Euro 2012 Qualification: 3/9/2010 Results

There are always surprises
These matches will be summarized properly after the Tuesday games, when I will go over each group and the points scored in individual posts. However, here are the surprises of Friday's football:
1. Northern Ireland (59) beat Slovenia (19) giving them 1357.5 FIFA points, which is the most points achieved today by a team.
2. Belarus (78) beat France (21) giving them 1342.5 points. This would be more spectacular if France had not done so badly in the World Cup and had several players banned for today's game.
3. Georgia (110) drew with Greece (12) 1-1! Greece are an odd team who sometimes do well, and sometimes badly.
4. Cyprus (63) scored well against Portugal (8), and ended up drawing 4-4! That's going to hit Portugal hard.
5. Moldova (89) beat Finland (51) 2-0!

In the British Isles (including the Republic of Ireland) there were some good games. Only Wales lost, and England's Defoe scored a hat-trick against Bulgaria. England have now matched their home games winning streak record of 11 games. In total 55 goals were scored today.

Tuesday: More international football.
Next weekend: F1 from Italy, and the Barclays Premier League.

Euro 2012 Qualification: 2/9/2010 Results

Israel are not the only Euro country whose physical location is not in Europe, but they're the only ones who are Asian politically. [Armenia and Cyprus are geograpically in Asia, and several countries straddle the boundary] Today they played Malta.

The game ended in a 3-1 win for Israel, including one penalty. Since Malta's position is 151st in the world, they get a multiplier of 0.50 on the FIFA/Coca-Cola world ranking points calculation (all countries under 150th automatically get this). Israel's total points are:
P = M*I*T*C*100 = 3*2.5*0.5*1*100 = 375

This isn't a lot of points - in fact it's the least you can obtain from a win in a European qualifying game. It's Israel's fifth win against Malta, and they have never lost - in fact they have a 5W 2D 0L record.

Euro 2012 Qualification: 2/9/2010-7/9/2010 part 2

Here's the second set of matches: groups F-I. Since groups G, H and I only have five teams in them, only two games are played in each set of matches, leaving one team out. I've said which team it is every time.

Group F - 2/9/2010
There's only one game on September 2nd. Possibly this is because Israel would not be happy to play on a Friday, with it being the day before their Sabbath, especially with the evening kick off. Israel (38) take on Malta (151) and are likely to win.
3/9/2010
The other two games are on September 3rd. Latvia (49) play Croatia (14), and Greece (12) play Georgia (110). Croatia and Greece are both good enough to win – especially Greece, who have won a Euro competition in the past.
7/9/2010
Georgia (110) play Israel (38), Malta (151) play Latvia (49), and Croatia (14) play Greece (12). It should be a fascinating match between the Croats and Greece, with no predicable result. Latvia and Israel should both win their games.

Group G - 3/9/2010[Switzerland left out]
Montenegro (73) play Wales (73), and England (7) play Bulgaria (43). An easy first game for England that they should win, but Wales have a challenge against their opponents.
7/9/2010 [Wales left out]
Bulgaria (43) play Montenegro (73), and Switzerland (17) play England (7). Easy win for Bulgaria, but England have a challenge. Edited because of mistakes by me

Group H - 3/9/2010 [Cyprus left out]
Denmark (29) play Iceland (79), Norway (22) play Portugal (8). Portugal, a good team anywhere, are most likely to win, and Denmark have a history of good football so should also beat Iceland.
7/9/2010 [Iceland left out]
Cyprus (63) play Norway (22), Portugal (8) play Denmark (29). Portugal again should win, and Norway should beat Cyprus.

Group I - 3/9/2010 [Czech Republic left out]
Lithuania (52) play Scotland (41), Liechtenstein (141) play Spain (1). A win for Spain, no doubt, but Scotland have a challenge.
7/9/2010 [Spain left out]
Czech Republic (31) play Lithuania (52), Scotland (41) play Liechtenstein (141). For Scotland a win seems certain, but the Czech Republic may struggle against Lithuania.

Euro 2012 Qualification: 2/9/2010-7/9/2010

This week, we have two sets of International games taking place. The first lot are on Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd of September, and the second are on Tuesday 7th. [Subject to any last-minute changes]

Over the next couple of posts, I'll take a brief look at each group and the matches taking place before and after the weekend. Today you get groups A-E, and tomorrow's post is groups F-I. After the games (on Saturday and Wednesday respectively), I'll review the number of FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking Points each team received.

Group A - 3/9/2010
Kazakhstan (125) play Turkey (28), and Belgium (48) play Germany (4). For all the teams, it's the first non-friendly match they've played since the World Cup. Germany and Turkey should easily win.
7/9/2010
Turkey (28) play Belgium (48), Austria (60) play Kazakhstan (125), and Germany (4) play Azerbaijan (105). Again another easy win for Germany (hopefully), but Turkey may have a tricky match against Belgium. Austria should win against the Kazakhs.

Group B - 3/9/2010
Armenia (96) play Republic of Ireland (36), Andorra (201) play Russia (16), and Slovakia (27) play Macedonia (66). It's amazing that there are enough Andorrans to form a football team, so Russia should easily win; Slovakia's World Cup time puts them far ahead of Macedonia; and Republic of Ireland will almost certainly beat Armenia.
7/9/2010
Russia (16) play Slovakia (27), Macedonia (66) play Armenia (96), and Republic of Ireland (36) play Andorra (201). RoI will definitely win, but I am not sure about the other matches. Could be draws.

Group C - 3/9/2010
Faroe Islands (118) play Serbia (13), Estonia (94) play Italy (11), and Slovenia (19) play Northern Ireland (59). I suspect Serbia, Italy and Slovenia will each win their matches. No problems.
7/9/2010
Serbia (13) play Slovenia (19), and Italy (11) play Faroe Islands (118). It's unclear about Serbia and Slovenia, but Italy shouldn't lose to the Faroes.

Group D - 3/9/2010
Romania (42) play Albania (70), Luxembourg (117) play Bosnia and Herzegovina (57), and France (21) play Belarus (78). France and Romania are both set to win, and Bosnia-Herzegovina will almost certainly beat the smaller country of Luxembourg.
7/9/2010
Belarus (78) play Romania (42), Albania (70) play Luxembourg (117), and Bosnia-Herzegovina (57) play France (21). An easy win for France – despite their poor World Cup performance, they're still good. Romania may beat Belarus, and Albania should beat Luxembourg.

Group E - 3/9/2010
Moldova (89) play Finland (51), Sweden (35) play Hungary (62), and San Marino (202) play Netherlands (2). San Marino are one of the few teams to have no FIFA/Coca-Cola World Championship points, so will lose to Netherlands easily. Hungary and Moldova will be more of a challenge to their opponents, but I would expect the Scandinavians to win.
7/9/2010
Sweden (35) play San Marino (202), Netherlands (2) play Finland (51), and Hungary (62) play Moldova (89). Sweden and Netherlands will both win, but Hungary-Moldova could be interesting.

Mark Lawrenson Predictions: Episode 3

Prediction vs Reality
Predictions here

Correct predictions are in bold.

Home Team	Away Team	Predicted winner	Predicted score	Actual winner	Actual score
Blackburn	Arsenal	Arsenal	1-2	Arsenal	1-2
Blackpool	Fulham	Draw	1-1	Draw	2-2
Chelsea	Stoke	Chelsea	3-0	Chelsea	2-0
Tottenham	Wigan	Tottenham	3-0	Wigan	0-1
Wolverhampton	Newcastle	Wolverhampton	2-1	Draw	1-1
Man Utd	West Ham	Man Utd	3-0	Man Utd	3-0
Bolton	Birmingham	Bolton	2-0	Draw	2-2
Liverpool	West Brom	Liverpool	2-0	Liverpool	1-0
Sunderland	Man City	Draw	1-1	Sunderland	1-0
Aston Villa	Everton	Villa	2-1	Villa	1-0

Mark's winner prediction success rate: 6/10
Mark's score prediction success rate: 2/10

Mark Lawrenson improved today, getting more than half the winners correct, and two of the scores. Not bad! He has a 47% winner success rate overall, and a 13% score success rate.

Formula 1 Race Thirteen: Race

The race began as it ended, almost. Webber began on pole, with Hamilton in second and Kubica third. Hamilton ended up winning with Webber second and Kubica still third. But in between, three of the championship challengers – Vettel, Alonso and Button – lost their chances of points.
It started with Webber's anti-stall kicking in off the line, which allowed Button to go second, Kubica third and Vettel fourth. At the end of the first lap, drizzle on the track caused a lot of spinning, and Barrichello slid into the side of Alonso. While the Ferrari got away safely, Barrichello was out in the first lap of his 300th Grand Prix.
Lap seven, and Senna went out with a suspension problem. Meanwhile, the few drivers who had changed tyres when the rain began were in trouble, since it had not caused any real problem for cars with dry tyres and quickly stopped. This included Alonso, who ended up down in 20th.
Rosberg, Schumacher and Petrov quickly rose through the table, and would end up in the points, with the two Mercedes saving their tyres in case it rained properly – which it did, and the strategy paid off. Starting from 21st, Schumacher finished 6th.
After a good start, Vettel had a bad race. He chased Button until lap 17, when in the final turn he collided with the MacLaren driver, who went out. Vettel not only lost position, thanks to a pit stop, but he also had to serve a drive-through penalty. Later, he clashed with Liuzzi, giving himself a left rear puncture and losing any chance of points.
Both Force Indias ended in the points, and showed that their car was still suited to Spa – last year Giancarlo Fisichella got pole position for the team.
Alonso put himself out of the race. On full wet tyres when the rest were on intermediates (or dry, if they were stupid) in some moderate rain, he spun and hit the wall twice before leaving his car in the middle of the track. The safety car was deployed, and he got his first retirement. Only Massa has not had a single retirement this year, which is much better than his 2009 season performance (quite aside from the accident).
With this result, Red Bull lead the constructors' championship by one point, but Hamilton leads the drivers' championship by 3!

Next weekend there's no Premier League, but there are a lot of European qualifiers on the 2nd/3rd and 7th of September.

FIFA/Coca-Cola Rankings Adjustment

Since the last World Cup, FIFA have adjusted the weightings that they give to international games for the next for years. European games still get a C (confederation strength) value of 1.00, but now South American games also get 1.00. North American, Central American and Caribbean teams each get a 0.88 weighting (up from 0.86), African teams get 0.86 (up from 0.85), and Asian and Oceanian teams remain at 0.85.