3, Slovakia is on 19pts with +11 and Slovenia is on 17pts with +11. San Marino has no win from 9 matches and they have let in 44 goals, it seems a definite that Slovenia will win. The question is by how many goals? This will give Slovenia on 20pts with probably +15 goal difference. That means for Slovakia to qualify they would need a win against Poland since a draw would mean they finish 2nd due to goal difference. Polands records hasn't been good with 3wins-2draws-4losses.
8 playoff spots for the 8th next best teams, their matches are at the moment
Russia - 21 pts - @ Azerbaijan
Bosnia - 19 pts - v Spain
France - 18 pts - v Austria
Ukraine - 18 pts - @ Andorra
Greece - 17pts - v Luxembourg
Slovenia - 17 pts - @ San Marino
Ireland - 17 pts - v Montenegro
Croatia - 17 pts - @ Kazakhstan
Finland - 17 pts - @ Germany
Portugal - 16 pts - v malta
Switzerland v Israel and Greece v Luxembourg
Group 3
San Marino v Slovenia and Poland v Slovakia
On group 2 matches, Switzerland on 20 pts with +10 goal difference and Greece on 17 pts with +9 goal difference. This is the final round for the round robin, Switzerland needs a draw to guarantee qualification while Greece needs a win to have a chance of qualifying.
On group 3, Slovakia is on 19pts with +11 and Slovenia is on 17pts with +11. San Marino has no win from 9 matches and they have let in 44 goals, it seems a definite that Slovenia will win. The question is by how many goals? This will give Slovenia on 20pts with probably +15 goal difference. That means for Slovakia to qualify they would need a win against Poland since a draw would mean they finish 2nd due to goal difference. Polands records hasn't been good with 3wins-2draws-4losses.
8 playoff spots for the 8th next best teams, their matches are at the moment
Russia - 21 pts - @ Azerbaijan
Bosnia - 19 pts - v Spain
France - 18 pts - v Austria
Ukraine - 18 pts - @ Andorra
Greece - 17pts - v Luxembourg
Slovenia - 17 pts - @ San Marino
Ireland - 17 pts - v Montenegro
Croatia - 17 pts - @ Kazakhstan
Finland - 17 pts - @ Germany
Portugal - 16 pts - v malta
Friday, October 9, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Last weekend was the end of the NRL 2009 season. The Storm won the Grand Final.
No more league for about 6 months. At least the serious stuff, we do have the four nations where teams like Aust and NZ rotate their players to improve player stats in number of try scored, points, goal kick etc. In the end, it will most likely be a Aus v NZ final. In most cases, Aus will win and in some odd years NZ will win.
Besides league, NFL is into week 5 of the season and the european soccer season is well on their way.
What is wrong with Milan? is Leonardo that bad of a coach? are they lacking players? do teams in europe really need 100M dollar players to be able to compete in their domestic league? I can probably understand if Milan struggle against other team from europe, even if they are perceived as not so talented of a team (such as zurich). But how can Milan struggle domestically with the type of players that they have now? and again I can understand if they struggle against inter, juventus, roma or other top teams. But against Bari? what is going on inside Milan?
On the spanish league, Real seems to be doing well with their recent very expensive buys.
On the premier league, Chelsea is looking good. Ancelotti seems to be doing very well in Chelsea, players seem to like his playing formation. I guess it also helps that Chelsea has a lot of very very good players.
No more league for about 6 months. At least the serious stuff, we do have the four nations where teams like Aust and NZ rotate their players to improve player stats in number of try scored, points, goal kick etc. In the end, it will most likely be a Aus v NZ final. In most cases, Aus will win and in some odd years NZ will win.
Besides league, NFL is into week 5 of the season and the european soccer season is well on their way.
What is wrong with Milan? is Leonardo that bad of a coach? are they lacking players? do teams in europe really need 100M dollar players to be able to compete in their domestic league? I can probably understand if Milan struggle against other team from europe, even if they are perceived as not so talented of a team (such as zurich). But how can Milan struggle domestically with the type of players that they have now? and again I can understand if they struggle against inter, juventus, roma or other top teams. But against Bari? what is going on inside Milan?
On the spanish league, Real seems to be doing well with their recent very expensive buys.
On the premier league, Chelsea is looking good. Ancelotti seems to be doing very well in Chelsea, players seem to like his playing formation. I guess it also helps that Chelsea has a lot of very very good players.
Monday, October 5, 2009
Storm Wins
storm beat eels 23-16
amazing game I thought.
Eels fan blames the ref for the penalty on Billy Slater losing the ball resulting in a 1 point field goal. We should have won, said the thousands of Eels fans. I say maybe, could be, who knows, this is a pointless IF.
Without saying all the IFs that can happen or should happen. I thought is was a good final 9-10 weeks for the Eels during the season, then a very good finals campaign by the 8th placed Eels. They made it to the grand final. They played very well in the grand final game, they pushed the storm all the way. They compensate very well for their bad defense, and their attack have spark in a few moments during the game, they scored tries when mattered. well done to the Eels.
Congratulations to the Storm. They played their game very well. To tell you the truth, I never liked the way the Storm play the game, some say it's very structured (I never understand what that means). But they do have lucky break in the last few years in picking up young talent, inglis, turner, folau, slater, cronk, white, tolman, hoffman, johnson, smith. Almost the whole team started as a nobody and becomes a good player.
I am now convinced that is the recipe of a successful team in the age of salary cap. There is no point in picking up expensive players by buying from the market, example rooster, to some extent warriors, the titans as they boughts players in building the team, the rabbits, maybe even the bulldogs. The key for NRL team in the next few years at least, is to get a bit of luck in picking up good young players. For example, the storm, the eels this year (it may take 10 weeks before the youngster in mortimer and the rookie in robson gets a chance but didn't they do good in the back end of the season and in the finals), the broncos, manly, the dragons also have a few young players.
Wow, if we looked at the premiers of the last few years. Storm, Eagles, Broncos and Tigers. I don't think they bought any big name players to win the comp. It's either they have the players or young players playing out of their skin or both.
amazing game I thought.
Eels fan blames the ref for the penalty on Billy Slater losing the ball resulting in a 1 point field goal. We should have won, said the thousands of Eels fans. I say maybe, could be, who knows, this is a pointless IF.
Without saying all the IFs that can happen or should happen. I thought is was a good final 9-10 weeks for the Eels during the season, then a very good finals campaign by the 8th placed Eels. They made it to the grand final. They played very well in the grand final game, they pushed the storm all the way. They compensate very well for their bad defense, and their attack have spark in a few moments during the game, they scored tries when mattered. well done to the Eels.
Congratulations to the Storm. They played their game very well. To tell you the truth, I never liked the way the Storm play the game, some say it's very structured (I never understand what that means). But they do have lucky break in the last few years in picking up young talent, inglis, turner, folau, slater, cronk, white, tolman, hoffman, johnson, smith. Almost the whole team started as a nobody and becomes a good player.
I am now convinced that is the recipe of a successful team in the age of salary cap. There is no point in picking up expensive players by buying from the market, example rooster, to some extent warriors, the titans as they boughts players in building the team, the rabbits, maybe even the bulldogs. The key for NRL team in the next few years at least, is to get a bit of luck in picking up good young players. For example, the storm, the eels this year (it may take 10 weeks before the youngster in mortimer and the rookie in robson gets a chance but didn't they do good in the back end of the season and in the finals), the broncos, manly, the dragons also have a few young players.
Wow, if we looked at the premiers of the last few years. Storm, Eagles, Broncos and Tigers. I don't think they bought any big name players to win the comp. It's either they have the players or young players playing out of their skin or both.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Steelers v Bengals
I don't support either team but I always love it when an underdog beat a favorite.
In this case, the Pittsburgh Steelers (6 times Super Bowl Champion and the defending champion) got beaten by the Cincinnati Bengals (20-23).
It's end of week 3 of the NFL 2009-2010 season, and the Steelers have won just 1 game and lost 2. Not a good start to the season for the defending champ.
In this case, the Pittsburgh Steelers (6 times Super Bowl Champion and the defending champion) got beaten by the Cincinnati Bengals (20-23).
It's end of week 3 of the NFL 2009-2010 season, and the Steelers have won just 1 game and lost 2. Not a good start to the season for the defending champ.
The 12-team finals competition.
Some may argue 12 teams are too many, it rewards mediocrity. But, imagine what it would be like if team 12 is able to win the premiership. We can call it the wild card spot like the NFL system.
Maybe, it's time the NRL ladder are divided into two. The top 4 of each ladder go into the finals, and the next best 4 from the combined ladder gets the wild card spot based on their win-loss ratio and points scored or points scored against.
The two ladders could be the Metropolitan league (sydney teams) and the National League.
Metropolitan league
rooster, eagles, dragons, bulldogs, rabbits, eels, sharks, tigers
National league
cowboys, broncos, titans, knights, raiders, storm, warriors, panthers
I thought panthers is the furthest outside sydney.
The 12 team finals system,
Week 1
1-4 gets a rest
5v12, 6v11, 7v10, 8v9 (all knock out games)
Week 2,
re-rank remaining teams
(assuming all the lower rank teams won in week 1)
1v12, 2v11, 3v10, 4v9 (again all are knock out games)
Week 3
re-rank remaining teams
(again assume all lower rank teams won in week 2)
9v12, 10v11 (knock out games obviously)
Week 4 (Grand final week)
11v12 (assuming lower rank teams won in week 3)
and continuing the assumption of lower rank team winning, 12 is the Champion.
So in this version, for team 12 to win the championship. It needs to beat team 5, 1, 9 and 11.
Maybe, it's time the NRL ladder are divided into two. The top 4 of each ladder go into the finals, and the next best 4 from the combined ladder gets the wild card spot based on their win-loss ratio and points scored or points scored against.
The two ladders could be the Metropolitan league (sydney teams) and the National League.
Metropolitan league
rooster, eagles, dragons, bulldogs, rabbits, eels, sharks, tigers
National league
cowboys, broncos, titans, knights, raiders, storm, warriors, panthers
I thought panthers is the furthest outside sydney.
The 12 team finals system,
Week 1
1-4 gets a rest
5v12, 6v11, 7v10, 8v9 (all knock out games)
Week 2,
re-rank remaining teams
(assuming all the lower rank teams won in week 1)
1v12, 2v11, 3v10, 4v9 (again all are knock out games)
Week 3
re-rank remaining teams
(again assume all lower rank teams won in week 2)
9v12, 10v11 (knock out games obviously)
Week 4 (Grand final week)
11v12 (assuming lower rank teams won in week 3)
and continuing the assumption of lower rank team winning, 12 is the Champion.
So in this version, for team 12 to win the championship. It needs to beat team 5, 1, 9 and 11.
NRL Final Series
On the eve of the NRL grand final, we shall looked at the finals system. The Mcintyre system, some say is good, some say is bad. Let me know what you think?
Personally, I think for the year 2009, it is a good system. My reasons are because of the origin games, most teams have been depleted at some part of the season. This makes the re-ranking that automatically happens after the week1 finals game to balance the competition, either fairly or unfairly (depending on which team you support).
The dragons can argue that it was unfair, but when you look at how the dragons season have gone during the origin period. It seems they have been largely unaffected. Correct me if I'm wrong, their halves, backline and hooker hasn't changed much apart from Boyd and Morris during this period. The same can be said about the dogs and the titans.
In contrast, the storm and broncos have been decimated during the origin period with many injuries following the origin games. They may have finished higher up the leader, we'll never know.
Manly had their own issue and Lyon and wolfman in the origin game. They did well to get to 5 with all the issues they had during the season.
The Knights worked hard to get to 7, and I think it's fair for them to be in 7.
The Eels took 20 odd rounds to figure out how to play their style of football. Maybe, they could have finished higher. But in my opinion, without the origin games for Hayne, he wouldn't have been as good as he is right now. The origin games actually helped him. Maybe he re-acquaint himself with the kind of football he should be playing at, after the experience of playing the origin games this year.
After all said and done, the past three weekends have shown that the dragons, dogs and titans are all inadequate to be in the grand final. Manly had a tough season. Broncos were unlucky they couldn't challenge the storm with Wallace's injury. At this moment of the season, it's no question that the Storm & the Eels are the two in-form team with contrasting style. Bring on the Grand Final.
In my opinion, Storm will win. However, I can't wait to see what Hayne will do on Sunday. I can't wait to see what the Storm will attempt or do to stop Hayne. Whether the eels will give up if the storm score plenty early in the game. Or whether the storm will change their gameplan if they fail to contain Hayne and the eels score plenty early or towards the end of the game.
Personally, I think for the year 2009, it is a good system. My reasons are because of the origin games, most teams have been depleted at some part of the season. This makes the re-ranking that automatically happens after the week1 finals game to balance the competition, either fairly or unfairly (depending on which team you support).
The dragons can argue that it was unfair, but when you look at how the dragons season have gone during the origin period. It seems they have been largely unaffected. Correct me if I'm wrong, their halves, backline and hooker hasn't changed much apart from Boyd and Morris during this period. The same can be said about the dogs and the titans.
In contrast, the storm and broncos have been decimated during the origin period with many injuries following the origin games. They may have finished higher up the leader, we'll never know.
Manly had their own issue and Lyon and wolfman in the origin game. They did well to get to 5 with all the issues they had during the season.
The Knights worked hard to get to 7, and I think it's fair for them to be in 7.
The Eels took 20 odd rounds to figure out how to play their style of football. Maybe, they could have finished higher. But in my opinion, without the origin games for Hayne, he wouldn't have been as good as he is right now. The origin games actually helped him. Maybe he re-acquaint himself with the kind of football he should be playing at, after the experience of playing the origin games this year.
After all said and done, the past three weekends have shown that the dragons, dogs and titans are all inadequate to be in the grand final. Manly had a tough season. Broncos were unlucky they couldn't challenge the storm with Wallace's injury. At this moment of the season, it's no question that the Storm & the Eels are the two in-form team with contrasting style. Bring on the Grand Final.
In my opinion, Storm will win. However, I can't wait to see what Hayne will do on Sunday. I can't wait to see what the Storm will attempt or do to stop Hayne. Whether the eels will give up if the storm score plenty early in the game. Or whether the storm will change their gameplan if they fail to contain Hayne and the eels score plenty early or towards the end of the game.
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